Want a 2012 Toyota Rav4 EV? You Won’t Be Able To Buy One

Interesting read....
By Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield
Contributing Writer July 15th, 2011

Its one of the most eagerly anticipated plug-in vehicles to join the market in the next year or so, but the reintroduced Toyota RAV4EV won’t be available to buy, says Geri Yoza, Toyota’s National Business Planning Manager of Advanced Vehicle Marketing.

Instead, the electric SUV will be available to fleets and car sharing programs rather than individual customers.

Designed by Toyota and given an all-electric drivetrain by electric automaker Tesla Motors, many fans had hoped the 2012 RAV4 EV would pick up where the legendary 1997-2003 Toyota RAV4 EV left off.

Still considered by some electric vehicle fans as the one of the best electric cars ever made, the original RAV4 EV featured a top speed of around 78 miles per hour and a range of between 100 and 120 miles per charge.

The original RAV4 EV was leased by government agencies, fleets and private customers with some lucky customers being able to buy them at the end of their leases. Many of those cars are still working today, years later.

The rest? Returned to Toyota at the end of their lease and crushed. We’re pretty sure you’ve heard the story.

But with only leasing and large fleets being targeted, will the 2012 Toyota RAV4EV have a similar fate to its predecessor?

We really hope not. Instead, we’re hoping Toyota’s plan to offer the RAV4 EV to a limited base is something that will change as the car becomes more popular in coming years.

Since Toyota is the only major automaker planning a plugin crossover SUV for the 2012 model year, we think it would be a big mistake if the RAV4 EV remained exclusive to such a small segment of the market.

History repeating, or an insurance against a platform Toyota still doesn’t trust? Let us know in the Comments below.

Source;
http://www.allcarselectric.com/news/1063236_want-a-2012-toyota-rav4-ev-you-wont-be-able-to-buy-one

Ten Honda Manufacturing Facilities in North America Achieve Zero Waste Sent to Landfill

Honda Motor Co. said 10 of its North American plants now send no waste to landfills and four others in the region cut scrap and trash to “virtually” nothing as the carmaker seeks to curb manufacturing-related pollution.

Honda, which claimed in 2001 that its Alabama auto-assembly plant was first in the U.S. to send no trash to landfills, aims to lead the industry in waste reduction, Ed Miller, a spokesman for the Tokyo-based carmaker, said in a telephone interview. The company isn’t aware of a competitor that’s achieved a higher level, he said.

“We now have 10 of 14 facilities that are absolute zero, and for the four that still have some there are extenuating circumstances,” said Miller, who is based in Detroit.

Those include a lack of recycling options for cafeteria waste at Honda’s Mexican motorcycle and auto plant, and a byproduct material from painting aluminum hoods at its Ohio auto plants that can’t be recycled under U.S. rules, Miller said.

Honda, Japan’s third-largest automaker, in 2010 built more than 80 percent of cars and light trucks it sold in the U.S. at North American plants, the highest proportion among Asian and European-based companies. Honda’s U.S. headquarters are in Torrance, California.

Source;
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-07-14/honda-cuts-waste-at-10-north-american-plants-to-absolute-zero.html

Natural-gas-powered Honda Civic can stay in California carpool lane

By JAKE LINGEMAN on 7/11/2011
Honda Civic GX drivers in California are smiling this week as they continue to have access to the high-occupancy-vehicle lane, even with just one person in the car. Even though one-occupant hybrid cars have lost access to the carpool lane, natural-gas-powered vehicles get to use it for another four years.

Beginning on July 1, yellow-stickered partial hybrids were banned from HOV areas on the highways unless they carried the mandated number of people. Natural-gas-powered cars and fully electric cars with the super-ultralow-emission-vehicle notation get a white sticker. Both the Nissan Leaf and the Tesla Roadster also fit the mold.

