Efficiency is a large stumbling block if you're looking for a way to replace gasoline. It's pretty hard to better such an exceptional fuel, and several alternatives show promise but are nagged by inefficiencies or cost, and usually both. Nanotech to the rescue; it may soon be possible to produce your own hydrogen at home cheaply and easily, and NiMH batteries and fuel cells also stand to become less expensive and offer much better performance. With claims like that, QuantumSphere might well be selling fairy dust, but the Portland, Oregon-based company has developed a nanoparticle coating that may end up being the key to making alternative fuels actually viable.
QuantumSphere's catalytic nanoparticle coatings have 1,000 times the surface area of traditional materials, which means that more catalytic action can be housed in the same space. It's the the highly reactive nature of the coatings that allows cheap home electrolysis, also boding well for replacing precious metals like platinum in fuel cells with a coated piece of stainless steel. QuantumSphere's president Kevin Maloney claims that his company's technology makes electrolysers so efficient that they can supply hydrogen on demand while driving. The technology will roll out later this year in a battery that uses a coated cathode for a five-fold increase in energy density, which translates into a 320-percent power gain over alkaline cells. If things go QuantumSphere's way, we won't be paying $100,000 for the Tesla Roadster in a few years, and it will have an even better range than already promised.
In yet another move demonstrating that Porsche is capitulating to the greener crowd, an industry newsletter is reporting that the German automaker's executives have overcome their long-time reservations about diesel powerplants and are considering such a vehicle for their lineup by 2010.
Reportedly, Porsche is studying a diesel engine for its upscale Cayenne SUV. This would be the second non-gasoline engine for the Cayenne, as the Cayenne Hybrid is expected to turn up in 2010 as well. The diesel would be borrowed from Volkswagen, a company Porsche has significant stake in. The platform-sharing Volkswagen Touareg has offered a diesel in the States since 2006 (you know, it's the one that pulls 747s).
There have been periodic rumors of a United States assembly plant for Volvo cars since at least the early 1980s. There was a North American construction arm of the Swedish carmaker, situated in Nova Scotia, but that plant has been shuttered for several years now. Volvo CEO Fredrik Arp has told Automotive News that an American plant would take an unacceptably long time to pay for itself, according to the automaker's studies. A weak dollar doesn't help the economic argument for a plant in the States, either. Volvo can currently handle its goal of 600,000 units worldwide, which they have yet to meet. Current plant capacity is good for 590,000 vehicles, so it goes building any new plants, Volvo would be wise to fully utilize its current capacity. The automaker is looking to markets other than North America to drive growth in the coming years -- China, India and Russia all look to be emerging soon as major Volvo buyers.
Arp would not be pressed regarding rumors of Volvo being put up for sale by parent Ford, but he did comment that the historically green-minded automaker has its finger on the pulse of viable alternative powertrains for the US market. Diesels and alternative fuels are big in Europe, but Volvo's not going to just forge ahead in the US with those technologies. Rather, what they intend to do is watch and see what green platform takes off here, and follow on quickly with their own version of whatever that turns out to be. Volvo is too much of a niche player in the US market to risk developing something that may be met with a yawn by the US consumer. Up for sale or not, it looks like Gothenburg's Rollers have their eyes on the brass ring.
Jalopnik got the skinny from a Ford Motor Company snitch they've dubbed "Electric Throat" (ahem), who says that a hybrid Fusion will be launched in concept form at either the Los Angeles Auto Show this November or North American International Auto Show in Detroit in January '08.
While we knew some kind of alternative Fusion was on the books for 2009, we weren't certain about many of the details. Ray's celebrity mole at Ford says the automaker is pushing for LA, which makes sense considering Arnold's peeps are a wee bit more eco-friendly than us Michiganders, where our lawmakers still hesitate to legislate any greener lest it hurt the bottom line of a few of the state's biggest employers.
