Greener Vehicles: More Coming Down the Pike

June 25, 2006 – Vol.11 No.14

GREENER VEHICLES: MORE COMING DOWN THE PIKE.

The US House of Representatives has passed a measure to allow the states to decide whether or not they want offshore drilling. Also, the oceanfront states, not the Feds, would keep royalties from the sites. The Senate is being pressured to pass similar legislation.

Yet while Congress wants more oil, vehicle manufacturers are embracing fuel efficient technologies.

--- Mercedes Benz says that its fuel-efficient Smart (officially small “s”) line is coming to the US with the next generation of the ForTwo, but it won’t arrive until the first quarter of 2008. Visit Smart at http://www.smartusa.com/

--- Honda has announced it will build a $550 million plant in Indiana. Mass production of fuel-efficient 4-cylinder vehicles will start in fall 2008. Annual production capacity will be 200,000 vehicles and employment will be 2,000 associates.

Honda has already announced it plans to offer a new dedicated hybrid by 2009, a four-cylinder clean diesel within the next three years, and voluntarily increase its Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) by five percent over 2005 levels by the year 2010. Visit Honda at http://www.hondanews.com/

--- Eaton has announced that it will build a hybrid drive system for heavy-duty, Class 8, commercial trucks. The system will deliver better on-road efficiency as well as reduce idling. When parked, the hybrid’s battery pack will power heating, air conditioning and other electrical systems, eliminating the need to idle the engine on overnight stops.

Eaton and partners have also announced the development of a hydraulic hybrid diesel urban delivery vehicle. The hybrid uses a hydraulic propulsion system that eliminates the conventional drivetrain and transmission. A hydraulic accumulator collects the energy from braking, stores it, then uses it to help power the hydraulic drive upon acceleration or hill climbing. Visit Eaton at http://www.eaton.com/

--- Miles Automotive, already selling made-in-China all-electric low speed vehicles in the US, is planning to sell a lithium-ion batteried all-electric sports car to be unveiled in late 2007. They say it could sell for $28,000, have a range of 200 miles and a top speed of 80. Visit Miles at http://www.milesautomotive.com/

--- Tesla Motors is building (in secret) the Roadster. The specs are: all-electric drive with lithium ion batteries; 3-hour recharge; top speed of 135 miles per hour; a 250-mile range, but a $80,000 to $120,000 price tag. (Mark your calendar. The car will revealed July 20 on their website.) Visit Tesla at http://www.teslamotors.com/

--- Wrightspeed has built a two-seat all-electric prototype, the X-1. The open-wheeled, open-bodied car has top speed of 112 miles per hour, a range of 100 miles and gets the equivalent of 170 miles per gallon of gasoline. Again it’s a prototype. The production car will be better, they say. Visit Wrightspeed at http://www.wrightspeed.com/

Increasingly Washington, wanting more oil, is going in the opposite direction of industry, needing less oil.