eletric car

We are familiar with the better qualities of electric vehicles. They use alternative energy and leave less carbon footprints on the climate. But they are still not mass produced. They have many drawbacks and one has to find a remedy for such disadvantages. One of the hurdles in making them vehicles of masses is that they can’t be charged easily. They need lots of time to be charged fully. MIT students are trying to produce an alternative to fossil fuel driven cars. They are trying to build up a car that is clean and green but provides good competition to recent automobiles. They claim that their electric cars can be charged fully within ten minutes. Normally an EV vehicle takes overnight to get fully charged. Radu Gogoana is an undergraduate on the Electric Vehicle Team. He claims “Right now the thing that differentiates us [from car manufacturers] is that we’re exploring rapid recharge.” Each member is investing about 100 hours a week on the project called the eIEVen. The car is expected to be finished around the third quarter of 2010.

They are trying to achieve this feat with the help of a 2010 Mercury Milan hybrid and 7,905 lithium iron-phosphate batteries. Gogoana explains about the use of such batteries, “because they have very low internal resistance and they’ve also been on the market for about three years,”. The team’s press materials assured us that, “electrochemistry [of the batteries] is less volatile than that of other types of lithium-ion cells, which makes these batteries desirable in applications where crash safety is a high priority.”

They have designed a motor that is an oil-cooled, three-phase 187 kW AC induction motor from SatCon. This weighs 138 kilograms including its controller. This was initially intended for 15,000 kg electric buses. So when it was first installed in the 2,000 kg car in Milan it allowed the car to have a pick up from 0 to 60 in just 9 seconds and achieve a top speed of 100 mph at 12,000 RPMs. It should be noted that each ‘ten minute’ charge will give you a mileage of about 200 miles. This car will require a 350 kW of power to attain that ten minute charge time. But the good thing is that the vehicle can also use a regular means which would require an overnight charge. Gogoana opines, “That’s enough power [350 kW ] to blow the fuses on 20 residential homes at once.”

Currently some infrastructure is cropping up in USA for EVs. These initiatives are undertaken by some companies which are building charging stations nationwide. Currently USA can lay claim to 40 ChargePoint stations. The CT1000 ChargePoint can output 1.4 kilowatts, or 120 volts at 12 amps, but this will be useless for rapidly recharging MIT’s car. So if this car is going to be produced on a large scale it must be backed up by necessary infrastructure. Another obstacle that needs to be conquered is the cost of the battery array. Currently you have to pay $ 80,000. The MIT team is anticipating that cost barrier could be surmounted by mass production.

Nissan shows off electric car

Nissan Motor Co. showed off an electric car this week that could compete with local carmaker Tesla Motors’ proposed sedan.

Though Nissan’s Japanese rivals Toyota Motor Corp. and Honda Motor Co. have focused on hybrid cars with gasoline motors combined with electric power, Nissan hopes to catch up to them and jump ahead with this new prototype.

This car, called EV-11 for now, will be able to drive about 150 miles on a battery charge, and it will use some technology to add to the battery charge when the driver uses the brakes.

An onboard computer will show a map of places the car can reach on its remaining battery charge to help keep drivers from being stranded.

San Carlos-based Tesla hopes to bring its own electric sedan, called the Model S, to market in the United States late in 2011. Tesla, led by Elon Musk, is working with German car giant Daimler on battery technology and other electric car improvements, and Daimler has invested in Tesla. Daimler aims to start selling electric versions of its own popular tiny two-seater Smart cars, and it has been testing them in London.

Other carmakers, like General Motors, are also working on electric cars for the mass market.

Nissan has said it hopes to start selling this car in the United States and Japan by next year. It has kept the final appearance of the car under wraps, choosing instead to demonstrate the drive technology in the body of an existing Tilda hatchback sedan.

The new shape of the car will be shown in Japan later this summer.

Tesla has so far been selling only its high-end electric sportscar, the Roadster, which costs about $109,000 and is not aimed at the average driver. The Model S sedan will be pitched to people as an everyday car.

As Portugal invests in renewable energy, its government commits to a network of 1,300 recharging stations.

