T2 Concept: 469 HP Hybrid Supercar

When it comes to future cars, green has become the new black. So it’s only natural that automobile designers are starting to dream-up new shapes and sizes for what will be the supercar of the future.

It’s only a matter of time before the world’s oil reserves run out and we switch to electric vehicles completely. However, just because they don’t have that deep V12 bellowing exhaust sound doesn’t mean that electric supercars can’t look as good as their fossil-fuel burning counterparts look.

We’ve made quite the introduction for this T2 Concept car, that offers 469 horsepower from its 3.5-liter hybrid powerplant (in theory).

The V6 petrol engine is mid-mounted for better weight distribution and is mated to a couple of electric motors, giving the car a hint of the green virus. All that power takes the supercar to 100 km/h (62 mph) in around 4 seconds. The designer has paid close attention to the aerodynamics of the concept car to help maximize performance.

The body of the car looks very realistic for a concept. The engine cover has five slits that let the engine breath and lets the driver see behind when reversing (sort of...). We are especially fond of the geometric design of the back lights and the front ones that look like they belong on a futuristic BMW. There are a couple of gaping intakes on the side of the car that help the engine breath better.

Just like any other supercar, this concept has aggressive line, especially around the front fascia and the rear three quarter. At the back, the model sports a diffuser and a large trunk spoiler in order to maximize traction.

Honda completes testing Zytek KERS for Super GT

Zytek, the U.K.-based motorsports engineering specialist, has completed a series of three two-day tests of its kinetic-energy recovery system, installed in Honda Research and Development's HEV Super GT test car.

In total, the new 40-kilowatt system covered more than 1,200 miles on the track, driven by Honda works pilot Katsutomo Kaneishi.

Zytek's KERS includes a transaxle-integrated motor, a monocoque-mounted inverter and li-ion battery. The entire system weighs 98 pounds.

Zytek reported that its KERS ran without fault throughout the tests and proved capable of producing as much as a 1.5-second lap-time improvement, or an 8 percent reduction in fuel consumption for the same lap time the car runs without the system. Using the push-to-pass option provided a 6-mph top-speed boost.

The car proved capable of accelerating from a standstill to 60 kph using only the electric motor power. Operating duty cycles exceeded target performance at more than 1,200 kJ of energy per lap (three times higher than the systems used in Formula One during 2009).

Zytek is developing the system for sale in a range of international racing categories.

With 250,000 expressions of interest GM look to triple Volt production

General Motors Co. CEO Dan Akerson says the carmaker is studying how it could double or triple production of the new Chevrolet Volt plug-in hybrid should sales demand accelerate.

About 250,000 potential buyers have expressed an interest in the vehicle, but production in 2011 will be just 10,000 units. GM plans to build 45,000 Volts in calendar year 2012.

Speaking on the sidelines of the official Volt launch ceremony on Tuesday at GM's Detroit-Hamtramck assembly plant, GM North America President Mark Reuss said that Volt production is constrained largely by vendor production of battery cells needed for the battery packs that GM assembles in suburban Detroit for the Volt.

He said GM could begin exporting Volts to Europe and elsewhere by late 2011. The European version would be the Opel Ampera.

GM global product chief Tom Stephens said GM also is considering a flex-fuel version of the Volt. He said that GM could have the version available in the 2012 model year if the carmaker pursues the program.

Using E85 fuel, the Volt would use extremely little gasoline, Stephens said. For one thing, most commuters can run on pure electric power to get to and from work. When the internal combustion engine is needed for longer trips, though, with E85, only 15 percent of the fuel is petroleum. The other 85 percent is ethanol, he said.

Beginning in December, GM plans to roll out the Volt in seven states over 12 months with limited supplies available for sale and demonstration at Chevrolet dealers. After that time, the Volt would be available nationally.

Akerson conceded today that GM stands to make little or no initial profit on the Volt. He said the carmaker can sell them “for close to cost.”

The Volt has a base price of $41,000, including shipping, before a $7,500 federal tax credit.

Frank Moultrie, shop chairman of UAW Local 22 representing 960 hourly workers at Detroit-Hamtramck, said there are no immediate plans to add a second shift at the plant. The plant builds the Volt and the Cadillac DTS and Buick Lucerne sedans. The DTS and Lucerne end in 2010.

On electricity alone, the Volt achieves the equivalent of 93 mpg. When powered solely by a 1.4-liter gasoline engine, the Volt gets 37 mpg.

Toyota confirms sportscar return

Toyota has confirmed that it will return to the sportscar arena next season as engine supplier to Rebellion Racing's LMP1 effort.

