Although China has a reputation for dirty air (and quite justified), there are some real steps towards reformation like natural gas taxis and more attention on the environment vs. economic development. The real significance of this mandate is that this is the first fuel economy standard that China has set and the largest car market in the world influences the rest of the world, especially when it comes to hybrids and plugins.

First, the 188 mpg rating is a projected number for the European driving cycle which favors city driving and benefits from things like engine start-stop features.  The US driving cycle does not gain anything from engine start-stop even though it will increase real world fuel economy.  So if your driving habits are mostly city where hybrids shine and less highway, expect a higher mpg-e and real world mpg.

Most of this is because the VW Golf hybrid will be a Chevy Volt style hybrid instead of a VW Jetta style hybrid or Prius hybrid.  The Golf has a 31 mile electric only range vs. the Volt’s 35 miles electric only range and 94 mpg-e rating.  The Jetta hybrid and Prius hybrid have an insignificant or limited electric only range.  Even the Prius plug-in hybrid with lithium ion batteries has only an 11 mile electric only range and is rated at 95 mpg-e.

So even though the plug-in Prius has a very short electric only range, it still gets a high mpg-e rating in the 90s.  So I’m calling the VW Golf hybrid mpg-e rating in the 90 mpg-e range, or as the Chevy Volt calls it, 200 mpg!

One of their recent halo cars, the current Mitsubishi Evolution is evolving…from it’s traditional spirit, a 2.0 turbo AWD monster.  Instead, it’s supposed to be hybrid electric gas performance car.  Details are still uncertain but the idea is to occupy a niche – the performance hybrid.  Mitsubishi’s current hybrid, the mini i-MeEV is a niche of niche cars, those interested in a slow, limited range, very small car.  The Outlander hybrid should have some more appeal but I still have no idea why anyone buys a hybrid SUV.  It’s like buying a tofuburger when trying to diet.

I could see some success for Mitsubishi and wish them the best but Audi dropped plans for their R8 based e-tron supercar and BMW is also slowing development of their electric and hybrid programs.  On the other hand, you can’t be a main player by occupying a niche.  The question is is their timing right again?

The Audi R8 TDI LeMans Concept from the 2008 Detroit Auto Show promised the world an R8 with a V12 TDI diesel behind the front seats. With 500 horsepower and 738 pound-feet of torque, the machine would undoubtedly have been a blast to drive, but Audi shuttered any thought of a production model a year later. Odds are a modern interpretation of that machine would feature a smaller displacement diesel engine paired with a hybrid system for additional thrust.

from autoblog

Nissan just started a new motor for their Nissan Leaf that uses 40% less dysprosium (used in the magnet) but has made something called grain boundary diffusion to replace it. Below is a video showing more:

Audi, which has been testing its A1 e-tron extended-range plug-in around Munich, has started doing the same with a version that has a conventional engine and two electric motors.

Audi’s Dual-Mode Hybrid A1 e-tron concept car has multiple drivetrain modes that let the plug-in hbyrid’s 1.5-liter TFSI internal combustion engine like both a conventional engine and an on-board generator, depending on the car’s speed and other conditions. The engine can also be disengaged from the drivetrain by a claw clutch when needed. This is usually when the car is operating in electric mode, up to speeds of 34 miles per hour. Then there’s serial mode, where “the combustion engine and the alternator … produce electrical energy to support, relieve or substitute the battery should it be discharged.”

There’s a four-minute video floating around that provides some computer-generated images of the car’s exterior and drivetrain system and that lays out how the car operates, complete with cool, mellow electronica music. You can see it below, along with Audi’s too-long press release. The upshot is that the dual-mode e-tron delivers a combined 177 horsepower, can go about 56 miles on battery power alone and gets a whopping 235 miles per gallon equivalent (using an unspecified measuring stick).

Audi has already tested its “regular” A1 e-tron extended-range EV for about 30,000 miles. That concept car combines a rotary-engine range extender with an electric motor to give the vehicle a total range of about 150 miles.

