Archive for the ‘Hybrid’ Category

The green limo: Audi A8 hybrid

March 9th, 2010 Shteph

The Audi A8 is the newest limo on the block and this is the A8 hybrid which aims to be the greenest in the segment. Shown at the Geneva show for the first time, the A8 hybrid’s drivetrain consists of two propulsion units – a 2.0 TFSI internal combustion engine and an electric motor – that develop a total output of 245 bhp and 480 Nm of torque. This enables a 7.6-second 0-100 km/h time and a top speed of 235 km/h, done in Transporter style coolness.

A hydraulically operated wet clutch links the TFSI with the electric motor (with 45 bhp and 211 Nm), which makes available its grunt from standstill. In the boot lies the Audi’s lithium-ion battery pack, which still leaves 400 litres of luggage space. Subsystems that operate on engine power in a regular car have been modified to run entirely on electric power in the A8 hybrid, such as the air-con compressor, electromechanical steering system and brake booster, all managed by a “pulse control inverter” system. All these will appear in the Audi Q5 hybrid, to be introduced later this year.

(more…)

Posted in Audi, Hybrid Tags: , No Comments »

Mercedes S400 Hybrid Debuts During Oscar Broadcast

March 8th, 2010 Shteph

Hyundai was the big kahuna sponsoring last night’s Oscar broadcast, but in a shocking upset, Mercedes may have walked off with the trophy for best performance by an automaker. Sure, the ad announcing the debut of the 2010 Mercedes-Benz S400 hybrid was bland, and it didn’t say much of anything about the car, but it showed beyond a shadow of a doubt that Mercedes knows its target market like the back of its hand. (more…)

Posted in Hybrid, Mercedes Tags: , No Comments »

Lotus Evora 414E Hybrid sounds very promissing

February 25th, 2010 Shteph

Lotus Evora 414 E Hybrid

The Lotus Evora 414E Hybrid Concept Car is a plug-in petrol-electric hybrid car in keeping with Hethel’s performance credentials: it’ll hit 60mph in ‘less than 4sec’. The range of the Evora hybrid testbed is said to be more than 300 miles.  This concept develops 414ps, so this is where the name comes from. Though it is a hybrid, it runs only on electric power. The ‘hybrid’ refers to the range-extending 1.2-litre three-cylinder engine, used only to top up the battery in the same way as the Chevy Volt.  

Apart from the very promissing performance figures, there are features that make the Evora really interesting: there’s a gadget to give the electric Evora the feel of a seven-speed transmission, and something called HALOsonic sound synthesis so you can make yourself heard when running on EV silent mode. The latter was developed in conjunction with Harman. (more…)

Posted in Auto Shows, Concept Cars, Hybrid, Lotus Tags: , , , No Comments »

Second generation Porsche Cayenne

February 25th, 2010 Shteph

Second generation Porsche Cayenne

Just a few days before the official unveiling from Geneva, Porsche had to reveal the press release, as pics and rumours have been hovering the net.

Porsche has put Cayenne to a weight-loss programme, for example the Cayenne S gets its weight down by 180kg over the outgoing model. The Cayenne platform’s wheelbase has been extended by 40mm and on the overall, the body is 48mm longer than the outgoing car. The range starts with the 3.6 liter V6 model, the cheapest entry into Cayenne ownership. Power has been upped to 300 horses, and while mated to the 8-speed Tiptronic S transmission, fuel consumption is down by 20% to 9.9 liters per 100km.

The model that spearheads the new range is apparently the Hybrid version, which is no slouch as it gets an “S” in its name. The Porsche Cayenne S Hybrid features a 333 horsepower supercharged V6 engine paired with a 34kW (47hp) electric motor. The car can run on electric power only at speeds of up to 60km/h and while cruising, the combustion engine may stay off and the car may just glide along until a maximum speed of 156km/h. (more…)

Posted in Auto Shows, Hybrid, Porsche, SUV Tags: , , No Comments »

Mercedes-Benz F800 for Geneva

February 20th, 2010 Shteph

mercedes-benz f800 style concept

Yet another carmaker has revealed pictures of its concept car that will be revealed at Geneva Auto Show: Mercedez-Benz F800. The new car previews the next-generation CLS and shows a completely new design line for the German brand. As a premiere, the car comes with a new concept for the rear doors which are sliders, not swingers, exactly like those features on the minivans.

Other features are the incorporation of two different electric drivetrains: one version of the F800 Style is a a plug-in hybrid with a V6 petrol engine mated to a 100 hp electric motor (Mercedes-Benz says that the car can run 18 miles in full-electric mode). The other version of the F800 Style is a pure electric vehicle powered by an on-board fuel cell.

Posted in Auto Shows, Concept Cars, Electric Cars, Hybrid, Mercedes Tags: , , No Comments »

Opel Flextreme GT/E

February 18th, 2010 Shteph

Opel Flextreme

The idea behind this concept, which will debut at the Geneva Motor Show, is to show how the Volt’s extended-range electric vehicle drivetrain can be used in a larger vehicle, in this case a mid-size five-door hatchback. So far, every vehicle shown by General Motors with an ER-EV drivetrain, including the Volt, Ampera and Cadillac Converj concept, has been compact in size. (more…)

Posted in Concept Cars, Hybrid, Opel Tags: , No Comments »

Super Hatchback Concept (SHC)

February 14th, 2010 Shteph

super hatchback concept

I’d say that the SHC stands for Strikingly Hot Car! It’s designed by Jamie Martin and it’s by far one of the most interesting, eye-catching auto body concept revealed so far. It’s just my opinion, of course. I can, also, think of some competitors, namely 2013 BMW, this year’s Kia Ray or Pininfarina’s Alfa Romeo Spider.

