Green cars

Could the 'electric Mondeo' kill the diesel?

2008-12-11T17:29:59Z

The US ‘Big Three’ car makers are getting a serious kicking at the moment. Much of the criticism is centred on failing to build cars that matched the - mostly Asian - competition.

That, of course, and their notorious reliance on ‘gas-guzzlers’.

However, Ford has just let the press drive its new US-market Fusion Hybrid and the narrative could be about to change.

The Mondeo-sized Fusion (which is actually based on the Mazda 6) gets a mild hybrid set-up, with an electric motor/generator sandwiched into a CVT transmission, which is driven by a 2.5-litre four-cylinder petrol engine.

It's an updated version of the hybrid transmission in the Ford Escape SUV. The nickel-metal-hydride battery pack now weighs 70kg(23 percent less) and other changes will now allow the Fusion to hit 47mph in pure electric mode.

Amazingly, the first results from test drives in LA suggest the Fusion is capable of around 50mpg in UK gallons.

If this is replicated in real life use, switched-on European drivers will be wondering when an ‘Electric Mondeo’ will appear.

That’s because it’s not just about the fuel economy argument. One of the main reasons Toyota developed the hybrid is because it delivered better fuel economy without the tailpipe pollution of a diesel.

In fact, the previous-generation Escape Hybrid met Super Ultra Low Emission Vehicle (SULEV II) and Advanced Technology Partial Zero Emissions Vehicle (AT-PZEV) standards.

Indeed, so strict are Californian’s air pollution standards, diesel-powered cars were effectively banned in 1990 because of their particulate (soot) and nitrogen oxide (NoX) emissions.

Today, diesel cars can only be sold in California if they meet standards so strict that they’re equivalent to Euro 6 limits, which are not due for introduction in Europe until 2014.

This is relevant to us Europeans, because there evidence that the EU will be following California’s lead and clamping down even further on the particulates and NoX emissions, particularly in city centres.

And while diesel engines can be cleaned up with complex NoX traps and urea injections, will it be easier – and cheaper – in the long run to switch to a Fusion-style petrol-hybrid drive train?

Will the electric Mondeo remain a dream, or could it kill the diesel?

A hydrogen future

2008-12-04T10:02:41Z

Yesterday I had a taste of the future of motoring – or at least what GM’s boffins would like to see as the future.

GM is launching a fleet of 10 Fuel Cell powered Chevy Traverse SUVs in Berlin.

Fully real-world crash-tested and good for a range of 320km, the cars will be run in real-world conditions by 10 different sponsors, including the Berlin Hilton Hotel and Allianz.

I got a chance to drive one of the Traverses from central Berlin to a Hydrogen fuelling station near Berlin’s main bus depot.

Driven by a 73kW fuel cell, the Traverse was very impressive. The acceleration is very brisk, the torque seamless, and the lack of mechanical thrashing makes for a very refined drive (even if the car’s chassis isn’t that great).

I also got a chance to witness what might be an everyday chore by 2030: refuelling a hydrogen-powered car.

At what otherwise looked like an ordinary Total fuel station, there are two hydrogen pumps, one which re-fills at 350psi and the other, for the Traverse, re-fills at 700psi.

Just slide in the credit card, key in the PIN and clip the hose onto the tiny valve behind the filler cap. An infrared link between the fuel holster and the car monitors the situation. Filling the tank from empty takes three minutes.

The receipt makes interesting reading. 1.52kg of Hydrogen, sold at a (subsidized) 8 Euros per kilo.

I wondered if I’ll ever find myself holding one of these receipts for real in decades to come.

Technorati Tags: GM,General Motors,Hydrogen,Chevy,Chevrolet,Transverse,Total

From Two Jags to No Jags

2008-10-23T17:33:00Z

It wasn't long ago that an aspiring Deputy Prime Minister might have a Jag for work and a spare in the garage. But the tide is turning.

Despite Gordon Brown's promise to swap his government Vauxhall for a hybrid - a Toyota Prius - he understandably balked when push came to shove, and opted for a V8 Jaguar XJ instead.

But the new breed of cabinet minister has definitely taken the petrol-electric route. According to this article in the Guardian, James Purnell, Douglas Alexander, Ed Miliband, Hilary Benn (unsurprisingly for an environment secretary), Hazel Blears and John Denham all drive hybrid Toyotas or Hondas.

