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VIDEO: Drag race between Dodge Challenger and Dodge EV
Filed under: EV/Plug-in, Dodge, LA Auto Show, USA
Dodge has their recently revealed electric vehicle line-up in L.A for the upcoming Auto Show and, at the tail end of a press event in the Rosebowl parking lot, had occasion to indulge in a little “impromptu” drag racing. The two cars involved were the Lotus Europa Dodge EV and a Dodge Challenger they “just happened” to have laying around. Now, electric cars are known for their instant torque off the line and, as the Tesla Roadster recently demonstrated, make pretty good quarter mile sprinters. However, the Challenger not only looks intimidating but packs a lung disease-inducing 6.1 liter Hemi under it’s striped hood. That’s good for 425 horses with 420 lb ft of torque. Yikes! The Dodge EV has its own secret weapon though (its driver) and gamely noses up to the line for the confrontation. Hit the jump to watch the pair of parking lot passes.
Gallery: 2011 Chrysler EVs
[Source: Los Angeles Times]
Continue reading VIDEO: Drag race between Dodge Challenger and Dodge EV
VIDEO: Drag race between Dodge Challenger and Dodge EV originally appeared on AutoblogGreen on Sun, 16 Nov 2008 13:23:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Dodge EV takes to the streets
Filed under: Concept Cars, Hybrids/Alternative, Green, Dodge
While a lot of the legwork was done for them by Lotus, we still have to give Chrysler a little credit for getting an electric vehicle prototype on the road so quickly. When we first saw the Dodge EV a couple of months ago, it looked like it was ready to roll, with a Tesla-like blend of Lotus platform and electric powerpack. Soon after we heard that the car was likely to make it to production, with a delivery date that would challenge the Chevrolet Volt. While it had appeared that Chrysler was way behind its domestic rivals in developing an electric car, we know that through their GEM subsidiary, Chrysler has actually accumulated a lot of EV expertise and become the nation’s leading electric car seller in the process.
The Dodge EV is essentially a Lotus Europa, but uses lithium batteries and a 268 hp electric motor in place of the standard 2.0L four cylinder engine and transmission. It promises a range of 150-200 miles and a 0-60 time of under 5 seconds. It’s a full-blown, plug-in EV, just like the Tesla Roadster, and should require a 4-hour recharge from a 220V outlet or 8 hours on a 110. To help launch Chrysler’s new ENVI electric car division, the Dodge EV has been traveling the show circuit, but today we spotted it at one of our favorite local cruise-ins.
It attracted quite a crowd. Not surprisingly, many folks at the show mistook it for a Lotus until they saw the Dodge badges. Even then a lot of people figured it was some type of joint venture between the two firms. Most were amazed to learn the car might be in Dodge showrooms by 2010. Try as we might we couldn’t wrestle the keys from the Chrysler reps. Hopefully the car and the company make it through our current economic crisis so we can sample one when they hit the streets.
Gallery: Dodge EV in the wild
Photos copyright (C)2008 Frank Filipponio/Weblogs, Inc.
Dodge EV takes to the streets originally appeared on Autoblog on Sun, 16 Nov 2008 18:33:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Tags: lotus, chevrolet, volt
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Tesla Roadster will get a post-crash analysis
Filed under: Tesla Motors
Sometimes you have to see the upside when something bad happens: this is what engineers from Tesla must have realized because they have gotten their hands on the Tesla roadster that got wrecked in southern France. According to VP Darryl Siry, the car has been shipped to Hethel, England, where the Lotus factory is located. A group of engineers will check how every piece of the car that suffered in the accident. According to Mr. Siry, “The safety systems worked exactly as engineered,” although the passenger has announced plans to sue Tesla for injuries. Nevertheless, the Tesla’s electric security worked and the systems were shut off during the accident, preventing electrocutions. “Now that it happened, we’re excited to be able to dig into it. It will be a valuable tool,” Siry told Green Car Advisor.
[Source: Green Car Advisor]
Tesla Roadster will get a post-crash analysis originally appeared on AutoblogGreen on Tue, 11 Nov 2008 11:14:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Tesla to lay off workers in UK
Filed under: EV/Plug-in, Tesla Motors, UK
Ten people are scheduled to be let go from Tesla Motors UK at its Hethel facility in Norfolk. The UK facility is the starting point for Tesla Roadsters, which see their first light of day outside the Lotus factory where the guts are welded and bonded together from aluminum. In the interest of sounding a bit more palatable, the official reason for their departure is that they have been “made redundant.” Note to automakers, we know what that means… just be honest. While ten people doesn’t seem to be a big number, it actually represents a fifth of the total number of workers employed by Tesla Motors at that facility. For those who like to keep track of such things, that places the workforce at 40 persons, which, for those who aren’t so good at math, is down from 50. The good news is that Tesla Roadster production is not expected to be affected.
