Australian Car Advice | News Blog

Read more…

The REVA (G-Wiz in some markets) as its called, is an Indian electric car made in Bangalore, India.

The previous generation was powered by eight 6 Volt lead acid batteries wired in series to create 48 V. Interestingly, all the batteries are situated under the front seats!

Altogether the G-Wiz only has 4.8 kW of power, but the manufacturer says the motor can go as high as 13.1 kW.

The latest model shown here, uses AC rather than DC motors, which has allowed the G-wiz to increase its top speed 70 km/h whilst having an additional 40% torque for better acceleration.

The G-wiz can get around for about 80 km on one charge, although if one was to say, turn on the heater, that range is reduced by a quarter!

Hide It

Read more…

One does have to wonder, why do electric cars always have to look so out of place!

Our photographer spots a semi-normal looking one.

Click through to the next page for a more comprehensive gallery of electric cars.

Hide It

Read more…

“More than ever, it’s important to consider not only the car’s ticket price but also its ongoing running and environmental costs,” Transport Minister Anthony Albanese said.

On average, a Holden Commodore will cost $2430 in petrol to run per year and will put out 3.8 tonnes of carbon dioxide doing so. The Ford Falcon does the same distance costing $2272 in fuel and releasing 3.6 tonnes of carbon dioxide.

The most surprising news however, was the Mazda 3, which came third, costing $1845 in petrol. Meanwhile Australia’s most popular car, the Toyota Corolla came fourth with a $1672 yearly petrol cost.

 Out of all the cars tested, the Green Vehicle Guide recommends the Toyota Yaris as the cheapest option for getting around (not including hybrids). The Yaris costs $1350 a year.

The Prius was the cheapest hybrid car to run, with a total bill $990 in fuel each year. CO2 emissions for the ‘revolutionary’ Prius where half of the Commodore’s at 1.6 tonnes of carbon dioxide.

For more information you can check out the Green Vehicle Guide at www.greenvehicleguide.gov.au (which ironically, is currently off-line with “Server too busy” errors).

CarAdvice recently conducted a fuel economy test with a new VE SS Commodore to find out if the era of big V8s is coming to an end. The results will be released before the end of next week.

Hide It

Read more…

General Motors plans to complete its production version by as early as August to be unveiled on the world stage by September to coincide with the automakers 100th Anniversary of its founding.

Following GM stocks hitting a 54-year low in the past week, the centennial launch of the Volt is aimed at shifting the focus of its investors and consumers from the current sales slump and moving toward the development of more fuel-efficient vehicles.

The campaign trail is set to begin with a very special cameo by the Volt along with many other GM cars in the upcoming blockbuster Transformers sequel scheduled for release next year, the same platform which launch the concept version of the yet-to-be-released Camaro in 2007.

The Volt is designed to achieve a range of roughly 64km on a lithium-ion battery pack that can be recharged at a standard electric outlet.

As well as capturing energy from braking, the Volt will also incorporate an on-board engine to power the battery on longer trips.

GM is currently in a race with Toyota to be the first to introduce a plug-in car to the marketplace, and is currently in negotiations with various suppliers to provide the all-important lithium-ion battery.

Korea’s LG Chem - who will provide the batteries for Hyundai’s LPG hybrid - and German auto parts supplier Continental AG are the front runners competing for the Volt battery contract.

Hide It

Read more…

According to insider sources, the Big T is installing the panels in response to a growing demand for “green” cars. “It’s more of a symbolic gesture,” said the source, who wished to remain anonymous.

What will Solar panels achieve? Built by Kyocera Corp., the plan is to power “part of” the air-conditioning. “It’s very difficult to power much more than that with solar energy.” the source said.

Some solar panel experts have long argued that the production and manufacturing process currently outweighs the benefits (with regards to CO2 emissions). Plus given the rising silicon prices, the practicalities seem somewhat irrelevant.

“Even if you laid solar panels out on the entire roof of a house, you only generate enough energy to run two hair dryers. It’s an interesting idea, but it would be very difficult to power a whole car, even with technological advances.” Kentaro Endo, a director at Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry who specialises in renewable energy, said

However, Toyota is not the first to try its luck with solar panels. Japanese rival Mazda gave it shot in the early 1990s with the Eunos 800 and Sentia, which didn’t prove popular in the showroom.

