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A dozen of the contenders for the Progressive Automotive X Prize were on hand in the “Making Green Cool Zone” at SEMA 2009 in Las Vegas. I’ll keep the text short — you know by now that this is a competition to create a buildable, drivable car that gets 100 MPGe with a $10 million purse — so you can peruse the cars below.
These are your tax dollars at work, people. (Unless you live outside the U.S. But your tax dollars are doing something equally worthy, I’m sure.)
Let’s start with the electric vehicles: After Energy Secretary Steven Chu eliminated funding for hydrogen fuel from his budget, the Senate has reinstated it for the department’s 2010-2011 budget. Chu prefers straight-up battery electric vehicles for the future of greener transportation, but he says he’ll work with Congress on hydrogen fuel cell-powered electric vehicles.
Speaking of electric vehicles, you may have noticed that many of the EVs on the road today, especially neighborhood electric vehicles, have three wheels instead of four. Thanks to some heavy lobbying by Aptera and its three-wheeled brethren, Congress has extended research and development loans to manufacturers of safe, high-mileage vehicles, even if they are short a wheel.
Requirements for the loan:
Mercedes-Benz reported last week that several companies have partnered with the German government to set up a hydrogen infrastructure for electric cars with on-board fuel cells. The H2 Mobility initiative, as it’s called, will have a hydrogen fueling station network in place by 2011, they say.
Infrastructure has been a stumbling block for the clean-emissions hydrogen fuel vehicles. No one wants to buy a hydrogen-powered electric car if there’s no place to refuel it, but no one wants to install hydrogen fueling stations if there aren’t any cars to fill up. Germany has decided to end the stalemate by partnering with businesses like Daimler (Mercedes’ parent company) and Shell, plus the National Organization for Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Technology to expand the hydrogen fueling network by 2011, with further expansion and the introduction of consumer-ready hydrogen-powered EVs in Germany by 2015.
Mercedes announced that it will produce a small number of hydrogen-fuel call cars for real-world testing in Europe by the end of the year. The cars will be small, but not micro-sized like the company’s teeny Smart car.
Speaking of which, the electric-powered Smart cars that Mercedes promised will be in production by the end of 2009, too. Berlin will get to test them first, so hold on a little longer, EV enthusiasts, while the Germans work out the kinks.
Image of the Smart EV at the 2009 Detroit Auto Show by Kristen Hall-Geisler.
Norwegian Finance Minister Kristin Halvorsen has proposed to ban all gasoline-powered cars from Norway by 2015. Hybrid gasoline-electric cars would still be allowed, as would extended-range electric vehicles like the Opel Ampera (that’s Chevy Volt to us Americans). Biofuels would make the cut, too.
Halvorsen has no intention of busting down garage doors in the middle of the night to take away gasoline cars. The new rules, if enacted, would apply only to new cars sold in 2015 or after. Her idea is to push car companies to make cleaner-running cars, not to wreck the Norwegian economy–even though Norway is the sixth largest oil exporter in the world, according to Reuters. On the other hand, Norway is home to electric-car upstart Think.
Last month, the finalists for World Green Car were announced, and now we have a winner: the Honda FCX Clarity. It beat out the Mitsubishi i MiEV and Toyota iQ for the title at the 2009 New York Auto Show.
Currently, the hydrogen fuel-cell-powered Clarity is only available for lease in California. The i MiEV and iQ are available in Japan, though Mitsubishi’s little EV is hell-bent on global domination.
Past winners of the World Green Car have been:
Photo by Kristen Hall-Geisler.
Dozens of junior-level Mercedes-Benz employees and students in Germany worked together for a year to create the F-CELL Roadster project, a fuel cell-powered open car. The project was designed to give the trainees hands-on experience with developing alternative-fuel vehicles.
The spoked wheels of the design project reference the earliest Benzes of the late 1800s, while the seats are thoroughly modern carbon fiber with hand-stitched leather upholstery. It’s got a joystick in place of a steering wheel (a hallmark of any “car of the future” destined to never see production) and the fuel-cell system in the rear. The F-CELL has a top speed of 15 mph, but a range of over 200 miles.
It would be a miracle if the F-CELL ever reached the market, as it was intended as an in-house learning experience, but it’s just these kinds of projects that are going to expand the availability and viability of alternative fuels in the near future.
