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Economic crisis in the automobile industry catastrophe?

Sat, 06 Feb 2010 13:49:26 +0000

To this end, the three major auto makers have shifted the focus of development of the cars from a truck in order to fight against the Asian impact of automobile manufacturers. “Chrysler may be the first of the three major U.S. … Toyota’s sales in Europe are also planned for 2007 based on the reduction of 92000, the main target for the top-down models, such as Lexus and instead produce more popular hybrid vehicles. This post is under “Uncategorized” and has no respond so …

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Economic crisis in the automobile industry catastrophe?

First Pre-Production Chevy Volt Hits The Road

JohnHiemstra — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 03:05:16 +0000

Chevy’s Volt, has there ever been a car with more riding on it? Probably not, and at Autopia, we’ve been on top of Volt developments like white on rice. The latest news from GM’s Prius beater is that the Pre-production car has just hit the streets. What just hit the streets is what’s known as a pre-production version, it’s sort of the automotive equivalent of a dress rehearsal. All the bells and whistles and doo-dads that will be on the car that you, the green-conscious car buyer, will get are there for a final test. Just one more set of shakedowns, and it’s on to the showroom floors. The first Volt pre-production vehicle was up and running yesterday, which was actually more than a week ahead of schedule, according to Chevrolet Volt Vehicle Chief Engineer Andrew Farah . The General is starting to crank out the pre-pro cars and is aiming to turn out 10 per week and will have approximately 80 pre-production vehicles built by October. These cars will be used for testing and evaluation of the production design as well as developing the final vehicle software and controls. It will also give GM a chance to tune the vehicle’s overall driving experience. And some of the pre-pro cars will be sacrificed to test safety and structural integrity. So soon there’ll be dozens of these things running around Warren Michigan, GM engineers sitting on the seats, touching buttons, hard starting, late braking and just generally seeing how they’ll work in the real world. And soon, the Chevy Volt will be in dealerships near you, and we can all see whether it was worth the wait. Photo courtesy of GM

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First Pre-Production Chevy Volt Hits The Road

Help Me Honda: Old Motorcycle Goes Electric

JohnHiemstra — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 03:05:09 +0000

After cannibalizing his girlfriend’s bike for parts, filleting the frame with a Sawzall and installing electric motors and batteries, Santa Cruz handyman Geoff Bjorgan successfully converted a 1986 Honda motorcycle into an electric, pedal-assist bike. A 120 lb. electric, pedal-assist bike. With a steampunk aesthetic. This bad boy is no Mission One , but it’s still cooler than Steve McQueen. “I was more concerned with look than function,” Bjorgan told Autopia. “The bike is heavy, definitely a flatlander, but it cruises at 21 mph so I’m happy.” Bjorgan began his odyssey shortly after discovering the bike in storage, free to anyone who would take it. “I was doing some remodeling on a friend’s house and saw this ‘86 Honda basket case sitting in his garage,” Bjorgan said. “I found out that the back registration on the bike was more than the bike was worth, so from that day until the bike was converted to electric/pedal was about two months.” The bike was truly a wreck when Bjorgan began working on it. “I looked at the frame and basically dissected everything heavy unnecessary or ugly and took the sawzall to it,” he said. “The pedals are Diamondback Bigfoots, I liked the metal studs that scream ‘roadrash.’ The headlight is an old oil lamp from a hearse. The electric motors are Electrohomes from Weird Stuff Warehouse, which wind up to 36,000 rpm. Needless to say they had to go through some gear reductions.” The crank and frame came off Bjorgan’s girlfriend’s bike — “Maybe my ex-girlfriend’s,” he joked. Even though the bike ended up in pieces, the spare parts went to good use. Even the trusty Honda engine found a new home. “I put the motor in my lawn tractor which gives it a few more horsepower and a 10 speed transmission,” he said. We can’t wait for Bjorgan’s next project, a combination rim drive pedal/electric bicycle/skateboard. “All of the components are stuffed into a single tube frame,” he said. We promise we’ll get you pictures, and if necessary, the full accident report. Photos: Geoff Bjorgan See Also: Jet Cyclists Hits 73 MPH and Lives to Tell the Tale The Autopia WTF? Solar Trike Caption Contest Electric Bikes Practice Tearing Up the Isle of Man