 The Prius, despite being around for over a decade, is in stronger demand than ever before. So much so that Toyota has struggled to keep up with demand. Hybrid rival Honda is scheduled to launch a new, low-cost hybrid model early next year.

The rest of the auto industry has also teamed up with battery makers to develop and produce lithium-ion batteries to store more energy in smaller battery packs in order to increase electric-only cruising distance.

So far Toyota has teamed up with Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Nissan with NEC, Mitsubishi with GS Yuasa Corp and Volkswagen with Sanyo.

Toyota has sold more than 1 million Prius cars and aims to sell at least 1 million hybrid cars a year by early 2010s. The company will launch the third-generation Prius next year.

Hide It

Read more…

But it’s not just Honda who is putting itself on a diet, with Nissan, Toyota and Mazda all setting weight reduction as a priority for all new models in the pursuit of economy.

Nissan has set the benchmark, aiming to make its entire fleet at least 15 percent lighter on average by 2015 while Toyota is aiming for a 10 percent weight loss in its mid-sized cars by 2010. Finally, Mazda aims to trim 100kg from new vehicles starting in 2011.

“Generation by generation, we usually have to add more weight because of new safety regulations or emissions matters,” says Nissan’s Mitsuhiko Yamashita, head of Nissan r&d. “But our philosophy is not to increase vehicle weight. That’s why I’m proposing the 15 percent reduction.”

Now obviously whilst shaving grams off here and there is thoughtful, it will certainly take more than this to achieve each company’s goals.

To generalise the process, the Japanese carmakers will focus on three key areas: using lightweight materials, developing more efficient engineering and design methods and finally decreasing the overall size of vehicles.

“Unless you really reduce weight, you will never be able to reduce auto emissions. We therefore intend to bend over backward to achieve this,” Toyota R&D chief Masatami Takimoto says.

The Prius is getting special attention from Toyota, with the next generation featuring a motor one-sixth as heavy as the first generations and a battery only half as heavy.

Cost is the obvious constraint, with materials such as aluminium, magnesium and carbon fibre costing far more than steel, however spiralling steel costs are whittling away the metal’s price advantage - as seen with the Tata Nano.

The Japanese diet has already begun, with phrases like hybrid and power-to-weight ratio overtaking traditional performance adjectives like horsepower and torque for cars like the Honda CR-Z, Nissan FF Coupe and Toyobaru.

Hide It

Read more…

The Big T will provide 11 Lexus LS600h/LS600hL sedans, 15 Crown Hybrid sedans and 43 Estima Hybrid minivans for transporting participant country officials. Five hydrogen-powered Toyota FCHV-BUS will also help out.

However the vehicle which got our attention is this battery-powered i-REAL personal mobility vehicle, which, well, looks very cool indeed.

The i-REAL is a three wheel (two front one back) little vehicle aimed for the streets of Tokyo. It is relatively flexible, for example in low-speed mode it can shorten its wheelbase to allow it to maneuver naturally among pedestrians at similar eyesight height.

When you want to get going however, the wheelbase lengthens for better centre of gravity and better driving dynamics. It even comes with monitoring sensors to detect all around the car, so you don’t run over unsuspecting pedestrians. Currently the i-REAL’s sensors will warn the ‘driver’ with a noise and vibration while those on the outside get a “pleasant use of light and sound” as a warning!

Hide It

Read more…

With Toyota, Honda and GM leading the Hybrid race, Mitsubishi and PSA felt that cooperation on electric vehicle development and production would be mutually beneficial.

This is not the first time the Japanese giant and PSA have dealt with each other, only last week the companies opened a joint Russian factory, in Kaluga (180 km south west of Moscow) that will manufacture vehicles for both brands.

PSA wants to continue its work on electric cars and produce more green cars as part of its plan for 2010-2015. Although not a well known fact, PSA Peugeot Citroen is currently the largest global manufacturer of electric vehicles, having sold over 10,000 units.

