Hyundai's been on the ascendency these past few years, and they've decided to make a new electric vehicle brand only for the Chinese market, in partnership with Beijing Automotive (the Chinese government normally forces companies from outside the country to form joint ventures with local companies, mostly as a way to transfer technology).
Plans are to start marketing the first electric car from the new brand in the first half of 2012, which means they've been working on it awhile, or it’s based on another EV model that Hyundai plans to release elsewhere. And maybe the Chinese experience will help make EVs more affordable around the world...
China has been encouraging its automakers to jump into the growing market of hybrid and electric cars so they will be able to vie with global competitors. The Chinese government said earlier that it will invest more than 100 billion Yuan (US$15.5 billion) to help nurture the new car industry over 10 years, opening this year.
In May, the Chinese government begin a plan to subsidize private purchases of alternative fuel cars in five cities Shanghai, Hangzhou, Changchun, Hefei and Shenzhen offering carmakers up to 50,000 yuan for each plug-in hybrid car and a maximum of 60,000 yuan for each full electric vehicle.
Chen Qingquan, chairman of the World Electric Vehicle Association, projected that the volume of new energy vehicles will attain 500,000 by 2015 in China and double to 1 million by 2020.
Connection the race to conduct a new generation of city cars, Audi urban concept will demonstrate a 1+1 seat electrically propelled urban vehicle at next month’s Frankfurt auto show (IAA).
The German premium car maker said in a press release that the urban concept car, which will be made of lightweight carbon fiber, will blend “elements of a racing car, a fun car and an urban car.”
Rival BMWrecently also unveiled a new city car, the i3, which will seat four.
Other car brands are also developing smaller, electrically driven vehicles that will provide to urban habitants. The moves are activated by prospect that more people will live in megacities and that concerns over air pollution will trigger a sharp rise in electric vehicles in those cities.
Audi said its concept car is not based on any earlier model. The two-seater will contain controls and materials that will all be ultra light. The driver can adjust the steering wheel and pedals and the roof slides open to the rear to let in passengers.
Sporting 21-inch wheels, the Audi concept car will be impelled by two e-tron electric motors that will be motorized by a lithium-ion battery.
Coolest thing about the Audi urban concept car is? Sporting 21-inch wheels.
BMW has fully dedicated itself to the battery-electric driving revolution by setting up a whole new sub-brand - BMW i - devoted to emission-free motoring. Now, the i group has released details of two concept cars that appear set to become production models within a few years.
The i3 concept is a fully-electric city car with an everyday driving range of about 160 km (100 miles) per charge, and the i8 is a sporty 4-seater plug-in hybrid that combines electric and petrol drive to give a good compromise among emission-free commuting and petrol-powered range and performance.
Both cars make widespread use of carbon fiber-reinforced plastic (CFRP) to keep weight down, and both offer a raft of fascinating new driver assist and efficiency initiatives that look likely to make it throughout to the real world.
The BMW i3 - all-electric city boy
First up is the town car getabout - the i3. As a fully electric car, it's mainly aimed at urban commuting, but its battery range is conditioned to a level a little beyond that. On the FTP72 cycle, it's rated for 225 km (140 miles), but BMW says the car's everyday range, being driven by regular lead-foot clowns like you and I, is more like 160 km (100 miles).
Acceleration is in the range of 8 seconds to 100 kph (62 mph), but it should be fairly zippy off the line, as it develops 100 percent of its torque from a standstill. Top speed should be about 150 kph (93 mph) - but that's electronically limited, because autobahn speeds can be brutally draining on most electric vehicles.
The i3's large battery pack sits under the floor of the vehicle in a slab that's protected from crash damage by a number of buffer zones in the structure. As batteries are typically the most expensive part of an electric vehicle, you'd surely want to protect them.
The 170 hp electric motor, single-gear drive system and differential are located over the driven rear axle, and there's room there for an optional range extender - a high efficiency petrol engine that putts away and brings forth electricity to charge the batteries. With the range extender on board, you can roughly double the i3's range, and fill up at any petrol station.
The BMW i8 - a clean, hybrid all-rounder
While the i3 is best suited to round-town usage, the i8 has broader dreams. It uses the same electric motor as the i3, this time mounted over the front axle, in conjunction with a three-cylinder, 220 horsepower petrol engine over the rear axle. Blended, you're looking at a 354 horsepower all-wheel-drive with 550 Nm of torque.
All wheel drive isn't altogether accurate though - the i8 constantly proportions the power between the front and rear drive systems according to how the car is being driven. With a much smaller battery system than the i3, the i8 can only manage around 35 km (20 miles) in full electric drive mode - but then, that would cover an emission-free commute for the majority of people.
