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Potential benefits of biofuels seem obvious with a reduced carbon footprint being a key reason. But, as we've covered in the past, alcohol fuels such as ethanol can also increase the performance of an engine if the engine is optimized properly. Saab realizes this fact and is considering implementing the idea for future powertrains.
The use of turbocharging can help take advantage of an engine running on ethanoland Saab has a history of force-feeding mass quantities of air into their engines. This being the case, it's not hard to understand why they might be interested in lowering the emissions of their engines by combining E85 capability with turbocharging. In so doing, they can actually reduce the displacement of the engine while still making the desired amount of power. They believe that this may be a short-term way to meet new emissions requirements while still delivering the driving experience that their customers desire. Saab sees hybrids as a potential long-term solution, but they are not yet ready to get one into production.
One might question, though, is whether or not Saab's intended market is ready to concede that small-displacement four-cylinder engines can be just as worthy in a sporty entry-level luxury car, no matter how much power they might produce.
The world has known about a possible compact-sized Saab since early September. Since then, there has been talk of the compact car getting a hybrid drivetrain. No official word is out yet on the matter, but Swedish publication NyTeknik is reporting that the compact will go on sale after 2010 and will be available with a hybrid drivetrain from day one. If the article is correct, the new Saab will be the 9-1 and will use the same platform as the Opel and Saturn Astra. That's the Delta platform, which is the same platform which is expected to underpin the Chevy Volt.
While we've already reported that the Volt -- if it is indeed produced -- will be made in Detroit, but maybe other Delta hybrid models will be built elsewhere, like in Saab's plant in Trollhättan, Sweden. In fact, Saab would like to built all of the hybrid models based on the Delta platform at their plant. Other interesting tidbits from the article are that the Saab team of engineers want the platform to support gasoline, E85 and diesel engines. They also have developed a second motor to power the rear axle (maybe like what they've already shown here), potentially offering all-wheel-drive. Take a look over at Trollhättan Saab to read a translated version of the article. Could we see a turbocharged, Biopower ethanol capable, all-wheel-drive Saab 9-1 hybrid in America? We'll just have to sit back and wait. Feel free to speculate away in the meantime!
I'm starting to consider Saab's series of interviews a sort of the high-class, glossy magazine of promo materials. Just look at the professionally-done photography that accompanies interview No. 2, which features Kevin McCloud. So much better than a graphics-free press release.
Anyway, everyone probably recognized the first interview subject in this series, Sir Richard Branson. But who is Kevin McCloud? He's an architect-turned-environmentalist known more in the UK than here in the U.S., as he is on Channel 4's 'Grand Designs' there. For his sit-down with Saab, he talked about ways he's greened up his home and lifestyle, including installing a biomass boiler and growing his own vegetables. Conveniently, he drives a Saab BioPower car on E85. He also envisions the possibility of a one-fuel future many decades from now. In the meantime, all of the possibilities will duke it out to see what is the best for our long-term sustainability and availability. You can read the full interview here.
At the GM Powertrain technology show, they offered up a new 2008 Saab 9-3 equipped with a two-stage turbocharged 1.9L Family B diesel engine. The engine is another example of modern common rail injection diesel engines. As with all diesels, the engine exhibited no shortage of torque which is the performance parameter that really matters to the vast majority of drivers.
The engine proved to be strong and flexible at both highway speeds and in simulated urban driving. There was no noticeable turbo lag and stepping on the accelerator resulted in immediate response. The engine was as smooth and quiet as a good gasoline engine with no shaking or rattling. The engine has a particulate filter in the exhaust stream but otherwise doesn't meet current US NOx emissions standards. That would require the addition of urea injection or some other treatment system. Unfortunately, GM has no current plans to offer this engine in the US market although that could change if other upcoming diesels do well in the market.
The updated 2008 9-3 is something we will be seeing in the US market this fall. The updated face draws inspiration from the Aero-X concept and has a much more aggressive look than the previous model. The clear lens tail-lights are starting to become a cliche but the overall look is clean and attractive. The driving route was too short to really properly evaluate the ride and handling but the first impression was good and we look forward to a more thorough review of the new 9-3.
Inhabitat is a blog that focuses on design and innovation and they've decided to compile a list of their five sexiest sustainable sports cars. Traditionally sports cars have not been equated with green motoring, but in the past couple of years a lot of new entries have popped up, many strictly in concept form and others destined for production. Number five on Inhabitat's list is the ethanol fueled Saab Aero-X concept with position four being occupied by the super rare and expensive battery powered Venturi Fetish. Head over to Inhabitat to check out the top three.