It's probably just as well, because the prime ministerial Jag is no ordinary 35mpg XJD, it's a 2.7-tonne armoured XJ. I've never driven one of these, so it's difficult to get any real economy figures, but Richmond-based Carty Associates, which provides a secure limo and driver service, reckon that an armoured XJ will do around 12mpg in town.

Oh yes, and it also has to be driven to the other end of the line for all those publicity-coup train journeys - that's not really saving fuel.

So when you're next getting stressed about reducing your carbon footprint remember that, unless you're commuting in a Bugatti Royale, things could be worse.

Audi runs rings around green lobby

2008-10-03T12:32:58Z

The blink-and-you’ll-miss-it star of the Paris show was undoubtedly the Audi A4 Concept E.

European government is well down the road on demanding that the average CO2 output of a car maker’s range is just 130g/km – with promise of further cuts to come. As a result, some people in the industry wondered whether the day of the large car was over, and whether we would all end up in diesel-powered Ford Focuses.

However, the EU hadn’t figured on the might of the German auto engineer.

By applying a host of detailed fuel-saving measures, Audi has managed to turn its new A4 into a Prius-humbling fuel sipper.

The Concept E’s 105g/km CO2 (58.95mpg) rating has been achieved through some extremely clever lateral thinking. The 2.0-litre TDI engine gets new software, a new cooling system, de-coupling oil and water pumps and even softer valve springs. The stop-start system is backed up by a secondary battery, which powers the A4’s ancillaries when the engine is off.

The rear brakes are electrically actuated and the Concept E gets an aerodynamic underbody. Weight saving measures include a magnesium casing for the gearbox.

But the crowning glory is the Concept E’s heated gearbox oil, which helps reduce frictional losses when the car is first started.

Even better, the EU legislators - who are mostly trying to pick a fight with the EU car industry - have been put firmly on the back foot.

Honda shows some Insight

2008-09-05T10:23:26Z

It must be pretty galling for Honda that, despite being the first volume manufacturer to offer a hybrid car with the 1999 Insight, it's Toyota that has reaped the publicity benefit from selling this greener technology, not to mention substantial sales besides.

Honda's mistake was to sell the right hardware in the wrong package. The eccentric Insight two-seater appealed to relatively few, and the Civic hybrid looked far too similar to the standard car to score its owners nods of green approval from their peers.

Evidence that Honda has learned what Toyota discovered - that a hybrid is best sold with bespoke wrapping that announces to the rest of the world that this is a greener machine - has now appeared in the form of another car called Insight, though this time it's a five door, five seater, and with a design all its own.

It’s just one weapon in Honda's hybrid counter-attack, its intention being to sell half a million hybrids, or an eighth of its output of cars, annually by 2010. Other models include the production version of the CR-Z coupe, the spiritual successor to the original Insight, a hybrid Jazz supermini and a new version of the Civic hybrid.

That’s a bold aim, and one that might be that bit more difficult to achieve in the face of the growing realisation among the public that though hybrids have their advantages, they often fail to fulfil the promise of their official fuel consumption figures.

There’s evidence of this in Honda’s plan to include ‘a unique function to assist more fuel-efficient driving – helping driver’s to maximise their real world fuel consumption,’ a tacit admission of the problem with hybrids.

But whatever the challenges, it’s hard not to be impressed by Honda’s commitment to reducing emissions, which encompasses not only these cars but the semi-experimental fuel cell FCX Clarity, to which this new Insight bears more than a passing resemblance. If Honda succeeds, the face of the FCX and the Insight will symbolise a greener drive as effectively as the Prius does.

Hybrid renaissance

2008-09-04T17:03:07Z

The new Honda Insight looks like a regular hatchback. Which is exactly what it should resemble. After all, that’s the Toyota Prius’s greatest strength – it’s thoroughly conventional to drive but just that little bit odd-looking, so that the neighbours know that you’re also trying to save the planet.

And Toyota has sold more than a million of them, so it’s no wonder that Honda is aping the formula.

All this is in complete contrast to the original Honda Insight, which looked like it had come from another planet when it landed in 1999.

I spent quite a bit of time driving one back then and it was like nothing else: lightweight, two seats, odd to drive and, of course, it looked like nothing else on the road – complete with its faired-in rear wheels to improve aerodynamics. It drove like nothing else either – thankfully.

It may have been a technological showcase and Honda’s first hybrid but it was pretty nasty to drive, not to mention incredibly expensive.

