At the end of last week, BMW informed us that its Vision EfficientDynamics [ED] green sports car concept would become a reality and be available for sale as early as 2013. Along with the announcement and the release of new photographic material, the Bavarian automaker also published a fresh video featuring an early prototype version of the diesel-electric-powered Vision ED. To watch the new promotional film, hit the jump below.
Some people are just meant to go places. In the case of 16-year old Azeem Hill and the rest of Simon Hauger's West Philadelphia-based high-school hybrid team, that place is somewhere into the vastly expanding world of alternative fuel technology.
The West Philly Hybrid X Team, builders of the EVX GT and EVX Focus, is the result of an after-school program at the Academy of Automotive and Mechanical Engineering meant to educate youth about the future of hybrid tech and transportation. What's more impressive is that this young underdog team was in the running for this year's Automotive X Prize.
Nissan has unveiled a two-seater electric city car concept named the New Mobility Concept or NMC for short. If it reminds you of a recently seen model, then you've got a good eye, because the NMC is nothing more than a rebagded version of the Renault Twizy, which made its world premiere at the Paris Motor Show last month.
Are you (1) a white man with an afro, (2) wear flared trousers or (3) would say your favorite band is Jefferson Starship? If you answered, "Yes," to any of these questions then boy do we have the car for you.
Built by Glenn Legrand over a five year period and presumably completed in 1970, the Legrand Electric Car is a one-of-a-kind electric car for the '70s obsessive. According to the seller, Mr. Legrand got the plans from Popular Mechanics Magazine, back in the days when the magazine did that sort of thing.
Underneath that Johnny Cab body are the simple, reliable mechanicals of a Volkswagen Beetle, though the Legrand is three feet longer and two feet wider. The body is made out of a combination of polyurethane foam and fibreglass.
David Cardoso, whose work includes the water-bound Audi Hydron concept and Cobalt coupe, has created a new car concept to take on Mitsubishi's i-Miev. Envisioned as a Renault, the Twist would be a small electric city vehicle to slot between the baby Twingo and larger Modus MPV.
From the looks of it, the Twist's design is awkward enough to be Renault (and I say that in a good way). Its nose is nothing to blow people away style-wise, but it certainly looks the part of an i-Miev competitor. Luckily, that means it can win people over with cuteness.
Besides the apparently tall and spine-straightening seating area designed by chiropractors, the Twist looks ready to go. Even the wheels are a realistic size, unlike a lot of renderings put out there.
With even the likes of Porsche going green � not to mention the Chevrolet Volt or the Nissan Leaf, it's no surprise that Volvo wants a piece of the "Look at me, I'm saving the planet!" action.
They partnered up with Powercell Sweden AB (with backing from the Swedish Energy Agency) and hope that the Volvo C30 DRIVe Electric will be ready for testing on the road by 2012.
A while back there was a rumor going around that Apple and its overlord Steve Jobs were going to be getting into the city car game. Although nothing official has been announced in the years since those rumors started - and Google looks ready to shut down anything Apple has coming with its driver-less cars - the iMove, an independent design study, is likely close to what people were thinking as soon as Apple mentioned "car".
Designed by 20-year old Liviu Tudoran, the iMove is simple, smooth, cute, and most of all, blends right into the Apple product lineup of pods and user-friendly design.
The exterior uses "photocromic material" to adjust the exterior hue of the vehicle (at least on the transparent parts) based on a variety of presets. Think of it like the Mustang's MyColor gauges, but on the outside of your ride.
Production of Nissan's pure electric Leaf started today at the firm's Oppama facility in Japan, ahead of the car's launch in Japan and the United States in December, and in select markets in Europe from early 2011. Currently, the Oppama plant has an annual production capacity of 50,000 units. The Japanese carmaker said it will begin exports to the USA in November, followed by Europe in December.
In the ever-growing world of automotive efficiency, more and more sports car manufacturers have decided to get in the game of providing more efficient speed. Now, Porsche has taken it one step further, committing to a hybrid version of each of its models in order to get its average CO2 emissions down to 216 g/km by 2015 (from the current 255 g/km).
Maybe I'm crazy, but aren't vintage electric conversions just so much more interesting than current electric cars? They're like old Mercedes diesels converted to biodiesel: vintage cool but using modern day tech to be efficient, clean, and (in the this case) very fast.
