The editors of the German magazine Guter Rat have awarded a prize to Volkswagen in a category labeled Innovation of reason for their work on high temperature fuel cells. Professor Jürgen Leohold, Head of Volkswagen Group Research accepted the award…
Category: Autoblog
Detroit 2010: DADA president Bill Perkins feeling confident about the big show
Over the past 18 months, auto shows around the world have taken a huge hit as the economic melt-down has caused a collapse in sales and automakers have tried slashing spending. Many of us in the business of writing about cars have wondered if the age…
Formula 1 could adopt ethanol to go with hybrid drive
Formula 1 teams are already preparing to introduce hybrid drive systems to cars beginning in 2009 and that could soon be followed by a change in fuels. Since the mid-nineties teams have been required to use fuels that were roughly comparable to pump…
Ford, Azure Dynamics will expand Transit Connect Electric to Europe in 2011
Ford Transit Connect Electric – Click above for high-res image gallery
Ford announced today that Azure Dynamics will be setting up a final assembly facility Europe to supply the continent with the Transit Connect Electric starting in late summer…
Degussa to exhibit LiIon equipped Civic hybrid at SAE Congress
Specialty chemical manufacturer Degussa started producing lithium ion battery electrodes at a plant in Germany in late 2006. Later this month at the SAE World Congress the company will be showing off a Honda Civic Hybrid carrying a lithium ion…
Comparing the American Le Mans Series to NASCAR, IndyCar for relevance
Peugeot 908-HY hybrid prototype – Click above for high-res image gallery
Since early 2008, ALMS has been touting itself as the “Leader in green racing.” We decided to take a look at the biggest series in North America and compare the efforts of each…
Report: Toyota exec calls F1 “elitest,” vows not to return
It might seem redundant to call a racing series that bills itself as the pinnacle of motorsports “elitist” but that's precisely what Toyota's Senior Managing Director for motorsports, Tadashi Yamashina, said during this weekend's 24 Hours of…
Renault partners with Atomic Energy Commission to build batteries in France
The French half of the Renault-Nissan Alliance has reached an agreement with two partners to develop and produce lithium ion batteries in France. Renault, the French Atomic Energy Commission (CEA) and the French Strategic Investment Fund (FSI) will…
How about a flexible, transparent battery?
There is some interesting work going at Waseda University in Japan. A few months ago there was news of a genetically engineered blood protein that could split water into hydrogen and oxygen. Now researchers there have developed a flexible,…
Technical details on the Smart ForTwo electric drive
Smart has released some technical details on a plug-in electric version of the tiny ForTwo. The car will use a 41hp electric motor driving the rear wheels just as the internal combustion version does. In an unusual choice for this diminutive machine,…