Demand for the natural-gas-powered Honda is up, with sales tripling over the same period last year. Owners of no-longer-exempt cars have gone to dealerships in droves trying to snatch up the remaining copies, new or used. Dave Conant, owner of Conant Auto Retail Group, told Automotive News that he found only one or two used models that were available as of last week.

Unfortunately for Honda, and for HOV-lane drivers, the 2012 Civic NGV won't be ready until the fall. It has a 1.8-liter engine capable of delivering 110 hp and 106 lb-ft of torque. It gets 31 mpg combined in the gasoline-gallon equivalent. New interior features include a multi-information display and, for the first time, navigation.

The price of natural gas historically has been about 30 percent less per gasoline-gallon-equivalent compared with gasoline.

Source;

http://www.autoweek.com/article/20110711/CARNEWS/110719982

New Liquid 'Refill' could change how fast batteries charge in EV's

By Yang-Yi Goh,
TechNews
Daily Contributor 08 June 2011 10:46 PM ET

A new breed of quick-charge “liquid” batteries could help make recharging electric cars as easy as filling up at the gas pump.

Electric cars may be driving the auto industry toward a greener future, but a great number of issues still need to be resolved for them to catch up with their petroleum-guzzling forebears with regard to performance and desirability.

Perhaps the biggest problem facing electric auto designers lies in the battery: large and inefficient, today’s standard rechargeable lithium-ion batteries take hours to replenish and are suitable only for short distances. Chevy’s Volt model, for instance, takes nearly 10 hours to fully charge using an ordinary 120 volt outlet, and is able to travel only 25-50 miles before resorting to its backup gas engine.

Thanks to a group of MIT researchers, however, a new generation of leaner, more powerful, and easy-to-refuel batteries may be just around the corner. In a paper published in the May 20 edition of the journal Advanced Energy Materials, the group — led by MIT professors of material science Yet-Ming Chiang and W. Craig Carter — describe a novel approach to battery architecture that revolves around what they call a “semi-solid flow cell.”

[Read also “History Repeats Itself: Carmakers Again Put Electric Vehicles in Fast Lane”]

Essentially, the new design houses the battery’s active components — the positive and negative electrodes, or cathodes and anodes — as solid particles suspended in a liquid electrolyte. This thick, quicksand-like liquid is pumped through the system during the process of charging or discharging the battery.

According to MIT, the architecture should make it possible to reduce the size and cost of a complete battery system to about “half the current levels,” while providing a “10-fold improvement in energy density over present liquid flow batteries.”

“For two decades, advances in batteries have relied on development of improved components to be used in the same basic, inefficient architecture,” Chiang told TechNewsDaily. “Our work represents the inception of ‘Batteries 2.0.’”

The batteries will hopefully bring the performance levels of electric vehicles up to par with their gas engine counterparts. Using the semi-solid flow architecture, Chiang estimates a car will be able to travel 200-300 miles on a single charge.

“Our objective is to replace ‘range anxiety’ with ‘range euphoria,’” he says. Additionally, the new design will make refueling a snap.

Drivers will have the option of either simply pumping out the liquid slurry and replacing it with a fresh batch, swapping out the tanks like you would a spare tire, or recharging the existing material when time permits.

The technology is still at an early stage of development—Chiang expects the first commercial prototypes to be ready in about two years, but foresees the semi-solid flow system challenging the current cell-module-pack approach by the end of the decade.

Source;

http://www.technewsdaily.com/future-cars-2794/

Nissan LEAF: Gas Powered Everything

Awesome commercial....

Car Advice: Honda FCX Claritry Information update

By Anthony Crawford May 17th, 2011

Southern California, for all it’s smog (and trust me it still hangs in the San Fernando ‘Valley’ twenty-four seven) it still regarded as the automotive ‘Green’ capital of the world, when it comes to big cities.

There are also thousands of Toyota Prius’ within the California state lines and while they are certainly classified as ‘environmentally friendly’ the ‘Green’ star must surely go to Honda’s FCX Clarity.

