Hasta La Gadget!

The last century saw no shortage of disputes between the French and the Germans, but in this century everything’s going to be totally cool. BMW and PSA Peugeot Citroën, the company that quite naturally owns the Peugeot and Citroën marques, have come to form a partnership focused on the creation of advanced hybrid systems. The name for this new partnership? BMW Peugeot Citroën Electrification, quite naturally. The fruit of this holy union will be better battery packs, generators, and electronics that will not only help the manufacturers that have joined together here, but will also be sold to other manufacturers who need a little help from their friends. We’ll have to wait a little while before we see any results, though: actual components aren’t expected to hit the road until 2014 at the earliest — coincidently about 100 years since things got awfully testy at Alsace-Lorraine.

Continue reading BMW and PSA Peugeot Citroen partner for future hybrid tech, put that Great War thing behind them

BMW and PSA Peugeot Citroen partner for future hybrid tech, put that Great War thing behind them originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 02 Feb 2011 20:03:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Would you like a plug-in Prius, the sort that we spent a few days with last year, back when the seasons were changing and there was only a hint of this killer winter to come? Well, too bad, because you still can’t buy them. But Zipcar can, apparently, adding eight of the things to its fleet, and they’re available now in Boston, San Francisco, and Portland, Oregon. Given the company has 8,000 total cars available your chances of securing one of these particular Priuses (Prii?) is slim, but if you score, know that they charge in just three hours on a 110 outlet, and half that if you’re wired for 220, so no fancy-pants charging station is required for use.

Zipcar adds the plug-in Prius PHEV to its fleet, probably not changing name to Zapcar originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 29 Jan 2011 19:29:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Think the Volkswagen XL1 concept is too far out there to ever get built? Tell that to the blokes in Wolfsburg. German source Automobilewoche is reporting that executives Ferdinand Piech and Martin Winterkorn both confirmed that the car will be produced in small numbers, first for Germany and later coming to the US and China. It’s powered by a diesel engine with less than one liter of displacement, managing 313mpg combined (that’s Imperial, 260mpg using American units) putting out just 48hp and thankfully assisted by a 27hp electric motor. Not much, but enough for the 1,750lb car, which Autocar correspondent Milton Holloway got to drive and said feels “fully sorted” despite an engine that’s a bit rattly. It is a diesel, after all.

VW confirms it will build hyper-efficient XL1, Autocar gets to drive one originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 28 Jan 2011 10:27:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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One big sticking point for those still unwilling to embrace the eco-friendly credentials of electric vehicles is the undeniable fact that building an EV costs plenty in terms of resource and energy use. Hoping to counter this concern, Genovation is working on developing a new G2 electric car (the G1 was a Ford Focus modified with off-the-shelf parts to run on batteries), which will try to maximize the use of renewable and recycled materials in its construction. It’s just completed the first phase of its development, where quarter-size models have been built by Tata Technologies and a bunch of simulations, analyses, and performance tests have been run. Phases two and three will involve the building of functional prototypes and pre-production road vehicles, with phase four presumably being the onset of our sustainable living utopia.

Continue reading Genovation G2 aims to be the greenest thing you can drive, will be made from renewable and recycled parts

Genovation G2 aims to be the greenest thing you can drive, will be made from renewable and recycled parts originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 24 Jan 2011 05:15:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Think of a traditional hybrid and you probably think of a Toyota Prius. Then, after you’ve woken from your nap, you probably envision some complex system of batteries and electric motors and gears to capture power when braking and spit it back out when accelerating. Chrysler is now looking to deploy a different way, a seemingly much simpler way that’s all based on hydraulics. The vehicle is outfitted with a low-pressure reservoir of hydraulic fluid and a high-pressure chamber filled with nitrogen gas. When braking, pumps move the fluid into the nitrogen chamber to compress it and then, when accelerating, that compressed gas is used to push the fluid and drive the wheels. It’s a setup that was actually developed by the EPA and is currently in use by some commercial vehicles, most notably UPS trucks, but a hybrid Town & Country minivan could bring it to consumers — though not until 2012 at the earliest. Now, there’s a good chance the idea of a hybrid minivan is threatening to put you back to sleep, so we wish you pleasant dreams.

Continue reading Chrysler announces battery-free hydraulic hybrid tech, compresses gas to make power

Chrysler announces battery-free hydraulic hybrid tech, compresses gas to make power originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 20 Jan 2011 07:35:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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