Eco Cars: Reconnoitre – Hybrid car assures better mileage with a lightweight body

When it comes to cars, lightweight is the key to better fuel economy. The ever rising prices of fuel and the demand to go green have tempted designers to develop cars that are light in weight and reduce the use of fossil fuels to a minimum. Reconnoitre is one such car that utilizes its carbon fiber body to get the most out of the precious drops of fuel burning in its diesel-electric reverse hybrid engine.

The car has been designed for the city of Boston where parking a luxury sedan can prove to be a nuisance. The hatchback design of the car reduces the amount of boot space but makes sure that the car can easily be driven in congested roads. Reconnoitre comes with a hybrid engine that uses lithium-manganese spinel batteries that last over 40 years before needing a replacement. The car has can fit 4 people with a fold flat rear bench. Apart from a carbon-fiber body the car is designed to have a height adjusting suspension system that promises a comfortable ride on all road conditions.

The Dark Side:
The carbon-fiber body will result in better mileage. However, adding the cost of carbon-fiber and lithium batteries to the already expensive diesel engine the car would be out of reach of most people who would otherwise love to go green.

Via: Local-Motors

Eco Cars: Reconnoitre – Hybrid car assures better mileage with a lightweight body

When it comes to cars, lightweight is the key to better fuel economy. The ever rising prices of fuel and the demand to go green have tempted designers to develop cars that are light in weight and reduce the use of fossil fuels to a minimum. Reconnoitre is one such car that utilizes its carbon fiber body to get the most out of the precious drops of fuel burning in its diesel-electric reverse hybrid engine.

The car has been designed for the city of Boston where parking a luxury sedan can prove to be a nuisance. The hatchback design of the car reduces the amount of boot space but makes sure that the car can easily be driven in congested roads. Reconnoitre comes with a hybrid engine that uses lithium-manganese spinel batteries that last over 40 years before needing a replacement. The car has can fit 4 people with a fold flat rear bench. Apart from a carbon-fiber body the car is designed to have a height adjusting suspension system that promises a comfortable ride on all road conditions.

The Dark Side:
The carbon-fiber body will result in better mileage. However, adding the cost of carbon-fiber and lithium batteries to the already expensive diesel engine the car would be out of reach of most people who would otherwise love to go green.

Via: Local-Motors

Intel Inside (Your Electric Car)?

Intel's former chairman Andrew Grove is exerting considerable pressure on the company to explore the world of car battery production. Grove feels that the promising industry will bloom into a huge profit center, and as such is pushing Intel hard in this direction.

Currently, the most promising (and capable) suppliers for electric, E-REV, and hybrid vehicle batteries are located in Japan. There are a few American upstarts, such as firm A123 Systems who is helping GM with development of the 2011 Chevrolet Volt, but they represent a very small portion of the total of electric battery production capacity.

The current economic crisis poses a considerable challenge to Intel if it wants to join the electric battery fray; the firm's sales have dropped 12 percent from the third to the fourth quarter of 2008. But if electric, E-REV, and gas/electric hybrid vehicle sales take off in the U.S., Grove's gamble might prove extremely profitable.--Colin Mathews


[source: Kicking Tires via The Wall Street Journal]
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Intel Inside (Your Electric Car)?

Intel's former chairman Andrew Grove is exerting considerable pressure on the company to explore the world of car battery production. Grove feels that the promising industry will bloom into a huge profit center, and as such is pushing Intel hard in this direction.

Currently, the most promising (and capable) suppliers for electric, E-REV, and hybrid vehicle batteries are located in Japan. There are a few American upstarts, such as firm A123 Systems who is helping GM with development of the 2011 Chevrolet Volt, but they represent a very small portion of the total of electric battery production capacity.

The current economic crisis poses a considerable challenge to Intel if it wants to join the electric battery fray; the firm's sales have dropped 12 percent from the third to the fourth quarter of 2008. But if electric, E-REV, and gas/electric hybrid vehicle sales take off in the U.S., Grove's gamble might prove extremely profitable.--Colin Mathews


[source: Kicking Tires via The Wall Street Journal]
---

Make sure you check out our partner sites dedicated to focused news, reviews and more for Ford, Chevrolet, Toyota, Honda, and the Toyota Prius.

