Green Dreams
American billionaire Warren Buffet holds a 10% stake in Chinese automaker BYD. That should already say much about the future of electric cars
- Published: 22/01/2010 at 12:00 AM
- Newspaper section: Motoring
Electrifying! It's the vibes sent out by the plethora of electric vehicles and hybrids that took centre stage at the North American International Auto Show (NAIAS 2010), also known as the Detroit Motor Show.
Chinese automaker BYD Auto unveils its e6 pure electric car.
Yet the pangs for this green alternative might not fit in the current or near future of Thailand based on the infrastructure, and the overwhelming price tags of any battery-powered vehicle subjected to draconian import tariffs which more than doubles the standard retail price of any EV when compared to its conventional counterpart.
Prior to this event, the writer watched the cult documentary Who Killed the Electric Car? recommended by a Yannix executive _ a really cool computer graphics company nurturing local engineering talent _ which initially led to me leaning towards the idea that electric vehicles is now a politically-correct publicity stunt by automakers.
Then I walked into my first Detroit Motor Show. To my left was the BMW Concept ActiveE based on the BMW 1-series Coupe{aac}, and to my right was the Audi e-tron compact sports car world premiere (not to be confused with the longer Audi e-tron launched in Frankfurt Motor last September.
The electrification process, so to speak, continued with the Tesla electric Roadster which does 0-100kph in 3.9sec. Next to the US$109,000 Roadster was the larger Tesla Model S, priced at about US$55,000 with a range of about 480km and seats seven passengers.
Korea’s CT&T goes small in size but large in variety.
Nearby the "Green Vehicles" booth was the three-wheeled Triac freeway commuter and Moose electric minivan. Next was the Subaru Hybrid Tourer Concept which featured a stunning gull-wing door design, Hyundai's Blue-Will plug-in hybrid which tested roof-mounted solar cells and lithium polymer batteries, Volkswagen NCC Hybrid Concept which underlies VW's new aesthetic look powered by a 1.4-litre petrol engine rated at 150hp and 27hp electric motor fueled by a lithium-ion battery and Toyota's small hybrid concept called the FT-CH which is a dedicated hybrid without standard petrol engine.
Up next was what sounded like an American phone company. But instead, it was a Korean venture called CT&T which decked out a whole line of cute-looking compact EVs with applications ranging from pick-ups, wing-body type, police cars, vans and utility cars.
Then, Chinese automaker BYD Auto unveiled its e6 pure electric and DM electric vehicle lineup that is turning a few heads in the American market. There's a rumour that BYD is coming to the Bangkok motor show in March.
The e6 is powered by a permanent-magnetic type synchronous motor, while the F3DM variant uses a solar panel sunroof that powers its Fe battery.
Ford’s Sue Cischke poses with new tech.
Crowds mobbed the Fiat 500 EV and Volvo C30e. Let's just say it was EV galore! In short, if you ain't electric, dedicated or not, you ain't cool.
Over at Ford, there was "Fuel economy for millions of people" which was indeed a profound statement made by Sue Cischke, Vice President for Sustainability, Environment and Safety Engineering.
Putting the aforementioned statement into perspective, the US citizen's annual carbon footprint is the highest in the world and Ford is trying to provide or be part of the solution.
Ford has set its near-term goal starting since 2007 to begin the migration to advanced technology: improve internal combustion engine (via the Ecoboost engine which is a threesome of smaller engine displacement, turbo technology and improved fuel efficiency), electric power steering, six-speed transmission, hybrids and battery management.
Mid-term goals starting from 2011 till 2030 will include full implementation of the said technology. Long-term goals from 2030 onwards will be the continued leverage of hybrid technologies and deployment of alternative energy.
In the US market during 2004-2008, Ford claimed an industry-leading fleet average fuel economy improvement of 19.2% followed by Nissan (11.3%), Toyota (9.4%), BMW (6.9%), Chrysler (5.6%), GM (5.3), VW (5.1%) and Honda (2.2%).
Wacky concepts always have a place in motor shows.
The writer dreads putting out such figures for obvious reasons, but the CO2 reduction Ford achieved is -16.1 percentage points followed by Nissan (-10.1%) and Toyota (-8.6%).
Automakers have to bake in fuel economy into its DNA by design efficiency, aerodynamic improvement, weight reduction with powertrain downsizing and fuel economy technology.
Nancy Gioia, Director of Global Electrification Planning and Strategy at Ford, said that the holistic strategy for Ford is hybrids, plug-in hybrids and full battery electric vehicles and that by 2020, EVs will make up 10-25% of the Ford fleet.
Automakers will eventually find ways to lose an extra 110-340kg in the mid-term. But is it enough? CO2 is melting away our icecaps as we speak. Then there are the energy price fluctuations which do little to give earth denizens the energy security required for stability and peace in life.
What I saw at Cobo Hall showed that automakers are serious about electric vehicles and hybrids despite what was said in the Who killed the Electric Car? DVD.
In the early 1900s, there were 27 car companies building electric cars. So be it BYD, Ford, Mercedes-Benz or Toyota, automakers better be serious because if roads are flooded, permanently that is, we'd be buying boats instead of cars and that's not good for automakers.
Full electric system for 1-series.
Hyundai Blue-Will has a hybrid with plug-in capability.
source : bangkokpost.com
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