AutoblogGreen

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]

For those of you who read AutoblogGreen on your iPhone/iPod Touch, we've got good news. A new, stripped down version of our site is now available for mobile devices. The new URL is http://i.autobloggreen.com/ and it's already up and running. Pictures and galleries don't look quite as impressive in the new format, and all of the navigation links are either missing or in different places, but at least the text is a good size to read on the iPhone's screen. Why is the site optimized for Apple products? Because our numbers tell us that over 90 percent (92.8 percent to be exact) of the mobile device page views AutoblogGreen has had in 2008 were from the iPhone or the iPod Touch.

Of course, you can always keep reading ABG on the iPhone's Safari browser the "normal" way, with all the pictures and everything formatted correctly, just by viewing the standard URL. But, if you were looking for a more streamlined way to get your green car news, feel free to make iABG your new start page (do people still have start pages?). Enjoy.

Every year after the summer break, the first assignment given in English class seems to always be a short essay entitled "What I did on my summer vacation." Well, maybe not this year. Instead of enthralling classmates with tales of visiting some far off exotic destinations and engaging in cooler than cool activities, some kids may have to be extra inventive with their verbiage in order to somehow convince their peers that their "staycation" spent driving around their hometown on rented Segways with their parents was somehow stoopid awesome.

Because of the rising cost of fuel and to a lesser extent, environmental concerns, lots of folks have turned their family vacations into staycations, what people used to call not going on vacation. In June alone, Americans traveled something like 12 billion fewer miles than the June before. Of course, the price of gas has gone down 50 cents since then and some people with short memories are out pricing SUVs again, but I digress. Companies are turning their marketing efforts to locals to make up the shortfall in visitor traffic. Case in point, is City Segway Tours in beautiful downtown Atlanta. This company is hoping to lure staycationers to come with them on guided tours of their fair city, featuring such hotspots as the Centennial Olympic Park, the Aquarium and, of course, the "World of Coke." Cynicism aside, staycations can be a great idea but we think it would be nice if you can get out of town at least far enough to hike a trail or paddle a canoe down a river. Enjoying a little bit of the natural environment might help to inspire efforts to save it.

[Source: City Segway Tours]

At a press conference in Lordstown, OH this afternoon, GM CEO Rick Wagoner officially announced that the Chevrolet Cruze would be built at the plant alongside the existing Cobalt. Wagoner alluded to this in June during the company's annual meeting. GM will invest $350 million in the Lordstown plant to tool up for production of the new compact sedan that will also spawn numerous other small cars. An additional $150 million will also be spent launching the Cruze including a new line to build the 1.4L turbo four cylinder engine in Flint MI. Cruzes will also be built in Europe and Asia for sale in those regions. It's expected that the Cruze with the new engine and 6-speed automatic transmission could achieve as much as 40 mpg on the highway.


[Source: General Motors]

GM's hybrid transmission plant goes solar

This sounds like it must have been a really easy decision for General Motors: Install a brand new solar array which will provide 1.2-megawatts of power - enough to cut its electricity bill by 20-percent per year beginning in 2009 - for free. We wish somebody would make an offer like that to us. Unfortunately, our homes don't quite have the 300,000 square feet of roof space necessary to hold the 8,700 solar panels. Although the General already has two warehouses with solar roof installations, the White Marsh plant is the first factory to be so equipped. SunEdison will put up the panels and make money by selling the electricity that GM doesn't use.

What's especially cool about this particular story is that the White Mash plant in Maryland is where the Allison transmissions are built, including the 2-Mode unit used in the Chevy Tahoe/GMC Yukon twins, Cadillac Escalade hybrid SUVs and soon for the 2-Mode-equipped hybrid full-size trucks. Also of note is the fact that all the waste heat from the factory is reused and it reached landfill-free status in 2007.

[Source: The Detroit News]

The EnerDel li-ion battery company continues charging ahead in Indiana. The company got a visit from governor Mitch Daniels today at its Indianapolis location and the big news for EnerDel is that the Indiana Economic Development Corporation has offered the company up to $7.125m in "performance-based tax credits and up to $58,000 in training grants based on the company's job creation plans." Those plans include creating over 850 new jobs between now and the end of 2012. Gov. Daniels was suitably impressed, saying in a statement that, "When those jobs are in a technology of tomorrow, like electric cars, it offers the prospect of even bigger news to follow. Indiana has what it takes to lead this automotive revolution and today is step one." Currently, Ener1 (which owns EnerDel) currently employs 92 people at the Indy location. More details after the jump.

