Drop, charge, and lose the cordsThe Saab deal unravels: Is the Swedish tech innovator dead? What we're looking for at the L.A. auto show. The best time to buy a car may surprise you. BMW revamps the 5-Series and makes a run at the kind of diesel America never loved and Europe always has. And we take a ride in the GMC Terrain.
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EPISODE 146
SHOW NOTES• BMW launches new 5-series online
• BMW set to offer small, 4-cylinder diesels in U.S.
• Bad news for Saab: White knight turns and rides off
• Ferrari hybrid seems imminent according to what looks like a cocktail napkin sketch
• CNET Video: What you'll need to replace your factory car stereo
Ford puts airbags where? Automatic parking coming to a car near you, the Army wants a hybrid Humvee, first 4G-connected car is a Prius, and we take a spin in the hottest SUV you'll ever drive.
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EPISODE 143
SHOW NOTES• CNET review of the 2010 BMW X5 M
• Ford to put airbags into seat belts
• First 4G LTE-connected concept car is a Prius
TOKYO -- Denso Corp., the world's No. 2 auto parts supplier, aims for a bigger stake of the global hybrid car market by standardizing its electric-gasoline drive train technology for sale to automakers other than Toyota Motor Corp. It also may begin production of lithium ion batteries.
Denso is a leader in supplying inverters, battery and engine control units, sensors and electric compressors for hybrids. Most of those sales go to Toyota, the Japanese supplier's top customer and biggest shareholder, with a 23 percent stake in Denso.
"We would like to supply our components to all customers," said Hiromi Tokuda, executive vice president in charge of R&D. The products would share underpinnings with the components made for Toyota but be tailored to the specifications of carmakers.
Batteries, too
Denso also may start making lithium ion batteries for use in hybrid or electric vehicles. Denso has been working on lithium technology for 15 years, originally for mobile phones. It continues development for in-house testing of its other hybrid system components.
... Read more
A Humvee made by American General.
(Credit: AM General)Lithium-ion battery manufacturer EnerDel has signed an 18-month, $1.29 million contract with the U.S. Army to design and test hybrid battery options for the Humvee.
Trying to power the iconic fuel-guzzling High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicle (HMMWV aka Humvee) with a battery, may seem like trying to put out a fire with a garden hose. But a lithium-ion battery system can deliver a lot of power from a battery quickly, giving a truck like the Humvee the thrust it requires.
EnerDel, a subsidiary of Ener1, will collaborate with the U.S. Army's Tank Automotive Research, Development, and Engineering Center (TARDEC) on four possible power systems that could be implemented in the XM1124 version of the Humvee.
The company, which specializes in battery cell chemistry as well as the electronics and battery system designs, said it already has two viable options. EnerDel has developed a lithium-tatinate system in conjunction with Argonne National Laboratory that could accommodate the acceleration and hard braking required for such a powerful vehicle like the Humvee. It also has a lithium-manganese system that would give a vehicle extra-long range and allow electronics to be run off the battery for extended periods of time before needing to be recharged.
As part of the 18-month contract, EnerDel will also be involved in testing the systems under "extreme performance simulations." In addition to putting the test vehicles through the usual Humvee paces of wading through water and mountain climbing, there will also be an endurance test.
That will include seeing how a hybrid Humvee fares as a power plant for a field hospital or temporary military post. The requirement makes perfect sense given the ease with which a Humvee can be transported to hard-to-reach areas. One of its key features has always been that it could be dropped in to virtually any terrain by parachute.
A Humvee being parachuted out of a plane.
(Credit: AM General)The hybrid Humvee will also be more stealthy. Anyone who's had a close call with a Prius knows how dangerously silent hybrids can be in total battery mode. The hybrid version of the Humvee will have a powered-down "silent watch" mode that will allow it to run with its diesel generator off, reducing not only its noise, but also its thermal signature to avoid detection.
As always with major military project announcements, the company involved was quick to point out the down-the-road commercial application of its technology.
"In keeping with a long tradition, we also expect that innovations perfected here will have important benefits for the commercial markets," EnerDel President Rick Stanley said in a a statement.
There has already been interest in Raser Technologies' H3E, a plug-in hybrid version of a Hummer-branded SUV called the H3. While not truly a Hummer (the civilian version of the Humvee), the "Hummer-light" descendant has garnered the interest of even the most discerning Hummer enthusiasts.
So if EnerDel's batteries might be good enough to power a Hummvee, why haven't commercial automakers been knocking? They have actually. The company has signed research partnerships of varying commitment levels with Think Global, Fisker Automotive, Volvo, and Nissan. Its parent company, Ener1, is also working with U.S. utilities to develop smart grid storage units.
Honda talks about bigger hybrids, Cash for Clunkers might have been a huge boondoggle, Infiniti will get an electric car, should DWT be punished harder than DUI? And we take you for a ride in the frustratingly fun Scion xB.