So maybe the new Honda Insight shows that hybrids have come full circle. It’s a petrol-electric hatch that is a real Focus rival. Not just in size, but in price too (the Prius is closer to £20k after all). It probably won’t be the first either.

Technorati Tags: Toyota Prius,Honda Insight,hybrid,Ford Focus

Is Tesla the car industry’s Google?

2008-08-29T10:01:28Z

Just a thought, but what if today’s leading car-makers won’t be the leading car-makers in 20 years time?

Maybe, just maybe, electric cars are the car industry’s internet. Google was founded almost exactly a decade ago, and who’d really heard of it seven years ago?

Small, boutique car companies are starting up all over the place: Tesla, Mindset and Gordon Murray’s project. What they all have in common is that they don’t make traditional cars and they don’t make them in traditional ways. They won’t all stay small and boutique for long. And my money is that Tesla, especially, is going to be huge.

A fledgling car business will never make it big as quickly as a web start-up. But with an industry in flux, and the very real possibility that oil prices will rise further in the next few years, you never know where this might end up.

Like I said, just a thought.

Technorati Tags: Google,Tesla Roadster,Gordon Murray,Tesla,Internet

Mazda’s weight issues

2008-08-21T11:17:54Z

Remember the stir Mazda caused when the Mazda 2 came on the scene?

Here was a good-to-drive supermini that was 100 kgs lighter than the car it replaced, turning the trend for cars getting ever bigger and heavier smartly on its head. For that, the 2 was a real breath of fresh air. Still is, come to that.

Now Mazda says it’s going to be extending this ‘Drive Light’ philosophy across all its coming generations of models, news that you might think would win universal acclaim.

Lighter means better economy because there’s less mass to drag around. It means lower C02 and more agile handling. Hard to argue against, you would think.

Yet some sections of the Japanese media believe there’s a price to be paid for that Lotus-style approach of ‘added lightness’. They reckon body rigidity has been compromised by Mazda’s new lightweight mindset. Put simply, the new 2 has been criticised for not being stiff enough.

This theory isn’t supported out by Mazda’s figures, with the current 2 claimed to have 13 per cent better torsional rigidity than the model it replaced. But it’s certainly true that when it comes to other consumer durables, and the camera industry springs to mind, each new generation of products tends not to pack the robustness of its predecessors as costs come under inevitable pressure.

But this is hardly what’s happening with Mazda. With all due respect to my professional colleagues here in Japan, some of whom are famously hardcore when it comes to technology, Hiroshima hasn’t suddenly gone on all flimsy on us. Indeed, the 2 feels as tough as any of its significant Japanese rivals.

But then, as Mazda acts on its commitment to systematically trim the pounds from future models, it is something to watch out for.

Technorati Tags: Mazda2,Lotus,Japan,Drive Light,Mazda

The motorist's real enemy

2008-08-20T14:56:28Z

There’s a growing view that ill-judged taxes and charges introduced under a green banner are turning motorists against that basic idea.

Even Greenpeace joined this chorus a while back, criticising proposed new VED taxes.

So what is the Environmental Transport Association up to?

A missive today from a business that makes money out of providing motorists with an ‘environmentally-friendly’ breakdown service has jumped on a bandwagon started up by a local government minister demanding higher parking charges in city centres.

Apparently the ETA is outraged that motorists in London pay an extortionate £6 an hour to park in parts of London. Don’t suppose the ETA has driven in London recently, but it’s not uncommon for motorists to pay closer to £20 an hour in some central London car parks.

Anyway that’s not the ETA’s bugbear. What they’re outraged about is that away from London charges are as low as 40p an hour.

There’s a good reason for that. People in other parts of the country aren’t multi-squillionaires parking in underground car parks in Sloane Square. They are ordinary working people trying to do a bit of shopping or visit attractions in cities and towns all over Britain.

They choose to drive because the planning and economic system has encouraged centralised shopping areas where many people can’t or don't want to live, but have to visit.

Motorists don’t need enemies in local or central government or the anti-car lobby when the ETA is doing the job for them.

Tesla Roadster...driven finally

2008-08-19T11:25:33Z

Well, it's finally happened. After all the hype, all the fantasies and all the no-it-can't-really-work, back-of-an-envelope number crunching, I've driven the Tesla Roadster and, boy, does it work!

I've always preferred the instant response of a well-tuned naturally aspirated engine to the slightly delayed kick in the back grunt of big turbocharged units, but no you can get the best of both worlds.

