After a series of safety-related recalls, the US House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform has issued a subpoena for documents relating to Toyota's handling of its alleged defects and safety recalls.
The Committee wants the documents in the possession of Dimitrious Biller, who served as the National Managing Counsel for Toyota's American operation from 2003-2007, [...]
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Toyota faces scrutiny from US Congress
sábado, 20 de fevereiro de 2010
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The future is uncertain: CAP says residual values of electric cars are up in the air
Filed under: EV/Plug-in, Green Daily
Plug-in vehicle proponent are confident that whatever up-front cost premium a plug-in vehicle might demand, a lot of the extra dough will be recoupable after the vehicle has reached the end of its life. Whether it’s to simply recycle the lithium or to repurpose the batteries for stationary energy storage, there are plenty of ideas on how to re-use that pricey pack.
How much, exactly, will those batteries be worth? UK research firm CAP, which bills itself as “the premier provider of used and future residual values data,” among other things, says that there is too much uncertainty about electric vehicles in general and that “reliable future residual value forecasting is currently impossible.” A few examples from CAPs press release:
- One of the major issues is that battery replacement costs threaten to render commercial electric vehicles in particular worthless after warranties expire.
- With some battery replacement costs mooted to approach the £10,000 mark it currently seems unlikely that a high mileage commercial vehicle in particular approaching the end of its warranty period will have any residual value at all.
To try and understand what an electric vehicle (EV) might be worth after being on the road for a few years, CAP is conducting a major review of EVs and will announce the results “as soon as sufficient reliable information is available.”
[Source: CAP via Earth2Tech]
The future is uncertain: CAP says residual values of electric cars are up in the air originally appeared on Autoblog Green on Sat, 20 Feb 2010 13:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Inside Line puts 2010 BMW X6 ActiveHybrid through its paces
sexta-feira, 19 de fevereiro de 2010
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BMW X6 ActiveHybrid - Click above for high-res image gallery
Remember those somewhat disappointing dyno figures that Inside Line recorded for the 2010 BMW X6 ActiveHybrid? Not that 368 horsepower and 402 lb-ft of torque is anything to sneeze at, but that’s far short of the 480 horsepower and 575 pound-feet of torque the German automaker claims, even accounting for drivetrain losses. At the time, the boys from IL promised to provide a full set of performance figures for BMW’s overweight crossover thing, and they’ve delivered.
So, how’d it do? The run from 0 to 60 took just 5.5 seconds while the quarter mile was dispatched in 13.6 seconds at 104.7 miles per hour. That’s pretty darn quick, but perhaps not quite up to the levels promised with such a prodigious power rating. Then again, the trucklet weighs in at a substantial 5,705 pounds and manages 17 miles per gallon in the city and 19 on the highway.
We had a little seat time in an X6 Hybrid a while back, and you can click here to read our comments shortly thereafter. Done? So, what do you think? Does the $90,000 BMW X6 ActiveHybrid meet your expectations? Feel free to sound off in the Comments.
Gallery: 2010 BMW X6 ActiveHybrid
[Source: Inside Line]
Inside Line puts 2010 BMW X6 ActiveHybrid through its paces originally appeared on Autoblog Green on Fri, 19 Feb 2010 19:49:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Volvo DRIVe game becomes Facebook favourite
Volvo's 'DRIVe Around the World' game has been named the most installed branded application and seventeenth most installed application on Facebook in 2009 after more than 63,000 teams took part in the virtual challenge.
The 'DRIVe Around The World' game challenged users to virtually drive a Volvo C30 DRIVe to a Facebook friend who lives [...]
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Cleaner, more efficient transportation infrastructure better for the environment economy
Filed under: Transportation Alternatives, Legislation and Policy
Finding the nexus where different groups - hardcore environmentalists and hardcore business-firsters, for example - share common ground isn’t always easy. Today, we think we’ve got one: smarter, greener transportation systems.
Thanks to Wired, we find a recent report issued by the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (ITIF) about the state of “intelligent transportation systems” (ITS) around the world, and the U.S. is - like in so many other areas - falling behind. The ITIF writes that these systems include:
new technologies that provide drivers with real-time information, such as transit routes and schedules providing information about delays due to congestion, accidents, weather conditions, or road repair work as well as a range of new devices such as computerized adaptive traffic signals that help to fully integrated intelligent transportation systems, tying vehicles, passengers, and devices together. If the United States were to adopt ITS, sitting in traffic at toll plazas, missing trains, unknowingly driving into dangerous conditions, and other pitfalls of getting around today will become ever rarer occurrences.
Not only are most of these benefits better for the environment, they also help the economy. Specifically, the ITIF calculates that having a robuts ITS in place could “contribute significantly to reducing congestion, which costs U.S. commuters 4.2 billion hours and 2.8 billion gallons of fuel each year, costing the U.S. economy up to $200 billion per year.” The ITIF called for an increase in federal ITS funding by $2.5 to $3 billion a year, and estimates that the money will be easily returned in economic benefits. For examplt:
If the United States were to implement a national real-time traffic information program, the GAO estimates the present value cost of establishing and operating the program would be $1.2 billion, but would deliver present value benefits of $30.2 billion, a 25 to 1 benefit-cost ratio.
You can download the PDF here.
[Source: Information Technology and Innovation Foundation via Autopia | Image: Seattle Municipal Archives - C.C. License 2.0]
Cleaner, more efficient transportation infrastructure better for the environment economy originally appeared on Autoblog Green on Fri, 19 Feb 2010 13:03:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Bentley introduces flex-fuel super sports convertible
quinta-feira, 18 de fevereiro de 2010
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Now this is a green car! Just a day after we announced that Lotus would be debuting a new, greener Elise model at the Geneva Motor Show (see article), now it is the turn of Bentley to offer a potentially show-stealing model of its own with a distinctly green theme.
The Bentley Continental Supersports Convertible (which [...]
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Video: Rinspeed shows off the future of motoring with the UC?
Filed under: Emerging Technologies, EV/Plug-in, Geneva Motor Show
Rinspeed UC? Concept - Click above to watch the video after the break
The future of automotive transportation, huh? Many so-called futurists have attempted to predict what we’ll all be driving five, 10 or even 15 years from now, but there seem to be more questions than answers. Will we even be driving at all? It would seem that Swiss design studio Rinspeed sees us piloting tiny little electrically operated vehicles from point A to point B, alongside teenagers that like to hang out in urban areas riding skateboards and jumping over obstacles. At least that latter part doesn’t sound all that different from today, right?
Moving on to more interesting things, namely Rinspeed’s awkwardly named and Geneva-bound UC? Concept, we see plenty of in-car communications and entertainment systems that apparently work along with the mobile phone in your pocket. Wait a second, is that a scratch? No worries! Just take out the handy-dandy color-matched BandAid in your pocket and you’re good to go!
Need to go farther than the UC?s (ugh, that name!) 65-mile range will allow? Simply pull into your special parking space in the city-to-city electric train, plug your car in for good measure, and you’re off with nary a care in the world. All that’s left is to tell all your BFFs about your day via the in-car Twitter interface. Isn’t technology grand? Click past the break to see for yourself.
Gallery: Rinspeed UC?
[Source: YouTube]
Continue reading Video: Rinspeed shows off the future of motoring with the UC?
Video: Rinspeed shows off the future of motoring with the UC? originally appeared on Autoblog Green on Thu, 18 Feb 2010 19:56:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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