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The OKA NEV booth at the Santa Monica Alt Car Expo caught people's attention for one simple reason: a price tag of $7,500. The OKA neighborhood electric vehicle is an interesting little car - seriously unhip, cheap and ready for you today. The details are not that great - 20 mile range, 25 mph top speed - but there's reason to believe that Miro Kefurt is on to something here. Make is simple and sell it today. He tells it best, so watch the video to hear the history of how this successor to the Yugo ended up as a zero-emission vehicle in the U.S. There's more information on the car here.
The original Fiat 500 from the 1950s was available in a Station Wagon version, the Giardinera, which we might consider to be the minivan's grandparent and placed the engine under the car floor. This is not the case for a possible version of the nuova 500, which is speculated in an article by Infomotori: the new 500 has its engine in the front.
Rumours about a SW version of the cinquino (the 500's nickname in Italy) have been heard since the introduction of the model but the Torino marque has yet to announce if the plans are real or just the imagination of an artist. While we're dreaming, wouldn't this be a good base for a modern EV 500.
A123Systems recently completed a $30m round of fund raising, bringing total investments to $132 million. According to the company, the money will increase production capacity for batteries in pure electric, standard hybrids and plug-in hybrids. The cars are coming from major automakers "including a contract to co-develop proprietary cells for the GM E-FLEX program."
David Vieau, CEO and president of A123Systems says, "We continue to scale our production-proven and cost-effective designs to meet demand as we expand our presence in the automotive, aviation and hand-held power tool markets."
James Kim, partner with CMEA Ventures, a A123Systems investor, says "Our investment in A123Systems is based on their unique expertise in Nanophosphate-based lithium ion technology to provide a better energy storage source for vehicles, aircraft, tools and other demanding applications."
Other investors in the A123Systems include General Electric, Procter & Gamble, Alliance Capital, Motorola, Qualcomm, North Bridge Venture Partners, Sequoia Capital, FA Technology Ventures, OnPoint, Carruth Management, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Desh Deshpande, the company's board chairman. You can read the press release in full below the fold.
Back on the 19th of October, we showed you some leaked pictures of the Audi A1 metroproject concept that would be shown in Tokyo. Well, here it is in all it's un-rendered glory. The all-wheel-drive configuration was confirmed with Audi's excellent TSI turbocharged and supercharged engine powering the front wheels along with an electric motor at the rear. A lithium ion battery pack powers the 41 horsepower motor out back. Many commuters could perform their daily drive without ever needing to run the engine, but if they do, they'd be rewarded with 48 miles per gallon.
As always, looks are subjective and beauty is in the eye of the beholder... but I'm sure we can all agree that this is one distinctive car. The overall size of the machine might allow it to be cross-shopped with other upmarket small cars like the Mini and the new Fiat 500 while the size of the front grill might seem more akin to a Dodge Ram.
Below the fold are two videos by Nissan released for the 2007 Tokyo Motor Show. The first video shows the making of the electric concept car, the Pivo 2 and has a quick chat with Tomoko Sato and Mariecamill Lecoq, two Japanese and French designers of the car.
The second video includes the making of the RDBX, a car a lot like the Mixim, which is going after the youth market with large, media displays. The 2007 Tokyo Motor Show runs through November 11th and opens to the public from October 27th.
Just earlier today we brought you a story about Honda's new dedicated hybrid model, which would be a more mainstream attempt than the Insight was. Will that model be Honda's CR-Z concept car which was just revealed in Tokyo? Ostensibly a replacement for the now defunct, but much loved, CRX model, the CR-Z adds a hybrid drivetrain to that car's proven formula. Although the Insight was never intended to be sporty, the size and proportions were there from the start. Of course, wider tires and less extreme aerodynamics would likely reduce the fuel consumption numbers a bit, but if more people were to purchase the vehicle, the overall impact could in fact be better.
Take a look at all of our pictures of the car and start thinking about carving up your daily commute with a sporty hybrid. Sounds like fun, doesn't it?
