3噸柴油動(dòng)力貨車（轉(zhuǎn)向系統(tǒng)和前懸架設(shè)計(jì)）,柴油,動(dòng)力,貨車,轉(zhuǎn)向,系統(tǒng),懸架,設(shè)計(jì) Scorpion sportscar would burn gasoline and hydrogen Posted by Elsa Wenzel 15 comments The $150,000 Scorpion would produce hydrogen as it drives. (Credit: Ronn Motor Company) A Texas company is offering a glimpse of a high-end hydrogen-gasoline sportscar it hopes to sell by the fall. Rather than using fuel cells to power an electric motor, the Scorpion from Ronn Motor Company would have an internal combustion engine burning both gasoline and hydrogen, achieving 40 highway miles per gallon. Unlike with a hydrogen fuel cell car, the Scorpion's "hydrogen on demand" system wouldn't require a high-pressure hydrogen storage tank. Nor would a driver need to find and fill up at a hydrogen fueling station. Instead, electricity from the Scorpion's alternator sends an electric charge through the water in a storage tank, fracturing molecules and releasing hydrogen, which is injected into the motor, explained Ronn Maxwell, CEO of Ronn Motor in Horseshoe Bay, Texas. "This means that as we're driving down the road, we're producing hydrogen in real time, and blending it with gasoline at a ratio of 30 to 40 percent," he said. The hydrogen-gasoline hybrid technology comes from Hydrorunner. "We are still using gasoline, but we're gonna be using 40 percent less," Maxwell said. "The hydrogen cleans up the emissions. It actually consumes carbon. It's not the perfect car, not electric, but it is something that'll work right now." Ronn Motor showed off a working prototype of the Scorpion, sans body, Tuesday in downtown Austin. The hydrogen internal combustion engine can achieve between 30 to 50 percent greater efficiency over standard gasoline cars, Maxwell added. Under the hood is a 2009 Acura 3.5 Vtech motor with 280-horsepower stock, or 450-horsepower with a twin turbo option. The car has a 6-speed manual transmission. Ronn Motor has taken several orders so far and has plans to build 200 Scorpions this year, eventually ramping up to 500, Maxwell said. He believes his will be the first company to market a passenger car with a hydrogen-on-demand system, which gearheads already tinker with in private garages and which are available for the trucking industry. Maxwell is targeting the sort of automotive aficionados who might collect Lamborghinis, Ferraris, or an electric Tesla, but said he wants to create a sedan next. It remains to be seen whether Ronn Motor will succeed in delivering its roadster to customers by October as planned. The company's stock was listed on the Pink Sheets May 29. Meanwhile, building the necessary fueling infrastructure remains just one of the barriers to wider adoption of hydrogen fuel cell cars, which primarily reside in the garages of a wealthy and famous few. Hybrid-electric carmaker readies 220 mpg 'super car' Posted by Martin LaMonica 23 comments Hybrid Technologies is preparing a '"green" sports car to submit in the Automotive X Prize contest, according to a report in Popular Mechanics. The car will come in two versions: one for the Auto X Prize that will have a gasoline engine and battery and another all-electric version. The gas-battery hybrid will get the equivalent of 220 miles per gallon while the all-electric will get 150 mpg to 180 mpg. A drivable prototype is set to hit the streets in September. The idea is to make the X Prize entrant something that will result in a mass-produced electric car, the company told Popular Mechanics. "We're looking for this car basically to end up mainstream--not just built for a one-and-done," project development engineer Ron Cerven told the magazine. "The X Prize car is going to be the purchasable--obviously a higher-end car, but there might be something else from us in the X Prize." Hybrid Technologies doesn't get nearly as much attention as Tesla Motors and Fisker Automotive, which are both preparing hybrid-electric sports cars. But Hybrid Technologies has ambitious plans to make a range of vehicles that run on lithium-based batteries, including scooters, bicycles, mopeds, motorcycles, and cars. Sanyo to make batteries for Volkswagen cars Posted by Martin LaMonica Post a comment Sanyo and Volkswagen announced an agreement on Wednesday to make lithium-ion batteries for hybrid electric vehicles, turning up the competition in the field for energy-efficient cars. Sanyo intends to open a factory to make the batteries in 2010 and Volkswagen plans to introduce a car with them the same year, according to a Bloomberg report. The first car to get the batteries will be an Audi AG, Reuters reported. The pact also calls for the two companies to make software to electronically control the batteries. Sanyo already provides nickel metal hydride batteries for Ford and Honda. Lithium-ion batteries are growing in favor with carmakers. The Tesla Roadster uses lithium-ion batteries, as will the Chevy Volt when it is released in two years. The Sanyo factory will have the capacity to supply batteries to power between 1.7 million and 1.8 million hybrid vehicles a year, the company told Bloomberg. A hybrid electric vehicle runs on a battery and a conventional gasoline engine. The batteries are charged by the engine and regenerated power from braking. Electric cars: iPhones of the auto industry? Posted by Martin LaMonica 18 comments Depending on who you talk to, electric cars pack the disruptive force of either Dell PCs or the Apple iPhone. Regardless of your choice of analogy, the auto industry is facing the kind of technology-based competition it hasn't seen in years. And in this game, start-ups claim to have the upper hand on the incumbents. Click on the photo to see a photo gallery of electric cars at the 2008 New York Auto Show. (Credit: CNET Networks) "This is probably something that has not been seen since we moved from the horse to the engine," said Henrik Fisker, the CEO of Fisker Automotive, which is designing a luxury hybrid electric car, the Karma. "We suddenly have an open field where current carmakers don't know about batteries, or software, or designing these vehicles," he said, adding that incumbent companies are still four or five years away from mass-producing plug-in electric cars. That may sound like bravado coming from a designer of flashy cars. But when you look at the race to deliver a breakthrough battery-driven car, the field is thick with newcomers. The best known is perhaps Tesla