We're no strangers to Chinese automaker BYD and its upcoming models of electric and hybrid cars. What's new is the claim that BYD is going to start selling the world's cheapest hybrid, with prices starting at just ¥100,000 (RNB) which is around $14,000 U.S. The model will be called BYD F3DM, with DB standing for Dual Mode, once it reaches the showrooms. BYD also announced a potential full EV version of the F3. The all-electric F6 is, however, still set to production. Specifications for this model haven't been released, although it's known that the car will be available with a different array of powertrains. We're still waiting for information on when the car will be actually on sale.

[Source: China Car Times via Autoblog en Español]

China has produced its first hybrid electric-diesel locomotive, the JT56ACe. The high powered diesel-electric model was jointly manufactured by CNR Dalian Locomotive and Rolling Stock Co. (DLoco) and USA-based Electro-Motive Diesel, Inc., (EMD, formerly a GM company). It's got a 6,000 hp diesel engine and its manufacturers claim that it's the most fuel efficient and environmentally friendly locomotive in the world. It features dual isolated driver's cabins, low exhaust emissions, electronic fuel injection, AC traction drive system, microcomputer control system. The JT56ACe can pull up to 5000 tons (metric) with a maximum speed of 120 km/h (75mph). EMD and CNR have agreed to build 300 of these locomotives for the Chinese Ministry of Railways.

[Source: EMD]

Nearly a year ago, we first laid eyes on a hydrogen-powered moped from the Shanghai Pearl Hydrogen Power Source Technology Company. Although the machine had, um... questionable aesthetics, we were impressed by its 60-mile range at 15 miles per hour and relatively low $2,600 price tag. According to a report on Shanghai Daily, 30 of the hydrogen-fed units have already been exported. By 2011, the Chinese manufacturer hopes to be building 1,000 units per year for sale both in China and abroad. Considering that many electric two-wheelers already cost more than the hydrogen-powered ebike from Shanghai, there could be a real market for these vehicles, though the hydrogen fueling infrastructure is most definitely still in its infancy.

Other brands, such as Suzuki and Intelligent Energy, have plans to introduce hydrogen-powered fuel cell cycles of their own. Both the Crosscage and ENV, though, would surely cost significantly more than their Chinese counterparts.

[Source: Shangai Daily via Faster and Faster]

Click on picture for high-res image

If you hadn't noticed, the Olympic Games in Beijing are being celebrated these days. MINI decided that it was a good opportunity to mix Chinese traditions with British German craftmanship and so they sent a MINI Clubman to be cut in half and made a rickshaw. Yes, not a lot of horsepowers, but human legpower moves the MINI rickshaw around the Hu Tong district in Beijing. The vehicle is finished with all sorts of amulets and decorations to bring good luck to the rider, and liberate some positive energy during these Games. What we can't deny is that human power is actually greener than an ICE engine. Oh, wait, didn't somebody challenge that statement?



[Source: BMW]

With the world intently watches the Olympic Games currently taking place in Beijing, China, the country's policy-makers are concerned with the quality of the city's air. As has been widely reported, Beijing took drastic measures to ensure that its air quality was safe for the world's best athletes, including cutting its traffic in half through unique licensing measures. But, what is to happen after the games are through? Will the city revert back to its previous emissions-spewing ways? That's the question that's on both the minds of both the outside world and Chinese officials themselves. In order to promote the sale of smaller, more efficient vehicles, the country's Finance Ministry has decided to raise its taxes dramatically on vehicles with engines larger than 4.0-liters, with a slightly smaller but still significant increase on cars with engines between 2.0 and 4.0-liters. On the flip side, cars with engines displacing less than 1-liter get their taxes dropped by a third to just 1-percent. The hope is that consumers will choose to purchase cars with smaller engines, as there is rapid growth in both the large car and SUV market segments.