Turn your car into a hybrid electric for $4,550

Getting the shoulda/coulda/wouldas over hybrid vehicles? Now you can convert any conveyance with 15-inch wheels or larger into an electric engine-assisted greenmobile. Danish engineer Ulrik Poulsen created these aftermarket attachments he calls the Poulsen Hybrid, and when you bolt one onto each of a car's two drive wheels, they provide the 10-15 horsepower needed for 70-85% of normal driving. The car's gasoline engine provides the other 15-30%, needed for stops, starts, and acceleration.

It'll cost you $4,550 (for the lead acid battery model) to have a pair of these power boots installed on your car, or a stiff $8,600 for the ones with lighter lithium ion batteries on board. Funny that they show a Honda Civic in these photos — that $4,550 add-on price is pretty steep, considering that a stock Civic Hybrid costs only around $2,000 more than the conventional gas-fueled Civic sedan.

By the way, you could just get a Civic Hybrid to begin with, which garners you a sweet $425 tax credit (until December 31, 2008) for its hybrid-ness, and is available in that exact same attractive blue color you see above.

Treehugger, via CrunchGear

Turn your car into a hybrid electric for $4,550

Getting the shoulda/coulda/wouldas over hybrid vehicles? Now you can convert any conveyance with 15-inch wheels or larger into an electric engine-assisted greenmobile. Danish engineer Ulrik Poulsen created these aftermarket attachments he calls the Poulsen Hybrid, and when you bolt one onto each of a car's two drive wheels, they provide the 10-15 horsepower needed for 70-85% of normal driving. The car's gasoline engine provides the other 15-30%, needed for stops, starts, and acceleration.

It'll cost you $4,550 (for the lead acid battery model) to have a pair of these power boots installed on your car, or a stiff $8,600 for the ones with lighter lithium ion batteries on board. Funny that they show a Honda Civic in these photos — that $4,550 add-on price is pretty steep, considering that a stock Civic Hybrid costs only around $2,000 more than the conventional gas-fueled Civic sedan.

By the way, you could just get a Civic Hybrid to begin with, which garners you a sweet $425 tax credit (until December 31, 2008) for its hybrid-ness, and is available in that exact same attractive blue color you see above.

Treehugger, via CrunchGear

Honda: The Automaker Major Promises Perfection

Honda has carried the responsibility of being the biggest automobile manufacture for long time. They succeeded in reserving a civilization of sturdy manufacturing and constant improvement.
But there do occur situations when the traditions blind judgment creators from observing precisely in facade of the watch.

Honda has a story to tell about the Acura ASC. It was absolutely a footstep away from the thinking of variability and effectiveness that the NSX had.
After completing the manufacturing of the hybrid form, Honda demonstrated the not stimulating small hybrid conception in Geneva. Honda’s fashioning division is going all the way through a number of down days at the present. But we do expect the Japanese auto giant to make a big and speedy come back. The merchandise planners are the full-size problems.

Honda lost the spot in the fusion commerce by slender margins of impending because of common sense. Honda advertised Acura ASC as a winter sports automobile, but it was seen as not an improved usual undersized car.

Honda then brought out an improved hybrid V6 engine of Honda Accord, a V6 locomotive with 244 hp power. The car with four cylinders provides 166 hp of supremacy. These developments were gained by the widespread modifications that the car passed through in its ingestion and exhaust arrangements.

The Honda Accord fusion came out with a 253 hp engine, 3.0 Liters, V6 locomotive and a superior battery. It is effortlessly distinguished from the normal Honda Accord with its features including back radiance clusters, the antenna, the wheel plan, and the mirror twist indications.

Honda is considered as the globe’s major automobile producer of locomotives with its supreme quality, performance and reliability. Honda motor vehicles are seen coming out reproduced in the components from which they are constructed. Honda, with this procedure promises that it will perform the task at its favorable presentation level while serving the toughness and dependability expected from Honda.

Honda: The Automaker Major Promises Perfection

Honda has carried the responsibility of being the biggest automobile manufacture for long time. They succeeded in reserving a civilization of sturdy manufacturing and constant improvement.
But there do occur situations when the traditions blind judgment creators from observing precisely in facade of the watch.

Honda has a story to tell about the Acura ASC. It was absolutely a footstep away from the thinking of variability and effectiveness that the NSX had.
After completing the manufacturing of the hybrid form, Honda demonstrated the not stimulating small hybrid conception in Geneva. Honda’s fashioning division is going all the way through a number of down days at the present. But we do expect the Japanese auto giant to make a big and speedy come back. The merchandise planners are the full-size problems.