[Source: Ener1]

Click above image for a gallery of the 5-door Yaris

With the soaring cost of fuel and an increased awareness of global warming, more and more people are looking at hybrids as a way of saving a buck and the environment at the same time. The king of all hybrids is the Toyota Prius, which comprises the lion's share of all hybrid sales. It'll net you 48 mpg in the city and 45 mpg on the highway, and when you're done with your hybrid hatch, you can sell it with minimal depreciation. The Prius has a lot going for it, but does it have the lowest cost of ownership? It would, if not for another member of the Toyota lineup.

IntelliChoice figures total cost of ownership over a five-year period by balancing depreciation, insurance, financing, maintenance and repairs, and fuel costs. While the Prius delivers $2,000 in fuel savings over that period of time and very high residual value, the Yaris beat out the Prius in cost of ownership by a rather large $1,300. The reason? There are a few, really, including the Yaris' bargain basement starting price of $13,945, which is much lower than the $22,220 it takes to get you into a Prius. Then there is the fact that the Yaris also gets solid fuel economy, with city/highway numbers of 29/35. Financing $22k is also a lot tougher on the wallet then a meager $14k.

The Yaris may have won the cost of ownership battle, the Prius is still winning the war. Prius sales are killing Yaris sales, and while the Prius is no beauty queen, the Yaris is just as homely while also having far less interior room.

[Source: Automobile Mag]

During a media event in Ann Arbor, John Krafcik, the VP for product development at Hyundai Motor America, revealed some interesting plans about they have coming to this market as well as something that isn't. Hyundai's first hybrid destined for this market will debut at the Los Angeles Auto Show as a mid-sized sedan. The new Sonata hybrid will appear first at LA but won't go on sale until 2010 as a 2011 model. The Sonata will use an in-house developed strong parallel hybrid system with a lithium ion battery. It's not known if this is the same system that Hyundai has been field testing in government fleets in Korea for some time or if the battery will be a new lithium polymer type developed by LG Chem.

Krafcik also revealed some news about Genesis variants unlikely to see the light of day. He said the company has "no plans" to build a rear drive hybrid system for its new luxury sedan. He also indicated that while the company is looking at installing its 3.0L diesel V6 in the Genesis, it is unlikely to happen. The combination of the high cost of after-treatment systems to meet U.S. emissions standards and high diesel fuel prices make it a tough business case.

[Source: Green Fuels Forecast]

Although it's unlikely that this will have a huge impact, the idea seems original and could greatly improve taxi operators' cash flow: A new free website has been created for the UK where you can book a taxi that would otherwise run empty. Consider that many trips taxis take are empty, adding come coordination to the chaos might save quite a number of "wasted" miles, for instance when taxis go to the airport to wait for passengers or for prearranged passenger pick-ups. The website puts drivers of those empty taxis and potential clients in contact so the cabs don't run empty and the rider saves a few pounds on the fare. While an interesting idea, the website doesn't seem to be not working right now.

[Source: Auto Plus]

Note: read part one of this story here.

Pause and rebirth

I joined the GM EV effort in April, 1991 and began pulling together a small team of test and development engineers and technicians at GM's Proving Grounds near Milford, MI.

One vivid early memory was driving the Impact concept car down a long, steep Proving Grounds hill early one August morning on the way to demonstrate it to a meeting of GM's Board of Directors. There was a sweeping curve near the bottom of this hill that I routinely drove nearly every day on my way to test tracks.

Suddenly, as I sped downhill toward that curve, I remembered that the Impact rolled on skinny, low-rolling-resistance experimental tires, and had almost no brakes. Visions of an expensive career-ending crash flashed through my head. Then I remembered that I could dial up "coast-down" regenerative braking with a rheostat knob between the seats, and that slowed the slippery little bullet enough to make the turn. Whew!

The pause
Sixteen months of hard work later -- on Pearl Harbor Day, Dec. 7, 1992 -- our fearless leader, Ken Baker, had to tell our Lansing, Mich. Craft Centre plant team, who were preparing to build our breakthrough electric vehicle, that the program had been delayed. Then he had to deliver that same emotional message to his engineers at GM's Warren, MI Technical Center.

The story continues after the jump.