Category: Green Machines

Categories
BMW Green Machines Motor Shows

LA 2012: BMW i3 Concept Coupé

BMW i3 Concept Coupe

BMW unveiled this i3 Concept Coupé at the LA Auto Show and if this is the city car of the future, sign us up. It’s stylish, simple and has a fresh design that is unlike any current BMW on sale. The interior has a pleasing simplicity with a high-quality look. The 20″ wheels of the show car set it off very well too.

The i3 will be the first of BMW’s all-electric i generation models to hit the showroom floor. It’s due for release next year and Australia is on the list of countries to have the i3 on its books. Whether we’ll get the five-door hatch or the coupé you see here is uncertain at this stage.

Like the i3 five-door the coupé version has 125kW/250Nm thanks to its eDrive electric motor. No performance figures have been published for the coupé, but the five-door can reach 100km/h in a tidy 7.9 seconds. The ‘everyday range’ of the i3 is up to 160km from a single charge. The engine can be recharged to 80% in as little as one hour, while a full recharge will take up to six hours.

On-board infotainment capabilities are as 21st century as you could hope for. The ConnectedDrive system offers real-world estimates on available range and battery status as well as mobile phone integration with the BMW i app. This enables the driver to quickly and easily locate the nearest charging station, among other things.

We like it and look forward to its market launch here in Australia.

Continue reading “LA 2012: BMW i3 Concept Coupé”
Categories
Green Machines Mercedes-Benz

With or without you

Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG Coupe Electric Drive

Pop megastars U2 have been employed by Mercedes-Benz to produce an audio track of a different kind. The usually quiet SLS AMG Coupé Electric Drive needs a sound to please the driver inside the cabin and to alert pedestrians to the car’s presence on the outside.

Fritz Eichler, Head of powertrain, explains: “We have to have an exterior sound by law, to warn people of the car approaching. There are no rules about the external sound because nothing is yet legislated. Until then, we’ll only make the sound for the cabin.”

Currently, Eichler says, the electric-powered SLS “sounds like a train.”

He added, “It just whirrs. So it now has special speakers to relay an artificial sound. It may be possible for customers to have a choice of sounds.”

And that’s where U2 stepped in. Alas, Eichler wasn’t impressed with their work so he established a special AMG recording studio, with its own staff and advisors, to do the job himself.

“We achieved the new sound by breaking it down into smaller blocks and changing the phasing. It’s like a puzzle that you take apart and then put together in a different order.

“It’s based on the V12 engine. We have also the ability to change the note of the sound so the driver can tell, with his ears, that the batteries are losing their charge.

“We can also cancel some sounds we don’t want. For example, stones hitting the underbody of the car as it’s driving. We can apply counter-acting sounds to cancel out the stones.”

Sounds like it may be even better than the real thing.

[Source: carsguide.com.au]

Categories
Audi Green Machines

Audi R8 e-tron production future in doubt

Audi R8 e-tron

Newly appointed Audi R&D boss Wolfgang Dürheimer is making his mark by calling a halt to the development of the R8 e-tron. It’s being reported the prohibitive cost of batteries is one of the major factors forcing Audi’s hand. Limited range is another.

There is a review of the R8 e-tron’s production future underway and and while the current cessation is deemed temporary there is a danger the R8 e-tron will be assigned to the scrap heap before it even hits the road.

For a project that promised so much in Frankfurt 2009, its crowning glory could be little more than a brief moment in the sun at the Nürburgring. In June Markus Winkelhock set an impressive 8:09 laptime around the Ring, which Audi claimed as a record for a production-based electric vehicle.

We’d like to hope that was just the start of the story, but that now appears to be in real doubt.

[Source: Car and Driver]

Categories
Green Machines Volkswagen

Volkswagen Jetta world’s fastest hybrid, kind of

Volkswagen Jetta Hybrid LSR, Bonneville 2012

All the hybrid talk round here of late has been about the Porsche 918, so it may surprise a few to learn it’s the humble Volkswagen Jetta Hybrid LSR that has officially etched its name into the records books first.

Competing at the Bonneville Word Finals in the class for production cars with engines of less than 1.5 litres using forced induction, the 1.4 litre turbo achieved an average speed of 186.313mph (299.842km/h).

At the wheel of the speedy Jetta was Motor Trend’s Carlos Lago and while he couldn’t quite crack the 300km/h average he did top the mark on one of his timed runs. Lago’s peak speed was set on his second run when he averaged 187.147mph (301.184km/h) over the last mile.

