I’m becoming more and more of an alternative energy buff and the Toyota Prius has me drooling more and more. Information about the next generation Prius has officially been leaked according to EdmundsAuto Observer. Here’s what we know.
* The next Toyota Prius will be unveiled at the Detroit auto show in January 2009.
* The gen-three Prius will be bigger and more powerful. The engine will grow from 1.5 liters to 1.8 liters—giving a boost in horsepower from 110 to 160—and the body will be three to four inches longer and about an inch wider.
\Interestingly enough the Toyota Prius leads the way in hybrid technology here in the United States. I remember when one of my good buddies at the National Renewable Energy Lab was talking it up like it was going to save the world. Well it’s possible it could save plenty of lives and help stabilize our economy. Today there are lots of people who help drive the hybrid industry forward. Here are 7 of the most influential leaders in hybrid technology today.
1. Al Gore
Al Gore has probably had the strongest influence on creating energy awareness of anyone in our lifetimes. Because of that more and more people have looked into being consumers of hybrid technology including the hybrid car.
2. David Hermance
David Hermance was formerly the executive engineer for advanced technology vehicles at Toyota USA and was influential in developing the Toyota Prius. He passed away in 2006 but he left an amazingly powerful mark on the automotive industry.
3. Victor Wouk
Thirty years before the Toyota Prius got the attention of an energy-anxious nation, a starry-eyed inventor named Victor Wouk built a hybrid gas-electric vehicle that sipped fuel at half the rate of virtually all other cars on the road.
However, under the pressure of the US Government and big Oil Barons it was shot down by the EPA even though it met and exceeded all clean air standards at the time. Victor Houk was truly a revolutionary that many leaders in the Hybrid Development at companies look up to.
4. Martin Eberhard
Martin Eberhard is the co-founder of Tesla, the electric high end sports car company who is helping drive innovation towards a fully electric vehicle. This scares the crap out of the auto industry and forces them to push for more and more hybrid technologies.
BMW M1 concept, a stunning, modern take on BMW’s original supercar has been officially unveiled. The BMW M1 is a concept of what BMW would create in homage to the original BMW M1. Now I just wish BMW would just create one of these already so I could take it for a test drive.
…But a rather quiet “God of Thunder” ThoRR has become (comic book reference… could not resist).
Evisol is yet another Scandinavian company that is looking to provide EV solutions to the growing problem of global high fuel costs. Unlike like the Norwegian company TH!NK that is bringing cost effective budget rides to North America this Fall, the Netherlands based Evisol is dishing out a bit more wind-in-the-face fun with their all electric ThoRR roadster.
Inspired in design by the Lotus 7 roadster chassis the ThoRR roadster is what a primitive roadster is all about, except it derives its motive power from electric motors fueled by lithium batteries and not V8 engines fed on gasoline. The electric powered motors give the ThoRR a rather ominous, erie quiet as it propels down the road (as evidenced in the video that follows).
We use the term primitive because the ThoRR roadster does not have any of the refined attributes of cars today. The concept behind the ThoRR roadster is simplicity, but it is best described on the website itself: “This concept stands for high performance through simplicity and light weight. Because of the absence of ABS, power assisted braking, power assisted steering, any form of sound absorption, even a roof and a windshield, only the basics of a car remain.” [ThoRR.eu]
That simplicity holds true when you look at the weight of the car and its maximum power output.
…That is the question that many people are asking. While design taste and preferences are truly a matter of preference, and to some design falls second or third to utility or performance, an appealing design will make or break a vehicle.
One modern day, non-hybrid design that exemplifies bad design and a sales flop is the Pontiac Aztec.
While picking on the Aztek at this time is a little off topic in that it is not a Hybrid it is still a prime example of what happens when design fails function. Although the car has been out of production for years Pontiac is still able to sell new Azteks from their stockpile of “New” cars that never sold. In 2007 they sold 25 Azteks.
The concern today turns toward the hybrid and ultra fuel sippers that are growing in demand as gas prices continue to climb. Europeans have been enduring high gas prices for decades and on a whole adjusted their shopping to what they could afford, smaller cars and diesels, a long time ago. After a solid 15 years of SUV mania in the states it is difficult to break those shopping habits along with the feelings of need for utility and safety associated to SUV’s. And believe me, the American auto industry was more than happy to sell those marked-up SUV’s to a thirsting populace. So much so that during that 15 year span of SUV mania cars nearly slipped off the radar in the design and board rooms. Now that another fuel crisis is upon us and new technologies are advancing the auto industry is having to rethink just what the Car will become. …And that in turn is leading to some interesting, odd and sometimes quirky autos.
Follow the Leap for analysis on 10 designs that represent the Hybrid-Electric-Fuel Efficient market.
Aston Martin fans found out that the British manufacturer is working on a brand new supercar which is going to be a direct competitor to the Bugatti Veyron and Mercedes SLR. Sabino Leerentveld, a Dutch designer, unveiled its vision of how the new supercar will look like.
This looks like something I could drive. Aston Martin has always been one of my favorite brands because of the lack of saturation. Now if it was only Hydrogen or Solar Powered.
Dodge Viper vs The Ferrari in a real road test. Let’s just say I’m extremely jealous of these drivers. I wish I had the mad skills it takes to do this. The ending turns out slightly different than you might imagine. Nonetheless I wouldn’t have walked away from this race.
Volkswagen announces that their BlueTDI technology is now ready for the North American market, but is America still unprepared to embrace a diesel car?
The announcement came from VW at the International Vienna Motor Symposium in Austria. The clean burning diesel trumps its own 2006 TDI model in fuel savings by 12%. The reworked 2.0 liter diesel will bring 60mpg to the market while still being 50-state legal. VW had already been approved for Europe by meeting or exceeding their 2009 Euro-5 standards. Now that the VW BlueTDI engine has passed the EPA’s Bin 5/LEV 2 Emissions rules it will now be permitted to stamp its passport for a voyage across the Atlantic.
The new BlueTDI Jetta arrives on the North American shores pushing 138-hp and 236-ft lbs of torque; both superior improvements in performance over the 2006 model. The last TDI engine for the VW sold in 2006 had 100-hp and 170-ft lbs of torque. As the 2006 model sold for about $24-26,ooo in the US when new, what will the mark-up be on the new BlueTDI? Reports say that the diesel engine will be a scant $2,000 over the MSRP of its gasoline brother.
…Photos and Fuel Mileage comparison after the leap…
A supercar is any car that is custom-produced for ultra-high performance.
Most often, supercars are designed and built to break performance records. As an example, the SSC Ultimate Aero TT was designed with one purpose in mind: to set production car speed records.
Supercars typically have three characteristics that set them apart from mass-produced cars.
