Men Free Blog

The media has given a lot of attention to Toyota and GM in the race for automotive electrification. After all, many of the other current players in the game license their technology from the likes of these two. Nissan has remained relatively quiet in the competition though, sitting behind its Hypermini small electric vehicle and Hybrid Altima, the latter of which happens to be the result of one of those previously mentioned licensing deals. The recent 2008 New York Auto Show saw Nissan taking things a step further, however, with the unveiling of an electric Cube concept that’s expected to hit production by 2010. According to Carlos Ghosn, it’s just the beginning of a worldwide full electric lineup for Nissan and its alliance partner Renault.

The run up of oil prices and, of course, the current marketing trend that makes being environmentally aware the hip thing for squares, makes the future market for electrified vehicles a more viable prospect. Technological advances, especially in batteries, have also made an electric venture more economical. Mr. Ghosn expects a global mass market for electric vehicles by 2012 and fully anticipates that Nissan will be a part of that band wagon. The Chief Executive also hopes to push demand through the creation of government tax incentives for zero-emission vehicles, making their lifetime cost to consumers below that of any gasoline chugger. Good luck, Ghosn!

[Source: Wall Street Journal]

Our siblings over at AutoblogGreen discovered a little video hinting that a new three-wheeled, 70MPH electric car called the Triac is available… now. While we wait for the Aptera to hit the road, it seems Green Vehicles went ahead and made the Triac, tested it, and got it all sorts of market-ready. For

Read

When we were brainstorming ideas for Earth Day posts, we thought about featuring the ten most exciting green cars we wish we could buy today. It turns out that there are at least twice as many green rides on the horizon that we’d really like to have today, so the list has expanded. We’d like to note that this list is far from complete; the green sector of the automotive industry is growing in leaps and bounds.

• Number 20
• Number 19
• Number 18
• Number 17
• Number 16
• Number 15
• Number 14
• Number 13
• Number 12
• Number 11
• Number 10
• Number 9
• Number 8
• Number 7
• Number 6
• Number 5
• Number 4
• Number 3
• Number 2
• Number 1

There you have it. Take a look at our list and, as always, feel free to share your own favorites in the comments.

source:autobloggreen

Shortly after announcements that Th!nk would be selling its wares in the U.K. and possibly Australia comes news that the Norwegian maker of small electric cars is launching operations in America. Th!nk’s City electric car was designed with the American market in mind, so this news should not be too surprising. There are no hard dates yet announced regarding when the vehicle will actually be available, but having a presence in the states is surely a good sign.

[Source: Automotive News - sub. req’d]

The head of the World Wildlife Fund has come out publicly in favor of the electrification of the world’s transportation system. James Leape, director general of WWF International, has declared that cars need to get smaller, lighter and far more efficient. Leape also said that cars should be migrating to electric drive because it is more efficient than internal combustion engines. As an organization that supports preserving animal species, the WWF has a vested interest in helping to mitigate phenomena like climate change, deforestation and other environmental problems.

All the car-makers are working on a variety of electric drive vehicles using multiple technological approaches. There are of course multiple issues with all of these including cost, durability, range, etc. There is also, of course, the issue of producing electricity to power plug-in vehicles. Somewhere there’s a chorus repeating the mantra that we need to work aggressively to develop sustainable methods of generating electricity.

source

When we drove the jellybean on wheels (the Mitsubishi i MiEV) at the New York Auto Show last month, we were pretty swept away. This is one nice EV. Maybe we weren’t quite as enthralled as the kids in this commercial for the all-electric car, but we’re still in favor of the i MiEV making it to showrooms soon.

While my Japanese has gotten seriously rusty ever since I moved away from Japan in 2001, you don’t even need my level of understanding to get something out of these videos. As our tipster Yanquetino wrote:

They are worth seeing, IMHO. The second one is especially informative. Despite the Japanese, you can still catch words like “braking,” “CO2,” “engine,” “motor,” “battery,” etc. (I guess these are all imported from English). More importantly, they provide the specification numbers in Arabic numerals and symbols (14 hours full charge with 110V, 7 hours with 220, 30 minutes to 80% at charging stations, 160 km range, etc., etc.).

I wouldn’t be surprised if they eventually port these movies over to English, but for now… they are understandable! Evidently Mitsubishi is committed to bringing the iMiEV to market in Japan. Let’s hope that they’ll bring them here soon afterwards!

(If you’re in favor of the i MiEV in the U.S., don’t forget to sign this petition.)

When I watched the commercial, I understood the part where the voiceover says “It’s like a cell phone” when the woman plugs the car in. I think it also says “Running on zero” at the end, which means running on zero CO2 emissions. In this clip, a more technical description of what the i MiEV is all about, a vision of what driving an electric car could be like is laid out. I describe this clip after the jump.
Gallery: Mitsubishi i MiEV - LIVE
First off, the opening shot is pretty genius. Powering our EVs from wind is a dream I’m sure I share with a lot of readers. That sort of renewable electricity generation is just hinted at in the video, the bulk of which is dedicated to describing the way the i MiEV works. It has rear wheel drive and the video starts with an example of how much more efficient an electric motor is compared to a gasoline engine (55.5 percent of the energy in the fuel/batteries is used to move the vehicle in the electric version vs. 16.3 percent in the gas version). Plus, the EV uses regenerative braking. The i MiEV has LEV50 lithium-ion batteries, and - when carbon from electricity generation is figured in - the i MiEV emits 50 grams of CO2 per km for the EV compared to a little over 70 for a hybrid and 140+ for a 660cc gasoline engine. The i MiEV has a 160 km range with li-ion batteries that are coming in 2009. Mitsubishi’s plans seem to indicate setting up quick charging stations at convenience stores, train stations, Mitsubishi dealerships, shopping centers, and gas stations. If anyone with better Japanese skills wants to correct my translations, please feel free to do so. One thing that we can all understand is that cool logo. Thanks to Yanquetino for the tip!
[Source: Mitsubishi]