A reader recently dropped us a note with a link to an article in the Taiwan Economic News about a battery manufacturer there called Pihsiang Energy Technology Co., Ltd. (PHET). PHET is reportedly working on lithium iron-phosphate cells for use in…
Category: Autoblog
Japanese researchers developing lower-cost fuel cell catalysts
One of the drivers of the high cost of fuel cells right now is the need for platinum as a catalyst material. At the current price of just shy of $1,100 per ounce, the 100g of platinum required by a 100kW fuel cell accounts for about $3,500 of the…
NASCAR bumps exclusive use of Car of Tomorrow up a year
When NASCAR initially announced the implementation of the Car of Tomorrow early in 2006, it said it would be phased in over a three-year period beginning in 2007. Apparently, the first few races with the CoT have gone so well, that they decided to…
Production Volkswagen up! coming in 2010
Last fall at the Frankfurt Motor Show, Volkswagen unveiled their entry in the micro-car derby, the up! Yes, the name is goofy, but the car is cute and is apparently headed for production in 2010. AutoExpress has some contacts deep within Wolfsburg…
Amateur oil-burning action! VW TDI cup set to kick off
Volkswagen has a history of supporting grass roots racing programs that goes back to the sixties. Over the years, countless drivers have come up through series like Formula Vee, SuperVee, Rabbit Cup, Golf Cup, among others. Amidst the alumni of…
Raising taxes through speed traps
As many states and local municipalities struggle to balance budgets and find funding for services like police protection, it seems like many are turning to alternative means of raising revenues. Since politicians are invariably loathe to actually…
Better Place founder Agassi: Volt will be a “niche product”
By now many of us around these parts know who Shai Agassi is and what he wants to do. He wants to build a distribution infrastructure of swappable batteries to be used in electric cars with the ultimate goal of making EVs mainstream. The problem is…
POLL: Buy a more efficient car to save money or the environment?
As we've watched the sales of trucks and SUVs implode faster than a twenty-year-old Las Vegas casino over the past year, we of course wonder why? Not that we don't consider this a good thing around these parts. I personally have long felt that…
Roadgoing Porsches may finally get dual clutch gearboxes
The dual-clutch gearbox was originally conceived back in the 1930s by half-track inventor Adolphe Kégresse, but its first practical application didn't appear until nearly six decades later in the back end of some Porsche 956 and 962 race cars and…
Frankfurt Motor Show Preview: Ford's new small car that's coming here
We all know that a new B-class car is coming from Ford for 2009 and that it's going to be sharing a platform with the new Mazda2. It now appears the world will be getting a preview of the new car devoid of the checkerboard pattern at the Frankfurt…