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Help Me Honda: Old Motorcycle Goes Electric

A/C Efficiency Is Hot Topic at National Lab

JohnHiemstra — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 03:05:08 +0000

Seven billion gallons of gasoline. That’s how much fuel America consumes each year just running the air conditioning in their cars. And don’t think riding with the windows down is the answer; the Mythbusters have long since debunked that solution. That’s 5.5 percent of the country’s fuel use, and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) says auto air conditioning contributes more than 58 million metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions annually. Factor in a 50 million additional tons of CO2 due to refrigerant leakage and you have a environmentally unhealthy result that no American would be proud of. In the age of gaining independence from oil and seeking responsible consumption, the Department of Energy (DOE) has funded the National Renewable Energy Lab (NREL) to seek solutions to make air conditioning and other similar ancillary systems more efficient. The findings of this research can help automakers hit President Obama’s target for increased average fuel efficiency and put a dent in the carbon footprint of American cars. John Rugh of the NREL says progress has been made in their efforts, but feels there is more progress to be made in the quest for a more fuel-efficient vehicle. Being just the tip of the iceberg, their findings could make conventional A/C systems a thing of the past and 33 percent more energy efficient. And to think most of their breakthroughs are attributed to the work of a four-year-old. ADAM, hard at work. Photo: National Renewable Energy Lab Meet ADAM. Weighing in at 160 pounds and standing 5 feet 9 inches tall, he is a core member of the team. ADAM, short for Advanced Automotive Mannequin, is a physiological human model heated to body temperature with a full sensing suite. “Just don’t call him a dummy,” say John Rugh, a senior engineer at the National Renewable Energy Lab, “he takes it personally.” One hundred and twenty sensing zones throughout his “body” measure ambient and surface temperatures, which sure beats taping all that equipment to an engineer and sticking him in a broiling car. ADAM has also been used in the development of liquid cooling garments for NASA and testing of thermal blankets the Army uses to prevent hypothermia in injured soldiers. Using state of the art technologies such as ADAM and a well developed research plan made findings that could dictate future automotive system design. Rugh says their attack on waste associated with cabin comfort fell into three categories: System View: A full system analysis and redesign of the vehicle cabin thermodynamics using UV glass coatings, insulation and electrically driven compressors vs. traditional belt driven units Efficient Delivery: Using more direct delivery methods such as low-mass seats, ventilated, and thermo-electrically cooled seats. The approach – Why make the whole cabin comfortable when your aims are only to make the passengers comfortable? High Risk Research: Investigating ways to turn waste heat and ambient noise, generated by an engine, into usable energy. Thermal acoustics, for instance, uses sound waves to transform heat into usable electricity. The National Renewable Energy Lab isn’t alone in trying to eke more efficiency out of our air conditioners. The Energy Department in December awarded $4.2 million to Ford and $2.3 million to General Motors to help them develop thermoelectric climate control systems. The work is important for several reasons including: The Obama Administration plans to increase the average fuel efficiency of America’s cars from 27.5 mpg to 35.5 mpg within seven years. It also requires automakers to curb tailpipe emissions by 40 percent. Given the impact air conditioning and other ancillary systems has on fuel consumption, any improvements in that area will be embraced by automakers. Air conditioning systems have a big impact on hybrid and electric vehicles. In a typical gasoline vehicle, the air conditioning will cut your fuel efficiency 15 to 20 percent. But in a hybrid, it can cut the effective fuel efficiency and range by 15 to 35 percent. Increasing the efficiency of the cooling system could boost fuel economy and range. The UK’s ban of hydrofluorocarbon-134a (HFC-134a) gas, more commonly known as the stuff that makes your A/C work. Because HFC-134a is a known greenhouse gas, the ban could lead to the use of less-efficient alternatives as was the case when the U.S. banned CFCs. The UK ban was adopted in 2004 and takes effect early next year. The National Renewable Energy laboratory says its work, if it is implemented by the auto industry, could save us 3 billion gallons of gas a year. Hey, it’s a start. Main photo: Flickr / IceNineJohn ADAM, soaking up the rays in the Vehicle Climate Control Laboratory. Photo: National Renewable Energy Laboratory U.S. air conditioning use by state. Image: National Renewable Energy Lab http://www.epa.gov/cppd/mac/