An electric car prototype is displayed to the media after a news conference in Tel Aviv, May 11, 2008. The head of an Israeli-backed electric car project estimated that its partner, the Renault-Nissan alliance, would likely invest $500 million to $1 billion in the swappable-battery electric cars. (Gil Cohen Magen/Reuters)

LAGOS, Portugal — It’s a hot summer weekend and the parking lots around Lagos marina are filling quickly with the BMWs, Range Rovers and Porsche SUVs of the Portuguese yachting set.

The scene is repeated across the sun-splashed Algarve coast, but a new government plan could make the gas-guzzling race to the south coast a thing of the past.

Prime Minister Jose Socrates is seeking to make Portugal a European trendsetter in green transport. In June, he launched groundbreaking plans for a nationwide network of recharging stations that would allow battery driven electric automobiles to cruise the highways.

By 2011, Socrates’ Socialist administration wants 1,300 stations around the country where environment-friendly motorists can plug-in their electric cars as part of a drive to “liberate Portugal from its dependency on foreign oil.”

The first station in the Mobi-E network opened in Lisbon on July 23. A hundred are due to be up and running by the end of this year and 320 should be in place in 2010. In the meantime Renault-Nissan says that Portugal will be one of the first markets for the launch of its electric vehicles in 2011.

The charging network is part of a wider Portuguese plan to switch to green energy that involves investments in wind-turbines, solar panels and wave farms. The plan takes advantage of the country's location on Europe’s sunny, but breezy, southwest tip.

Socrates’ motives are not purely ecological. Portugal has no domestic coal, natural gas or oil and has been forced to import most of its energy. By investing in renewables, Western Europe’s poorest nation is seeking to find cheaper energy alternatives for itself and to create a niche as an exporter of green technology.

Portugal already produces over one-third of its electricity from renewable sources, double the average of the 27 European Union nations. Socrates says the proportion will rise to 45 percent by 2010.

Near the southern town of Moura, Portugal has built one of the world’s biggest photovoltaic power stations. The world’s first commercial wave farm began producing electricity from the coast of northern Portugal last year. Hill tops and cliffs around the nation are covered by giant wind turbines, many operated by the power company EDP, Portugal's lead electricity supplier that has emerged as a world leader in wind technology.

“Portugal is a global leader in renewable energy. The next step is to make Portugal a pioneer in zero emission mobility,” Socrates said announcing the decision to create a web of recharging sites in gas stations, shopping malls, hotels, airports and parking lots.

Socrates hopes the state investment will encourage vehicle manufacturers to locate new production facilities in his country, which has been hit hard by the global recession.

Toyota, Honda Target Japan’s Women to Revive Interest in Cars

July 27 (Bloomberg) -- More than 300 young women, sporting curly chestnut brown-dyed hair, heavy make-up and manicured nails crowded into a Toyota Motor Corp. showroom, peering at a Prius hybrid, painted candy-apple red and decorated with rhinestones and heart-shaped pink stickers.

“I’m not really interested in cars,” said Erika Horiki, 23, wearing a cowboy hat, fringed boots and denim shorts. “But by making us think these cars are cute, it’s a step toward becoming curious.”

Cars have lost their “cool factor” in Japan among young people, contributing to a decades-long decline in sales. To attract women into showrooms, Toyota came up with the “DecoPrius,” inspired by the jewel-covered “DecoDen” mobile phones. Honda Motor Co. has enlisted the help of Cozy Tomato, a book and magazine illustrator, for story-telling events centered around cars for young mothers and their children.

“If we don’t challenge ourselves and do something that may seem weird, there’s no point,” said Tomio Tsukagoshi, a spokesman for Amlux Toyota Co., which manages the showroom on Tokyo’s Odaiba island. “We need to be attracting these types of people.”

Cars ranked 17th among the 25 most popular products and services among current university students, according to a survey by the Japan Automobile Manufacturers Association in March. Computers, clothes, portable music players, communication devices such as mobile phones and travel topped the list.

Cars ranked much higher, seventh, among survey respondents in their 40s and 50s who were asked to reflect on their preferences as college students, with the electronic devices ranking lower.