Reconfirming what we already knew, Volkswagen product strategist Toscan Bennet announced that a hybrid version of the sixth-generation Jetta is definitely on the way and on schedule for a 2012 launch date. Bennet said:

VW as a brand takes the electrification of the automobile very seriously, and we have a longtime strategy for growing that business. The Jetta hybrid is our first entry in that strategy.

During the NYC debut of the new Jetta, Bennet made it clear that the company is shooting for “best-in-class” mileage ratings for the hybrid version of its new sedan. VW doesn’t mean Prius-like numbers here, but beating the Honda Civic Hybrid sounds about right. VW admits that the Prius defines classes and resides alone as the hybrid mileage champ. Rather than aspire to the Prius numbers of 51 miles per gallon city and 48 mpg highway, VW is more conservatively shooting to surpass the marks of 40 mpg city and 45 mpg highway set by the hybrid Civic. Combine the high mileage targets with price cuts found throughout the new Jetta lineup and VW may have a hybrid hit on its hands soon.

Autoblog

It is now clear that gas-electric hybrids, while constantly being refined, are simply never going to gobble up huge slices of any major car market. They are needed, sure, but consumers are already wanting to see what’s next, what’s even more efficient and more technologically advanced. All the new regular hybrids coming out these days don’t really create much excitement since their technology is essentially identical to all of the other parallel hybrids already on sale. So, what is going to keep the hybrid passenger car fires burning brightly and market percentage numbers climbing?

Diesel hybrids. Maybe not in the United States for some length of time, but they are starting to arrive in Europe. PSA Peugeot-Citroën has, at last, started selling Peugeot models with the company’s HYbrid4 diesel hybrid system and I’ve personally enjoyed driving them. Besides the enjoyment factor, the efficiency gains are real.

Now I’ve have a chance to drive this new Mercedes-Benz E 300 BlueTEC Hybrid, and my excitement is palpable because a big mainstream statement like this from a normally conservative Mercedes-Benz is something this movement has needed. Besides the smart thinking behind committing to this effort in general, Mercedes is launching its very cleanly engineered Modular Hybrid System that can now be plunked into nearly any of its models, much like Toyota-Lexus has been doing for years with its Hybrid Synergy Drive system.

A chief challenge to creating a viable parallel diesel hybrid system has been overcoming the sheer costs to the buyer. The adage goes: “expensive diesel + expensive hybrid = expensive diesel hybrid.” This may be true on some levels, but we seem to have arrived at a point where the costs of scale are finally helping now that more and more joint ventures contribute to lower pricing.

The other issue has been refinement. Between the potentially rougher on-off nature of the high-compression diesel in a parallel hybrid luxury car alongside the desired start-stop function to help save even more fuel, refining drivetrain feel was simply a qualitative challenge. But from what I can tell based on my long drive of a pre-production E300 BlueTEC Hybrid on both the European flatlands and over several mountainous passes, Mercedes seems to have the situation mostly licked.

As all manufacturers are realizing, they cannot just leave their stock V6 or V8 in the engine bay of their bigger cars, slap on a parallel hybrid system, charge a mess of money for it and call it good. When car buyers go hybrid, they are volunteering to change their performance expectations of their daily driver, and therefore must be more than willing to change their driving style to get the most out of the shift.

Accordingly, carmakers are currently looking through their vast array of sophisticated four-cylinders to help dramatically bring down the counterproductive weight of a big hybrid car or SUV. In the case of the well-executed E300 BlueTEC Hybrid, Mercedes turns to its 201-horsepower 2.2-liter CDI, known internally as OM651, a powerplant currently seen in many European 220/230/250 CDI models. Versus the E 250 CDI BlueEFFICIENCY T-Modell (i.e. station wagon) in Europe at 4,070 pounds, the E300 BlueTEC Hybrid T-Modell adds just over 200 lbs. With that weight you get the lithium-ion battery pack, electronic management system and a compact electric motor capable of 25 hp/184 pound-feet of torque integrated with the 7G-tronic transmission.