[Source: Elaine Kurtenbach / Associated Press via The Detroit News]

To help China with its goal of hosting a "green olympics" the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) has donated four lithium ion battery-powered buses for the effort. That brings the total number of electric buses in the Olympic fleet to 50. They are said to be able to carry 80 people at a time at speeds of up to 50 mph.and have a range of about 80 miles with the air conditioning engaged.The electric buses will use a large station during the games for parking and transfers as well as maintenance and battery charging. No word was given of the recharge times although we estimate the battery packs themselves to hold 130Kwh of energy.

The official buses are painted blue and green with the Olympic logo and will shuttle athletes between the Olympic Village and the Olympic Sports Venues. After the two weeks of athletic contests are completed the vehicles will officially enter the Beijing transportation system where they can officially carry people quietly about the city for (hopefully) years to come.

[Source: Gasgoo / UNDP China]

Chinese automaker BYD has announced that it is going to start selling electric cars in Israel by 2009, as well as European markets in the following years. The planned models are the BYD E6 and a Plug-in Hybrid F6DM, which will benefit from Israel's soon-to-be installed electric charging stations network although I don't know what Nissan-Renault/Better Place think about this.

The specs for the cars don't look bad, so let's hope they reach our expectations. The BYD E6 seats 5 and runs from 0-100 km/h in about 10 seconds, and uses BYD's own lithium-ion iron phosphate batteries, stored behind the rear seats. The F6DM hybrid is a mid-sized sedan with a range of 62 miles (100 km) in the all-electric mode and 267 miles (430 km) total.


[Source: BYD via Gasgoo]

Click above for more high-res shots of the Chery A5 hybrid

In April, it was revealed that Chinese carmaker Chery would be supplying some fifty vehicles for use during the Olympic games, including the company's first hybrid model. There are two such hybrid models, both based on the automaker's A5 sedan. The A5 BSG is a simpler design featuring a twelve volt Belt Starter-Generator attached to the standard model's 1.6-liter four cylinder engine. The BSG features stop/start capability and is said to offer up to a 10-percent fuel economy improvement in urban driving. The more advanced A5 ISG uses a smaller 1.3-liter engine along with a 12 kW, crankshaft-mounted 151-volt Integrated Starter-Generator system which is said to offer a 15-percent improvement in fuel consumption.

Pictures indicate that the larger battery pack of the A5 ISG model is located in the trunk and is attached to the back of the rear seat. These two hybrids were developed with the assistance of Ricardo and are expected to go on sale shortly after the Olympic Games are complete.


[Source: Ricardo via Carscoop]

Click above for complete gallery

The Beijing Olympics will have a complete fleet of 5,000 "green cars" by Volkswagen, which is an official sponsor. The chosen models are the Magotan 2.0 TDI (6.2 l/100) and Magotan BlueMotion (5.1 l/100), the Sagitar 1.4 TSI (6.4 l/100), the Touran EcoFuel (bifuel CNG/gasoline) and the Tiguan 2.0 TDI (6.9 l/100). The Magotan is a locally-produced version of the VW Passat and the Sagitar is the name used to identify the Jetta. The Olympic cars carry a special car design, which features Olympic tradition with symbols that represent the concepts of "mobility", "wind" and "street" combined.


[Source: Auto News]

It seems that Beijing's various measures designed to lower its overall air pollution in preparation for the upcoming Olympic Games is working, though additional and more drastic measures may be required. You may recall that the city began limiting traffic on July 20, a move which has helped lower the air's nitride count some 48-percent and drop its particulate matter rating from [the seemingly arbitrary number of] 90 to 44. Still, so-called "sauna weather," where high-humidity and low-wind conditions exist at once, could force the city into removing up to 90-percent of all cars from its densely packed roadways. Though that would likely be a serious blow to the city's inhabitants, experts predict that the ban would only be necessary for a few days and would alleviate the remaining air-quality problems. All of these changes deemed necessary by the World's athletes make us wonder if conditions will immediately revert to their pre-Olympic state or if the city will continue on a path of air-quality improvement.