‘Kind of Embarrassed’

Toyota’s DecoPrius was also promoted by Shiho Fujita, 24, a celebrity entrepreneur and self-proclaimed “gyaru”, Japanese slang for chick. Her views on cars are what Toyota is trying to change.

“If I was with my friends and my boyfriend pulled up in a car to pick me up, I’d feel kind of embarrassed,” she said. The idea that having a car is cool “is kind of outdated.”

Neither the carmakers group nor the Japan Automobile Dealers Association breaks down sales by age group. Among women, 58 percent of college-age survey respondents said they have a drivers license, compared with 65 percent of 40- and 50-year olds when they were students.

Toyota gained 1.1 percent to 3,790 yen at the close of trading in Tokyo. Honda rose 2.8 percent to 2,745 yen.

Declining Demand

Demand for vehicles in Japan peaked at 7.78 million units in 1990 and is expected to drop to 4.3 million units this fiscal year, according to the carmakers’ group. A declining birth rate is part of the reason: Japan is the world’s most rapidly aging country, with more than one in five citizens older than 65 and the lowest ratio of citizens younger than 15. China surpassed Japan as the world’s second-largest auto market in 2006.

“Japan is becoming more and more of a mature market and public transportation is also well developed,” said Honda Motor Co. Executive Vice President Koichi Kondo in an interview.

About 90 percent of Prius buyers are men and about 70 percent of buyers are in their 50’s, according to Yoshiaki Kawano, an auto sales analyst at CSM Worldwide in Tokyo.

Not all women spurn cars. Miou Shirayama, a 37-year-old doctor and housewife, insisted her husband buy a Toyota Estima minivan to ferry around their three children.

Moms With Minivans

“If you have children, you need a car,” said Shirayama. “I have the right to make the final decision because in our household as in most families, women control the purse strings.”

At Honda, showroom staff are targeting mothers with Cozy Tomato’s illustrations, which are also used in books on child- rearing. The monthly story-telling event at its showroom in the Aoyama district in Tokyo explains the workings of the hydrogen- powered FCX Clarity fuel-cell vehicle.

Honda also caters to female tastes by offering ways to customize and decorate cars with items such as pink polka-dot seat covers.

The decline in car sales has forced Japanese automakers to reconsider the number of models and variations sold in the domestic market, compared with overseas.

Honda sells 28 models in Japan, compared with 18 in the U.S. and nine in China, the two biggest car markets. Toyota sells 59 models not including its Lexus brand in Japan, 17 in the U.S. and 19 in China. Nissan Motor Co., Japan’s third-largest automaker, sells 28 models domestically, 19 models excluding its Infiniti brand in North America and 11 in China.

Too Many Models

“I definitely want to cut down the number of models,” Hiroshi Kobayashi, Honda’s Japan sales head, said in an interview.

The company plans to eliminate some of the 10 models exclusive to Japan over the next five or six years, he said. The move would help Honda cut development costs, which run from under 10 billion yen ($105 million) per model to adapt an existing platform to over 50 billion yen for a luxury model, according Credit Suisse Group AG.

Carmakers don’t expect the market to ever return to the demand of 20 years ago. Fujita, the woman who doesn’t want her boyfriend to show up in a car, occasionally does drive herself when visiting friends in her hometown. However, her experience there is the ultimate in uncool for a hip Tokyo girl -- she borrows her dad’s minivan.

Driving Nissan's new electric car prototype

The car is based on a new electric vehicle platform that will be used in Nissan's upcoming production car

Nissan on Monday previewed its upcoming electric vehicle (EV) on Monday with the unveiling of its latest prototype and a new EV platform.

The prototype offers a taste of the performance that will be offered by a production electric vehicle that Nissan plans to announce this Sunday. While the body and interior will differ the core platform of the electric vehicle will be very close to that of the prototype. Nissan's production version will go on sale in Japan and North America in 2010 and should reach Europe in 2012.

The prototype is based on Nissan's Tiida car (Versa in North America, Latio in SE Asia), has room for 4 or 5 people and a top speed of just over 140kph, which is well over the speed limit in Japan and most other countries.

