News: Dublin taxi driver saves €6,500 by going electric

Using an electric taxi has saved taxi driver, Padraig Daly, approximately €6,500 over the last 18 months. The 100% electric Nissan LEAF which has been part of a trial between ESB ecars and National Radio Cabs (NRC) and has clocked up over 55,000km. The trial, to evaluate electric vehicles as part of the taxi industry, has been deemed so successful that it will be extended for another year.

News: Fuel cells a step closer to reality?

Generally, the accepted wisdom on useable fuel cell vehicles is that they are always 15 years away. It has been that way for almost as long as anyone can remember, and while the zero-emissions technology is certainly alluring, the investment and technology needed to make it palatable to customers always seems to be just out of reach.

That could be about to change though, following an alliance between Renault-Nissan, Mercedes and Ford to jointly share development of future fuel cell systems. Mercedes has already committed to having fuel cell cars on sale to the public by 2015 and last year, a trio of fuel-cell powered B-Classes managed a complete round-the-world trip to prove the reliability of the technology.

A fuel cell is a relatively simple thing, and they've been around for more than a century. By chemically combining hydrogen and oxygen to produce water, they generate an electrical current and the only emission at the tailpipe is water vapour. Simple and brilliant, but making them work in a car has proven difficult, and the arguments over creating a hydrogen refueling infrastructure still rage.

“Fuel cell electric vehicles are the obvious next step to complement today's battery electric vehicles as our industry embraces more sustainable transportation,” said Mitsuhiko Yamashita, Member of the Board of Directors and Executive Vice President of Nissan Motor Co., Ltd., supervising Research and Development. “We look forward to a future where we can answer many customer needs by adding FCEVs on top of battery EVs within the zero-emission lineup.

“We are convinced that fuel cell vehicles will play a central role for zero-emission mobility in the future. Thanks to the high commitment of all three partners we can put fuel cell e-mobility on a broader basis. This means with this cooperation we will make this technology available for many customers around the globe,” said Prof. Thomas Weber, Member of the Board of Management of Daimler AG, Group Research & Mercedes-Benz Cars Development.

“Working together will significantly help speed this technology to market at a more affordable cost to our customers,” said Raj Nair, group vice president, Global Product Development, Ford Motor Company. “We will all benefit from this relationship as the resulting solution will be better than any one company working alone.”

Engineering work on both the fuel cell stack and the fuel cell system will be done jointly by the three companies at several locations around the world. The partners are also studying the joint development of other FCEV components to generate even further synergies.

News: Porsche's ground breaking 918 gets a price tag

  

Porsche's 918 Spyder supercar, which claims to offer the performance of a true road-racer with the emissions of a Prius, has officially gone on sale... but only in the US for now. We Europeans will have to wait just a little longer for a price tag for our dream car.

And the price tag for American Porsche-philes? $845, 000, or around €634,000, and yes, that's before taxes, delivery and related charges. Wow. Time to start a Post Office savings account, chaps...

Of course, this being a German car, that $845k is just the starting point. There are extras...

If you want the track-focused 'Weissach Pack' which lowers the car's weight by around 34kg, you're going to have to find $929,000 down the back of the sofa. And things like those retro-seventies Martini racing stripes will cost a wee bit more too. 

Still, with a reported output of 729bhp and a plug-in hybrid transmission that allows you to cruise around town in silent, zero-emissions mode, perhaps knocking on for a million dollars is cheap at the price, really.

News: Electric vehicles to get noisy

Electric vehicles are set to lose one of their most distinctive features this year, as a new US law compels them to make noise at low speeds.

In spite of the slience that mass electric motoring could potentially bring to our cities and towns, US lawmakers have decided that all electric and hybrid cars must emit an automatic warning sound at low speeds so that blind or partially sighted pedestrians don't walk out in front of them.

The move is set to prevent 2,800 injuries and as many as 35 deaths per year.

Currently, the Toyota Prius is designed to automatically emit a low whirring noise at low speeds (below 25kmh) and the Nissan Leaf has a similar system that works at the drivers' discretion. From this year though, all similar cars will have to have a system that works automatically, without driver intervention or choice. The proposed law is being introduced by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

"Our proposal would allow manufacturers the flexibility to design different sounds for different makes and models while still providing an opportunity for pedestrians, bicyclists and the visually impaired to detect and recognize a vehicle", said NHTSA Administrator David Strickland.

News: Mainstream media gets into a panic over Toyota recall

Yes, Toyota is on the recall trail once again, calling in 7.4-million vehicles around the globe to have a potential electric window switch glitch fixed. And the world's media morons have really descended on this one...

(Sorry if this deviates from news and into opinion from this point on but this is annoying us...)