Gallery: 2009 Tesla Roadster v1.5
[Source: Autocar]
Tesla to lay off workers in UK originally appeared on AutoblogGreen on Mon, 03 Nov 2008 16:38:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Tesla Roadster goes to the drags, does a 12.7 second quarter mile
Filed under: EV/Plug-in, Tesla Motors, Green Daily
There’s no doubt that the Tesla Roadster is a fine performance car. We’ve driven one (actually, two) and are therefore qualified to say that it’s one mean green machine. The acceleration of an electric car is something truly inspiring to witness, with its torque coming on strong right when the accelerator is first pressed, and the Tesla’s got the wattage to continue putting that power down for the full 1320. Proof positive of the Roadster’s quarter-mile performance came from a recent trip to the Wednesday Night Drags at Infineon Raceway in California. An Autoblog reader was present for at least one of the orange car’s passes down the drag strip and witnessed a time of 12.7-seconds. Anything under 13-seconds in the quarter is quite good and this performance puts the Roadster in firmly in Ferrari territory and bests the Lotus Elise that the Roadster shares many components with. We’re not sure if this car was driven by someone from Tesla or if its a customer car, or whether it has the latest version 1.5 drivetrain installed. Thanks for the tip, JP!
Tesla Roadster goes to the drags, does a 12.7 second quarter mile originally appeared on AutoblogGreen on Thu, 30 Oct 2008 17:42:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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AutoblogGreen for 10.22.08
Filed under: Hybrids/Alternative, Green
Which would you rather have, a 94.1 mpg VW Golf or a $7,000 “Ford Model T for 2015″ (above, right)? I’m liking the diesel hybrid VW myself, and I suppose I might need to remind myself which fuel needs to be put in the tank. There are some UK policemen who need the reminder; I suggest they write it on on their skin with a Sharpie: This is a diesel vehicle
- Falling gas prices may open opportunities for ants
- British mag tries out the VW Golf Twin-Drive, 94.1 mpg (U.S.)!
- Cobalt Biofuels gets $25 million for biobutanol
- Note to the coppers: This is a diesel vehicle
- Toshiba wants EV battery business, 3M lithium cells/month in 2010
- Chevy Volt gets an aux water pump supplier in Buehler Motor
- Daimler creates Smart-based Car2Go car sharing service
- We Wish. Students design hyper-efficient “Ford Model T for 2015″
- SEAT supports climate change meeting - and Al Gore
- General Motors holds sustainable biofuels workshop in Beijing
- Ruf’s electric Porshce powered by UQM motor
- Race ready electric dirtbike coming from KTM
- Green cars - and green jobs - have potential to turn economy around
- Driven: 2009 Tesla Roadster v1.5
- Minnesota state fleet using 77 percent more E85 this year
- Lotus wins award for HOTFIRE engine that cuts CO2 by 15%
AutoblogGreen for 10.22.08 originally appeared on Autoblog on Wed, 22 Oct 2008 06:05:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Tags: lotus, volt, ford
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Bee Automobiles launches with electric hillclimbing racer
Filed under: EV/Plug-in, UK
What better way for a young British automotive company to gain recognition for itself and demonstrate its engineering prowess than to enter a revolutionary vehicle into one of the oldest of motorsports, hillclimbing? Perhaps none. And so it is that heretofore unknown Bee Automobiles will be contesting the 2009 British Hillclimb Championship with the Bee.four ERV in the “unlimited class.” Before you start with the skepticism and the humming of “Sweet Dreams (Are Made Of This),” please note that the single-seater electric race car has been designed by Lotus Formula 1 notable, Martin Ogilvie, and will be driven by two-time British Hillclimb Champion Graeme Wight Jr. One might also note that Wight finished off the ‘08 season with a win in V10 powered “Predator” also designed by Ogilvie. Details about this new car are still quite slim, though it is said that it will feature one motor per wheel to give it a total of 700 bhp and will begin testing at MIRA facilities in early 2009. This bhp number is suspiciously reminiscent of the figure given for another fast future-car, the Lightning GT, and we wonder aloud if it will also feature the in-wheel Hi-Pa Drive[TM] motor from PML Flightlink.