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A/C Efficiency Is Hot Topic at National Lab

Toyota iQ Gets A Scion Badge And Aston Martin Grille

JohnHiemstra — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 03:05:06 +0000

The super-small, super-efficient Toyota iQ is coming to America as a Scion. So says Motor Trend , the old gray lady of car magazines. Now, the iQ is either cute as a bug or as homely as a mud fence, depending upon your perspective. Either way the car headed to America will more aggressively styled than the concept that rolled out at the Geneva Motor Show last year while staying belligerently small and antagonistically frugal with fuel. And if you don’t like it, maybe you’ll like the version Aston Martin is cooking up. Just as everyone — including us here at Autopia — suspected, Toyota will slap a Scion badge on the iQ and give it the more aggressive styling that brand is known for. Small, and very, very easy on gas , the iQ has a unique 3+1 seating arrangement and is due on these shores in 2011 or 2012 according to MT . The iQ has over the past year been touted with a bunch of paltry engines, ranging from a fire-breathing 1.0-liter inline three-cylinder to a smoking hot 1.4-liter diesel four-banger. Now, you could fit something as big as a 1.6 liter engine in there, according to Chief engineer Hiroki Nakajima, but we’re not ones to, um, encourage such things. The iQ will also feature a mileage-enhancing stop-start system, and should get around a highly impressive 56 mpg. And bringing it in as a Scion makes sense for the American market. What makes less sense is the news that Aston Martin is getting its own version of the iQ. Yes, that Aston Martin, the people who make cars for the “shaken, not stirred” crowd. The Aston Martin making the $1.4-million One-77 . Aston’s version is called the Cygnet, and gets a very Aston looking nose treatment, as shown below, and is supposed to be “the world’s first luxury city car,” whatever that means. It’s just a concept at this point, but Aston says it could become reality “in the not-to-distant future.” Mechanically the Cyneyt will be the same as the ‘Yota, so don’t expect some Mullsanne burning velocities from this little chap. Still, if the clay mockup is any indication,the Aston Martin iQ will look a lot better than the Scion iQ. Main photo: Toyota. Second photo: Aston Martin

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Toyota iQ Gets A Scion Badge And Aston Martin Grille

Mind Power Moves Toyota Wheelchair

JohnHiemstra — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 03:05:04 +0000

Toyota Motor Corp. today unveiled its recent research controlling of powered wheel-chairs via “imaginary hand and foot control.” In other words, the simple thought of moving your left foot would turn your chair to the left and so on. The interface, strangely yet appropriately reminiscent of Dr. Xavier’s Cerebro helmet, reads brain-wave activity for the system to translate into wheelchair movement. With its sensor-laden electroencephalogram (EEG) helmet, developed at the Brain Science Institute – Toyota Collaboration Center (BTCC), the breakthrough technology uses methods known as Blind Signal Separation (BSS) and Space-Time-Frequency filtering, but we’ll spare you any more geek-speak. Think of it this way – Imagine you could squeeze out your thoughts, pour it through a strainer, pick out the important shiny bits while discarding all the web-surfing and your ex’s nagging to construct a coherent thought. That’s how it works. The existence of thought-controlled wheelchairs is nothing new, but the speed and accuracy of this bleeding-edge of technology is. While previous attempts could take an eternity of several seconds between thought and motion, Toyota claims system feedback within 125 milliseconds and up to 95 percent accuracy. Part of the secret is a neuro-feeback loop with a processor that learns the characteristics of any individual driver, allowing the system to self-improve the efficiency of command to action response. As the research is geared toward the use in rehabilitation and for physical and psychological support of users, Toyota’s official press-release earmarks this technology for markets centered on medicine and nursing care management. Toyota feels the best path forward includes increasing the number of system commands and development of more efficient dry electrodes. As for us here at Autopia, we believe the the best venue to fast-track R&D is the race track. Afterall, who could argue with triple-digit speeds, no steering wheel and an on-board camera?

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Mind Power Moves Toyota Wheelchair