When automakers have a new technology, they like to test it in the real world with real drivers — who pay for the guinea pig privelege. A few dozen cars are built and leased to forward-thinking drivers, usually in L.A. Those people will try anything. The EV1 was a disastrous example of this; the Honda Clarity hydrogen vehicle a more successful one (so far).
Mazda is giving the guinea pigs a shot at its new hybrid minivan, the RX-8 Hydrogen RE, to corporate fleet customers in Japan. The RX-8 is Mazda’s rotary engine, which has in this instance been modified to use gasoline or hydrogen fuel at the flick of a switch. It’s the first leased vehicle in the world to be able to use either type of fuel, according to the company.
The three finalists for World Green Car of the Year have been announced, and while none of them are widely available, none of them are big surprises, either:
Only the Clarity is available in the U.S., and it’s only leased to a select few customer in certain markets. The i MiEV is sold in Japan, and the iQ is sold in both Japan and Europe. The iQ, in case you’re not familiar with this foreign-only car, is the size of a Smart ForTwo and a 1-liter gasoline engine that gets 55 mpg.
The New York Times “Wheels” blog notes that with such disparate fuels and production levels, it’s not exactly a level playing field. Nonetheless, a winner will be announced at the New York Auto Show, which is being held April 10-19.
Image of the Honda Clarity by Kristen Hall-Geisler.
I mentioned that the Mitsubishi iMiEV was one of the most popular cars to test drive on the basement track at the 2009 Detroit Auto Show. The other was GM’s Chevy Equinox SUV powered by hydrogen fuel cells. I waited my for turn at the wheel and did a few 10-mph laps with a GM rep in the passenger seat to fill me in on the technology.
The most notable thing was that the hydrogen-powered motor was as quiet as an EV, and drove like an EV, since it basically is an EV being powered by hydrogen rather than energy stored in, say, lead-acid batteries. GM has a fleet of these Equinox SUVs on the roads right now, and customers have asked engineers to leave in the “whine” on acceleration, rather than making the vehicle perfectly silent.
Though I couldn’t test it on the 700 feet of impromptu track inside the Cobo Center, the Equinox can do 0-60 in about 12 seconds, which is similar to a Prius. The hydrogen fuel generates zero emissions, and the current generation of the technology operates without any issues from -5 degrees Fahrenheit to 113 degrees. The next generation should be usable in “normal car range,” from -40 to 130 degrees.
GM has the largest fuel cell fleet in the world being tested by consumers right now. What we need is enough solid information from GM and its testers to break the chicken-or-the-egg fuel cell impasse that we’re at now: no one wants to build the cars without fueling stations in place, and no one wants to install the fueling stations without the cars.
Image courtesy of GM.
Oregon Public Broadcasting’s call-in show, “Think Out Loud,” was about the future of the automotive industry this morning. The program focused on the state of Oregon, and most of the guests and callers were from the state, but the show had a lot to say about where personal transportation is headed in the next decade for the entire U.S.
The show, which aired Monday, December 1, was called “A Sustainable Auto Industry.” Guests included John Viera, Director of Ford Sustainable Business Strategies; Mark Perry, Director of Product Planning for Nissan North America; a representative from Governor Kulongoski’s office; and an assistant professor at Oregon State University’s College of Business. So they had their bases covered.
Highlights of the show (though you should listen to the whole thing):
A lot of basic alternative-fuel questions were answered, like shifting emissions from the tailpipe to the smokestack, and the recyclability of electric-vehicle batteries. It’s a good listen for newbies and alt-vehicle veterans alike.
If you’ve been considering an alternative-fuel vehicle for your next car but were wondering where on earth to fill up, look no further than the U.S. Department of Energy. That’s right — the DoE has put together a handy web site where you can search for refueling stations for just about any kind of fuel except regular, ol’ gasoline:
It should surprise no one that California leads the way in most types of alternative fuel stations. E85 is huge in the Midwest, which is another no-brainer, but biodiesel is big in Georgia and the Carolinas, which I did not know. Texas has hundreds of propane filling stations, as anyone who watches “King of the Hill” would probably guess.