On a full charge it can travel at least 160 kilometers. That covers the typical daily distance driven by 98 percent of Japanese and British motorists, 95 percent of German drivers, 90 percent of those in France and about 80 percent of the average daily distance in the U.S. and China.

Nissan let me take it for a test drive around its track in Yokosuka, Japan, and it handles and performs just like you'd expect from a car in its class. With a few subtle exceptions, such as the battery indicator on the dashboard display panel, there are few clues it's an electric vehicle and that's perhaps the most impressive thing about the car. It's no Ferrari but it's also not a golf cart.

Coming out of a curve I put my foot down on the accelerator and the car took off quickly and easily reaching 100kph in a few seconds.

And it's very quiet -- so quiet that Nissan is considering adding simulated engine noise as a safety feature so pedestrians and other road users have an audible warning that it's approaching.

They key to its quiet running is, of course, the absence of a gasoline engine.

Under the hood is an 80kW electric motor connected, via an inventor, to a bank of Lithium Ion batteries that sit under the floor from the front to rear seats. The batteries are flat and thin laminated types and four of them are packaged in a battery pack, which is a large rectangular can. There are several banks of these cans under the floor.

A full charge of the batteries will take about 16 hours on a standard Japanese 100 volt home power supply but this time can be cut in half if connected to a 200 volt supply, which is available to home owners.

A quick charge station, supplied with an industrial 3-phase 200 volt supply, can recharge the car in just 30 minutes and Nissan envisages these will be built around town as part of a wider infrastructure to support electric vehicles. Around 100 quick charge stations are expected to be ready for the first electric vehicles in 2010.

In the test car sockets for both home charging and quick charging are hidden under the Nissan badge at the front of the car.

The company is also experimenting with a contactless charging system that uses induction between a charging plate on the street and one on the bottom of the car. The prototype EV doesn't have this system but Nissan demonstrated it on another car. The system charges the battery when the two plates are aligned so Nissan envisages these to be installed in parking bays.

MITSUBISHI CARS

Mitsubishi Galant

The Galant sedan grows up with a new design emerging in 2004 to mark a new generation for Mitsubishi's mid-size staple. Galant for 2004 is bigger than the previous version and amounts to one of the largest sedans in the mid-size segment. It has an expanded passenger compartment with ample space for five riders including significant legroom and shoulder room on the rear bench. And it looks glamorous with crisp yet curvy body forms and glittery headlamp and taillight clusters. Mitsubishi puts muscle aboard from four-cylinder and V6 powertrains. A base four displacing 2.4 liters has valve timing that's a mouthful of a name best crimped to the acronym of MIVEC, which stands for Mitsubishi innovative valve timing and lift electronic control. It rocks with 160 hp. A 3.8-liter V6 makes 230 hp and works with a Sportronic automatic. Two models use the four-cylinder engine and two carry the V6. An entry-level Galant DE has the four-pack plant and a four-speed automatic transaxle with disc brakes for all wheels, while Galant ES upgrades with a 270-watt audio system plus anti-lock brake system (ABS). Galant LS V6 uses the Sportronic automatic with a traction control system (TCS) as the GTS V6 has sporty suspension tweaking plus projector headlamps in the prow and leather hides covering seats in the cockpit.

Mitsubishi Lancer

The compact Lancer sedan first came ashore in North America in 2002 as upgraded replacement for Mitsubishi's unassuming subcompact Mirage sedan. It was bigger than Mirage and carried a larger and more powerful engine, with a more substantial structure supporting the slick exterior package and more sophisticated mechanical hardware aboard, plus luxury equipment standard in a rather cushy cabin. The enlarged structure - adding four more inches of length compared to the wheelbase for Mirage - elevated Lancer to the center of the compact class of imported sedans. Measure all of them and Lancer ends up with the longest body, while the expansive passenger cabin scores best-in-class legroom for front seats. Exterior styling looks strong and aggressive, with wheels pinned at corners to balance the stance. Body parts extend only briefly over front and back edges in the manner of racers as the two-step face and windshield tip backward to suggest swift movement. New sculpting of the front-end for 2004 shows the Mitsubishi signature grille front and center on the prow with new integrated bumpers and halogen headlamps at front corners. Mitsubishi casts Lancer in four editions this year including a new Ralliart trim with additional horsepower. Four trims draw from a 2.0-liter four-cylinder engine that nets 120 hp and connects to a five-speed manual or optional four-speed automatic. Lancer ES is the base issue, with luxury version Lancer LS adding equipment and Lancer O-Z Rally wearing sporty body additions inspired by rally racers. Lancer Ralliart draws on Lancer Evolution for styling and also carries more hardware, such as a taut-tuned suspension, sport bucket seats and larger disc brakes, and it gets more power too - 162 hp - with the 2.4-liter four-cylinder engine out of the Outlander wagon.