The Exhibition Model of the Mazda Premacy Hydrogen RE Hybrid is on display this week at the Tokyo Motor Show, and Mazda swears it's "a fresh approach to the future of Zoom-Zoom." Man, I like the whole "Zoom-Zoom" thing less each time I hear it.
The Premacy Hydrogen RE uses an updated version of the dual fuel rotary engine (it can use gasoline or hydrogen) that has been in use in the RX-8 Hydrogen RE. The Mazda Premacy Hydrogen RE Hybrid is still in development, but it does offer extended range, a larger carrying capacity than the RX-8 and a "Powerful fun-to-drive feeling."
Mazda is also bringing plant-based Biotechmaterial and news of new recycling methods to Tokyo. Read all about them after the jump.
Although Honda has no plans to pursue plug-in hybrid vehicles for the time being and they aren't taking Toyota's shotgun approach of putting their hybrid system in everything they build, they haven't given up on hybrids. Honda is focusing their efforts where they feel they will be most effective. That means that larger cars, like the Accord, and crossovers and trucks will be getting clean diesel engines.
Smaller cars that mostly commute in urban areas will use hybrid systems because they are most likely to be able to take advantage of regenerative braking. Honda CEO Takeo Fukui spoke to reporters ahead of the Tokyo Motor Show about the new dedicated hybrid vehicle the company will introduce in 2009. Unlike the Insight, which had limited appeal due to its small size and only two seats, the new model will be larger and be built in much higher volumes. Honda is working aggressively to lower the cost premium of the hybrid system to no more $1,750 and down the road it could be combined with diesel engines for even greater efficiency.
A common auto industry argument against CAFE - regulation that requires automakers to make their overall vehicle fleet get more miles per gallon - is that it will just force small cars on the road and big vehicles off. The argument goes that the automakers will not be able to improve cars and the only solution will be for automakers to build small cars, which get higher miles per gallon simply because they are small. This not only degrades choice in the market but it hurts the car companies because they are making a product people don't want. Here is GM vice Chairman Bob Lutz saying CAFE won't change what consumers want when he spoke with Inside Line last December:
"As long as [gas] is around $2 per gallon here, people will exercise their freedom to buy the vehicle they want, V8 engine and all. ... Forcing us to alter the fleets to hit some theoretical average won't change what consumers want, or what they'll buy."
This would seem to contradict what he said in an interview with Autoline Detroit last month, which you can watch below the fold. In that interview Bob seems to say, CAFE laws actually change what people want but in a way that just might surprise you. Here is that quote: "If we really get say every vehicle with that jump, the same thing will happen that happened last time. People don't keep the size of car they had and say, oh, this is wonderful, I am now saving $30 a month on my fuel bill. They say, oh, this is wonderful now I can pay for fuel for the next larger size. That was happening with the last CAFE legislation. People abandoned cars and went into full size V8 sport utilities."
Even if this is a not a direct contradiction, the idea that CAFE caused the SUV fad and CAFE will only push us into vans, explains a few things like GM's unusual interest in making very large hybrids. GM must think larger, more efficient vehicles are the future, popular vehicle choice. (Tip: Watch the entire video below the fold to hear Bob talk about his 3 Segways.)
Honda will be taking the wraps off the "production" version of their latest generation FCX at the Los Angeles Auto Show next month. The new fuel cell-powered FCX is based on the concept version that we drove a year ago and will be available to fleets and retail customers in the US and Japan starting in 2008. Initial volumes will be low and it's expected to only be available on a lease basis in places where there is some hydrogen availability such as California. The original FCX in 2003 was the first fuel cell vehicle get full EPA and DOT certification for meeting safety and emissions requirements in the US.