OK, so we all remember the Toyota recall debacles of 2010 and 2011 when millions of Toyotas were recalled because they could RUN TOTALLY OUT OF CONTROL and KILL YOU AND YOUR LOVED ONES and OH MY THE HUMANITY WON'T SOMEONE PLEASE THINK OF THE CHILDREN?!?!?!??!

Except of course it was all tosh. Rubbish. Toyotas weren't running away from their drivers, and as NASA and the us National Highway Traffic Safety Authority proved, it was mostly down to either dodgy floor mats or people mistaking the throttle pedal for the brake. Nonetheless, the world's mainstream media descended on Toyota and proceeded to batter it black and blue for daring to sell us THESE DANGEROUS CARS!!!!!

Now, Toyota is recalling more cars, a huge number in fact, over a potential electric window switch. The fault is this; over time, the window switches might get a bit sticky or stiff to operate. If they do, and if the cars' owner attempts to use an incorrect lubricant on the switch to get it working smoothly again (Butter? Baby oil? That pleasure-max stuff that Durex sells?) it could cause a short circuit which could, maybe, infintessimaly possibly cause an electrical fire.

Please note at this point; this hasn't happened, and for it to happen, first the switch has to get stiff and secondly the owner has to become sufficiently concerned about it to try greasing it up with petrol-tainted hog-fat or something.

36,000 Irish Toyotas are affected by this recall; a mixture of Yaris, Auris, Corolla and RAV4. The fix takes about 60 minutes and can be done at any Toyota main dealer and if you're concerned that your car might be affected, then simply call Toyota on 01 4190222.

Yesterday, this blog witnessed an appallingly badly produced and silly report on this subject on BBC News which seemed to ignore several salient facts. One; no-one has been or is likely to be hurt by this. Two; this doesn't mean Toyota is about to go to the wall or sue for bankruptcy. Three; cars are made of hundreds of components which can, over time, wear or break. Four; most people presented with a sticky electric window switch are unlikely to even notice it or to try and do anything about it. Come on people, get a life. Recalls happen and this is a spectacularly unserious one.

In the meantime, keep the Vaseline away from the window switches, OK?

News: Electric SLS swooshes on track

The possible future of high-performance motoring, the all-electric Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG E-Cell, is seen here on the move for the first time since its Paris Motor Show debut.

Please do not adjust your set; yes we know that you would think there should be a meaty, beefy V8 engine note as the SLS swooshes past the camera on the twisty and fast Ascari race track in Spain, but of course the whole point is that there is no engine – instead the SLS E-Cell gets its 750bhp (!) and 1,000Nm f torque (!!!!) from four electric motors positioned just behind each wheel and fed juice from a stack of rechargeable lithium-ion batteries.

Price? Don't know yet but it sure won't be cheap. Still though, while normal SLS drivers are queuing up to put another €120 worth of four-star into their tanks, you can charge your E-Cell up for another 100km for about €2 a throw.

And yes, this is serious. Not just a pie-in-the-sky prototype. This is going on sale soon. 

News: Is this Ferrari's new 900bhp engine?

 We know that Ferrari is currently hard at work on F70, areplacement for the blistering Enzo hypercar, and in fact we've already seen its all-carbon chassis, at the Paris Motor Show. But now, here is the first image of its 900bhp hybrid engine...

It's a bit blurry, but Dutch website Autoblog.nl is pretty sure that this is the first image of Ferrari's new wonder engine nestling in its carbon-fibre cradle. The large grey box, with the orange wires, sitting at the back between the exhausts, is the KERS unit which, F1-style, harvests electric power from braking and various other systems and allows the driver to thumb a button for extra overtaking oomph, or for a short trickle on pure, zero-emissions electric power.

Quite why you'd need extra overtaking oomph from a 7.3-litre V12 in a carbon-chassis supercar that will probably weigh about as much as a Fiesta is a bit beyond us though...

News: german government may subsidise electric cars

 

Angela Merkel's government is considering a dramatic increase in the subsidies for buying an electric car, as German buyers continue to shun plug-in vehicles.

The German car market (although it dipped dramatically in September) was a healthy 2.1-million vehcile sales so far in 2012, but just over 2,000 of these were electric cars – 1 0.1% market share, and this despite Chancellor Merkel's previously stated goal to have one million electric cars on German roads by 2020.

Neighbouring France already gives electric car buyers a €5,000 kickback, and the Merkel government is mulling other options, such as a 10-year exemption from road tax. But recent developments, not only a falling car market and reduced consumer sentiment (which will make buyers more conservative and less likely to spend money on a battery car) but also Toyota's announcement that it's going to shun all-electric vehicles in favour of plugin hybrid development, will not make Frau Merkel's task any easier.

Any subsidy, if decided on, won't kick in until the back end of next year at the earliest, but Mercedes CEO Dieter Zetsche reckons that without it, the maximum possible market in Germany for electric cars is a mere 600,000 units.