Mitsubishi Lancer Sportback

Take the Lancer notchback sedan and carve up a hatchback-style tail section with extra door and you'll get the idea for Mitsubishi's new five-door sport wagon. Compared to Lancer the sedan, there's more room inside with 42.3 cubic feet of space in the cargo compartment. It also has more power under the hood with a 2.4-liter in-line-four that nets 160 hp for Sportback LS and 162 hp for Sportback Ralliart. The LS has significant content in standard equipment, including automatic transmission and air conditioning, an audio package with CD deck, driver's seat with height adjustment, power for windows and locks and mirrors, and a remote keyless entry system. Sportback Ralliart upgrades with sporty suspension tuning, V-rated tires and ABS.

Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution

A street-legal version of Mitsubishi's hot new rally-racing sedan comes to America as the Lancer Evolution. Nicknamed 'Evo' in rally racing circles and on the Internet in aficionado chat rooms, the sport sedan looks ready to tear down the block with the bulging air scoop on the hood, curvy air dam up front, pontoon-style fenders, Enkei high-strength alloy wheels capped by Yokohama ADVAN high-grip tires, a carbon-fiber spoiler on the tail and the driver's-oriented cockpit fitted with bolstered Recaro sport bucket seats, leather-wrapped Momo three-spoke steering wheel and rally-style round gauges in the instrument panel with black faces and vivid red letters. There's a five-speed manual stick on the console ringed by trim that looks like brushed titanium. And to retard all of the power stoked below the Evo hood, there are four big Brembo brand ventilated disc brakes tied to four-channel ABS and electronic brake force distribution (EBD). But the heart of Evo is its power-pumping engine. The 2.0-liter four-in-line -- a turbo-charged and inter-cooled version of the 4G63 plant propelling every edition of the Lancer Evolution rally racer -- serves up 271 hp. Mitsubishi packages Evolution with a long list of standard equipment. It comes with air conditioning, power windows and door locks, keyless entry and 140-watt audio system with CD deck and six speakers. The carbon-fiber spoiler and a power sunroof are the only options.

Mitsubishi Eclipse

The racy hatchback coupe from Mitsubishi seems substantial and strong, but also gracefully sleek like a compressed bullet with sides squared and prow honed to a hard point. Eclipse for 2004 appears in trims of base RS, GS and GT plus GTS, with 17-inchers optional on GT and GTS. The 2+2 cockpit has flashy fabrics on sport seats for RS, GS and GT, while GTS gets leather. Two different engines drop into Eclipse. Mitsubishi's 2.4-liter four works in the RS and upgraded GS, reaching 147 hp with a manual transmission, or 140 hp with the automatic. Eclipse GT stocks a single-cam 3.0-liter V6. For GTS the plant runs up ten more points to 210 hp. A shifter stick on the console connects to either a five-speed manual or four-speed automatic.

Mitsubishi Eclipse Spyder

The convertible edition of Eclipse was engineered from the outset to work as a car without a coupe's superstructure -- it's rigid and stiff, which sets up some sporty road manners. Spyder's power-operated folding soft top lowers in seconds, with all movements controlled by dual electric motors sent into action by a single dashboard button. The exterior looks daring and aggressive like the coupe in geo-mechanical style. The 3.0-liter V6 is used on GT and GTS models and delivers 210 hp. A stubby shift lever, mounted on the console, connects to manual or automatic transaxles. Spyder GS continues with the single-cam 2.4-liter four rated at 147 hp for a manual transmission or 140 hp for automatic. Three new exterior colors come to 2004 issues (Machine Green, Torched Steel Blue and Steel Blue Pearl), as well as two new tints for the fabric-clad top (Sand Blast and Blue).

