You are currently browsing the tag archive for the 'electric vehicles' tag.
EV’s and hybrids keep getting better and better…
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Infiniti Essense. The 600 hp, 30 MPG brand icon is a stunning luxury hybrid with a silhouette inspired by Japanese calligraphy. Comes with bespoke fitted Louis Vuitton luggage.
Opel Ampera. This extended range electric vehicle is GM’s European counterpart to the Chevy Volt. Slated for production in late 2010.
EDAG Light Car. LEDs embedded in the body panels can be reconfigured for a customized exterior. Made of 100% recyclable basalt fiber, which has a comparable weight and strength to carbon fiber.
Tesla Model S. This seven-seater electric vehicle is slated for production in 2011, with a starting price of $50,000 (nearly half the price of Tesla’s electric roadsters while carrying twice as many passengers).
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Automakers are also spitting out some interesting compact concept cars. Unfortunately, they tend to be hideous, with the exception of these two:
Scion iQ. This micro-subcompact is aimed at young, suburban travelers and can accomodate three plus luggage. Look how it smirks–I might drive this.
Chevy Spark. Five-door hatchback promising 47 MPG. This 2010 production model is based on the Chevy Beat, which garnered the most votes of the GM minicar concepts in the 2007 NY Auto Show.
The federal government [has imposed] an increase in mileage standards for passenger cars and raised the floor for sport utility vehicles and pickups beginning with the 2011 model year…The new standards would save nearly 900 million gallons of fuel and cost the industry $1.4 billion, according to the regulation. [via NYTimes]
Compacts, sedans and other passenger cars must average 30.2 MPG (27.5 MPG as of 2004).
Light trucks, which include pickups and SUVs must average 24.1 MPG (20.7 MPG as of 2004).
That’s right, Obama’s Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards will force automakers to make more fuel-efficient cars!
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Mitsubishi iMIEV [Mitsubishi Innovative Electric Vehicle] debuted at the 2009 NY Auto Show. Sales will start Japan this summer and be expanded to other markets, such as the US before 2012. I like this electric jellybean.
Mitsubishi iMIEV Sport Air debuted at the 2009 Geneva Motor Show. Has a similar body to the iMiEV Sport from last year, but sports new paint and a cool blue interior. These iMIEVs sure have smug grins (love it).
From internal gasoline-combustion engines to hybrid-electric to fully electric vehicles. I’m excited about the idea of never needing to spend money on gasoline; my next car will most likely be a hybrid-electric. I would only go for a plug-in electric if I decided to live in Davis forever – there are 11 charging stations conveniently sprinkled throughout the city and campus – not every city is as EV friendly.
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Without further ado, some of the hybrid electrics from the 2009 Detroit Auto Show:
- Fisker Automotive Karma = HOT. Premium hybrids get all the looks.
- Toyota Prius for 2010 is roomier and averages 50mpg (up from 46mpg).
- Honda Insight (Concept) for 2010, to be priced below $20,000 to compete directly with the Toyota Prius {starting at $22,000}.
- Mercedes BlueZero (Concept). Gas-electric, battery-electric, or hydrogen fuel-cell drivetrain. Killing two three birds with one stone.
With the exception of the Fisker Karma, they all have that darn friendly jellybean shape.
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The question remains: will GM, Ford & Chrysler will be able to price their EVs and hybrids on par with the Insight and Prius?
The future of the automobile was sealed at North America’s biggest auto show this week, where all of the hottest new cars and concepts had extension cords. Any idea that ethanol or hydrogen will lead us past petroleum was tossed out the window, as the big automakers — hobbled by a brutal economy, gyrating oil prices and humiliating congressional tongue-lashings — limped into the Detroit auto show. They all put on a brave face with the hybrids and electric vehicles they promise to start putting on the road next year.
“They’ve finally gotten a little religion,” says Chelsea Sexton, executive director of the EV advocacy group Plug-In America. “The auto industry is at the point where it has to invest in its future, and smart investors bet on the inevitable. Electric drive is inevitable. [via Wired]
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Both Chrysler and GM went above and beyond merely achieving fuel-efficiency with the introduction of electric vehicles. They are rather attractive and don’t take on the disastrously innocuous jellybean silhouette of current hybrid vehicles. Why must things that are “green” also be “incredibly round”? Honestly, if hybrids looked like aerodynamically chiseled, muscular luxury cars at a more affordable price point, they’d fly off the shelves. After all, a research study [The Perception of Automotive Designs @ DOI: 10.1007/s12110-008-9047-z] found that:
One-third of the subjects associated a human or animal face with at least 90 percent of the cars. . . Overall, people agreed which type of car possesses certain traits [and] liked cars most which had a wide stance, a narrow windshield, and/or widely spaced, narrow headlights. The better the subjects liked a car, the more it bore shape characteristics corresponding to high values of what the authors termed “power”, indicating that both men and women like mature, dominant, masculine, arrogant, angry-looking cars. [via ScienceDaily]
Some people like friendly cars. Unfortunately, I must confess that I am an “angry-faced car” lover and that I prefer my car to look like it could rip your car into shreds. Hopefully, EVs get reworked to look tougher.
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1. GM Chevrolet Volt (Production Model for 2010)
2. Chrysler 200C (Concept)
3. GM Cadillac Converj (Concept)
4. Chrysler Dodge Circuit(Concept)
Cheers for investing in a greener future (with sexy electric automobiles)!