As we speculated over 12 months ago, this is the first direct motorsport involvement for the German-based Toyota Motorsport outfit since it withdrew from Formula 1 at the end of 2009.

The prototype version of the Toyota-powered Lola coupe was first shaken down at Snetterton in October and has since been tested in Portugal and Spain.

Toyota Motorsport president Yoshiaki Kinoshita said: "Toyota Motorsport has recent experience of engine supply partnerships from our Formula 1 days, so we are drawing on that to deliver a reliable and competitive engine.

"We are looking forward to working with Rebellion Racing on this exciting project and it was very pleasing to see this engine running in a car for the first time, particularly because the performance, as well as the reliability, was very encouraging."

Rebellion team principal Alexandre Pesci added: "This agreement is the cornerstone of Rebellion's challenge for the forthcoming season. Toyota is an impressive and remarkable industrial giant, we are proud to have been selected by Toyota Motorsport as their partner in this project.

"It means a lot for our team to have secured their support in our efforts to target the victory." We expect this is the first step in a campaign that will take advantage of the advanced hybrid regulations allowed at Le Mans.

Nissan Rolls Out Leaf Electric Car In Japan with 200 km range

Nissan said the five-seater hatchback was rated with a driving range of 200 km (124 miles) on a full charge under Japanese test standards, more than the 160 km (100 miles) advertised under California's rules and 73 miles under the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's reading.

To address "range anxiety," Nissan said it had installed normal charging spots at about 2,200 dealers around Japan, and quick chargers in about 200 dealers capable of recharging to 80 percent of the batteries' full capacity in 30 minutes.

"We believe this is the start of a new era for the auto industry," Chief Operating Officer Toshiyuki Shiga said.

Delivery will start in Japan and select U.S. states this month, followed by the first European markets in January. Nissan has filled the maximum initial orders for 6,000 Leafs in Japan, and 20,000 units in the United States, set to reach customers over the next year or so.

Nissan is not the first major automaker to sell an electric car. That honor belongs to Mitsubishi Motors Corp, which launched the smaller i-MiEV electric car last year, first to fleet customers and then to individuals this April.

But Nissan and its French partner, Renault SA, are aiming to be the top sellers in the nascent electric car market, which the alliance expects to make up 10 percent of new vehicle sales globally by 2020.

Renault and Nissan have earmarked 4 billion euros, or $5 billion, over the next few years to mass-produce electric vehicles and the batteries that power them. By 2013, the alliance will have the capacity to produce 500,000 batteries, some of which will be used for hybrid models.

Until production of the Leaf begins in the United States at the end of 2012, and in Britain after that, output of the Leaf would be limited to 50,000 units a year, Shiga said.

Production of Mitsubishi Motors' i-MiEV, meanwhile, hit a cumulative 5,000 units last month after sales began in July 2009.

Nissan gave the Leaf a suggested retail price of 3.76 million yen ($44,900), which will fall to 2.98 million yen in Japan after the government's electric vehicle subsidies.

Those subsidies are applicable only until the end of Japan's fiscal year, on March 31. The government has yet to announce its incentive policy beyond that date.

Electric cars that run on batteries have come and gone since the early 1800s, but their limited power and range have made them impractical for the modern age.

As automakers, including Volkswagen AG and Toyota Motor Corp, roll out their electric vehicles (EVs) in the coming years, they will need to educate consumers to quash any misconceptions and prepare them for features unique to EVs.

At the launch, Nissan showed video images of the Leaf undergoing vigorous tests, including being struck by an artificial lightning bolt in a lab, and emerging unharmed from flooded waters that came up to its headlights.

An electric plug was shown being inserted into the Leaf's socket as water from a hose gushed onto the plug.

Nissan is taking extra precautions by putting would-be buyers of the Leaf through a vetting process to make sure they are the right fit for an EV. That means anyone driving more than 100 miles a day regularly would be steered to one of its gasoline or diesel cars.

In some markets, Nissan will give customers with occasional long-distance driving needs an option to rent a conventional car at a low price for seven days during the year.

Nissan is also waiting to sell electric cars in regions with extreme hot or cold climates until it can better educate consumers on how best to avoid unnecessary wear on the batteries.

While most major automakers have plans to develop EVs, General Motors and Toyota are looking to compete against the Leaf with plug-in hybrid cars, which can run both in EV mode and on gasoline. GM will begin selling its Chevy Volt in the United States this month, while Toyota's plug-in hybrid is due by 2012.

2011 Hybrid Motorsport Regulations for Formula One and Le Mans

The 2011 FIA Formula 1 World Championship Sporting and Technical Regulations have yet to be published on the FIA’s website, but it appears they were effectively firmed up when teams’ technical directors met with FIA technical head Charlie Whiting in Sao Paulo during the Brazilian Grand Prix weekend.

