GM pulls anti-bicycle ad; Chevy Spark EV, more tech

More on the Chevy Spark EV; sales in “limited quantities” in “select US and global markets” will start 2013. Feedback from participants in GM’s EV trials in Shanghai (Sail EV), Korea (Cruze EV) and India (Beat EV) will be incorporated. Of interest to more drivers worldwide, however, is GM’s new ‘family’ of compact Ecotec engines: three- and four-cylinders, 1.0-1.5 litres, lightweight and with direct injection, turbocharging and alt-fuel capabilities, to power more than 2million cars a year by the end of the decade. GM’s promising “improved fuel economy, higher quality, better performance and reduced carbon dioxide emissions” over the current range, as well as reduced noise, vibration and harshness (NVH). Production will start around 2015.

Shame, though, that GM promptly undid all its good ‘green’ PR with an incredibly ill-advised and ironic-in-all-the-wrong-ways ad (pictured) pushing discounts for college students – “stop pedalling, start driving” – and special deals on student-friendly, fuel-efficient models such as, errr, the huge  GMC Sierra pick-up truck. True colours? Still, it has at least had the good grace to pull the ad, after complaints and international ridicule.

• A market’s emerging for retrofit hybrid systems – 500,000 a year in the US by 2020, says Protean Electric, which, yes, makes such products. Protean’s in-wheel electric-drive tech for light-duty vehicles can improve fuel economy by up to 30%, the company claims, noting that the cost of such a conversion can be recouped over a fleet’s operating cycle.

• Don’t forget the fuel cells: over 1million hydrogen fuel cell vehicles a year will be sold by 2020, predicts Pike Research. Over half of these are expected to go to the Asia-Pacific region 2015-2020, but later, the quickest market growth will be seen in western Europe, if the necessary refuelling infrastructure is developed. Many early fuel cell models will be transit buses, which are well-suited to the tech. Pike names China, Japan, Germany and Scandinavia as key fuel cell-friendly countries, as well as cities including Seoul and New York.

• No shortage of split-cycle engine concepts out there; the Israeli-developed TourEngine, presented at a conference in Detroit this week, is claimed to offer greater thermal efficiency. It’s a split-cycle, opposed-cylinder unit, with separated intake/compression and expansion/exhaust cycles, but differs from engines such as the Scuderi split-cycle in that its opposing cylinders are directly linked with a single crossover valve. Simulations are showing efficiency gains of up to 33%; full details (and diagrams) at Green Car Congress.

Meet the Chevrolet EN-V: progressing towards production

General Motors has started work on the next-generation EN-V concept – which will be badged as a Chevrolet. Pilot demonstration programmes will be launched in ‘mega-cities’ around the world to assess its practicality for real-life motoring. Chris Perry, VP for Chevrolet marketing and strategy, explains that Chevrolet is about “accessible and affordable” technology, and that “by 2030, more than 60 percent of the world’s 8billion people will live in urban areas. The Chevrolet EN-V represents a possible solution for global customers living in markets where alternative transportation solutions are needed.” A memorandum of understanding has been signed with the Sino-Singapore Tianjin Eco-City Investment and Development Co. Ltd., and trials will also take place in the US and other regions.

The EN-V – Electric Networked Vehicle – was first seen at the 2010 Shanghai Expo. It’s a two-seat EV with a 40km range – enough for urban journeys – and can be recharged from a domestic socket. Its autonomous driving capability and connectivity will be retained in the next-generation version, says GM, such as car-to-car communications, distance-sensing tech and wireless communications, though it will have a ‘manual’ mode and override; GM sees a role for it as transport for people who would perhaps otherwise be unable to drive a car. The communications tech will allow for navigation with congestion-avoidance, location of free parking spaces and other such conveniences, all of which are likely to make it into GM’s more mainstream cars. It will gain practical features including storage spaces and climate control in the next phase, too.

“The Chevrolet EN-V has the potential to reinvent transportation in key markets by creating a new vehicle DNA through the convergence of electrification and connectivity,” says Chris Borroni-Bird, GM’s director of Advanced Technology Vehicle Concepts. “It provides an ideal solution for petroleum- and emission-free urban transportation that is free from congestion and crashes, and more fun and fashionable than ever before.” More from GM here. Oh, and the Spark (formerly known as Daewoo Matiz) EV has been confirmed for production, too, in the next-gen 2013 range.

In other news:

• The first privately-funded EV charging network was launched today: Chargemaster’s Polar scheme is to install 4000 charging points in 100 towns and cities by the end of 2012. Members will pay a monthly subscription (initially £24.50) and 90p per usage; business tariffs will also be available and charging points can be installed at members’ homes for £95. Members get a swipe card for access, parking discounts and other incentives, plus a smartphone app to find a vacant charging point and monitor their car’s state of charge.

