hybrid cars

Car maker Ford has revealed new details about its new fuel efficient turbo diesel, the Fiesta ECOnetic, which puts it directly on a collision course with the industry’s current green leader, the Toyota Prius. While the Prius has a fuel efficiency of 3.9 litres of petrol per 100km, the ECOnetic gets by on 3.7 litres – making it the most fuel-efficient car in the country.

However, that doesn’t mean it’s the greenest. The Prius still comes out on top when it comes to CO2 emissions at 89 grams per kilometre, as compared to the ECOnetic’s 98 grams per kilometre.

What? Hedge-fund managers, heads of surgery, corporate lawyers and their well-heeled, buttoned-up ilk don't need plug-in hybrids too? Mercedes-Benz is keeping such an audience in mind for its latest concept car, the Vision S 500 plug-in hybrid. Similar to the S 400 hybrid currently in production, the S 500 can also travel 18.6 miles in electric-only mode and take a battery recharge by way of an electrical outlet. What ever happened to greed is good?

It's been the talk of the hybrid-car crowd since the first hybrids landed in dealerships: The plug-in Prius. And with GM's plug-in Volt set for a 2010 launch, all eyes are now on Toyota. This week the company offered its first tangible evidence of a plug-in Prius, at least in two dimensions. The company released the first official photo image of a new Prius concept car that can get juice from the electrical grid.

So it turns all those hybrid car owners who turn their environmentally conscious noses up have an unexpected caveat to their green-ness--their cars are sucking up rare earth metals at a disturbing rate.

Rare earth elements take up 17 slots on the periodic table, and are named not for their overall scarcity (they're actually quite common in trace elements throughout the Earth's core) but for the relatively uncommon minerals in which they were originally found; few rare earth elements exist in pure elemental form naturally.

BMW's new experimental vehicle may get 63 miles on a gallon of diesel and can travel 31 miles in all-electric mode, but it also scores in the performance realm -- with a zero-to-60-mph time in the de rigueur modern sports-car range of under five seconds.

Fans of progressive auto design will likely cock an eye at its posturing curves and layered surfaces, but the big story is the Vision's plug-in hybrid drive system, which pairs two electric motors with a 1.5-liter, three-cylinder turbodiesel engine, together producing 356 horsepower.

With GM having spent a reported $1 billion bringing the Chevrolet Volt to fruition, spreading out the risk among several models could be the key to paying down the R&D tab on its gas-electric engine. And tapping into the family-mover market wouldn't hurt either. Enter the Chevrolet Orlando. GM unveiled the attractive minivan concept at the Detroit auto show this past January, with a target release date of 2011. The Orlando may also come with an option other than juice-box holders and Band-Aid cubbies: The Chevrolet Volt's Voltec (formerly E-Flex) powertrain.

On July 14, electric vehicle owners will be able to charge up on a Big Mac while their electric vehicle charges in the parking lot.

A new McDonald's in Cary, North Carolina, will be the first of its kind, testing a pilot program with NovaCharge and Coulomb Technologies. The program may pave the way for electric charging stations in close proximity to where people drive and spend their leisure time.

It fits into a wheel hub and can double a car's fuel economy. That's the claim of Dr. Charles Perry, who says his plug-in hybrid retrofit kit can save America 120 million gallons of fuel per day. Big talk. But then, inventors betting on revolutionary uphevals need to talk as big as they think. The former IBM electrical engineer designed the kit to transform existing automobiles into hybrids by placing an electric motor inside each wheel. Perry recently took first prize for his invention at a green energy competition at the Tennessee Technology Development Corp.

The Riversimple Urban Car was nine years in the making. But when the diminutive, hydrogen-powered prototype debuted in London recently, the biggest difference between it and other fuel-cell vehicles wasn't its in-wheel electric motors or banks of ultracapacitors. It was its development-and-business model.

A pit crew swarms around an open-wheel racecar, but instead of hoisting a fuel-fill tank they hot-swap its battery packs and send the driver back into the race. That could be the scene at next year's TTXGP -- an all-electric motorcycle race set for its inaugural running this Friday on the UK's Isle of Man. The event's organizers announced this week they were seeking to include four-wheeled vehicles for 2010.

When you think of hybrid cars, the name Ferrari doesn't spring readily to mind. In fact, the Italian sports-car builder already uses a hybrid system in its Formula One race cars, the same ones in which it finished third and fourth at this past weekend's Monaco Grand Prix. Ferrari has also apparently filed for a patent on a new, gasoline-electric drive system for its road cars.

Hybrid cars may be a favorite among commuters looking to save fuel, but they're yet to appear on a single driving enthusiast's bucket list. It's no secret why: A 2009 Prius gets from zero to 60 mph barely faster than a plumber's van.

How do you make hybrid cars a little rougher on the adrenal glands without sacrificing the good fuel economy and low emissions? Engineers at Austrian tech firm AVL took a page from the motorsports playbook, using a turbocharger to boost the performance of a standard gas-electric hybrid.

From the US PopSci team

You've heard all about the joys of saving gas money while owning a hybrid. Perhaps you've been envious of your neighbor with the Toyota Prius or the friend with a hybrid Honda Civic. In addition to their stellar mpg, hybrids are at the forefront of an environmental shift in the automotive world; but, if you are thinking about buying one, can you be sure that maintaining this piece of green machinery won't break the bank?