Saab pride! Even if you own a Ford or Chevy, you tend to have a sense of pride in the brand, or at least would flat-out refuse to set your left cheek in the driver's seat of your competitor's brand. Therefore, as a Saab owner, I get excited to hear any nifty tidbit of information about the brand, and here's some good news.
With the 9-3 and 9-5 BioPower models being sold in 2006 and 2007, Saab now has a 38 percent market share in the alternative fuel vehicle segment. Last year they sold 11,000 BioPower models, and have sold over 7,000 so far this year in Sweden alone.
Saab is playing a leadership role in promoting E85 and increasing its availability. They have low CO2 emissions across the range, and in fact, according to this video, Richard Hammond ("The Hamster" of Top Gear) says the catalytic converter in the 9-3 is so advanced, that the air coming out of the tailpipe is cleaner than that going in the intake in an urban environment. How about them apples?
Jeremy Clarkson and his team at the BBC car show Top Gear did a green episode. One of the segments had co-host Richard Hammond evaluating a Saab 9-3 while trying to follow the British government's guidelines for greener driving. Of course Jeremy and Richard take on green driving in their usual snarky and sarcastic style. They particularly like to poke fun at the bus lanes that exist on many London roads which seem to mainly sit empty while traffic crawls along in the adjacent lanes. The video is after the jump.
[Source: Top Gear via Hugg, thanks to Linton for the tip]
As this weekend's Festival of Speed there's a new attraction that gets away from the speed and focuses a bit more on the green. Created by Clean Green Cars, the FoS-TECH exhibit brings together a slew of cars we love here at AutoblogGreen and puts them in one area at the same time. If you're going, and have pictures you'd like to share, you know how to contact us...
Jay Nagley, the publisher of Clean Green Cars, explained FoS-TECH this way: "Goodwood is the perfect venue to present the future of green motoring. The debate about cars and the environment has been far too polarized in the past, with extremists on one side trying to ignore green issues and extremists on the other side portraying the car as irredeemably evil. FoS-TECH shows how cars can and will radically improve their environmental performance."
No doubt. Just check out this list of vehicles that will be on display at FoS-TECH this weekend, (descriptions courtesy of Clean Green Cars). Click on the highlighted names for pictures and more information from the ABG archives.
Tesla Roadster – Lotus-based electric sports car now on sale in California
The new Saab 9-3 is arriving at European dealers after the summer and it includes a couple of very interesting options for cleaner driving: an improved Ecopower and a powerful diesel.
The 2-liter Biopower, able to run with E85 has improved power to 200 HP (175 for the previous version) and torque gets a significant upgrade, 300Nm (221 lb/ft). The improvement in power is derived from a new engine management system which controls throttle position, injection and turbo pressure which optimises (or so it's claimed) the fuel mixture that arrives to the combustion chamber.
In the diesel field, Saab has created a new version of the 1.9 TTid with two turbos good for 180 HP. The first one boosts power in the lower rpm range whereas the second kicks in gradually from 1500 to 3000 rpm for higher performance (and less mpg). The announced torque between 1850 and 2750 rpm is 400 Nm (295 lb/ft) - It also makes 0-60 mph in 8.5 seconds. Mileage is near 40 mpg (European combined cycle) and emissions are 159 CO2 g/km.
Will these options be available in the US? As always with European cars, it will depend on their sales previsions and emissions tests, which are different. But GM has good clean technology ready in Europe.
Click on the photo for high-res images of Prince Charles checking out the new Saab
Tiring of waiting for his mum to hand over the top job in the family, Britain's Prince Charles has in recent years taken up causes like architecture and the environment. In advance of the London-to-Brighton eco-car rally which is taking place today, World Environment Day, the Prince of Wales took time to check out a new BioPower Saab recently.
The Prince drove the ethanol-fueled Saab 9-3 convertible and then chatted with Saab GB managing director Jonathan Nash about the new car. Charles had already had his Jaguars and Land Rovers set up to run on biodiesel and was very interested in the ethanol-powered ragtop Swede.
The Saab BioPower 100 is the first production-based turbo engine optimized for pure eco-friendly bioethanol (E100) fuel operation. SAAB is already selling E85 vehicles in Europe but sells none in the US. This concept car goes a step further. It has taken its 2.0 liter turbocharged engine rated at 150 HP and reworked so it produces 300 HP on E100. Imagine, spend $3 a gallon for gasoline and you get 150 HP. Move over to the ethanol (E100) pump and you add another 150 HP (slightly less with E85).