• Full story’s out on the Green Car Design 12.grn.hrs challenge – part one here, part two here, where you can vote for your favourite. The winning Solo, a modular three-wheeler, is pretty smart, but am liking the Ec0-Bomb concept as well.

• EVs and plug-in hybrids with small batteries are more environmentally-friendly than those with big battery packs, according to a study from Carnegie Mellon University, and are also more cost-effective per mile travelled. Though the larger-batteried vehicles have a greater range, there’s a weight penalty, their battery capacity is under-utilised for much low-daily driving, they require more charging infrastructure (because they go further) and they produce more emissions during their manufacture, claims the report. More at Edmunds AutoObserver.

• Honda’s working on a new-generation NSX supercar – and it could be a plug-in hybrid, says Motor Trend, which cites the DualNote concept of 2001 as an inspiration. A successor to the Beat mini-sportster is also on the way, apparently.

• The Edison2 eVLC (Very Light Car) has returned a quite astonishing 245mpge (miles per gallon equivalent) in US tests. Full story at AutoblogGreen. It returned a range of 114 miles and was fully recharged in six hours from a domestic socket. Next, it needs to go through crash tests.

• Nissan engineers and a team from Kansai University have developed a fast-charging system that can juice up a Leaf in just ten minutes, thanks to new capacitor materials. It could be ten years off production, however (Green Car Reports).

• And more on the npower fast-charger: developed by sister company RWE Effizienz, the ‘combi-station juice point’ gives AC and DC current, has a capacity of up to 22kW and 50kW respectively, and is six or 12 times faster than a domestic socket (next green car).

• Another glimpse of the robo-car future: the Wildcat autonomous car (story and video at the BBC). The professor leading the project says that in heavy traffic, “why can’t I watch the show I missed last night, Skype with the kids, read a book or send that last email,and elect the car to handle the drudgery of the trip for me?”. Now, when you put it like that…

Chevy Volt: driven by petrol power, part-time

Much controversy over the latest Chevy Volt revelations: turns out it isn’t wholly electrically-driven after all. Whilst the claims that “GM lied” (as many bloggers are blustering) are understandable, it’s not a total whitewash, however: the range-extender engine, which acts as a generator producing electrical energy most of the time, supplements the motors’ power during high-speed cruising over 70mph, or when under heavy load (i.e. on steep uphill inclines). It’s still not directly linked to the drive system, however, and as such, the Volt can still be described as an “extended-range EV” rather than a hybrid. GM says that this arrangement – kept quiet until now until the patents were in place – gives a 10-15% fuel economy improvement and allows for a few extra miles of range in electric-only mode. More at Autocar, which has a fairly sensible take on the situation; official response from GM here.

Tuesday titbits

• General Motors is developing a global test fleet of all-electric vehicles. First up for China is a battery-driven version of the Chevrolet New Sail (pictured), its locally-created entry-level car built in partnership with SAIC; the first prototype will hit the road later this year. The extended-range Chevy Volt and the Buick LaCrosse Hybrid will be launched in China next year too.

• Saab is to launch a test fleet of 100 electric cars early next year. The EVs will be versions of the next-generation 9-3, and will be used at the company’s headquarters in Trollhatten, Sweden, and other global offices.  The lithium-ion batteries will be supplied by Boston Power, the powertrain conversion has been developed by Swedish firm Electroengine,  and the project is supported by the Swedish Energy Authority, reports Edmunds.com. Full-scale production’s a good five to six years away, however.

• Fiat’s Tofas joint venture in Turkey is to team up with Arcelik, the country’s largest appliance-maker, to develop an electric powertrain for the Doblo van. Tofas, owned 38% by Fiat, is to invest up to E20million to build the Doblo EV, reports Automotive News, with a view to production by mid-2011.

• The new-generation Ford Explorer, unveiled yesterday, is up to 30% more fuel-efficient than its profligate predecessor. It now features a unibody (monococque) construction rather than an old body-on-frame structure; the V8 engine option has been dropped in favour of a turbocharged direct-injection 2-litre four-cylinder (237bhp, 30% more efficient than the V6 it replaces) and a naturally-aspirated 3.5 V6 (290bhp, 20% more efficient than its earlier counterpart). Sales start in the US at the end of the year.

• Mazda is to halve the electrical power usage (for motors and electronic devices) in its petrol-engined cars to 25 amps by 2020, reports The Nikkei; this will reduce average power consumption to 300 watts and result in a 10% fuel economy improvement.