Honda lost the spot in the fusion commerce by slender margins of impending because of common sense. Honda advertised Acura ASC as a winter sports automobile, but it was seen as not an improved usual undersized car.

Honda then brought out an improved hybrid V6 engine of Honda Accord, a V6 locomotive with 244 hp power. The car with four cylinders provides 166 hp of supremacy. These developments were gained by the widespread modifications that the car passed through in its ingestion and exhaust arrangements.

The Honda Accord fusion came out with a 253 hp engine, 3.0 Liters, V6 locomotive and a superior battery. It is effortlessly distinguished from the normal Honda Accord with its features including back radiance clusters, the antenna, the wheel plan, and the mirror twist indications.

Honda is considered as the globe’s major automobile producer of locomotives with its supreme quality, performance and reliability. Honda motor vehicles are seen coming out reproduced in the components from which they are constructed. Honda, with this procedure promises that it will perform the task at its favorable presentation level while serving the toughness and dependability expected from Honda.

Eco Cars: EVA – Aerodynamic hybrid vehicle betters speed, range and efficiency

Eco Factor: Hybrid vehicle powered by lithium polymer batteries.

Electricity alone cannot provide the speed and distance we require sustaining our lives in future. Hybrids can take over conventional fossil fuel vehicles without making us too slow in the process. Cobus Marx has designed a futuristic vehicle called the EVA (Electric Vehicle Africa) that can carry two passengers on its three wheels and a hybrid engine.

The vehicle enhances the possibilities of a cost-effective alternative approach to a personal transport vehicle. The vehicle is based on the future needs of the urbanized user who needs extended range at a high speed to travel long distances when needed. The vehicle’s specifications needed it to be extremely aerodynamic, which the designer accomplished by a height adjusting air suspension system.

When the vehicle is stationary the suspension is at its maximum height enabling the commuters to get in and out of the vehicle easily. When the car is running at a high speed the suspension drops down taking the car as close to the road as possible.

Large door handles of appropriate shape and diameter will help the user open and close the door with ease if the car has been parked in a congested space. The body of the car has been designed in a fashion to reduce drag at high speed, which again helps in increasing the efficiency of the car.

 EVA is powered by a conventional 250CC, two-cylinder, four stroke engine generating 16 KW. This engine is coupled with a Li-ion polymer powered electric motor which generates an additional 120KW. Running on electricity the car has a range of 400 km at a top speed of 160 km/h, which can be enhanced by running the gasoline engine simultaneously.

The Dark Side:
The car can carry two passengers. With the growth in population, cars which can carry more and more people are likely to attract more customers in future. The ever increasing cost of fuel has already attracted many people to commute on shared basis. In such a time a car with two seats is unlikely to comply with the demands of the future.

Eco Cars: EVA – Aerodynamic hybrid vehicle betters speed, range and efficiency

Eco Factor: Hybrid vehicle powered by lithium polymer batteries.

Electricity alone cannot provide the speed and distance we require sustaining our lives in future. Hybrids can take over conventional fossil fuel vehicles without making us too slow in the process. Cobus Marx has designed a futuristic vehicle called the EVA (Electric Vehicle Africa) that can carry two passengers on its three wheels and a hybrid engine.

The vehicle enhances the possibilities of a cost-effective alternative approach to a personal transport vehicle. The vehicle is based on the future needs of the urbanized user who needs extended range at a high speed to travel long distances when needed. The vehicle’s specifications needed it to be extremely aerodynamic, which the designer accomplished by a height adjusting air suspension system.

When the vehicle is stationary the suspension is at its maximum height enabling the commuters to get in and out of the vehicle easily. When the car is running at a high speed the suspension drops down taking the car as close to the road as possible.

Large door handles of appropriate shape and diameter will help the user open and close the door with ease if the car has been parked in a congested space. The body of the car has been designed in a fashion to reduce drag at high speed, which again helps in increasing the efficiency of the car.

 EVA is powered by a conventional 250CC, two-cylinder, four stroke engine generating 16 KW. This engine is coupled with a Li-ion polymer powered electric motor which generates an additional 120KW. Running on electricity the car has a range of 400 km at a top speed of 160 km/h, which can be enhanced by running the gasoline engine simultaneously.

The Dark Side:
The car can carry two passengers. With the growth in population, cars which can carry more and more people are likely to attract more customers in future. The ever increasing cost of fuel has already attracted many people to commute on shared basis. In such a time a car with two seats is unlikely to comply with the demands of the future.