Filed under: Green Culture, Green Daily, Germany

What’s the most important aspect to consider when purchasing a new car? For German women, the answer is the same as it is for nearly everyone else: safety and security. In fact, 97 percent of respondents in a recent survey pointed to security as the most vital auto need. The next most important attribute, again not surprisingly, was quality, closely followed by - you guessed it - price. Of course, you get what you pay for, to quote the old saying. Anyway, things get a bit greener from there, with the type and amount of fuel consumed being singled out as a major criterion for purchase by some 80 percent of German women surveyed. Interestingly, the cleanliness of any given vehicle was rated as more important by women than its looks, design or brand image. German men didn’t rate a vehicle’s eco-friendliness quite as high, with less than three-quarters indicating that it was of particular importance to them. All in all, an emotional attachment doesn’t seem necessary to Germans, who appear to favor quality craftsmanship and design over other factors. Hear that? Be like the Germans and choose a green car.

[Source: Automobilwoche - sub. req'd. Pic CC 2.- by The Heart Truth]

Survey Says: German women want green cars originally appeared on AutoblogGreen on Mon, 01 Dec 2008 11:12:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: MPG, Legislation and Policy

The idea of reducing the rolling resistance of tires to improve efficiency is certainly not a new one. Tire manufacturers have been making improvements in this area for years. Most electric and hybrid vehicles use extremely low rolling resistance tires in order to cut rolling drag to a bare minimum. A new proposal from the European Commission would make these types of tires mandatory beginning in 2012. The proposal would set the maximum drag for new tires limited to 12kg/tonne in 2012, and then 10.5kg/tonne in 2014. The only problem with this is that reducing rolling resistance generally also reduces traction. If implemented, the new limits could effectively ban the wide tires used by high performance cars. Without these high grip tires, such cars would be essentially undrivable. The commission hopes the change will reduce CO₂ emissions by up to five percent.

[Source: AutoExpress]

EU could effectively kill high performance cars by banning their tires originally appeared on AutoblogGreen on Mon, 01 Dec 2008 10:27:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Legislation and Policy, UK

Prior to the mayoral election in London, England earlier this year, former mayor Ken Livingstone had grand plans to expand the scope of the city’s congestion charge. Following the election, the man commonly referred to as “Red Ken” was supplanted by Boris Johnson and things began to change. Johnson has now decided that the expansion of the congestion zone to the western part of London will be canceled. Surprisingly when Johnson asked Londoners what they thought of the congestion zone expansion, two-thirds were opposed to it. Since the expansion was already implemented prior to the election, it will take time to fully roll it back. It will apparently take until spring of 2010 to make the changes, and the changes will cost Transport for London £70 million annually in lost tolls.

[Source: What Car?]

London congestion charge zone expansion canceled by new mayor originally appeared on AutoblogGreen on Mon, 01 Dec 2008 09:37:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: EV/Plug-in, BMW, Green Daily

There’s not been any lack of information on these pages recently about the MINI E, but there’s one question that still needs an answer: how do you get your hands on one? We know that only 500 of these all-electric cars will be leased at $850 a month and that they’ll only be available to people in the greater New York and LA metro areas. The way to get on BMW’s list is by signing up at the MINI E site and answering some interesting questions. What questions does BMW want to know about you? Well, Steve Levy over at Autofiends found out that the questions include asking you if you have an iPhone and if you can complete Gustav Kirchhoff’s Circuit Law along with more standard fare like which three historical figures you’d like to take on a road trip and which inventions you can’t live without. If you’re interested in telling BMW these details about yourself, you have until Dec. 10th to apply.

[Source: Autofiends]

What’s it take to get a MINI E? Well, do you have an iPhone? originally appeared on AutoblogGreen on Mon, 01 Dec 2008 08:46:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Diesel, Audi

At the Essen Motor Show in Germany, Audi has announced a new part of its 2009 motorsports program. After three years of running its pioneering R10 TDI, Audi’s diesel racer is being replaced for 2009. The manufacturer has designed an all-new diesel powered R15 TDI. The R15 remains an open cockpit car like its predecessors, but will use a smaller, lighter and more efficient diesel engine. The R10 uses a 5.5L V12 but Audi has not revealed any other details about the R15 engine yet - and there are no images of the R15 yet. So far, Audi has only revealed a limited program for the new R15 starting with the 12 Hours of Sebring in March and followed by the 24 Hours of Le Mans in June. Audi will be looking to tie Ferrari with a ninth overall victory at Le Mans. Audi spokesman Christian Bokich tells ABG that the company is not yet ready to announce what plans it might have for the rest of the American Le Mans Series.

[Source: Audi]

Continue reading Audi announces new R15 TDI diesel racer for Le Mans

Audi announces new R15 TDI diesel racer for Le Mans originally appeared on AutoblogGreen on Mon, 01 Dec 2008 07:55:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Diesel, MPG, Legislation and Policy

Over at the GM Inside News forums, a poster has put up an interesting proposal to help the automakers and jump start the economy. Some elements of this have already put forward previously, but a warning to all the anti-diesel zealots in the audience, you won’t like this. Essentially the idea is for the president, either the one who is making out his pardon list right now or the one moving in January 20, to issue a temporary waiver allowing high mileage European cars to be imported into the United States. The 24 month reprieve would allow automakers to bring in any car that gets at least 44 mpg combined and passes current European safety regulations and either Euro IV or V emissions regulations. From a safety standpoint, this shouldn’t be a problem, since European regulations are different than the ones here in the states, but still plenty safe.