Launched in 2008, the Clarity is a proper fuel cell electric vehicle with zero emissions and in some cases, offers 5 minute refuelling times. The other more important news is that the 26 lucky Honda Clarity customers, who lease the car for a grand total of US$600 per month, never have to worry about the price of petrol, regardless of what happens in the Middle East. You see – hydrogen is free. At least, for the time being it is.

FCX Clarity drivers now have access to seven ‘fast-fill’ hydrogen refuelling stations throughout Southern California and last Friday, the world’s first station supplied by an existing hydrogen pipeline opened across the street from Toyota’s Motor Corp’s sales division.

The new Royal Dutch Shell hydrogen station will mainly service test fleets from the likes of Toyota (who incidentally lease the land to Shell), Daimler AG, Hyundai Motor Co and General Motors and of course, those fortunate Honda Clarity drivers.

Honda hopes to have at least 200 FCX Clarity cars on the road within a few years. In traffic congested place like Los Angeles, there is an even greater benefit to driving this ultra green Honda. The deal is that fuel cell vehicles get an automatic ‘white sticker’, which qualifies them to travel in the transit lanes (high occupancy lanes) and that goes for a single driver with no passengers.

It’s a great deal if you can get it, but if it’s that good, why aren’t there thousands of them on the road all over the world?

It’s a question of dollars – they cost plenty to build and it’s likely that Honda looses money on each and every Clarity they make.

Five years ago, Ford said that their fuel cell Focus cost $1 million to build although, Toyota said this year, that the actual costs have come down by 90 percent, which would mean US$100,000, but that’s still way out of the ball park for average consumers.

That said Toyota says that they also plan to release their own fuel cell model by 2015 at a cost of around US$50,000. It makes huge sense when you weigh up the benefits. Hydrogen can be made from natural gas or water, you can refill your car in minutes with a range of several hundred kilometres or more and the clincher, and there are no exhaust emissions.

Whichever way you cut it, the only sustainable fuel model for the global automotive industry is hydrogen fuel cells. The Hybrids and electric plug-in vehicles are simply stop/gap solutions while the collective technology partners work it all out on the fuel cell front.

Source;
http://www.caradvice.com.au/119109/honda-fcx-clarity-%E2%80%93-as-%E2%80%98green%E2%80%99-as-it-gets/

Best Buy to sell its customers electric vehicles

You've got to be kidding me....

According to the latest reports, it appears that Best Buy will become the biggest ally for electric vehicles manufacturers as they are planning to sell EVs. For those who don’t know, Best Buy is already selling Brammo electric motorcycles and won contracts to install home chargers for the Ford Focus Electric and Mitsubish i EVs. What is more interesting is that Best Buy currently has 1,101 U.S. stores and they say that they get more “traffic in a weekend than some of these dealers do in a month”.

Chad Bell, a senior director who oversees Best Buy's efforts in mobility and transportation says that Best Buy is beginning talks with traditional automakers beyond Ford and Mitsubishi, says Autonews. The Nissan Leaf could also be present in Best Buy’s offer as it is the first 100% electric car from the Japanese manufacturer and has been named the 2011 World Car Of The Year.

"We are having conversations with some of the startups," Bell says. "I would say the conversations are going well. We are very excited about several partnerships that we can't talk about yet."

By Andrew, 09 May, 2011.