Slam your right foot on the accelerator and the response is literally instantaneous. You get a shove in the kidneys that just keeps on giving.

In fact, it's the strange, shiftless nature of the shove that it is more disconcerting than anything else. The steady torque of the motor just carries on delivering.

Equally strangely, the lack of engine noise didn't register at all. I guess I was just having too much fun. Far too much fun. In fact, in a few words that sums this car up: far too much fun... on wheels.

Technorati Tags: Tesla Roadster,electric,zero emissions,lithium-ion

When Japanese design turns bad

2008-08-05T12:07:42Z

A decade ago, Japan was in the grip of this strange and rather alarming retro boom. Chrome grilles and wood-effect panels started to appear on all manner of cars, as automotive Japan raced to turn the clock back.

Yes, this was the time when we had Nissan, Subaru and Toyota, hastily grafting Olde Worlde flute grilles and chrome bumpers onto Micras, Starlets et al. Many of these looked decidedly naff. But the makers didn’t care. It was only for Japan and if it made money, why not?

The Japanese could argue, with some justification, that they were only doing what BMC did in the ‘60s: creating Riley Elfs and Wolseley Hornets out of Minis via the application of a new, shiny grille.

Anyway, I was reminded of all this the other day when I saw a Mitsubishi Flying Pug in the street in Tokyo. This was an imaginatively converted 1100cc Pajero Junior with ornate, comedy like front end and gruesome name. To be honest, I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.

Mitsubishi has since redeemed itself with the i, proving that when it’s good, Japanese design is as cutting edge as it gets. But when it’s bad, it’s horrid.

Technorati Tags: Mitsubishi Nissan Toyota Subaru Micra

England vs. Japan

2008-07-08T15:00:09Z

I was driving in the countryside the other day when – blow me – a rusty old Datsun 100A coupe appeared on the other side of the carriageway: the first time I’d seen one of these chromed ‘70s relics for about a decade.

Moments later I saw a Kanagawa-registered Nissan Figaro and then a well-preserved first-generation Mitsubishi FTO. So where was I? Downtown Tokyo? Highway 19 to Nagano?

No, of course not – I was in deepest Norfolk. Which is, I have to report, a far better place to see vintage Japanese machinery than Japan itself.

Despite living and working in Tokyo, a holiday in the UK gave me a chance to catch up with the strange way the grey import market operates over here.

Cars that are practically forgotten in Japan still seem to be all over the place in the UK. Figaros are cult cars here, but are almost extinct back in their native land. Similarly the Suzuki Cappuccino has a far bigger fan base on this side of the world. Then there are old FTOs, Supras and the Estima and Delica people-carriers that have long since faded from the streets of Japan.

The trip home has also given be a chance to reacquaint myself with the challenges of driving in the UK. You might automatically think that the British motorist has things better than over in traffic-clogged Japan, but it’s nothing like as clean cut as that.

In Japan, you can forget all about speed cameras on A-roads, traffic calming and SUV hate – and fuel over there is also far cheaper at the pumps.

On the other hand, Japan’s motorways are all tolled (and expensive) and the country can’t compete with England’s fabulous countryside at its most majestic. What else? Japan doesn’t have a vociferous anti-car lobby like the UK. No congestion charge or much public awareness, it seems, about C02 as applied to cars and driving.

So Japan is OK. But when it’s really good (as on some of those deserted back roads in Norfolk) driving in England is in another league.

Save the planet - buy a V8

2008-07-01T14:32:31Z

You’ve probably found yourself being patronised recently by some rent-a-hack’s five-point guide to saving fuel.

You know the sort of thing: the imminent arrival of the £6 gallon has brought us a rash of unwanted advice as to how to keep petrol costs in check. This usually involves supergluing windows shut, driving largely naked to save weight and – with wince-inducing obviousness – not accelerating quite so hard.

Where’s the fun in that? Which is why, inspired by the seminal 1970s advertisement that told us to save water by sharing a bath with a friend, I’ve come up with my own guide to getting more miles from your tank.

Disconnect the fuel gauge

No, really. Pull out the wiring, paint over it or prise it out with a screwdriver. Now you’ll drive like you’re leading a funeral procession to maximise the range left in your tank, and to avoid the humiliation of having to complete the journey on foot.

Buy a V8

The best way to break the drive-everywhere habit is to have a vehicle capable of gargling unleaded quicker than the late, great Oliver Reed could work his way down a set of bar optics. So while diesel-engined superminis buzz everywhere flat out, you’ll instinctively learn the joys of tickling the throttle, coasting down hills in neutral and slipstreaming trucks on the motorway.