If the initial plans of the fledgling company seem high-reaching, its future aspirations are far more ambitious. According to their website, Bee Automobiles not only has a reasonable electric four-seater, called the Bee.one, on their drawing board but also an exotic-looking road-going Tesla-Roadster-beating two-seater version of their race car, the Bee.four, in the works. If they can actually achieve a sub 3 second 0-to-60 time with their gas-free roadster, they could hold the car-to-beat standard for some years. The official announcement of the Bee.one and Bee.four is expected to occur during the 2009 edition of the Geneva Auto Show in March.
Gallery: Bee Automobiles Bee.Four ERV
[Source: CAR keys / Bee Automobiles]
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AutoblogGreen for 10.22.08
Filed under: Hybrids/Alternative, Green
Which would you rather have, a 94.1 mpg VW Golf or a $7,000 “Ford Model T for 2015″ (above, right)? I’m liking the diesel hybrid VW myself, and I suppose I might need to remind myself which fuel needs to be put in the tank. There are some UK policemen who need the reminder; I suggest they write it on on their skin with a Sharpie: This is a diesel vehicle
- Falling gas prices may open opportunities for ants
- British mag tries out the VW Golf Twin-Drive, 94.1 mpg (U.S.)!
- Cobalt Biofuels gets $25 million for biobutanol
- Note to the coppers: This is a diesel vehicle
- Toshiba wants EV battery business, 3M lithium cells/month in 2010
- Chevy Volt gets an aux water pump supplier in Buehler Motor
- Daimler creates Smart-based Car2Go car sharing service
- We Wish. Students design hyper-efficient “Ford Model T for 2015″
- SEAT supports climate change meeting - and Al Gore
- General Motors holds sustainable biofuels workshop in Beijing
- Ruf’s electric Porshce powered by UQM motor
- Race ready electric dirtbike coming from KTM
- Green cars - and green jobs - have potential to turn economy around
- Driven: 2009 Tesla Roadster v1.5
- Minnesota state fleet using 77 percent more E85 this year
- Lotus wins award for HOTFIRE engine that cuts CO2 by 15%
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Lotus wins award for HOTFIRE engine that cuts CO by 15%
Filed under: MPG, Lotus
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Another of Lotus Engineering’s research projects into more efficient motoring has been recognized. This time around, Project HOTFIRE received an accolade from The Engineer Technology + Innovation Awards 2008. HOTFIRE was a joint effort with Continental, University College London (UCL) and Loughborough University to develop a gasoline direct injection engine that reduces fuel consumption and CO2 emissions by 15 percent. The project analyzed the combustion and consumption properties of similar engines with port and direct cylinder injection mechanisms. Lotus built a pair of single cylinder engines, one of which had a transparent silica cylinder liner allowing the in-cylinder combustion to be observed. Besides the fuel delivery, a variable valve timing system was used to measure the effects of early intake valve closing on consumption and emissions. Eventually a full engine was built and installed in an Opel Astra demonstrator to evaluate real world performance. The Lotus press release is after the jump.
[Source: Lotus]
Continue reading Lotus wins award for HOTFIRE engine that cuts CO2 by 15%
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Chrysler: Half of all cars electric by 2020
Filed under: EV/Plug-in, Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep, GEM, USA
We’ve taken a good look at each of the three electric vehicle concepts that Chrysler took the wraps off of last week, plus one extra for good measure. For various reasons, none of these vehicles really seems quite ready for prime time - one is based on a Lotus sportscar chassis, two require huge battery packs and the last is limited to 25 miles per hour. Tough bring those to market. Still, Chrysler says it plans to launch one of them by 2010 in the U.S. with European delivery scheduled a bit later. We’ll see. If that does happen, Chrysler’s EV would join the Chevy Volt as the first mainstream(-ish) cars in the States not powered by gasoline in a very, very long time.
If Chrysler’s predictions are accurate, though, don’t expect the market to stay petroleum-dependent for long. In fact, Chrysler’s executive vice president of product development, Frank Klegon, has said that half the cars sold here in 2020 will feature electric power. That’s a long way to go in just a decade. In any case, the future promises lots of interesting things for the domestic auto market.
Gallery: 2011 Chrysler EVs
[Source: Automotive News Europe - sub. req'd]
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Tags: chevrolet, volt, lotus
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