What is people-miles-per-gallon

Even before the sudden rise of oil prices in the United States there were many talks about how to reduce cars’ CO2 emissions in order to protect the planet.Starting with the mid 1970s one of the suggested solutions was carpooling. The shared use of a personal vehicle would mean less cars on the road, therefore less pollution, a lighter traffic and enough parking spots for everybody.

With oil prices getting through the roof more and more people are concerned about the cost of commuting. Some have decided to buy smaller, fuel-efficient cars while others have decided to move closer to their workplaces. Some have started riding their bicycles while others suggested that car-sharing is the solution and that by calculating in people-miles-per-gallon (by multiplying the car’s actual mpg with the number of persons in the car) you could get a better mpg than you ever dreamed of even with a large vehicle like a truck or SUV.

Is it green?

A car with 6 people is more environmentally friendly than 6 cars with 6 people in them. A  big car  with 4 persons in it that does 20mpg is greener than 4 small cars with 4 drivers that get 50 mpg (and there aren’t that many cars that can do 50 mpg). Just imagine how green is a car that gets 50 mpg with 4 people in it! Plus, it can’t get more cost-effective than that.

Why it won’t work

Humans are selfish. Car owners are even more selfish than those who don’t have cars. Nobody bought a car to share it with his neighbour or coworker. Nobody bought a car to keep it parked in front of the house and drive it once a week when it’s his turn to take his coworkers to their workplace. Nobody thought about how environmentally friendly is his truck or SUV.

We’ve got cars because we love to drive. We have cars because we want to feel free to go anywhere anytime. We have big, powerful cars to show our neighbours we’re a lot better than them. We have cars because we’re too lazy to walk to the nearest bus station or ride our bicycle. We have cars because although lately we are concerned about fuel efficiency and CO2 emissions we (think we) deserve to have cars and drive alone.

Inspired by autobloggreen

Their first version of the electric Smart was powered by lead acid batteries and had a range between 20 -35 miles but after using lithium-ion batteries to power their electric version of the Smart the car had a range of up to 60 miles and a top speed of 60 mph.

The electric Smart costs about 15,000 pounds or 30,000 dollars, meaning twice the price of the regular Smart. In 2010 Smart electric vehicles will be available for purchase directly from the producers according to treehugger.

Considering the fact that the island they are living on has only about 30 square miles the electric Smart’s range seems more than enough for somebody who is only looking for a city car. You can use your electric vehicle with an estimated cost of a penny per mile (which is really really cheap) and you are using an electric car so there is no CO2 coming out of it. Still the energy you’ll be using to recharge it will probably be produced by using a non-renewable, polluting source.

Plus, paying $30,000 dollars for a car that has a range of 60 miles seems a little too much for me. Still, if you’re too lazy to ride your bike through town and are willing to pay that amount of money just for driving around town the Electric Smart is perfect for your needs.

Source: TreeHugger

European models of Ford Focus sedan, Ford Focus hatchback and Ford Fiesta will be introduced, Ford Fusion and Ford Mondeo will merge in size into a single model, a Mercury small car and a “whitespace” entry will be launched in 2010.

This is a smart move considering the increased demand of small, fuel-efficient cars in the United States these days (the demand for fuel-efficient cars was a lot higher in Europe before the radical rise of fuel prices in the US) but Ford should have done it a long time ago. If he would have done it earlier and if he would have promoted its smaller cars in the US I am sure it wouldn’t have reported such a huge net loss for the fourth quarter of 2008.

Source: caranddriver

An excellent article that not only presents all aspects of the car from a driver’s point of view but also is more of a pleasant reading than articles written in popular magazines.

Turning the key on doesn’t do a damn thing. Silence. Maybe a fan running, but no feeling of anything starting, no reassuring whirr of machinery.

A BMW mechanic was thrown to the ground because of an electric shock while he was pushing a BMW Formula 1 car into the garage and Red Bull had to call the fire department after their car started smoking and fumigating. Both incidents were caused by the new technology, who aims to store the energy during braking into an advanced battery and use it later durin acceleration in order to increase performance and reduce fuel consumption. This would be a step forward into making Formula 1 a little environmentally friendly.

The F1 teams will talk about wheter to introduce the KERS system during the first race in 2009 or not at their next Technical Working Group meeting.

Source: Autoblog

KERS stores the energy during braking and helps boost performance during acceleration. It is being developed under BMW’s F1program and it appears modified versions of it will be installed on future models.

Honda, Nissan, Mitsubishi Rayon and Toray Industries are researching a less expensive carbon fiber that could be used instead of the regular steel or the expensive aluminium in the automotive industry. Although carbon fiber’s current cost makes it suitable only for premium, expensive cars they are hoping to find a mass production method to create an affordable carbon fiber.

The use of carbon fiber would reduce a car’s weight by 40 percent which would mean it would need less energy to move from point A to point B. Less energy means less fuel and less pollution which would result in more environmetal friendly cars.

In order to reduce costs Honda and Nissan are hoping to develop a method of recycling the carbon fiber which would not only make it cheaper but alse greener.

TH!NK city is a fully electric car produced in Norway and had its debut in the United Kingdom this month at the British International Motor Show.  It will be shipped to UK and North American customers starting in r 2009 . Currently TH!NK city is produced at a maximum rate of 5/day but the producers declared they are expecting to increase that number to 20 per day in the next six months.

TH!NK city has two seats, a top speed of 65 mph and a range of up to 126 miles of urban driving. Being an electric car, it has zero emissions and it is quite silence. It can accelerate from 0 to 50 in 16 seconds and requires 4 hours to charge it from 20 to 80 percent. The producers claim the car is 95 percent recyclable, making it even more environmentally friendly.

The car is equipped with power steering, central locking, electric windows, electric mirrors, ABS and airbags. TH!NK city’s price has not been announced yet.

Although it is really nice for a city car it isn’t useful if you are looking for a real personal transportation method. You can’t really travel with it, the charging time is way too long, its top speed and acceleration are too low to arrive where you need in useful time and it has no space for luggages.

If you’re looking for a way to go around town I suggest you try a bicycle rather than TH!NK city. Its definitely greener, it will help you stay in shape and you can find one that looks a lot better than TH!NK city.

Nissan X-Trail FCV (fuel cell vehicle) is an electric car powered by electric current created in a hydrogen fuel cell stack. The electricity is generated by a chemical reaction between the hydrogen, stored in a high pressure tank (700 bar), and oxygen. The result is electric current and water so there are no CO2 emissions.

According to its producers, Nissan X-Trail FCV has a top speed of 150 km/h (more than 90 mp/h) and has a range of 500km (312.5 miles). Its maximum power is 90kW (120 ps) and its maximum torque is 280Nm. I must say those are quite impressive numbers for an automobile with zero emissions.

The car is also powered by a lithium-ion battery which helps start the vehicle, stores the energy during braking and boosts power during acceleration.

Nissan X-Trail FCV is the new record holder for the fastest fuel cell vehicle at Nürburgring. Its lap was 11 minutes and 58 seconds on the 20.8 kilometer long course. It must also be mentioned that Nissan achieved this performance with standard (street) tires and during wet weather. Frank Eickholt was the one that got to drive the green vehicle through The Green Hell (that’s how the course is referred to)

“I was very surprised at just how comfortable it is to drive a fuel cell car. You get in, turn the key and off you go, just like with a normal car”

Frank Eickholt

The Nissan X Trail FCV prototype cost 1.3 million euro and it is part of the Nissan Green Program 2010 which aims to reduce as much as possible CO2 emissions from Nissan autovehicles.

Source: Nissan