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Greenlings: What's the difference between kW and kWh?

Understanding electric and plug-in vehicles requires a slightly different knowledge set than what mechanics and drivers have needed to know for decades. One of the most obvious new concepts is the large battery pack and electric motor added to the car. The capacity values of these devices are be written using kW (kilowatt) and kWh (kilowatt hours), but don't think that a 90 kW motor is anything like a 90 kWh battery pack. That little h makes a big difference. Exactly what is the difference? Well, that's what we investigate in this week's ... Read more →

First Drive: 2010 BMW X6 ActiveHybrid is technologically impressive... but to what end? Sebastian Blanco

BMW's pitch on how great the X6 ActiveHybrid is goes like this: it's the world's most powerful hybrid vehicle, fuel consumption is reduced about 20 percent compared to a similar vehicle without a ...

At Witz' End: Notes from "The Business of Plugging In" Gary Witzenburg

EV business may be booming soon I dropped by the Center for Automotive Research's (CAR) "The Business of Plugging In" conference in Detroit recently and came away with a collection of quotes ...

Editorial: Henderson's fuel cell 10X cost comments are out of context Sam Abuelsamid

The other day we reported on an interview with General Motors CEO Fritz Henderson published in the Washington Post. While most of the discussion focused on the bailout and bankruptcy, from the ...

Greenlings: How does weight affect a vehicle's efficiency? Sebastian Blanco

Over the last few decades, the average weight of a vehicle sold in the U.S. climbed steadily after we got over the oil embargoes of the 1970s. Today, though, auto companies are putting a lot of ...

PEV 2009: 1916 Woods Dual Power Model 44 Coupe hybrid on display 23 days ago on Autoblog Green

At the Business of Plugging In expo in Detroit last week, attendees were treated to a bit of history in the shape of the 1916 Woods Dual Power Model 44 Coupe. This car was moved by both a set of batteries that powered an electric motor and a gasoline-drinking 4-cylinder internal combustion ...

PEV 2009: David Cole explains why adding plugs to cars is anything but simple 25 days ago on Autoblog Green

David Cole is the chairman of the Center For Automotive Research. As such, he is deeply connected to the industry and played a big role in organizing the Business of Plugging In expo in Detroit last week. We've talked with Cole in the past, and caught up with him at the expo to hear what the ...

PEV 2009: Henrik Fisker explains how his company will be profitable, plans for 2010 26 days ago on Autoblog Green

With his company about to announce its first U.S. plant in Delaware, CEO Henrik Fisker was in high spirits and high demand at last week's Business of Plugging In conference in Detroit. We were able to pull the busy man aside for a few minutes to ask for more information on how his company plans ...

Quick Spin: Myers Motors NmG - redefining fast and small for the future 26 days ago on Autoblog Green

digg_url = 'http://digg.com/autos/Myers_Motors_NmG_Redefining_Fast_Small_Car_For_The_Future'; It's ironic that the NmG we got to take for a spin during the Business of Plugging In conference in Detroit last week might be the last one-seater that Myers Motors ever makes. The company is getting ...

Quick Spin: GGT Cozmo NEV - rickety things come in pricey packages 27 days ago on Autoblog Green

GreenGo Tek is a boastful little electric vehicle company. A press release issued by GGT over the summer to announce the new Cozmo neighborhood electric vehicle stated that, because the company also does EV conversions: "GGT is the only company in the world with the technology and ...

Coskata's new Lighthouse cellulosic ethanol plant, in depth 1 month ago on Autoblog Green

Coskata's newly-opened semi-commercial flex ethanol facility in Madison, Pennsylvania is as small as it can possibly be. Co-located at a Westinghouse facility that also in some fashion uses nuclear energy, the Lighthouse project, as it's called, is running 24/7 to turn wood chips into ethanol. ...

Catching up with Chevrolet's 1,200 mile pre-production Volt fleet drive 1 month ago on Autoblog Green

Yesterday, we had an opportunity to chat with Chevrolet Volt chief engineer Andrew Farah as he rode through the hills of West Virginia during a development drive. On Tuesday, a fleet of eight pre-production (a.k.a. IVER) Volts set out from the company's Milford Proving Ground in Michigan on a ...