Motors, which just began producing the Roadster sports car with a starting price of about $100,000. But there are several others, offering up different designs and business models to give the internal combustion engine a run for the money. At a panel of three young car companies--Detroit Electric, Fisker Automotive, and Phoenix Motorcars--at a clean-tech investor conference last week, executives laid out some of the business opportunities and technical hurdles to cleaner cars. On one point, they agreed: consumers will have more options to kick, or at least cut down on, their gas habit. But beyond that, their views differed on which technology--all-electric, plug-in hybrids, or hybrid electric--would succeed. "It's a fallacy to say that everyone is going to jump off of oil onto batteries. Then we'll just have a shortage of lithium and the prices will go up," said Daniel Elliot, president and CEO of Phoenix Motorcars. "What's really going on is a fracturing of fuels." Pick a horse The diversity of approaches reflects the challenges that current battery technology pose. Fisker's $80,000 Karma, expected for release at the end of next year, will have a custom-designed lithium ion battery that can go 50 miles. That's a range that covers what most people drive in a day. To ensure a longer range, the car will include a four-cylinder internal combustion gasoline engine that charges the battery. Click on the photo to see a gallery of electric cars of all shapes under development. (Credit: Phoenix Motorcars) But, having both a battery and gasoline engine in one car raises costs, say advocates of all-electric cars. Fisker and Tesla have gone after the luxury market first, catering to environmentally oriented customers willing to pay for the latest technology. Phoenix Motorcars, by contrast, is making an all-electric truck and car, as is another supplier, Miles Electric. To get around the range limitation, Phoenix Motorcars is designing its vehicles, based on an Altairnano lithium titanate battery, for use in fleets where the use and range are known. "It's difficult to move to plug-in hybrids and make economic sense...You have to have a conventional drive train and a battery," said Elliot. "When you're talking about going down-market, you really have to pick a horse." In the next few years, a variety of battery technologies will be put through the paces to see which chemistry will be safe, have a long life, and can be recycled. Parallel to technical development in batteries, new companies are trying to innovate with new business models. Project Better Place, started by ex-SAP executive Shai Agassi, is planning to test a battery-swapping program in Israel, Denmark, and perhaps San Francisco. It now has a prototype of its car, which will be built by Renault. Premium green Apart from all the technical and business challenges remains the question of customer demand. To fleet owners, replacing trucks with rechargeable electric vehicles could simply be a question of saving money in the face of rising fossil fuel prices. They can also potentially benefit from government incentives for cleaner transportation, such as California's zero-emissions vehicle plan. But for many consumers at this point, it's more of a lifestyle statement, argued Fisker. Buying a luxury hybrid electric car is like buying Apple's iPhone when it first came out. Buyers of some of the first consumer-oriented electric cars will be technology early adopters, eager to be part of the future, he said. Meanwhile, Think Global is making an all-electric town car, called the Think City, which can top out at 65 mph and go 110 miles on a single charge. Rather than try to compete with a typical sedan, it's aimed at urbanites who want a smaller, fuel-efficient car, perhaps used as a second car. It plans to bring the Think City to the U.S. and is exploring business models where consumers can swap out batteries. The incumbent automakers are not sitting still, either. Nissan this week said that it will offer an all-electric car in 2010. GM's Chevy Volt is supposed to come out in 2010, while the other incumbents are pursuing different paths to better mileage. "We're putting the pressure on the bigger boys," said Albert Lam, CEO of Detroit Electric, which plans to make electric cars and buses in 2009. "We are the 'Dells' of the industry--the smaller boys that have a tremendous opportunity to validate the industry and to be the next big thing." Lam said consumers are also getting more savvy about green claims from automakers. He said a hybrid with a big 6-liter engine, like the one Lexus is making, is "a joke, an oxymoron." Fisker likens battery-powered cars to iPhones, a product consumers are willing to shell out extra for, even if it means taking on some risk of being an early adopter. "We're seeing a movement where people are demanding a product which is not there. People want a green car," he said. "I think what we are going to see are people are going to take that risk because there is no other alternative." Audi promises electric car within 10 years Posted by Steven Musil Post a comment Audi is joining other German automakers in the effort to eliminate exhaust emissions, promising to bring an electric model to market in the next 10 years. Rupert Stadler, Audi's chairman and chief executive, said in an interview with German weekly Welt am Sonntag published Sunday that he expects battery technology to dominate in the coming five to 10 years. "By then we will offer cars without exhaust emissions," Reuters quoted Stadler as saying. "Electric cars offer great opportunities, which we have already seized on." Reducing vehicle emissions is a chief concern for automakers in Germany. BMW recently showed off a hydrogen-powered 7-series sedan at the 2008 SAE World Congress in Detroit that actually emits less carbon monoxide than are found in the air around it. At last year's Frankfurt auto show, Mercedes showed off a number of diesel-electric hybrid concept cars that are scheduled for production in 2010 as well as its Diesotto engine, which uses turbo charging, direct injection, and diesel-like compression to maximize power and fuel economy. Luxury German automakers are likely to be among the hardest hit by new European Commission legislation for stricter emissions and fuel efficiency standards, and consequently have been making efforts to find more efficient versions of their performance-focused lineups.