This green '86 BMW 3-Series E30, built by Croatia's VST Conversions, is the brainchild of Mate Rimac; he wanted to go fast in an electric car, and now he can.
After working through a few power setups, the current version of the VST "bi-moto EV" puts down 500 horsepower through the wheels and can run the quarter in 12.1. The word you're looking for is DAMN. As in "Damn, this thing is awesome."
The ongoing love affair between the BMW Group and PSA Peugeot Citro�n has just become more intense as the two companies announced today their intention to further expand the cooperation to include hybrid components for front-wheel-drive vehicles by singing a memorandum of understanding. Both parties have agreed not to disclose financial details of the agreement.
It appears as if GM has some explaining to do when it comes to the oh-so-important Chevrolet Volt. In layman's terms, various sources are showing up to call out the General about how, specifically, the Volt is motivated.
GM says the gasoline engine doesn't officially move the wheels, and the critics say at some point it does, which if true, means the Volt is a plug-in hybrid (albeit, an advanced one at that) and GM has been lying to us all along.
Tesla Motors has initiated a voluntary safety recall on its battery-electric Roadster 2.0 and 2.5 models following the discovery of a potential fire hazard involving an auxiliary power cable.
The California-based automaker said it became aware of the problem after a single incident where an auxiliary cable "chafed against the edge of a carbon fiber panel in the vehicle causing a short, smoke and possible fire behind the right front headlamp of the vehicle."
Following on from our preview of Seat's latest IBE Concept model, we now have live pictures of the compact sports coupe from the 2010 Paris Motor Show. Improvements over the first IBE Concept, which was shown in Geneva earlier this year, include refinements to the design and technology, while the Paris Show car now also sports an interior.
One or two sizes up from the quirky little Twizy is where Renault's ZOE Preview sits. Following in the vein of last year's ZOE Z.E. coupe, the ZOE Preview is a more realistic look at the production version that will be available in 2012 wearing Renault's newest face. Not only that, but it may just be previewing (ZING!) the next Clio as well.
In order to keep its e-high rolling, Audi has created yet another pretty and efficient vehicle for Paris: the e-tron Spyder. Audi's latest plug-in no-top is powered by a 300-horse 3.0-liter V6 TDI outfitted with two turbochargers and two 88-horsepower / 64 kW electric motors; the results are impressive, to say the least.
The e-tron system in this car will help it hit 100 km/h (62 mph) in 4.4 seconds on its way to a limited 250 km/h (155 mph), provide an all-electric range of 31 miles, return a combined 128.4 mpg, and only pollute your air with 59 g of CO2 per kilometer. Total range is 621 miles for the 1,450-kg car.
Welcome to the Twizy, Renault's third model in its Zero Emissions lineup after the Fluence Z.E. and Kangoo Van Z.E. The little city car pod is an all-electric mix between a scooter and a car, allowing for clean and efficient city driving thanks to its 20-horsepower / 42 lb-ft (57 Nm) electric motor. That helps it reach a top speed of 47 mph after it has charged for 3.5 hours.
Although Nissan didn't mention the Cube in its press release on the new Townpod EV concept, it's not hard to make the connection between the two cars. However, the quirky looking sub-compact study, which made its world premiere today at the Paris Motor Show, makes use of the same zero-emission technology found within Nissan LEAF in a tall van-like body with suicide-style rear doors and split trunk doors.
[Updated] This year's edition of the Paris show will see the VW Group's successful Skoda brand unveiling its first-ever electric-powered vehicle called the Octavia Green E Line. Skoda says it is planning to create a special test fleet of Octavias Green E Line in 2011 with the goal of obtaining additional information relevant to the further development of the electric drive.
To celebrate the big 7-5, Jaguar has rolled out its XJ220-inspired 780-horsepower C-X75 RE-EV (range-extended electric vehicle) concept. Power for this looker is supplied by electric motors working in conjunction with "micro gas-turbines", which also throw in 1180 lb-ft / 1,600 Nm of torque. Jaguar claims the 6-hour-to-charge plug-in sports car has a range of 560 / 900 km miles and an Lithium-ion-only range of 68 miles with a "potential top speed" of 205 mph (330 km/h).