There is a ton of information on the Alternative Fuels and Advanced Vehicles Data Center, and it will be a valuable resource as more alternative-fueled cars come to market in the next four years or so. Bookmark it now, folks, and tell all your friends who love green cars.
October 4 is opening day at Mondial de l’Automobile, or the Paris Auto Show to most Americans. Europe has long had more small cars that get better gas mileage than what we can buy in the U.S., and a wider array of clean diesel cars. We can certainly expect to see more of these kinds of autos in Paris this year; the difference is that now we want them, too.
Here’s a list of debuts and concepts to look for at Mondial de l’Automobile as the reports start filling the blogosphere next month.
Debuts
Concepts
The Alternative Energy and Transportation Expo will roll into Santa Monica for the third straight year September 26-27, at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium. For the first time ever, the show will also set up camp in Texas, at the Austin Energy Alt Car Expo inside the Palmer Events Center October 17-18. Both events are free, free, free.
If you’re new to alternative-energy-powered vehicles, these events would be a good place to start. More than 150 exhibits will detail different fuels, such as hydrogen, hybrids, ethanol, electricity — both AC and DC — and even natural gas and propane. Experts will be on hand to answer any questions you may have, whether you’re an SUV driver thinking about driving greener or an engineer who converted his Porsche 914 to an AC motor.
Perhaps the most useful part of the expo is the Ride and Drive lot, where visitors can experience alternative fuels first-hand and evaluate their pluses and minuses from the driver’s (or passenger’s) seat. Seminars and panel discussions will be held during both weekends, featuring authors who’ve analyzed the future of the auto industry and movers and shakers from within the industry itself.
At a press event in Portland, Oregon, Dan Kapp, Ford’s director of powertrain research, said that the company has plans to become the number-one hybrid producer in the country next year. By adding hybrid versions of the Ford Fusion and Mercury Milan to the Ford Escape and Mercury Mariner hybrids already on the market, Ford will double the number of its hybrids on the road.
Kapp laid out Ford’s long-term strategy, from today to 2050. The company plans to migrate its advanced fuel-saving technologies, like hybrid systems and the new EcoBoost engine, across the product line by 2012, so at least a few Ford, Lincoln, and Mercury vehicles will get a little better gas mileage. By 2020, Kapp said Ford will fully implement current technology and begin to delve into more gasoline-electric hybrids, plug-in hybrids, and more. After that, the plan is to roll out hydrogen fuel-cell cars, biofuel-powered vehicles, and whatever other new technologies have developed by then.
Kapp was eager to point out the advantages of Ford’s new EcoBoost engine, which uses gasoline direct injection and turbocharging to raise fuel efficiency by as much as 20% and lower tailpipe emissions by as much as 15%. The physically smaller engine will be able to deliver the same or greater power as traditional Ford engines, and will be available first in the 2009 Lincoln MKS sedan.
Kapp pointed out that while Ford was not pursuing hydrogen-powered cars as quickly as Honda, nor was it chasing Chevy’s PHEV Volt with any conviction, it does have the first driveable hydrogen fuel-cell PHEV in the Edge HySeries. The fleet of 30 cars is still very much in the test stage, and Kapp noted that hydrogen fuel has “monumental infrastructure problems.”
When fielding questions about bringing clean diesel cars from Europe (answer: not any time soon), a fellow journalist mentioned that he ran his diesel-powered Ford truck on B99 every summer. Kapp nearly choked on his coffee when he heard that one of his trucks was being powered by 99% biodiesel a few months out of the year. I was surprised that he was surprised — he was in eco-conscious Portland, after all.
Nine auto manufacturers and a cadre of governmental and industry groups have put together the Hydrogen Road Tour ‘08 to showcase the clean fuel in 31 cities in 18 states. The caravan left Portland, Maine, Monday, August 13, and will reach Los Angeles Saturday, August 23.
The tour is a partnership of the U.S. Department of Transportation, the California Fuel Cell Partnership, the U.S. Department of Energy, and the National Hydrogen Association. Each of the nine manufacturers has one car in the 3,000-mile parade, except VW, which has two:
With only 61 operational hydrogen fueling stations in the entire country (28 of which are in California), you may wonder if they plan to drive cross-country on one tank of fuel. The answer is, “Sort of.” There are actually two giant tanks of hydrogen fuel following the fleet for topping up on the go.