Congrats to Helen and John Taylor, who set a new World Record by driving their 2009 Volkswagen Jetta TDI around the United States (the lower 48) while achieving a record setting overall fuel mileage of 58.82 miles per US gallon. That is 70.64 miles per Imperial gallon, or 3.99L/100km.
I got some more info about this coming weekend's Rallye R.E.A.L.
I think it's absolutely great when an automaker steps back for a moment, takes a look at the vehicles they produce, and asks "how can we make this just a bit better without sacrificing the car itself?"
First of all, Mazda is working on developing synthetic plastics. Since plastic is a petroleum based product, using it to lighten cars (to improve fuel economy) isn't exactly an entirely winning situation since it still would be reliant on oil. By working to develop synthetic substitutes for plastic, Mazda is effectively working on backing away from any reliance on oil. As I've mentioned here in the past, they're also working on a brilliant start/stop technology (much better than the usual way at least...) which I very much hope will be available sooner rather than later. When my current lease it up I'll be looking for a vehicle with start/stop and Mazda would easily be at the top of my list if theirs is out in Canada by then. Finally, they have a very interesting looking 2.2L diesel in the works too. It'll be sold in Europe sometime in '09, paired with their start/stop tech, which makes me hopeful that it will soon after find it's way to North America.
Next, Audi is working on an intelligent system that communicates with stop-lights on the road ahead and informs you as to what speed you should travel so as to arrive at the light when it's green. This is a fantastic idea that has to potential to greatly improve fuel economy by eliminating the constant stopping and accelerating that's associated with city driving. As you're driving down the road towards an intersection, you would know that if you decelerated a bit to 50kph instead of 65kph, the light ahead would be green when you get there, instead of you driving all the way to the light, coming to a stop only to have to accelerate again 3 seconds later. Maintaining a constant flow would pay dividends in your own fuel economy, as well as help improve traffic flow in general.
FIAT has yet another special edition 500 ready to sell... this time styled by Diesel, not fueled by it. Personally I love small, quirky cars like the FIAT 500, and while this particular edition is pretty nice looking, it's only skin deep. (The upcoming Abarth Edition is much more interesting to me.) The Diesel 500 is nothing more than some new colors, a little badging here and there, and some interior refinement. They call it an "Urban Survival Vehicle"... uh, ok. In any case, at least they're standing by their statement that going green means reducing size! (Image courtesy autoblog.com)
The founder of Lotus, Colin Chapman, believed that the two most important characteristics of a sports car were minimum weight, and maximum handling. Lotus' are truly uncompromising cars, as adept on a race track as many purpose built race vehicles. There is rarely any "excess" to be found in a Lotus. They are truly minimal sports cars, even in their fully "streetable" form. Alongside these, Lotus offers cars like the 2Eleven which truly push the boundaries in lightweight performance.
265E
Methanol (CH3OH) can be produced synthetically from CO2 and hydrogen. Ultimately, emerging processes to recover atmospheric CO2 will provide the required carbon that can entirely balance the CO2 emissions at the tailpipe that result from the internal combustion of synthetic methanol. The result is that a car running on synthetic methanol, such as the Exige 270E Tri-fuel would be environmentally neutral.
As well as being green, the great benefit of synthetic methanol is that it would use similar engines and fuel systems to those in current cars; and synthetic methanol can be stored, transported and retailed in much the same way as today's liquid fuels such as gasoline and diesel.
Synthetic methanol also possesses properties better suited to internal combustion than today's liquid fuels, giving improved performance and thermal efficiencies. And it is ideal for pressure-charging (turbocharging and supercharging) already being introduced by manufacturers to downsize engines in a bid to improve fuel consumption.
This alone is quite possibly the coolest development of all!
You can read more about both these case studies HERE at Lotus' official site.
Lastly, and possibly the most interesting "green" case study from Lotus is the Eco Elise.
Lotus went an entirely new direction with the Eco Elise. Instead of focusing simply on fuel and emissions they looked at how they could make the car green from bumper to bumper by using renewable, sustainable, and recyclable materials. Instead of using carbon fiber mat as a base for the composite body panels they used hemp fiber, grown locally. Not only is hemp strong enough to substitute the carbon fiber in this application, but it also obviously consumes CO2 (via photosynthesis) prior to being harvested, pushing the Eco Elise towards carbon neutrality. While the resin it's presently bonded to isn't recyclable yet, Lotus hopes that a natural resin can be developed in the future, thereby making the body panels fully recyclable.
The Eco Elise is also painted with a water-based paint co-developed by Lotus and DuPont, eliminating harsh chemical solvents, as well as needing lower curing temperatures allowing Lotus to expend less energy in the painting process.
Moving inside, hemp is again used as a carbon fiber substitute in fabricating the structure of the seats, which are then covered with a natural wool, which is a great idea if not for the fact that some (like myself) are allergic to pure wool. Instead of dying the wool to the color they want, Lotus designers simply selected specific breeds of sheep to get the desired shade. (Obviously, you cannot get a bright orange interior in this car...) For the carpet, they used another renewable crop... sisal.
On a purely technological side (and one of the features that interests me the most about this study) a pair of solar panels are integrated into the roof. These panels provide power to the cars electrical systems, relieving the engine of the extra load and helping to improve fuel economy. A significant aspect of this feature is that these panels are embedded in a double curvature roofline. This is a feature I would hope many manufacturers could one day implement into any sort of production car... not simply their "green" concepts.
The end result: not only is the Eco Elise greener from beginning (production) to end (disposal/recycling), but Lotus also managed to cut a total of 70 pounds off the standard car's weight. They even saved 3 pounds by simply re-evaluating the sound system and choosing lighter components.
For a little more info, as well as some pictures, you can read greencar.com's review of the Eco Elise HERE.
(image courtesy autoblog.com)
The Tesla is a very small roadster based on a Lotus Elise powered by a brushless electric motor that provides peak torque from zero to 13,000 RPM! Not only is it beautiful to look at (unlike some electrics)... but it also gets the equivalent of 256 miles per gallon (that's less than 1L/100km), goes from 0-60mph in 3.9 seconds, and does it all silently, without a clutch, a gearbox, or any other moving mechanical parts.
The other non-gasoline sports car out there now is the Brecklands Beira. Again, it's a small roadster, this time based on GM's Miata-chasing Kappa platform (which you likely see every day on the road in the form of the very sexy Pontiac Solstice or Saturn Sky).A re-tuned six-speed transmission and higher numerical first gear launches Chrysler and Dodge minivans more briskly than a comparable four- or five-speed transmission. The engine also provides smaller steps between ratios, which means the engine speed changes less with each shift, creating a smooth driving dynamic, with improved fuel economy.(When they say "the engine also provides smaller steps between ratios" I'll assume they meant that in actuality the transmission provides smaller steps, since engines have nothing to do with gear ratios.)