Make friends with your chip shop owner

If you’ve been contemplating leaving your wife/ hubby/ significant other for the proprietor of the local takeaway emporium, this is the time to do it. Why? Because the fast food outlets create vast quantities of used cooking oil which – after a bit of filtering – can be used to power less fussy diesels.

Okay, you’re not going to be the first person to have thought of the idea – it feels like every national newspaper has suggested the chippy route in the last couple of weeks – but the advantage is zero-cost motoring. Even better, in a rare outbreak of joined-up thinking, the Government allows you to use up to 2500 litres of chip oil a year in your car without paying the Revenue anything for the privilege.

Pick up hikers

Actually touting yourself as a minicab without the necessary documentation has certain legal ramifications (although that doesn’t seem to stop many of those who cluster around nightclubs at chucking-out time in ‘H’-reg Primeras) – but there’s nothing to stop you from sharing the costs of your journey with any passengers.

And can you imagine the better way to wipe the grin off the face of student thumb-jockeying his way back from Glastonbury than by presenting him with half the bill for filling your ancient Range Rover or BMW 535i?

Subaru's electric avenue

2008-06-30T11:27:18Z

Over in Japan, Subaru is really a bit of a whizz when it comes to small cars, and small electric cars at that. For years, Subaru has been working on a range of battery-powered minis, over and above its own unique 660cc microcar range.

So it comes as no surprise that a more practical, plug-in Stella Concept, is to debut at the coming G8 Summit up in Hokkaido.

But the truth is that Subaru’s electric future is likely to be shaped by Toyota’s ever-growing interests in the brand. For instance, next year Subaru will give up on its own 660cc minicar business and will sell OEM Daihatsus instead; a product of the Toyota empire.

But this isn’t all bad. As a small company, without the cash and resources to go head to head with the big guns, Subaru has had to pick and choose where to spend its eco money. Look how long it took to bring its excellent new Boxer diesel to market.

Pulling out of 660cc minis will free up a lot of cash and time to develop tweaky new eco minis just like the new plug-in Stella Concept, which almost certainly won’t go into production as it stands but will serve as a test bed for the future.

And there’s plenty of incentive to go all out on the eco-car front. Subaru will be feeling the pressure from Mitsubishi, whose impressive electric-powered iMiEV minis have been extensively tested and written about in Japan, and the shadow cast by Toyota's cutting edge iQ ultramini is another inducement for Subaru to pull something dramatic out of the hat.

Electric isn’t the only avenue available to Subaru, though. The distant future will see the company expand the use of its own Boxer Diesel and adapt Prius-type hybrid technology for the Legacy.

It might be late, but Subaru is finally moving into the green zone.

The return of the 200SX?

2008-06-23T08:10:31Z

Barely a week goes by here in Japan without some high octane speculation that a new Nissan 200SX is around the corner.

The quick, funky, oversteer-happy four-cylinder coupe was a reasonable sales hit back in the ‘nineties, and has since won notoriety as the weapon of choice for the world’s professional drift stars.

The on-off story was reignited the other day when we reported on Renault’s plans to build an Alpine sportscar – a car that would have to be spun off the next Nissan 200SX/ Silvia platform.

Makes a lot of sense, you would think. Take Nissan’s new 370Z platform (coming this autumn), shorten and lighten it and mount what spies say is a new 2.0-litre turbo engine under the bonnet, and voila, you have the basics of a cracking new lightweight sportster.

Trouble is, it might not be quite that simple. A Nissan insider murmurs that that the Z platform is designed for V6 and V8 engines. Nissan could tweak it to take a smaller four-cylinder engine – the question is whether the car (or cars) spun off it would then stand up as a profitable business case. It’s a question that’s causing some furrowed brows at Nissan right now.

Something is definitely going on. Nissan has always wanted to produce a ‘compact sports’ model beneath the GT-R and the 350Z, but our impeccable source tells us the project keeps stopping and staring because the financial numbers just don’t add up.

But which direction will Nissan’s sportscar future take? The minimalist Urge concept was a hit at the 2006 Detroit show – and would be a far more radical departure for Nissan. Or will the company play it safe with a modern remake of the classic 200SX?

Answers on a postcard, please. To Mr. Carlos Ghosn, Nissan Motor Co, Ginza, Japan.