You also get a potential range from the 15.6-gallon fuel tank of 870 miles. Over my 120-mile drive, I managed to hit 44.4 miles per U.S. gallon and was impressed that the fuel needle barely moved. One tester in our group managed 54.7 mpg but also admitted to “attracting the ire of many motorists” who were stuck following him. You know the frustrating style of driving I’m talking about. So, no, never in your wildest dreams could you hit 870 miles on a tank, but you could hit over 700 miles while driving fairly normally and pollute impressively little in the process. Not bad something as large and lux as an E-Class wagon.

Regarding E-Class wagons in general, for me, they are nigh unto paradise – even just so far as their relative sexiness and remarkable packaging are concerned. The cargo area is the epitome of easy flexibility with a completely flat floor and no intrusion into the space that might give away that this is any sort of hybrid with a lithium ion battery pack to accommodate. Space back there goes from 24.5 all the way to 68.9 cubic feet.

The 12-volt car battery has been moved to the rear of the car while the compact 55-pound lithium ion pack is placed to the right in the engine bay up against the bulkhead, thus putting all the “business” end of this deal up front. Using the equally compact 2.2-liter inline four-cylinder engine has certainly helped make this simplicity possible.

Thanks to the use of the 7G-Tronic Plus transmission, this little four gets some legs to cruise on, fifth gear being the 1:1 and sixth and seventh gears stretching out long. Our revs while cruising fast on no-limit sections of the Autobahn never exceeded 4,000 rpm. The tires are standard Continental ContiSportContact 5 – 245/45 R17 99Y – and they are not so hard that the typical Euro road sound shoots through the chassis to the base of one’s neck. Acceleration to 62 mph for our chosen E300 BlueTEC Hybrid T-Modell is estimated at 7.8 seconds and at 7.5 seconds for the sedan.

Given that the lithium ion pack is small and good for just 0.8 kWh of energy, the pure EV part of the equation is held to around 1,000 yards max and the integrated eDrive motor is good by itself up to 22 mph. Meanwhile, the eDrive cuts out totally at any speed beyond 100 mph. The 35-cell battery pack is constantly recharging due to engine deceleration and brake energy recuperation, but all of these actions are barely felt thanks to the added NVH work done to separate passengers from the under-hood goings-on. The software research done to smooth out the frequent off-and-back-on moments of the little four-cylinder has reached its apex in the E300 BlueTEC Hybrid, so much so that it wasn’t even a point of conversation all day.

This is a big success for diesel hybrids, and the entire system has an even larger future in store. With any luck (in a sense), things will get so bad with the cost of fuels that more people in the United States will be clamoring for hybrid diesels and stop whining so much about paying a premium for a luxurious and clean Mercedes that runs predominantly via a petite four-cylinder.

With well-designed diesel hybrid systems like this one from Mercedes, the hybrid market share might not level off quite so soon.

2012 Mercedes E 300 BlueTEC Hybrid originally appeared on Autoblog on Mon, 30 Jul 2012

The presenter was well informed about the car and the electric Delorean had some nice specs: 0-60 in about 5 seconds, about 100 mile range, and 125 mph top speed.  Unfortunately, one major problem is that…it’s a Delorean.

Both electric and gas powered Deloreans are sold as new, untitled cars from the 1980s because the cars are built from new, unsold frames with VINs from the 80s. When the original Delorean went under, they had years worth of parts to build new cars which were eventually bought by the new Delorean. The new Delorean can completely rebuild old cars or build you a new one from spare parts. The problem is that they’re still building cars from the 1980s. 30 years of advancements in car design are generations beyond the old safety, suspension, and convenience features of the Delorean. Since the car was designed in 1976, it was designed before computers did most of the design and engineering testing. One of the reasons kit cars can be built to such high performance levels at minimal cost is because they don’t meet any modern safety, emissions, or fit-finish standards. And even then, since you’re building it yourself, you save lots of money. The new electric Delorean has an estimated price of $95,000. For that kind of money, why wouldn’t you buy a Tesla? Because they’re too common?

If I had the car and parts, I would happily assemble this car as a toy or boulevard cruiser but when there’s a much better modern car, I don’t know how many buyers will choose this.  Even a mass produced Tesla or Leaf have limited capability. So what is this car? A fun project and good promotional tool for a good car from 1985. The license plate says “Gas? Where we’re going we don’t need gas”. I’ll wait for the hover conversion.