The Mazda Taiki, bowing today at the Tokyo Motor Show, is not the greenest car on these pages, but it certainly is fun to look at. With the new Renesis 2 rotary engine under the Nagare hood, there is at least the potential to run this thing on hydrogen in some fashion. Mazda is also displaying the hybrid hydrogen/electric Premacy in Tokyo. We'll see if the Autoblog photogs will be willing to snap some shots of minivan, a minivan!, for us.
We've got the official images of the Taiki from Mazda in the gallery below, and you can see the high-res photos from the Autoblog team in Tokyo over on this page.
The musings of our buddy Ray Wert can usually be found over Jalopnik and occasionally in video form on CNBC. From time to Times, like today, he also contributes to the Grey Lady. Ray has compiled a list of sites on these here InterWebs that cover all the news about trying to get from point A to point B with the least impact on the environment and has seen fit to include our own little corner.
To anyone who might be joining us at ABG via the New York Times, welcome and we hope you stick around. We've lots of fresh news all day every day about transportation and energy from little garage and basement startups to what's going on with GM and Toyota. There are plenty of short snippets as well as extended editorials, technical analysis of new vehicles and products, vehicle reviews, interviews and event coverage. And don't forget to subscribe to our podcast.
FedEx, the worlds largest express transportation company, plans to introduce 10 diesel-electric hybrid delivery vans to its European fleet. These 10 hybrids are the first for FedEx in Europe and will bring the worldwide total for FedEx hybrids to more than 100. FedEX has 95 hybrids in the US, Canada and Japan fleet and the new European hybrid vans will be trailed close to the manufacturers', Iveco, site in Turin, Italy.
The FedEx press release says the van, called the Daily, can run in either diesel or electric but on further research it appears the Daily can also be plugged in. The vans will be unveiled for the first time at the European Road Transport Show in Amsterdam, Oct. 24 through Nov. 3. FedEx is making this strategic investment to help drive the commercial development of new technologies for industry. It's also freaking cool. Imagine the range on that thing.
Last month at the Frankfurt Motor Show Volkswagen unveiled the first member of their "New Small Family" in the form of their modern day Beetle successor the up! As the NSF name implies this was just the beginning. In Tokyo, this week, they have something for those who like the original but need a little more space for the kids or cargo. The Space up! adds nine inches in length and one and a half inches in height along with two more doors. Like the first up! the engine lays between the rear wheels and sends it's motive force there. Inside the new micro-van is a full four-seater with integrated child safety seats in the back. Volkswagen is already doing production engineering on these new models with an introduction targeted at the end of the decade. More details are after the jump.
Daimler fuel cell system development director Christian Mohrdieck told a conference in Stuttgart recently that by the 2012-2015 time frame they will be able mass-produce fuel cell cars on a cost competitive basis with other technologies. If so that would be put them only a couple of years behind General Motors, which expect to be able to do that by the end of this decade. So far Daimler has built over 100 fuel cell vehicles that have accumulated over 2.3 million miles of testing. When Daimler announced in 1990 that they wanted to have fuel cell vehicles in production by 2005, they underestimated the problems of bringing aerospace technology to cars. However, years of development seem to be getting very close to producing a cost-effective stack. Hyundai also recently announced that they want to build fuel cell vehicles in that same time frame and GM is developing a fuel cell version of the Volt in parallel with the ICE version. Now there is just the pesky problems of producing and distributing all the hydrogen.
A123Systems recently completed a $30m round of fund raising, bringing total investments to $132 million. According to the company, the money will increase production capacity for batteries in pure electric, standard hybrids and plug-in hybrids. The cars are coming from major automakers "including a contract to co-develop proprietary cells for the GM E-FLEX program."
A common auto industry argument against CAFE - regulation that requires automakers to make their overall vehicle fleet get more miles per gallon - is that it will just force small cars on the road and big vehicles off. The argument goes that the automakers will not be able to improve cars and the only solution will be for automakers to build small cars, which get higher miles per gallon simply because they are small. This not only degrades choice in the market but it hurts the car companies because they are making a product people don't want. Here is GM vice Chairman 