Road Test: Porsche Panamera Hybrid S

Price as tested: €170,000 (approx)

+ Efficient, striking looks, great cabin, fast
– Diesel is better to drive and more economical
= Kudos to Porsche for tech, but the (cheaper) diesel is a better all-round car

In describing the new Panamera Hybrid S as ‘the most economical Porsche of all time’ you suspect that Porsche is in a way damning its own car with faint praise. We have become used to Porsche describing its new models as being the sharpest to drive, the fastest, the most powerful or able to lap the Nurburgring faster than all-comers. But most economical? It seems odd, at least at first, and it’s not even true...

It is true to describe the Panamera Hybrid S as the most efficient Porsche of all time though. Thanks to its clever hybrid system, some useful low-rolling-resistance tyres and some very good aerodynamics, this big, luxurious super-saloon clocks in with a Co2 rating of just 159g/km. Good enough for a Band D rating and an annual road tax bill of just €447. Or cheaper than a pre-2008 Ford Mondeo 1.8, in other words.

As for fuel efficiency, Porsche claims that the Hybrid S will return a very healthy 6.8-litres per 100km (or around 41mpg). Hmmm. Not so sure about that. With some mixed driving on main roads, back roads, in town and motorways, our best average was closer to 9.4-litres per 100km.

There’s no doubting the cleverness of Porsche’s hybrid system though. It combines a supercharged 3.0-litre V6 petrol engine with a synchronous electric motor fed power from a stack of nickel-metal batteries under the boot for a total of 380bhp and a hefty 580Nm of torque, Performance is, to say the least, fleet, with 100kmh coming up from a standstill in just 6.0secs and a potential top speed of 270kmh.

And while it does the usual hybrid tricks of shutting down the engine when standing in traffic and allowing for limited (about 2km) electric-only running, the Panamera’s battery system will also allow it to completely shut down the engine when running at speed. It does this when you’re cruising on, say, a motorway and there’s enough charge in the battery to propel you without needing the engine. The electronics will engage the clutch and shut down the engine, without you noticing it, until more power is needed. It only does so for a few seconds at a time (Porsche calls it ‘sailing’) but it does mean that, part of the time, the big Panamera is operating as a pure electric vehicle, even at speeds above 100kmh.

All of this is controlled from within a cabin which scores exceptionally high in terms of comfort (even in the back), quality and design, if not quite so high in terms of instrument or switchgear layout.

There’s a but coming though, and you may have been sensing it. Whether it’s the weight of the batteries in the back, or the overlight Servotronic steering or maybe the distancing effect of the standard air suspension, but the Panamera Hybrid S simply isn’t as good to drive as it could be. Compared to others in the range, the steering feels too light and detached, the chassis a noticeable touch slower to react.

Perhaps expecting Porsche to create the most economical model in its history and still expect it to be invigorating to drive was expecting too much. Except that it’s not. Not the most economical model in the Panamera range. That honour falls to the new Panamera diesel, which returns 6.3-litres per 100km on the combined cycle and which is every bit as stimulating to drive as a big Porsche should be.

With the extra weight of the 3.0-litre 250bhp V6 diesel over the nose, the Panamera’s steering comes alive, and if it does give in to understeer earlier than the hybrid, then at least the sensations are better telegraphed to you. 250bhp sounds weedy, compared to the Hybrid’s output (never mind the Turbo S’s unhinged 550bhp) but with 550Nm of torque, the Panamera Diesel absolutely flies. It feels little short of phenomenal to drive, and if its Co2 figure of 172g/km means that it costs more to tax than the hybrid, our observed fuel economy of 8.0-litres per 100km proves that there’s an upside.

It does raise the question of how the Hybrid, which uses more fuel per 100km than the Diesel still manages to post a superior Co2 figure, but perhaps that’s down to the inconsistencies in the official European fuel economy test.

So, you have a three way choice. To experience all that the Panamera can be, you could go for the brutally fast Turbo S (which can bend space and time on its way to 100kmh from rest in just 3.8secs) or you could choose to appeal to the greener side of life, sacrifice some of the driving experience and go for the Hybrid. But our choice would be the diesel. It may seem sacrilege to say it of a Porsche, but in this case, it does seem to be the best of all worlds.

Facts & Figures

Porsche Panamera Hybrid S
Price as tested: €170,000 (approx)
Price range: €125,000 to €250,000 (approx)
Capacity: 2,995cc + electric motor
Power: 380bhp
Torque: 580Nm
Top speed: 270kmh
0-100kmh: 6.0sec
Economy: 6.8l-100km (41.5mpg)
CO2 emissions: 159g/km
Road Tax Band: D €447
Euro NCAP rating: Not yet tested