What is CAFE? 1 month ago on Autoblog Green

It was big news when the Obama Administration updated CAFE requirements in May to a new and higher national MPG standard of 42 mpg for cars (26 mpg for light trucks) by 2016. The higher standards will start increasing with 2011 model year vehicles. But what is CAFE? And how do these new numbers ...

AltCar 2009: Dan Neil, "Some Inconvenient Questions," and GM hints it could sell Chevy Volt gliders 1 month ago on Autoblog Green

On top of the test drives (Wheego Whip), test rides (Coda Sedan) and a visit to the unlimited energy booth, a highlight of the AltCar Expo last weekend was getting to hear the LA Times' premiere auto scribe Dan Neil moderate two sessions called "Some Inconvenient Questions." Neil was lucky to ...

First Drive: 2010 Tesla Roadster Sport improves on original, keeps quirks 1 month ago on Autoblog Green

To get from zero to 60 mph in the original Tesla Roadster takes an official 3.9 seconds. The brand new 2010 Roadster Sport beats that with a wonderful 3.7 seconds. Those two-tenths of a second don't look like much on paper, but they make a difference on the road. Perhaps just knowing about the ...

AltCar 2009: Riding in Green Vehicles' Triac, a prototype that is not quite ready 1 month ago on Autoblog Green

The history of the Green Vehicles' Triac is a convoluted one. First surfacing in the summer of 2008, promised delivery dates in November and December 2008 were not kept, but Green Vehicles' Ehab Youssef and his team kept on pushing forward, taking reservations for the $24,995 three-wheeled ...

AltCar 2009: EF9's "unlimited clean energy" turbine could go into cars, if it works 1 month ago on Autoblog Green

Mark Tanner, who does R&D for EF9 Energy Systems, was pretty wiped out by the time we got to speak with him at the end of AltCar 2009 in Santa Monica last weekend. It's understandable. He'd been explaining how his system for "unlimited clean energy" was supposed to work to hundreds of ...

AltCar 2009: Coda Sedan test ride; wish we could drive the $30,000 (or so) electric vehicle 1 month ago on Autoblog Green

Back in August, members of the Diamond Bar Electric Vehicle Association were treated to rides in t he Coda all-electric sedan with Coda Automotive CEO Kevin Czinger at the wheel. This past weekend, AutoblogGreen was given the same opportunity during the AltCar Expo at the Santa Monica Civic ...

AltCar 2009: Wheego Whip Quick Drive - is this the Cadillac of NEVs? 1 month ago on Autoblog Green

Is the Wheego Whip "The Cadillac of Neighborhood Electric Vehicles"? That's one description that we heard during our very short test drive of the NEV during the Santa Monica Alt Car Expo last weekend. Marc Korchin, owner of the Green Motors electric vehicles dealership in Berkeley, rode with us ...

Top Ten "green" cars that met their fate during Cash for Clunkers 1 month ago on Autoblog Green

One rule that all clunked cars needed to adhere to was a maximum rating of 18 MPG from the federal government, right? What wasn't required was that the clunked car be considered dirty. After all, it's pretty clear that CNG vehicles burn clean, but that didn't stop 232 of them from meeting their ...

Should I switch to straight veggie oil? What is holding SVO back? 1 month ago on Autoblog Green

We like to answer reader questions with our Greenlings series whenever possible, and thought that Timothy H. had a good topic. He sent in the following question/suggestion about straight vegetable oil (SVO): I have seen several articles dealing specifically with SVO, but not as it concerns the ...

Under the radar: What's up with Phoenix Motorcars and bankruptcy? 2 months ago on Autoblog Green

Remember when Phoenix Motorcars was trying to get attention for their all-electric SUT with their friend Ed Begley, Jr.? Man that was a long time ago. We haven't heard an official statement from the company since they declared "We have not abandoned the alternative fuels transportation space" back ...

How can we "refuel" electric vehicles today and tomorrow? 2 months ago on Autoblog Green

Among the many claimed advantages of electric vehicles are the ability to "refuel" your vehicles at home, never visiting a gas station again. In principle, the only thing you need to "fuel" an EV is a working plug. However, in life, few things ever turn out to be as simple as they might appear ...

Frankfurt 2009: all plugs and hybrids, no hydrogen 2 months ago on Autoblog Green

It's probable that, somewhere in the Frankfurt Messe this week, there are hydrogen-powered concept vehicles. From the headlines, though, it's clear that the world's automakers showing off their wares at the Frankfurt Motors Show are taking some time off from promoting the hydrogen fuel cell car ...