In essence there are two fundamental regulatory changes over the 2010 technical regulations – three if the deletion of the moveable front wing is included. Those two are, of course, the switch from Bridgestone to Pirelli tyres, and the return of KERS, which, although never removed from the books, was by common agreement a no-show during in 2010.

The kinetic energy recovery concept, KERS, was originally pioneered in F1 by Adrian Newey while at McLaren. At the time, it was banned prior to its introduction by the FIA. The governing body then dusted off the concept ready for presentation as its own. It enjoyed a mercurial debut year in 2009 before the teams, acting under the FOTA umbrella, agreed to voluntarily suspend its use for 12 months on cost/operational grounds.

Since then the sport has adopted a refuelling ban, adding considerably to the length and width of cars in order to accommodate the additional 120 kilograms of fuel required to complete a full race distance. Quite how and where engineers will accommodate the KERS motor/generators and battery packs, the latter with cooling devices, remains a big question.

Although Frank Williams fears his cars will end up ‘the size of a London bus’, his partner and Williams co-founder Patrick Head believes otherwise.

“It might make the cars a fraction longer; they’re already quite long because of the displacement of fuel volume (six to eight litres) in fitting the batteries in,” believes Williams’s engineering director.

Head expects batteries to be accommodated in the sidepods, as was the norm in 2009, while the amount of cooling fluid (with a viscosity about 10% that of water according to a supplier) is ‘very small’. “You won’t have a visible influence on the external parts of the car,” believes Head, although he concedes cars will be “marginally longer”.

There had been initial suggestions that KERS output (currently 80bhp) or usage per lap (six seconds) would be upped/extended in order to encourage use of the device, but it seems one particular system – believed to be that of Mercedes – could not be significantly upgraded despite originally having been developed at great cost. So F1 is stuck with the original 2009 KERS formula, with the next big step expected in 2013.

When F1 last ran KERS however, the minimum weight remained as-is despite the 35 kilogram penalty the device brings to the overall package. This severely handicapped heavy drivers. Robert Kubica, in particular, was affected, while Mark Webber escaped simply due to Red Bull’s refusal to embrace the system. In 2011 though, weight will be increased by 10 kilograms, with approximately half of that being taken up by a doubling in wheel-tether strength and increased (front) underbody reinforcement to prevent injuries from chassis puncturing, as suffered by Timo Glock in Japan 2009 – and nearly Vitantonio Liuzzi in Brazil this year.

Still, five kilos makes a massive difference at this level, particularly as front:rear weight distribution has been fixed at 46.5:53.5 with a tolerance of plus or minus 0.5%. This had previously not been the case, with the weight problem being compounded by Bridgestone’s ‘weak’ front tyre of the time.

Le Mans

The ACO who control the Le Mans 24 hour wishes to give manufacturers the widest possible scope to use and develop such systems by putting a certain number of controls in place. Energy recovery systems will be allowed provided that they respect the following rules :


* Recovery and release systems of energy at each axle (front or rear) to be a free choice.
* Maximum quantity of energy released between two braking phases to be 500 kJ.
* Energy storage: by electrical or mechanical systems.
* Systems to be activated by the accelerator pedal only ('push to pass' buttons, e.g. KERS forbidden).
* Hybrid safety specifications to be drawn up by the ACO.
* Other means of energy recovery will be allowed: exhaust, engine heat, dampers, etc. provided that they respect the specifications drawn up by the ACO (safety considerations, banning of driver aids, evaluation of the increases provided by the systems, the reduction in fuel consumption and CO2 emissions).
* Energy recovery systems using brakes must not be active during braking for curves (driver aids banned).
* Fuel tank capacity reduction: 2 litres less for both petrol and diesel-engined cars.
* Pit lane test obligatory for the cars in the hybrid category according to Article 1 / Definitions, Section 1.12 of the ACO LM P1 & LM P2 technical regulations, which stipulate that a car in this category must be able to cover the distance of the pit lane (400 metres) at a speed of 60 km/h using only the power generated by its hybrid system.

Nissan Sees Electric Car Envy in Critics of the Leaf

Skeptics have been harsh in their appraisal of Nissan’s grand plans for electric cars — which the automaker will begin putting into practice with its all-electric Leaf compact, introduced in Japan on Friday.

Critics scoff at everything from the car’s limited driving range to what they consider its inflated price tag.

But Carlos Ghosn, chief executive at Nissan and its sister automaker, Renault, dismisses the scoffing as his rivals’ lack of imagination — and their electric car envy.

“They don’t have one, so it’s not a surprise,” Mr. Ghosn said

New York Times