Autoblog

Click above for more high-res images of the Tesla Roadster

The Tesla Roadster is like the gorgeous girlfriend that loves football, tunes a hotrod in her spare time, and doesn't believe in celebrating anniversaries and birthdays. The Roadster is a beautiful car, it runs on exhaust-free plug power, and it's already primed for more power. A Norwegian specialty car importer is quoting the Euro Tesla's power at or over 300 hp, with a 13,000 rpm redline and a single speed transmission.

Our man Sam tells us that the above is likely to come courtesy of drivetrain 1.5, which will be available later in the Tesla's production run. The revised gearbox drops a gear, adds an upgraded power electronics module, and provides better cooling. It seems the hype machine that is the Tesla Roadster is beginning to heat up, and more power will only make us want the green little drop-top more.


[Source: Autoblog Green]

The current Prius is baked from a refined recipe that results in a roomy, practical and efficient vehicle lurking under an eco-statement exterior, or at least we thought so. Five years on, it's still the most popular way to conspicuously consume under the guise of saving the planet. Toyota hasn't been resting on the success of its green badge of targeted consumerism, so we're going to see a new Prius at the 2009 North American International Auto Show in January, according to Toyota President Watanabe. The 3rd-generation Prius will grow in size, and engine displacement will be bumped to 1.8 liters to increase performance. Despite the increase in size and sprightliness, weight will reportedly hold steady. Further changes are in store after the launch, with plug-in and Li-Ion updates to come.

The nameplate will also move beyond a single model and become a sub-brand during the reign of Prius the III. More body styles are coming, and if you think the Prius is a roachy-looking thing, the concept hints Toyota has given us are possibly even weirder. The sub-1,000 pound 1/X might offer a glimpse at another type of Prius, though more realistically, the sad-eyed Hybrid X vannish concept suggests the way things are headed without the ridiculous pronunciation of its featherweight companion. If things go according to Toyota's plan for world domination, the Prius will become one of the pillars upon which the marque is built, next to the Corolla and Camry institutions.


[Source: Auto Observer]

Click image for a high-res gallery of the Nissan Denki Cube concept

We've known for several weeks now that Nissan was planning to show off an all-electric car based on the JDM Nissan Cube at this week's New York Auto Show. The Denki (meaning electric) Cube has of course spilled out onto the interwebs in advance of it's official unveiling tomorrow at the Javits Center. Looking much like the battery pack that will power it, the Denki Cube should appeal to fans of the now-departed first-gen Scion xB. The basic Cube has been dressed up inside and out to better shout out about its high tech power supply. Nissan has a lithium battery joint venture in Japan with NEC that will likely be the source of the energy storage systems. Stay tuned for more details tomorrow!


[Source: SuperNissans via AutoblogGreen]

Much has been made of the fact that Toyota is seemingly behind General Motors and other manufacturers in the race to adopt lithium-ion batteries as the future battery of the hybrid and electric vehicle market. Lithium-ion batteries pack more energy into less space than nickel metal hydride batteries, which are the current industry standard in hybrids. Could this delay in the adoption of lithium ion technology be because they have something better up their corporate sleeves for the next-next Prius? According to reports from Japan, Toyota may be investing in zinc-air batteries, which are currently popular only in your grandpa's hearing-aid. If the rumors are true, these new batteries would make up a big chunk of Toyota's plan on offering a hybrid version of every car it sells by 2020. In the meantime, expect to see lithium-ion batteries in future Toyota hybrid models until it's ready to unveil its newest battery technology, whatever that may be.

[Source: Automotive News, sub. req'd]

Bob Lutz and A123 CEO Dave Vieau

This morning at the Management Briefing Seminars in Traverse City, MI, General Motors Vice-Chairman Bob Lutz announced that they were promoting battery supplier A123 Systems from Tier 2 to Tier 1 supplier status. That means that A123 will effectively no longer just be a sub-contractor to other companies that do battery pack integration.

GM will now work directly with A123 systems on the development of their nano-phosphate lithium-ion battery chemistry for use in motor vehicles. A123 will still work with companies like Cobasys and Continental on pack integration for applications like the plug-in Saturn Vue hybrid and the Chevy Volt, which Lutz said he expects to be ready for sale by 2010. Check out the live blog post at AutoblogGreen as well as the announcement.

click on the image above to view AutoblogGreen's high-resolution gallery

GM's much-rumored electric vehicle introduction for the North American International Auto Show has indeed been revealed to be the Chevrolet Volt. Built on a new platform referred to as E-flex, the cute coupe spins the front wheels via a 161 HP electric motor and a lithium-ion storage pack with 16 kWh of capacity (a piece of technology that, by GM's own admission, is not yet ready for prime time). An Ecotec-branded turbocharged 71 HP three-banger sits under the hood to spin a 53 kW generator, which provides one method by which to charge the pack; the other consists of a pair of plugs (one on either side) that facilitate charging via a standard 110V connection. Six hours or so of charge time at home is good for 40 miles of range, after which the IE kicks in at a steady 1800 RPM to feed the packs. GM calls it an EV with "range extending capability", but to our eyes, it sure looks like a series hybrid. It also has us asking why a small diesel wasn't employed, as such an engine can provide wonderful efficiency when used at a steady speed and load (as former GM division Electromotive has proven with its locomotives over the past several decades).

AutoblogGreen has additional technical detail and analysis. Click here for a full gallery of pictures!

Check out all the debuts and galleries from the Detroit Auto Show here.

For those of you who haven't kept up with radio-controlled car technology since the days of the original RC10 and Tamiya Grasshopper, well, things have changed just a bit. Thanks to lithium-polymer (LiPo) batteries and inexpensive brushless DC motors, RC enthusiasts now have access to more power than we could dream about just a few years ago.

The above video shows a Team Losi Mini-T 1:18-scale RC truck ripping around on a sand dune. With the stock motor, this would be less entertaining than watching paint dry, but there's nothing like increasing the power output by an order of magnitude to increase the fun factor. While something like this is by no means the fastest RC car in the world (despite the claim of the video's editor, that record belongs to Nic Case at over 160 MPH), it's probably capable of 60+ MPH like this author's Castle Creations-powered RC18T.

Why should automotive enthusiasts care? Well, for one, playing with RC cars will put a grin on nearly anyone's face, and provides a pleasant distraction when things aren't going well in the 1:1 world. But more importantly, the same sort of technology that gives us insanely fast toys can also be expected to brighten gearheads' days if the internal combustion engine gives way to electric motors as the power source of choice for future vehicles.

[Source: Transport Trends]

According to AutoExpress UK, Toyota is set to go for the green-veined jugular with its next Prius. The automaker's next hybrid will reportedly net a scarcely-believable 94 mpg (113mpg in imperial gallons). The figure comes about as the company has reportedly set a fuel economy bogey of 40km/liter, as it looks to distance itself from the fuel-sipping diesels that are so popular abroad.

Word is that the gains will largely come from replacing the current Prius' nickel-hydride batteries with lithium ion cells. AE further reports that Toyota hopes to have the charged-up hybrid on the road by as early as 2008. While pulling up the MPG, the manufacturer also hopes to improve the car's acceleration, and is expected to drop its 0-60 mph times by more than one second.

[Source: AutoExpress UK]

(Great tip, Jay!)