At Witz' End - Best of the Rest from the Center for Automotive Research automotive future forum 2 months ago on Autoblog Green

I reported last month on Nissan's LEAF EV plans, as presented by Nissan Product Planning VP Larry Dominique at the August Center for Automotive Research Management Briefing Seminars (CAR MBS) in Traverse City, MI. Dominique's presentation was one highlight. Others included three speakers from Toyota ...

How important is the appearance of a green car? 2 months ago on Autoblog Green

There has been quite a spate of green car designs in the past few years that seem penned to prove the adage that beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Indeed, some eco-intentioned vehicles appear to be the end result of an ultimate death match between form and function in which form never stood ...

Avion withdraws from Auto X Prize, cites increasing costs of participating in 100 mpg challenge 2 months ago on Autoblog Green

Another one bites the dust (see also: LincVolt and HP2G). The Automotive X Prize will not feature an updated diesel-burning version of the Avion prototype from 1984 . Craig Henderson, the president of Avion Car Company, has sent a withdrawal letter to the AXP claiming that the costs of ...

Hydrogen advocate steps off the ABG comment platform 2 months ago on Autoblog Green

Regular AutoblogGreen readers will surely recognize the name Greg Blencoe. The organizing force behind Hydrogen Car Revolution often comments in posts relating to hydrogen and/or plug-in vehicles and certainly has his critics on these pages. Actually, make that commented. Blencoe has made it ...

What are the promises and pitfalls of carbon fiber? 2 months ago on Autoblog Green

For the last century or so, cars and trucks have predominantly been formed from one material in particular: steel. It's not hard to see why – steel is relatively inexpensive, highly abundant and easy to form into somewhat complex shapes that can be repaired with mostly basic tools. ...

Bright Automotive has an IDEA to put 150,000 PHEVs on the road by 2015 2 months ago on Autoblog Green

Bright Automotive unveiled the Bright IDEA plug-in hybrid van at the end of April in Washington, D.C. The van that was on display that day is still the only IDEA in existence, but Bright has big dreams to get their through-the-road hybrid system into a lot of vehicles, even before the IDEA goes ...

Can I convert an older vehicle to something more environmentally-friendly? 2 months ago on Autoblog Green

Cash For Clunkers is officially over and helped put almost 700,000 new cars on the road. Now that the easy $4,500 are no longer available to buyers with low-mpg cars, we thought it'd be a good time to answer AutoblogGreen reader Adam's question that he submitted for our Greenlings series. Adam ...

One Gallon Challenge: alt-fuel "race" cars get up to 164 MPGe 2 months ago on Autoblog Green

This weekend's One Gallon Challenge in Massachusetts resulted in some pretty amazing fuel economy results. The five vehicles that took part in the race challenge (any line of of cars that starts "in stately, fuel-conserving style" can't really be called a race, can it?) made the 100-mile drive ...

As a green brand, will the Volt be able to compete with Prius? 2 months ago on Autoblog Green

Those of us who follow the green car world on a daily basis could ramble on for an hour, at least, on the differences between the Chevy Volt and the Toyota Prius. They're not really in the same category, if you know what an ER-EV is. But for the general public, the two cars are probably best ...

Auto X Prize throws water on GM's 230 mpg claim, offers mpge calculator 3 months ago on Autoblog Green

With all of the attention being paid to the 230 mpg number that the Chevy Volt will apparently be granted by the EPA, the Automotive X Prize thought it was time to weigh in on the subject of calculating fuel efficiency for vehicles that use energy sources other than gasoline. They don't like it. ...

One Gallon Challenge vehicles on the way to Boston 3 months ago on Autoblog Green

The One Gallon Challenge kicked off this morning in Greenfield, Massachusetts and AutoblogGreen reader Peter L. sent in a short report and some pictures from the scene: Attached are some pix from the start of the One Gallon Challenge this morning. No results yet, since they are still on the ...

Why choose a fuel cell or an internal combustion engine when using hydrogen? 3 months ago on Autoblog Green

Over the past decade, most of the world's major automakers have expended a lot research dollars and engineering resources on developing vehicles that burn hydrogen. While advocates like the idea of using hydrogen as an energy carrier because it's the most abundant element in the known universe ...

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