It’s a delicious combination of a supercar and a 3-door hatchback, completed by style and hopefully, performance. The concept car is available in a choice of three next generation powertrains, including an electric / hybrid option. The body is composed of 65% Steel and 35% aluminum used for front wings, bonnet and bumpers and 30% glass reinforced plastic can be used for designated sections. Other features include (more…)

Posted in Concept Cars, Electric Cars, Hybrid, Special, Super cars Tags: , No Comments »

Kia Ray – a ray of light

February 13th, 2010 Shteph

Kia Ray Concept

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: most electric or hybrid cars have funny looks, are two-seaters or have incredibly tiny back space. One all-electric car that impressed me at all aforementioned categories is Leaf. No it’t time for Kia’a Ray to show us (me and others that find electric/hybrid cars wacky looking) that low-emission cars CAN be fun looking at. I say nothing about driving experience yet…

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Posted in Auto Shows, Concept Cars, Hybrid, Kia Tags: , , No Comments »

Citroen DS High Rider Concept: Preeeeetty!

February 13th, 2010 Shteph

Citroen DS high Rider concept side

Just a couple of weeks before the official unveiling, Citroen revealed photos of  its second “DS badge” bearer – DS High Rider Concept to the public.

The French carmaker says the DS High Rider Concept is a four-seat coupe, but the car looks more like a three-door hatch. Outside, the DS High Rider is finished in gold paint with a roof covered in a coated textile material. Citroen says the latter is “a tactile feature of quality”. The show car rides on a unique set of 19-inch wheels. (more…)

Posted in Citroen, Concept Cars, Hybrid Tags: , , No Comments »

Lexus hybrid hatch: CT 200h

February 12th, 2010 Shteph

Lexus hybrid CT 200h hatch

Prepared for reveal at Geneva in just a couple of weeks, Lexus’ hybrid hatchback CT 200h  is a development of the Lexus LF-Ch concept that was revealed six months ago and features the second-generation Lexus Hybrid Drive technology.

Unfortunately,  there is just one teaser image hovering the internet, and also, not very many details have been unveiled to the public. What we can suppose is that the “200h” name means a 2.0l engine completed by an electric motor. Hopefully it will not be as CT 600h, which is actually powered by a 5.0 l.

Full details given in the skinflint press release after the jump.

(more…)

Posted in Auto Shows, Hybrid, Lexus Tags: , , No Comments »

2011 Volkswagen Touareg

February 11th, 2010 Shteph

2011 Volkswagen Touareg

Unveiled a couple of weeks earlier than Geneva Motor Show, Touareg doesn’t catch your attention at the first sight, as there aren’t many changes to its exterior dimensions. What is obvious is the more sculpted sides and latest VW trend for the horizontal lines to the face that was adopted for 2011 Touareg, too.

Like any revived model, there had to be some figures modified, too. And there are: fuel efficiency was improoved by the redesign and weight reduction – the new base Touareg is now nearly 460 pounds lighter than its predecessor. Of course, there have been made some engine tweaks, too. (more…)

Posted in Hybrid, SUV, VW No Comments »

GM promises Rear-Wheel Drive Hybrids

February 8th, 2010 Shteph

general motors

General Motors has big plans for the future, like becoming the first major automaker in the U.S. to design and manufacture its own electric motors for future hybrid and plug-in hybrid models, as it announced it was expanding its in-house electric vehicle development capabilities. (more…)

Posted in General Motors, Hybrid, News Tags: , No Comments »

Focus RS Club and hybrid RS

February 4th, 2010 Shteph

 

Nothing else to add to “Focus RS Club”. No adjective can properly describe this  hatch. It would take a whole 1000-something-word essay to cover all the good things about Ford’s goodie.

Moreover, Ford is on the verge of launching an even hotter version of RS, namely RS Clubsport, as well as an all new RS model based on the next generation Ford Focus that was unveiled in Detroit at the North American International Auto Show. (more…)

Posted in Ford, Hybrid, News Tags: , , No Comments »

BMW-erminator

January 29th, 2010 Shteph

“I’m a sophisticated drop-dead sexy robot sent back through time to change the future for one lucky oof-bird!” Nothing more appropriate could come to my mind when looking at 2013 BMW  Vision EfficientDynamics concept. 

Here, let me explain myself: BMW will keep the radical plug-in hybrid powertrain, which develops 356 horsepower and 590 pound-feet of torque in the concept. Translated, it means a turbocharged three-cylinder diesel range extender and twin electric motors powered by a lithium polymer battery pack that was featured in Frankfurt. High-tech composites and construction techniques keep it under 3,000 pounds, meaning that it will go from 0 to 60 in less than 4.8-seconds.

Don’t you just feel like fawning upon it and purring? Like this: Purring

Photos after the jump! (more…)

Posted in Auto Shows, BMW, Concept Cars, Hybrid, Pics, Special, Super cars Tags: , , , No Comments »

You can’t teach an old pony new tricks

January 28th, 2010 Shteph

 

This hybrid-eco-electric frenzy has swallowed up every carmaker segments from hatchbacks to sports car to big trucks. I know it’s a trend, I know y’all try to save the planet, but leave the hell alone the legends! Electric Mustang? I bet my cell-phone would have better battery autonomy. So what should I do? Stop at every 100 miles and wait for 2-3 hours to recharge it? Hybrid Ferrari? Get real, people! You can’t teach an old dog pony new tricks! Muscle cars, sports cars…these automatically trigger the idea of gasoline-powered peppery engines, not environment-friendly-5-year-old girly cars. I could imagine Schumacher queing at a race to “fill up” his runner. (more…)

Posted in Auto Shows, Ferrari, Hybrid Tags: , , , No Comments »
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