Although in a production category modifications are allowed. For the record-breaking Jetta these included revised suspension, special wheels and tyres suitable for the salt flats and the interior was stripped to fit a roll cage for safety reasons. But…

Making something of a mockery of the production car claims, we think, is the fact that engine mods are approved by the organising body, the Southern California Timing Association. In salt flat trim the Jetta Hybrid was producing “somewhere around 300hp”, up from the 170hp on offer from the genuine production model.

“It was an honor to drive the car on the Salt—and also pretty exciting,” said Lago. “Driving in a straight line may look easy, but it’s a real art to get the power down on the salt and you had better be paying attention to crosswinds, as they can really blow the car off course.

“Now I have the bug, I really want to become a member of the exclusive 200-mph club at Bonneville. Maybe next year?”

Continue reading “Volkswagen Jetta world’s fastest hybrid, kind of”
Categories
Green Machines Porsche

Walter very, very impressed by 918 Spyder

Walter Rohrl in the Porsche 918 Spyder

We’re sorry that we’re bringing you even more Porsche 918 Spyder content. But when Walter Röhrl speaks, we tend to listen. Okay, in this promo piece from Porsche, Walter doesn’t really say a lot. Consider this, though; Walter Röhrl, the Nürburgring and Porsche’s latest supercar—it’s a combination that can’t be ignored. Don’t you agree?

We only hope that Porsche does the right thing and releases a full onboard video of Röhrl and the 918 completing their 7:14 lap of the Nordschleife.

Continue reading “Walter very, very impressed by 918 Spyder”
Categories
Green Machines Porsche

More details on the Porsche 918 Spyder

Porsche 918 Spyder prototype

When Chris Harris filed his video on the Porsche 918 Spyder he also wrote his usual summary for PistonHeads. Buried in that article was a link to the press kit supplied by Porsche when the 918 was at the Nürburgring. It’s not been made available to the general Porsche press outlets so we were keen to grab it and have a read. Now it only seems fair to continue sharing it.

Interesting things we’ve learned from reading through the info is that the 918 weighs 1700kg, or 1665kg for the Weissach package. Standing acceleration times are pretty rapid, knocking off 100km/h in 3.0 seconds, 200km/h in only 9.0 seconds and you’ll need 27.0 seconds to make it to 300km/h. We like the sound of the ‘Hot Lap’ button, which can only be activated when the 918 is in ‘Race Hybrid’ mode.

The very last line in the document also caught our attention; the 918 Spyder comes with a four year factory warranty.

[Source: PistonHeads]

Categories
Green Machines Mercedes-Benz Motor Shows

Paris 2012: Mercedes SLS AMG Electric Drive

Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG Coupe Electric Drive

Mercedes-Benz has rocked up to Paris with the spectacular looking SLS AMG Coupé Electric Drive. They reckon it is the most powerful and fastest production electric sports car ever made. With 552kW and 1000Nm of torque you can see why Mercedes is so confident.

All that power comes courtesy of four electric motors, one at each wheel, which can spin at 13,000rpm. Each motor weights 45kg and can be controlled individually by the AMG Torque Dynamics system. Accordingly, with all that grip and power, the SLS Electric Drive can reach 100km/h in 3.9 seconds.

You can cover some reasonable distances, too, up to 250km Mercedes claims. With a special quick-charge wall box in your garage you can recharge in 3 hours. Alas, without that optional extra fitted at your home you’ll need to allow 20 hours of charging time with a regular wall socket.

The liquid-cooled lithium-ion high-voltage battery weighs 548kg and benefits from Formula 1-inspired KERS technology. Interestingly we haven’t been given an overall weight for the vehicle. But with 728kg in electric motors and battery alone this might be setting benchmarks for electrically-powered vehicles but it’s not going to be lightweight in real terms.

Ola Källenius, Chairman of the Board of Management of Mercedes-AMG GmbH said: “The SLS AMG Coupé Electric Drive is setting new standards for cars with electric drives. As the most powerful gullwing model ever, it is also representative of the enduring innovational strength of Mercedes-AMG.

“Our vision of the most dynamic electric vehicle has become a reality. With the help of our colleagues at Mercedes AMG High Performance Powertrains in Brixworth, we are bringing exciting advanced technology from the world of Formula 1 to the road.”

The SLS AMG Coupé Electric Drive goes on sale in Europe next year and is priced from €416,500 (AU$520,000).