It seems to me that the SAAB sales "demographic" (college profs, skiers, teachers, librarians, et al.) are mostly concentrated on the coasts, mainly the northern coasts. But the majority of the 1100+ E85 stations are in the Midwest. Is it just me, or does one see a potential to link introduction of SAAB BioPower vehicles in the Northeast with a cooperative agreement for about 20 E85 stations between Philadelphia and Boston? I mean 300 BHP out of a 2-liter engine in a SAAB might create some BioFun to go with the BioPower.
Richard Branson is familiar to anyone who follows biofuel news or the hairstyles of millionaires. This week, Saab UK sat down with Mr. Virgin for a talk about biofuels, hydrogen and more. Here are my five favorite bits:
"I am in the lucky position of owning some profitable transport businesses and I feel it is the right thing to invest those profits over the next 10 years in helping to develop the future for those businesses."
"[Biofuels] could be a great boost for some African economies."
"I think biofuel could be 20% of all fuel used in Europe and the US by 2020.
"I have been looking very hard at the carbon footprint that I produce as an individual and I am currently working on making my home - Necker Island in the Caribbean - which is also a private tourist resort into the first carbon neutral island in the Caribbean. We are in the process of converting entirely from traditional power production there to wind and solar power."
"There are some businesses that can never be carbon neutral and they shouldn't try to pretend they can be and there are others that can really achieve it. But the solution to the issue of climate change is not simply through planting inappropriate trees in the wrong place. We have to be more scientific about it than that."
You can read the entire piece at the Saab website.
Saab UK has released a teaser taste of its interview with Sir Richard Branson on biofuels, his personal actions to reduce his carbon footprint and his latest idea: creating the first carbon-neutral resort in the Caribbean, on his home of Necker Island. The interview will be published in full on Thursday at the Saab Biopower UK website.
In the interview, Branson says that, "I believe we need to make a virtue out of investing in clean technology and renewable energy and not be ashamed to want to make profits out of it. For too long, environmentally-friendly technology and issues about the environment have been seen as a corporate social responsibility issue and not an opportunity to create new wealth in the future. Governments alone cannot solve the problems we face unless the capitalist world invests in a sustainable future."
If you can't wait two days to hear what else Mr. Virgin has to say, here's a bunch-a-Branson from the AutoblogGreen archives:
As promised, here is the second video from GM Europe for the day, this time highlighting the Saab BioPower 100 concept vehicle. This car differs from standard Saab cars sold today by being powered by 100% ethanol. Again, like the hydrogen fuel cell vehicle we showed you earlier today, ethanol is another of the controversial suggested solutions to our dependence on petroleum as our main motive fuel source. As you probably already know, ethanol is an alcohol fuel that is derived from plant matter. In the U.S., that plant is usually corn, and in other parts of the world, such as Brazil, sugarcane is used. There are many plants which would be better than corn, but that is another posting for another day.
Kjell ac Bergström, CEO GM Powertrain Sweden, here suggests that a smaller engine would suffice for any particular vehicle if it were powered by ethanol as opposed to gasoline. This is because ethanol burns cooler and at a higher octane level, allowing a greater amount of power to be generated at any given engine size over gasoline. Smaller, more efficient engines are certainly a step in the right direction, and the fact that performance would not be diminished is icing on the cake.
With a new budget set to be unveiled by Chancellor Gordon Brown in the UK parliament this week, Saab has decided to weigh in on promoting alternative fuels. With their turbocharged engine lineup able to benefit even more than naturally aspirated engines, Saab has become a major proponent of ethanol in the last couple of years. Saab's engine management system is able to use more turbo boost and spark advance when running on ethanol to make up for the energy deficiency that ethanol has compared to gasoline.
Saab Great Britain Managing Director Jonathan Nash is urging Brown to follow the lead of other European countries and reduce fuel taxes on E85 to reduce the pump price of the biofuel. Nash also wants to see a variety of tax breaks for flex-fuel vehicles, to encourage both private and fleet purchases of such vehicles. Finally, as we have seen in the US, flex-fuel vehicles are really only beneficial if you can put biofuel into the tank. So Saab wants the government to introduce incentives to expand the availability of ethanol at the pump. The Saab press release is after the jump.
Potential benefits of biofuels seem obvious with a reduced carbon footprint being a key reason. But, as we've covered in the past, alcohol fuels such as ethanol can also increase the performance of an engine if the engine is optimized properly. Saab realizes this fact and is considering implementing the idea for future powertrains.
The 
