Hasta La Gadget!

Make room, Brammo, MotoCzysz, and Mission Motors, there’s a new motorcycle from Chip Yates and SWIGZ Pro Racing looking to join the electric bi-wheeled racing elite. The bike is doing its best to hasten the demise of the ICE with a 194hp DC motor (50+hp more than its EV brethren), putting down 295 ft-lbs of torque, which carried it to second- and third-place finishes against gas-powered competition in the WERA Heavyweight Twins Superstock and Superbike races at Auto Club Speedway in California on January 9th. Also on board is a first-of-its-kind front wheel KERS system that recharges the batteries en route to give the motor the juice it needs to hit racing speeds of up to 158mph. For those who’d like to own such an engineering marvel, keep dreaming, as Mr. Yates states the bike is a technical showcase that’s not meant for production. However, patents are pending on the KERS technology and the plan is to license it out — so gearheads can have a similar bike eventually — for a not-so-insignificant sum, we’d imagine. See the bike in action after the break.

Continue reading SWIGZ electric racing bike bests internal combustion competition, mostly (video)

SWIGZ electric racing bike bests internal combustion competition, mostly (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 08 Feb 2011 09:16:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink Hell for Leather  |  SWIGZ.COM Pro Racing  | Email this | Comments

The Chevy Volt and Nissan Leaf are alike in a lot of ways: both rely on electric motors for their locomotion, both have earned Car of the Year awards (Volt in North America, Leaf in Europe), and both have had stunningly low sales in their first couple of months on sale. January’s numbers have just come out and the Volt leads the way with 321 vehicles sold or leased, while Nissan scores an even weaker 87 purchases. That compares to figures of 326 and 19, respectively, for the month of December. Before we all start writing off the EV as DOA (again), let’s remember that both companies have massive back-orders for their electrified people carriers, leading us to believe that the most likely cause for this slow trickle of deliveries is a limited supply rather than dwindling demand. Production volumes of the Volt and Leaf are expected to ramp up as we go forward, so panic’s inadvisable — unless we come around to January 2012 and are still looking at fewer sales than the Joojoo managed.

408 Chevrolet Volts and Nissan Leafs sold in US during January, limited supply probably to blame originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 02 Feb 2011 08:10:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  Green Car Reports, PluginCars  | Email this | Comments

Steaming down the autobahn could be about to get a whole lot more efficient. Volkswagen has carted out its newly updated Super Efficient Vehicle concept, now dubbed the XL1, which — after a great deal of fuzzy math, we’re sure — is rated at a 313MPG fuel efficiency and produces only 24g of CO2 per kilometer traveled. There’s an electric motor and a TDI diesel engine making all the buzzing and roaring noises inside, while the overall body design is focused on making the car as light and as aerodynamic as possible. Volkswagen has achieved a 795kg curb weight by using carbon fiber, magnesium, ceramics, and aluminum to shave down any excess portliness from the XL1, while wind-tunnel testing and optimizations have resulted in a rather exemplary 0.186 drag coefficient. It’s rare to see such attributes on anything outside the supercar realm, but then there’s a reason why this PHEV is still only a concept. FOF.

Continue reading Volkswagen’s XL1 concept plug-in diesel hybrid has 313MPG fuel efficiency, questionable aesthetics

Volkswagen’s XL1 concept plug-in diesel hybrid has 313MPG fuel efficiency, questionable aesthetics originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 25 Jan 2011 23:09:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink Autoweek  |  Volkswagen  | Email this | Comments

Looks like Volvo’s C30 Electric isn’t the only EV paying a heavy price for wanting to be run on the roads. Mitsubishi’s i-MiEV, one of the first modern full-bore electric autos to be promised to hit US shores (but certainly not the first to make it), has just been subjected to crash testing by the ADAC, Europe’s largest motorist club. The car went through both 40mph frontal and rear offset impacts, similar to the sort used by our own humble NHTSA. The car didn’t score perfect marks, with some deformation in the footwell, but there were no major problems noted and, most importantly, the electrical systems safety cut automatically upon impact. This means no surprise electrocutions for anyone on the inside or out, which is a good thing — unless you’re a mutant lizard who enjoys such things.

Update: We’ve updated the source link to the ADAC site, where you can see some additional images and even video of the crash. You’ll need to exit the Google Translation window to view them, though.

ADAC crash tests first production Mitsubishi i-MiEV, it makes a mess but scores well originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 17 Jan 2011 11:27:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink AutoBild.de  |  ADAC  | Email this | Comments

Toyota wants to take your range anxiety out for a walk behind the woodshed and obliterate it from the known world. The means for doing this, the Japanese giant has revealed, might very well be contained in its new magnesium-sulfur batteries, which promise to double the energy density of the current industry-best lithium ion cells. Of course, the catch here is that the new magnesium goodness is nowhere near ready and is projected to come in 2020 at the earliest, but we’re gladdened to see a long-term view being taken by car manufacturers with regard to powering vehicles electrically. Alternative methodologies currently under review in Toyota’s labs also include aluminum and calcium materials, showing that there is indeed no lack of ambition for making plug-ins respectable road warriors.

Toyota working on magnesium batteries for PHEVs of the not so near future originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 14 Jan 2011 08:53:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink Autoblog  |  Bloomberg  | Email this | Comments