Alternative-fuel engines of different sorts all suffer from one major drawback or another: poor range, hard-to-find filling stations, high cost, poor performance. EEStore is out to change all that with a revolutionary new kind of "battery". We put "battery" in quotation marks because the unit doesn't store power in a chemical capsule like a conventional battery, but instead uses some kind of glass- and aluminum-coated ceramics. The inventors are understandably tight-lipped on the way their creation works, but they're adamant it could completely replace the internal combustion engine.
Feel Good Cars, the Toronto company responsible for the ZENN, wants to get the unit on the road by 2008. The most significant benefit would be its efficiency: a car powered by the EEStor unit could run on the equivalent of 45 cents per gallon, driving 500 miles on $9 worth of electricity after just five minutes to charge.
We could tell you this invention could be the fix for our addiction to foreign oil, but that's scary talk for gear-heads. So we'll tell you about the performance instead. The company's CEO insists that "a four-passenger sedan will drive like a Ferrari". That's a tall order, but if he's right, the prancing horse could find itself grazing on greener pastures.
General Motors yesterday unveiled plans for "Project Driveway", a field market research project that will place 100 hydrogen-powered fuel-cell vehicles with customers across the United States. A diverse cross-section of customers with varied driving environments will be chosen to participate in California, New York and DC, with a target for delivery in fall 2007.
The fuel-cell vehicles are based on the Chevy Equinox crossover, and aside from the alternative powertrain, include all the usual features.
Hydrogen power is a significant development in that its only emissions are given off in the form of pure water. One significant problem this poses in cold-weather climates is that the "exhaust water" freezes, making this solution a bit problematic when the thermometer dips below freezing. But GM claims that its Equinox Fuel Cell vehicle will operate in cold climates. The development, manufacturing and testing of the vehicles is taking place at three GM facilities in the Canadian province of Ontario, so they had better work or they'll never make it out of the factory.
Not much is known about this all-electric Audi concept called the R-Zero except that it's the brain child of three design student: Pierre-olivier Wagner, Franck Levivier and Remi Marchand. What we can gather from the vehicle's website, which displays all non-essential information in English and the important stuff in French, is that the R-Zero has its battery packs mounted amidship and that energy is sent to electric motors contained within the wheels. Perhaps the most unique element of the R-Zero is a central tunnel that spans the length of the vehicle from the now familiar gaping Audi grille to a large vent in the center of the rear fascia. The tunnel is meant to cool the batter packs as well as contribute to the vehicle's aerodynamics.
The vehicle's styling is attractive and reminds us of a cross between a TT up front and a Mitsubishi Eclipse out back. The R-Zero, however, has no official ties with Audi, and appears to be a portfolio project for these three designers.
Check out a bunch of additional R-Zero pics after the jump...
Called the Land_e, this technology concept from Land Rover is designed to showcase a suite of hybrid
technologies that reduce fuel consumption and CO2 emissions while staying true to Land Rover's go-anywhere 4x4
mission.
With the "e" standing for efficiency, the Land_e is roughly the size of the current
Freelander, and has a biodiesel/electric hybrid powertrain with a very intelligent powertrain management system that
provides multiple modes of operation, ranging from front-wheel drive highway cruising to full on "rock
crawler" 4WD.
Ford says we can expect to see the e-Terrain technologies progressively introduced in the
Land Rover product line over the next few years.
More pics and a full description of the e-Terrain Technology
Concept after the jump.
Efficiency is a large stumbling block if you're looking for a way to replace gasoline. It's pretty hard to better such an exceptional fuel, and several alternatives show promise but are nagged by inefficiencies or cost, and usually both. Nanotech to the rescue; it may soon be possible to produce your own hydrogen at home cheaply and easily, and NiMH batteries and fuel cells also stand to become less expensive and offer much better performance. With claims like that, QuantumSphere might well be selling fairy dust, but the Portland, Oregon-based company has developed a nanoparticle coating that may end up being the key to making alternative fuels actually viable. 
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