The true value of the hybrid system comes with longer range driving, where on the EU cycle, the i8 carries off a banging 104 miles per gallon (2.7 liters per 100 km). Driven hard, the fuel consumption will double, but don't forget that the Toyota Prius is advertised as a 50 mpg hybrid and is nowhere near as much fun.
Like the i3, the i8's top speed is electronically governed, but this time at a very sporty 250 kph (155 mph), so it'll hold its head high on any autobahn. The i8 will hit 100 kph (62 mph) in a brisk 5 seconds or less, decent sports car territory there, and the car's entire underbelly is totally enclosed to boost aerodynamic efficiency and cut down fuel consumption.
Common features
The i3 and i8 share a contrive philosophy and a number of characteristics worth talking about.
LifeDrive component separation and CFRP
Both cars are built on the LifeDrive philosophy, which separates the drive and passenger components and treats each differently. The Drive components, including engines, suspension, structural and crash protection functions, are chiefly housed in aluminum structures, while the Life elements - effectively the passenger cell - are designed using high strength, featherweight, carbon fiber-reinforced plastic (CFRP).
Accelerator/Decelerator pedal and regenerative braking
Even as they incorporate it in different ways, both cars feature a regenerative braking system to hold the battery topped up and cut down wear on the conventional brake system.
On the i3, this comes in the form of an accelerator/decelerator pedal, with which you're either on the gas, coasting, or braking depending on how far the pedal is pressed down. BMW approximations that around town, you can do as much as 75 percent of your braking this way - that is,without lifting your foot and hitting the brake pedal at all - and in our experience with other regenerative braking systems, that's not far off the mark. The regenerative braking system can contribute back up to 20 percent extra range to the battery charge, and it's very sensitive to use.
The press release is less clear about how the system works on the i8 - or how it works in with the petrol engine - but we assume it's somewhat similar, including a brake pedal which seems to use the regenerative system for the first part of the pedal travel, and the conventional disc brakes beyond that.
Intelligent Electronics: Proactive Front Protection, Parking Assistant, Traffic Jam Assistant
Driver aids abound on the i3 and i8, including frontal collision warning systems that flash, beep and eventually hit the brakes for you if they find out you're going to hit something.
Parking Assistant is a press-button parallel parking system that not only manages the steering to lead you into your parking spot, but also handles the accelerator, brake and gear changes for you, even if the park takes a few moves.
Traffic Jam Assistant is a wonderful stress-saver that holds a constant distance from the car in front, all the way from standstill to 40 kph(25 mph), and actually provides active steering input as well to keep you inside your lane. You just need to keep one hand on the steering wheel as you drift off to sleep.
Smartphone integration
Equally with all things in the future, the i3 and i8 will be highly integrated with your smartphone. You can use your phone to find your car,lock it, unlock it, make it beep its horn or flash its lights.
Your smartphone can also tell you where the nearest charging stations are, and through integration with the navigation system, it can tell you where to walk once you've parked your car to get to your destination.
ECO PRO mode
ECO PRO mode immediately changes the accelerator response characteristics so that you're constantly using less power for a given throttle application. It caps top speed at anywhere between 90 and 120 kph (56 and 75 mph), and it reduces the effectiveness of heating and cooling systems so they consume less too.
Whenever things get really scary, ECO PRO+ mode sets in and basically closes down everything except the absolute essentials, like demisters and whatnot. Top speed is reined in to 90 kph (56 mph) and you can be certain you're getting maximum mileage.
It'll be fascinating to see what alterations on these two concepts if and when they hit the market - but it looks fairly clear that through its i division, BMW is serious about emission-free motoring and ready to get into the game with some pretty competitive products.
Gordon Murray has unveiled an electric car he claims is the most efficient in the world.
The T.27 shares its design with the ultra-compact T.25 city car revealed last year, and uses the same innovative manufacturing processes to deliver a three-seater EV with a 100 mile real-world range.
Gordon Murray Design's new model gets a modified 33bhp electric motor mated to a single-speed gearbox. The T.27 is limited to 65mph, but is said to hit that speed in less than 15 seconds.
It will return that performance while using significantly less energy than its rivals. According to Murray's company, the Smart EV uses 29 per cent more energy per km, with the Mitsubishi iMiEV and Mini-E on 36 per cent and 86 per cent.
Like much of the designer's work, the secret here is the T.27's low kerbweight. Murray has delivered a realistic electric car which weighs in at just 680kg, including the normally prohibitively heavy battery.
On unveiling the car, Murray said: ''Lightweight is the most powerful tool we have in our armoury in the fight against emissions and fuel expenditure. This is true of all cars and especially so with electric vehicles.''
The T.27 is intended as another showcase of Gordon Murray Design's new iStream manufacturing method, and turning it into a production actuality depends on someone investing in the entire process.
That could just be a matter of time though, as the firm is said to already be in discussions with three interested parties.
