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You know how we love plug-in hybrids around these parts, particularly if they’re actually going to get built — crazy, we know. Now it looks like Volkswagen is going to get into the game, with a “Twin Drive” Golf powered by a 122 horsepower diesel engine and 82 horsies of electric motor. The car should debut around 2010, and VW plans on spending $769 million on the project, helped along by a $23.5 million program put in place by the German government to help along such development. The car, which uses the electric motor for primary power, supplemented by the diesel motor and regenerative braking for extra juice, should be able to squeeze about 31 miles out of its Sanyo-developed lithium-ion batteries in all-electric mode.

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Source: Paul Miller

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Filed under: Transportation

Despite all the lawsuit hoopla over who-stole-what, Fisker Automotive is trudging along with its $80,000 Karma plug-in performance hybrid. New, stripey pictures of the actual vehicle in test runs popped up this week telling us that the Karma could actually hit dealers by 2009 as promised. The pictures are nice — so nice, in fact, that it turns out they were “leaked” by Fisker’s own PR agency along with a video. For review, the Fisker Karma will do 0-60 in 5.8 seconds and top out at 150MPH via an electric / internal-combustion hybrid engine. Latest word is that the combustion engine portion is of Volkswagen build. Fisker is only saying that the engine is of German build, and we say, “gut!” — let those external speakers roar! The “leaked” video is after the break.Continue reading Fisker Karma hybrid sports car spotted on test track complete with stripes and video

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Source: Joshua Fruhlinger

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Filed under: Transportation

Fisker Karma’s recently announced hybrid sports car that generates motor noise through some external speakers might have received a good bit of derision when it first made itself known, but it now looks like it may actually be a bit ahead of the game, at least if a bill expected to be introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives ever actually becomes law. As AutoWeek reports, the bill was apparently prompted by concerns that hybrid and electric vehicles are a little too quiet, and pose a risk to pedestrians, especially the blind. To address that supposed danger, the bill reportedly demands that the U.S. Secretary of Transportation initiate a study to determine if a minimum sound level is in fact needed and, if so, require that automakers comply with it (possibly as early as 2010).

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Source: Donald Melanson

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Filed under: Transportation

There’s a decent chance your average hybrid owner wouldn’t know the difference between a lithium-ion and nickel-metal hydride battery if their life depended on it, but we know you — dear reader — are not one of those “average” joes / janes. That being the case, you may be interested to know that the 2009-bound S400 BlueHybrid is in prime position to be the world’s first production Li-ion hybrid, which will offer up “compact dimensions and far superior performance” compared to existing rivals. M-B goes on to trumpet the technology’s “high ampere-hour efficiency, long service life, and great reliability, even at very low temperatures.” No word on just how astronomically high this thing will be priced at, but you can expect just shy of 30 miles-per-gallon in mixed driving conditions, for what it’s worth.

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Source: Darren Murph

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Just as Toyota saw fit to pimp its own forthcoming plug-in hybrid, General Motors is hitting back with “hopes” to produce a similarly equipped Saturn Vue Green Line in 2010 as well. We know, GM doesn’t have the greatest track record when it comes to delivering on time, but you say what you have to in order to keep up, right? Nevertheless, this vehicle is slated to house a “modified version of GM’s two-mode hybrid system and plug-in technology” along with an obligatory Li-ion, and current testing has shown it able to traverse ten miles at “low speeds” when running on battery power alone. It’s also stated that the SUV can be fully recharged in just under five hours, but alas, GM isn’t opening its mouth even a little to address pricing expectations. Hit the read link for a gallery of photos — who knows when you’ll see it in the flesh.

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Source: Darren Murph

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It looks like Volvo’s the latest to get in on the plug-in hybrid action, with it showing off its new ReCharge concept vehicle in anticipation of next week’s Frankfurt Motor Show. Volvo aficionados will likely recognize the vehicle as being based on the company’s C30 hatchback, which gives it an all-wheel drive propulsion system. Unlike the standard C30, however, this one has a lithium polymer battery pack in its trunk, which is said to boast enough capacity for 62 miles of all-electric driving. Once that’s depleted, a four cylinder flex-fuel engine kicks in to re-charge the battery while you’re still on the road. Of course, the key advantage here is that you can also simply plug in the vehicle to recharge the vehicle, cutting down even further on your gas consumption. No word on a possible non-concept version just yet, but you can check out plenty more pics and a video courtesy of Autoblog Green at the link below.

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Source: Donald Melanson

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