[Source: China View]

In preparation for the upcoming Summer Olympic Games scheduled to begin on August 8, the city of Beijing in China has now begun limiting traffic through its busy streets. Due to the heavy smog and polluted air in Beijing, cars will be allowed to drive only on alternating days based on the license plate of the vehicle. This means that only half of the 3.3 million vehicles currently registered in the city will be allowed to drive each day, theoretically cutting emissions in half.

In addition to the automobile traffic measures, the city has begun limiting manufacturing plants to 70-percent of the emissions they had previously been allowed. These new programs are in addition to the ban on heavy trucks in the city which took place starting on July 1. To offset the problems that inhabitants would likely have with their daily transportation needs, the city has beefed up its public transportation systems by adding additional buses and subway routes. What effect, if any, these measures will have on air quality will be seen come August.

[Source: CNN]

Italian company Pirelli is best known for making high performance tires, but now it is making efforts in emissions technology. The Italian government announced an agreement between the Ministry of Environmental Affairs and the City Council of Beijing, China. Pirelli will supply diesel particulate filter systems (DPF) to be installed on heavy duty vehicles (mainly buses, but also trucks and later snowploughs and tractors). The vehicles are used by the local public transportation company and the filters are able to eliminate 95 percent of particulate emissions. The first filter systems will be installed before the start of the Olympics, and the rest after the summer. Pirelli's technology can be retrofitted to most existing models. Pirelli has been offering the retrofit filter systems for sale in Europe since the beginning of 2008 in Italy, Germany, the Netherlands and Britain. The filters are currently made in Gorj, Romania, and will also be produced in a new plant in Russia.

[Source: The Auto Channel]

We weren't familiar with the Pihsiang Machinery Manufacturing Co. until finding this story, but it appears that the Taiwanese company is very big into lithium iron phosphate batteries. They seem to show up most often in medical products such as electric wheelchairs, but that looks to change as the company branches out into electric cars and bikes. In fact, three new electric vehicles have been produced by Pihsiang and have attracted interest from various European auto manufacturers. Pihsiang plans to show its wares at upcoming, but as yet unnamed, motor shows in Europe and hopes to have vehicles in consumers' hands shortly thereafter.

Company president Chiang Ching-ming claims that its electric car platform carries some two-thousand individual LiFePO4 cells and weighs just over 1,100 pounds. If that's true, those must be some awfully lightweight batteries if they really deliver the power and range needed for reasonable EV performance.

[Source: Taiwan Economic News]

Updated with new URL for Veken Scooters

While we patiently (or not so patiently...) await the arrival of hybrid scooters from Piaggio, a Chinese firm has stepped up to the plate and beaten the Italians to the punch. Veken USA has created what it refers to as the VK-M50, and we hope it eventually gets a better name. It's the technology we are most interested in, and the 49cc gasoline engine coupled to a 500 Watt motor certainly delivers with up to an estimated 220 miles per gallon. The 36 volts of juice are provided by a lithium polymer battery that is good for up to 18 miles per hour, at which time the small gas engine kicks in to power the machine up to speeds of near 40 miles per hour and charges the battery. Obviously, this setup would return its highest fuel efficiency at lower speeds, but even at their top speeds, most 50cc scooter return excellent fuel mileage. The VK-50 has a suggested price of $2,799.

The company's website can be found here, but the specifications for the hybrid scooter have since been revised. We've had a look at the latest copy of their brochure, which is available in the pictures below.


[Source: Veken USA]

Click above for more images of the electric bike train

Recently, while searching the net for the most interesting forward-thinking ideas around, we stumbled across a design for an electric bicycle which works sort of like a train. Sure, that sounds confusing, but a quick glance at the pictures below will likely make the concept easier to understand. While we in no way believe that a device such as this would make any real dent in global emissions or congestion, we do think that the idea has some merit for cyclists. Consider, for example, how expensive tandem bicycles are. With a vehicle such as this, a single rider can go his merry way alone or attach extra helpers bikes as needed. Additionally, the electric machine is collapsible, which should make it easier to store when not needed. Pretty cool stuff from designer Jiang Qian in China. A quick glance at his accomplishments makes us believe we're not the only ones impressed by his work.


[Source: Coroflot.com]