Honda

Performance, technology and value come together to make Honda Civic. Drivers like to get behind the steering wheel of Honda Civic and the passengers enjoy it. The car has a series of accoutrements with it, which satisfy the users’ urge for a highly competitive and efficient car. This mid-sized sedan is a prestigious asset for its owners.

Design and Interior
The vehicle has cockpit like split-instrument panel. It has three-spoked steering wheel, which adjusts for height and reach. Honda Civic has two independent displays for the speedometer and the tachometer. It has a 6-CD changer audio system that can play various formats. It offers audio controls in the rear-seat armrest, a feature that is very rare in cars of similar class.

The car has captivating features like redesigned front grille, dramatic steeply raked windshield, and new LX-S which features 16-inch alloy wheels, a rear decklid spoiler and black sport-trimmed interior. The car has Leather-trimmed interior (EX-L), New USB Audio Interface (EX, EX-L), and Honda Satellite-Linked Navigation System with voice recognition.

Variants and Price
The car is available in the variants of DX, DX-VP, LX, LX-S, EX, and EX-L. These cost $15,505, $16,255, $17,455, $18,055, $19,305 and $20,855.

Engine
The car is equipped with 1800cc engine that delivers 130 bhp at 6300 rpm, and a torque of 17.9 kgm at 4300 rpm. The car has MacPherson strut front suspension and 5-speed manual (26 city/34 highway) or 5-speed automatic (25 city/36 highway) transmission.

Safety
Honda Civic has state-of-the art safety features like ABS (Anti-Lock Braking System), EBD (Electronic Brake-Force Distribution System), and VSA (Vehicle Stability Assist). The standard anti-lock braking system (ABS) helps to maintain steering control during hard stops. Advanced Compatibility Engineering (ACE) body structure increases the vehicle's ability to absorb crash energy in frontal impacts with vehicles of differing sizes.

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Toyota Avensis 1.8 Valvematic Tourer

Toyota Avensis 1.8 Valvematic Tourer (2009) CAR review

By Steve Moody

15 December 2008 17:00

Do you have a handy mat for kneeling on in the garden? How about an all-in-one slipper for both your feet? Cantilevered ‘easy’ tongs for picking up leaves without bending down? Is the biggest thrill in your day the frisson of fear delivered by virtue of the Daily Mail’s latest doom-mongering?

No? Well then the chances are that you do not own the current Toyota Avensis either. It’s the sort of car owned by people who take food out of its packaging, and decant it into stackable Tupperware.

Uninspired, pedestrian and lacking in almost any ambition, the only notable feature of the old one was that it looked a bit odd, as though somebody had left it on the window sill in the hot sun, and the corners had melted.

But then faithful, dependable Toyota doesn’t really do exciting. It’s just not part of its plan, and it has a point - admittedly one that most CAR readers just won't get. There are a lot of Tupperware stackers out there, which is why it sells such a staggering amount of cars.

But Ford, Mazda and even Vauxhall have managed to take the humble saloon and do something fairly exciting with it. Perhaps the new generation Avensis will give suburbanites their morning thrill, without the need for stories about knife-wielding immigrants.

I love the sight of Anton Du Beke in his jumpsuit on hilarious TV programme ‘The Wall’. Will the Avensis’s aesthetics give me such a thrill?

Probably not. It seems more time has been spent on the names for the design language than the actual design, with such nuggets as Vibrant Clarity, J-factor, Perfect Imbalance, Freeform Geometrics and Integrated Component Architecture colluding to produce a car that looks rather like a cheap imitation of a Lexus, which of course is no surprise.

The headlights have an edgy, winged appeal while the grille has the chromed, manly strength of it luxurious cousin. But it looks like they’ve fitted the wrong-sized bonnet, with the rim finishing at half-mast somewhere back behind the lights.

The rear, of the saloon in particular, is bland. There’s a badge and some lights but it could be any saloon from the Pacific Rim.

As a design it is singularly unremarkable, perfunctory and delivering no surprises, no flourish and not a jot of joy: a car penned as a means to an end.