The real issue lies with emissions. Most of the cars that would qualify are diesel powered. While many are now equipped with particulate filters and would have no issue with soot emissions, NOx is another story. Given that California seems to be particularly averse to NOx emissions, it seems unlikely that they would agree to this waiver and its not clear that the president has the power, even under the War Powers Act, to over-rule California’s emissions standards.

The other problem with this plan is that right now even fuel efficient cars are not selling because many people, especially those at the low end of the market, can’t get credit and they can’t afford to pay cash for a new car. Such a plan would have been helpful six months ago, but unless Hank Paulson is willing to start leaning on his banking buddies to actually loan money out instead of just hoarding that $700 billion, it probably won’t help. The cost of importing these cars from Europe rather than producing them domestically would probably also make the plan non-viable.

[Source: GM Inside News]

Forum poster proposes plan to boost fuel economy, save Detroit originally appeared on AutoblogGreen on Sun, 30 Nov 2008 20:02:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: EV/Plug-in, On Two Wheels

The Isle of Man hosts a classic and influential motorcycle time trial every year, and 2009 will mark the first year that an alternative class is held in conjunction with the main proceedings (see here for our initial recap). The TTX GP, as it’s being called, is intended to focus awareness on green motorcycles, specifically those running on electrons or alternative fuels. Electric machinery is taking center stage for the event’s inaugural running, but there are actually way more riders interested in participating than available machinery. To help combat this major problem, race organizers have commissioned an electric bike of their own. The actual bike is known as the TTX01 and is still very much in the prototype stages. So far, we like what we see - and like what it promises even more.

Using two Agni electric pancake motors powering the rear wheel, the TTX01 offers 86 horsepower and, more importantly, 170 lb-ft of torque. Soon, the machine should feature two-wheel drive via one motor for each wheel, a carbon fiber frame and vastly superior aerodynamics. Racing always tends to show the faults in a design, and current battery tech is no exception. TTX GP organizers are planning to make the battery in the TTX01 hot-swappable so that an empty unit can quickly be exchanged for a fully charged pack to continue racing. Best of all? The crew plans to produce 50 copies of the machine for sale in 2010 at about 20K in UK money, about 30 grand in the US.

[Source: Gizmag]

TTX01 electric motorcycle built for TTX GP originally appeared on AutoblogGreen on Sun, 30 Nov 2008 17:46:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: AutoblogGreen Exclusive, Legislation and Policy

We’re from the government and we’re here to help. Those words strike fear into the hearts of conservatives anywhere. Right now those words probably should be terrorizing those hoping for a loan deal for the Detroit automakers as well. Before and after Congress declined to provide quick passage to loan package until the carmakers put a forward a plan, many people wanted to attach strings to the deal requiring the three companies to transform their fleets with a green lineup.

To a large extent this was already in process before the situation turned into a full blown crisis this fall. Product plans at Ford and General Motors (nobody really knows what’s happening at Chrysler) had already been completely revamped over the last 18 months as the price of fuel skyrocketed. Most of the future “gas guzzlers” had been canceled or put on hold while more efficient cars were fast tracked. The programs that were moving forward were meant to be both greener and profitable. All of this was being driven by the market, specifically high gas prices, not CAFE. So, what’s a good proposal for Congress to implement? My thoughts are after the jump.

[Source: Detroit News]

Continue reading Congressional plan for green Detroit could be financially fatal

Congressional plan for green Detroit could be financially fatal originally appeared on AutoblogGreen on Sun, 30 Nov 2008 15:32:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Etc., NEV (Neighborhood Electric Vehicle)

The U.S. military, like so many other giant organizations, is making the case for going green. From hybrid tanks to bio-fuel jet fuel, reducing fuel is becoming more and more important. The latest move is towards more electric cars, thousands of little NEVs to use on bases around the world. According to the Army Times, the Army, Navy and Air Force are looking into the battery-powered vehicles, with the first deployment coming to Fort Belvoir in Virginia in the middle of December. Some of the NEVs will come from E-Z-Go, the golf cart maker, which is a subsidiary of defense giant Textron. The military said that the $400 in annual electricity costs was a big improvement over $2,400 in gas costs that the average gas-powered vehicle uses. All told, the 4,000 EVs the military plans to use will save 11.5 million gallons of fuel a year. The new military slogan for the endeavor? “Army Green, Army Strong.”

[Source: Army Times]

U.S. mililtary looking for a few good EVs originally appeared on AutoblogGreen on Sun, 30 Nov 2008 13:10:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Green Culture, Hybrid, GM, GMC, Green Daily, USA

General Motors is the Official Vehicle Supplier for the Macy Thanksgiving Day Parade. There, now you’ve learned your requisite something new for the day. This year, The General decided to trot out hybrid versions of the full-size GMC Yukon to pull various parade floats and giant balloon-things. Oddly, GM did absolutely nothing to advertise the fact that it would be having the hybrid ‘utes take place in the event, leaving various other media outlets to find out about it themselves. No matter. Find out they have, and now that the event is over, the news has hit the wires.

We are also left wondering if Macys did any promotion of the event, considering that the large clothing retailer has recently begun touting its own green efforts. If it did, we must have missed it. Whatever the case, slow city running is the perfect place to use a hybrid vehicle such as this. GM’s full-size hybrids are fully capable of towing large loads, and something had to pull the huge number of parade floats for the 82nd installation of the classic Manhattan parade, right? May as well be a hybrid.

[Source: Star-Telegram]

GMC Yukon hybrid featured in Macy Parade originally appeared on AutoblogGreen on Sun, 30 Nov 2008 10:42:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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