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EPISODE 142
SHOW NOTES• Should DWT being punished more severely than DUI?
• CNET drives the new 2010 VW GTI
• CNET review of the 2010 Scion xB
• World distance record claimed for driving an electric car on a single charge
TOKYO -- Subaru, which showed a concept hybrid vehicle at the Tokyo Motor Show, will add a hybrid powertrain to an existing model in 2012.
But Ikuo Mori, president of Fuji Heavy Industries Ltd., maker of Subaru cars, wouldn't say when the hybrid vehicle will go on sale in the United States.
Speaking on the sidelines of the show, Mori said the car will help Subaru meet tougher U.S. fuel economy and emissions rules that begin in the 2016 model year.
Mori declined to say which model will offer the hybrid powertrain but suggested it will be a small vehicle. He said the hybrid system will showcase typical Subaru driving characteristics but didn't say whether it will have all-wheel drive.
At the show, Subaru displayed an awd hybrid touring car with two motors, one for each axle. That car loosely resembles the Outback wagon.
It featured a new 2.0-liter, turbocharged, direct-injection engine and stop-start technology, which turns the engine off when the vehicle stops.
Subaru has been developing its own hybrid drivetrain based on technology from Toyota Motor Corp., which owns 16.5 percent of Fuji Heavy.
(Source: Automotive News)
TOKYO--Honda Motor Co. plans to return to larger hybrid vehicles with a new electric-gasoline drivetrain after miserable sales of an earlier hybrid Accord forced it to quit the segment.
Honda's current hybrid system, in smaller cars such as the Civic and Insight, uses one motor. A hybrid system under development will use two.
"That is one major initiative we are working on," Tsuneo Tanai, COO of automobile operations at Honda, told Automotive News on the sidelines of the Tokyo Motor Show. "The motor will have higher output. There will be dual motors, with a larger battery that enables the car to be driven in all-electric mode."
Tanai declined to say what large models would get the new hybrid system or when. But Japan's Nikkei business daily reported last month that Honda plans to add a hybrid minivan in 2011.
Honda also is studying mating the system to a lithium ion battery, Tanai said. The company's current hybrids run on nickel-metal hydride power packs.
When the next-generation lithium batteries arrive, they will be more compact. That could allow them to be swapped with the nickel-metal hydride batteries used in smaller hybrids, he added.
"It still requires some development time to make the whole energy management system suitable for lithium batteries as opposed to nickel batteries," Tanai said.
... Read moreWhat recession? That's the question at Subaru.
While rival automakers struggled amid a 27 percent drop in total U.S. sales in the first nine months of the year, Subaru racked up an impressive 10 percent sales gain.
Subaru, Hyundai and Kia are the only brands that are up so far this year. And Ikuo Mori, president of Fuji Heavy Industries Ltd., which makes Subaru vehicles, expects record U.S. sales this year and even higher sales in 2010.
Yet Subaru's outlook is far from trouble-free.
Subaru needs more environmentally friendly drive trains to meet stringent emissions regulations. It is working on hybrid, diesel and electric cars.
Mori will be leaning on Toyota Motor Corp., which owns 16.5 percent of Fuji Heavy, to provide much of that alternative power-train technology. Toyota and Fuji Heavy also are jointly developing a new sports car.
... Read moreDETROIT -- Ford Motor Co. is gaining on Honda Motor Co. for the No. 2 spot among hybrid vehicle sellers in the United States. Toyota Motor Corp. leads all automakers by a wide margin, selling more than all rivals combined.
Ford sold 26,016 hybrid vehicles during the first nine months of 2009, up 73 percent from the year-earlier period, according to the company. Honda sold 29,958 hybrids, up 8 percent. For details, see www.autonews.com.
Separately, Toyota's 2010 Prius leads the industry in fuel economy at 48 mpg highway/51 mpg city, while Ford boasts four vehicles on a U.S. government list of the most efficient models, Reuters reported.
(Source: Automotive News)
The Toyota Prius isn't the kind of car you'd expect Top Gear's Stig to drive.
(Credit: Josh Miller/CNET)
The Prius takes to the air.
(Credit: Top Gear)In an amusing little photo gallery over at the Top Gear site, the Stig, the famed tame racing driver, gets the Honda Insight and Toyota Prius off the ground. The feature promises a lot at the beginning (just like we are doing here), but proceeds with a fairly standard test between the Toyota Prius and Honda Insight, mostly comparing them on fuel economy and drivability through London and at the Millbrook test track.
But they eventually come to the good stuff, describing what happens when Stiggy starts doing laps in the Prius and the Insight. Top Gear even reaches a verdict about which is the best car, although it's based entirely on fuel economy, unlike our more encompassing Prizefight between these two hybrids. Which explains why we reached a different conclusion.
But enough spoilers, check out Stigs might fly.