PSA’s expertise will be joined by that of Mitsubishi who plans to become one of the leading car manufactures of electric vehicles. The company has so confirmed the i MiEV electric vehicle for introduction to the Japanese market in 2009 with possibility of it going to Europe and the U.S.

PSA will also benefit from Mitsubishi’s Lithium Ion battery venture with GS Yuasa, which will supply large capacity and high performance lithium ion batteries for the i MiEV.

Hide It

Read more…

As well as a few minor aesthetic revisions, the biggest change is expected to come from a new generation of fuel-efficient and environmentally friendly engine technologies.

The first results of this strategy are likely to come from V8 engines featuring cylinder de-activation, allowing them to run on four-cylinders, LPG and E85 compatible Commodores coinciding with the 2009 update, with diesel and hybrid options following by 2010.

This hybrid fleet already has the backing of the NSW Government, pledging to support the project by assuring they would be the first in line to purchase an eco-fleet.

Hide It

Read more…

He also intimated that Ford globally was working of “low displacement, forced induction” engine technology, taken to mean small displacement engines that use both turbo and supercharging to provide the power and performance of a much larger engine while offering the fuel efficiency of a small engine.

Ford Australia President Bill Osborne, who normally takes the media briefing but is in the United States where the Australian government is discussing the future of the local automotive industry with both General Motors and Ford, has already said the Falcon will have diesel power by 2010, when it also switches from a locally-made straight six-cylinder engine to an imported V6.

Mr Winslow said Ford definitely saw a lot more diesel-powered cars in its future, along with other developing technologies, but was not really talking about hybrids.

He said the E-Gas Falcon was a proven green vehicle that provided both lower tailpipe emissions and lower running costs.

He cited the example of an E-Gas Falcon XT which he said, run over 25,000 kilometres a year, was $350 cheaper to operate than the best-selling Toyota Corolla.

Mr Winslow said that in the past two years E-Gas Falcons had gone from having residual values $1000 less than a petrol car to commanding a $2500 premium.

Further questioning the rush to hybrids, Mr Winslow posed the question of who would buy all the three year old used hybrids that would head onto the market as a result of the government backed push to encourage Toyota to build 10,000 Hybrid Camry’s a year in Australia.

“We would be concerned about the profile of the second user for such cars, which we expect in the first place will be bought by companies and government.”

He questioned whether typical second-hand private buyers would be keen to take on hybrids, with the potential of costly battery replacement.

“E-Gas on the other hand has the proven record of operating economy plus it is greener, with four per cent less emissions, and that is where Ford is already firmly established.”

Mr Winslow also confirmed that E-Gas was now being built in the new FG Falcon range and said the cars were being shipped to dealers.

He also emphasised that from about 2010 Ford would be pursuing its plans for a diesel engine in the Falcon and added that once the next-generation Focus small car was being built in Australia, it too would offer a locally-made diesel alternative.

He said Ford believed these cars would also present a strong case to government and fleet buyers as alternatives that were fuel efficient and environmentally friendly.

Mr Winslow said that in 2007, of total Falcon sales, 15 per cent of sedans, 41 per cent of wagons and 37 per cent of utilities were E-Gas.

He said Ford had stepped up production of the LPG components about two years ago and was in a position to meet almost any demand for E-Gas in the future.

He also added that by 2010 Ford would have the Australian-built Focus with a diesel engine to compete with the Toyota Camry hybrid when it eventually became available.

Hide It

Read more…

Back in the late 90s, GM developed a working and running full electric car, known as the EV-1, hundreds of cars were initially sold to happy customers under lease plans, however after strong lobbying by oil companies, all but one EV-1 was repossessed and crushed!

GM Chairman and CEO Rick Wagoner admitted last year that the worst decision of his tenure at GM was “axing the EV1 electric-car program and not putting the right resources into hybrids. It didn’t affect profitability, but it did affect image.”

GM’s Chevrolet brand is also about to launch a new green issues advertising campaign, meanwhile considerable amounts of money has been set aside for increasing advertising for the General’s fuel-efficient models.

With the jury still out on the benefits of hybrid cars, Toyota has managed to pull off a remarkable marketing campaign with the Prius, it now appears GM is playing catch-up!

Hide It