Continue reading “Paris 2012: Mercedes SLS AMG Electric Drive”
Categories
Green Machines Motor Shows Porsche

Paris 2012: Porsche Panamera Sport Turismo

Porsche Panamera Sport Turismo

And just like that Porsche has made the Panamera cool.

This is the Panamera Sport Turismo, the latest in the current craze of Shooting Brake models. Officially it’s only a concept, but we think we know where this will end up, and that’s on the roads around the world. We say, it won’t happen overnight, but it will happen.

The Sport Turismo is powered by an e-hybrid system, consisting of a conventional petrol 3.0 litre V6 offering 245kW and a “charged hybrid module” producing around 70kW. Somehow, Porsche claims the peak power is 306kW. Either someone at Porsche is no good at maths, or they’re being deliberately vague about the finer points of the hybrid module. Reading on, it appears to be the latter.

Racing to 100km/h will take you less than six seconds. In all electric mode you can cruise at 130km/h, although you won’t be going far with a predicted range or 30km or so. On the plus side fuel consumption is claimed to be around 3.5l/100km and it’ll take two and a half hours to recharge the battery.

Inside, Porsche has give the main dash display a makeover with a touch screen display and tech geeks will be pleased to know they can also interact with the car using their smartphone.

We just hope Porsche puts this body shape on the road. Visually, it adds a genuine cachet that the regular Panamera cannot match.

Continue reading “Paris 2012: Porsche Panamera Sport Turismo”
Categories
Audi Green Machines

VIDEO: Audi R8 e-tron Nürburgring lap record

Audi R8 etron

Audi has released onboard video of the R8 e-tron setting its Nürburgring lap record for an electric powered production car. Markus Winkelhock was at the wheel and he managed to pedal the eerily quiet R8 around the Ring in 8 minutes 9.09 seconds.

While the lap time is impressive enough you can see from the grab above that Winkelhock had a bit of a brown trouser moment early in the lap. We’re not sure if it’s the lack of engine sound, but the view inside the cabin, coupled with the squealing tyres, leads us to believe the e-tron suffers from more than enough understeer.

Watch the lap in full after the break and judge for yourself.

Continue reading “VIDEO: Audi R8 e-tron Nürburgring lap record”
Categories
Green Machines MINI

MINI finds cheeky way to advertise inside London 2012 Olympic stadium

Mini MINI at the London 2012 Olympic Games

One of the edicts of the Olympic Games is that there shall be no advertising on view inside any Olympic venue. But MINI has found a cheeky way around that hurdle for the London 2012 Games thanks to its remote controlled Mini MINI.

You may have already seen the 1100mm machines, approximately one quarter scale, darting around the Olympic stadium where they are used to return javelins, discuses, hammers and shots to athletes from the field of play.

The cars were created at the request of LOCOG and MINI says they will help save valuable time. A small fleet of three electric powered 10hp Mini MINIs will be used during the Games and each is expected to cover around 6km per day.

We say bravo to MINI for managing to get a very visible and typically cute mobile advertisement inside the most high profile of all Olympic venues!

Continue reading “MINI finds cheeky way to advertise inside London 2012 Olympic stadium”
Categories
Green Machines Porsche

Porsche 918 Spyder provisional specifications

Porsche 918 Spyder in Martini livery

In addition to the gorgeous pictures of the Martini Racing inspired Porsche 918 Spyder prototype Stuttgart has released provisional specs for the car.

You’re a Porsche fan, right; so all you really need to know is the 918 has a 4.6 litre V8 and an electric motor on each axle. The end result is 770hp and a sub 3.0 second 100km/h sprint with a top speed in excess of 325km/h.

A reminder, too, that only 918 of these cars will be made. Orders commenced in March 2011 and deliveries are due to start late next year.

Continue reading “Porsche 918 Spyder provisional specifications”
Categories
Green Machines Porsche

Porsche 918 Spyder in classic Martini livery

Porsche 918 Spyder in Martini livery

A little over a week since we saw a Porsche 918 Spyder in monochrome Martini livery, Porsche has gone the full monty by revealing four pics of the 918 in classic Martini Racing team colours.

We’re going to forget the specs of this car for a moment. And we’re not even going to mention the sub-7 minute 22 second Nürburgring lap time Porsche has in mind.

We’re just going to leave you alone with this spectacular looking piece of automotive design.

UPDATE: Four new pics have been added below.

Continue reading “Porsche 918 Spyder in classic Martini livery”