Source;

http://www.4wheelsnews.com/best-buy-wants-to-sell-its-customers-electric-vehicles/

Popular Mechanics: 2012 Honda Civic vs. 2011 Toyota Prius: Hybrid Mileage Test

We pitted the all-new 2012 Civic Hybrid against the reining mpg champ, the Toyota Prius, in our own mileage test. Can a Honda hybrid finally beat Toyota?
By Ben Stewart

Over most of the last decade, there has been one benchmark when it comes to automotive fuel efficiency: the Toyota Prius. Its reputation is so strong, in fact, that Toyota decided to create an entire family of Prius vehicles, beginning this year with the Prius V. Since 1999, Honda has been producing its own line of hybrids. Its first, the Insight, was a fuel economy champ itself. But no Honda hybrid since has been able to match the Prius. That may change with the new 2012 Civic Hybrid, which is closer than ever to becoming "Honda's Prius." To find out how Honda's latest stacks up against Toyota, we devised a two-day, two-route, 550-mile test to challenge the two fuel economy all-stars. One route covered the city streets to approximate a week's worth of commuting; the other was an all-highway blast to replicate a road trip. We filled up both cars for each route at the same pump, at the same gas station. Can the Prius hold onto its top spot as the reining fuel economy champ?

The Specs

Toyota uses a pair of electric motors, and a continuously variable transmission (CVT) to join them, mounted to the 1.8-liter four-cylinder engine. This system allows the Prius to use several combinations of electric and/or gasoline power—including an all-electric mode. There's even an EV switch that locks the Prius in battery mode until the range of the 6.5 amp hour nickel-metal hydride pack is used up. Toyota delivers a total system horsepower of 134. Honda's system, meanwhile, is very similar to the last Civic Hybrid and the current Insight. The electric motor sits in between the CVT and the gasoline engine. So, unlike the Prius, the gas engine in the Civic must always turn—when in electric cruise mode, the gas engine essentially freewheels. The Civic's four cylinder has grown to 1.5-liters from 1.3-liters. And when combined with the new, more powerful 23 hp electric motor, it delivers 110 system horsepower. But the big news is the lighter and more powerful 4.5 amp hour lithium-ion battery pack (still mounted behind the rear seats). The Prius can become expensive quickly as you add options like the self-parking system. It's not uncommon to see a fully loaded Prius sticker for close to $35,000. The new Civic Hybrid doesn't offer these options, so it is generally much less expensive. We opted to test a $24,369 Toyota Prius 2 model against a $27,500 Civic Hybrid Nav model. The EPA rates the Prius at 51mpg city and 48 mpg on the highway, while the 2012 Civic Hybrid is rated at 44 mpg for both city and highway. But how do they handle real world testing?

The Highway Drive

Beginning in Santa Monica, we cruised up the California coast to U.S. Route 101 and pressed onward, north of Santa Maria. To even out any differences in driving style between PM's testers, we switched cars often and locked the cruise control at or below 70 mph whenever possible. The Civic may have an all-new, more aerodynamic skin, but beneath it the chassis tuning feels quite similar to the last Civic Hybrid we tested. Actually, of any hybrid we've tested, this new Honda comes the closest to the ride quality of the Prius—partly because they ride on the same 196/65R15 Bridgestone Ecopia tires. The Civic's new dash and display look much like the Prius's, except they are located in front of the driver's sight line and easier to read. The Prius's futuristic dash lets everyone know that you've got plenty of advanced tech onboard. But the fresh, modern dash and center console of the Civic is more inviting if you prefer a conventional car, which we do. Both cars are far from luxurious, however. Hard plastic covers most of the interior. Slide into the backseats, and the two cars appear to have equal headroom. But there's a bit less legroom in the Honda, and its roofline requires that taller passengers duck as they exit the rear doors. In terms of cargo, the Civic's trunk holds 10.7 cubic feet—an increase from the previous model, but just half the capacity of the Prius. After 354 highway miles, we decided that the Civic was the more comfortable of the two—the Prius feels a bit more susceptible to crosswind and generally produces more freeway noise. But when we filled both cars up at the end of the day, the Prius was the highway fuel economy champ, returning 51.4 mpg. The Civic delivered a very respectable 47.1 mpg.

The City Drive

The next day, we headed east and hit the streets. For this test, we'd drive an all-city route from Santa Monica to San Bernardino, and back. We never put a tire on a freeway and never exceeded 45 mph—a true test of city fuel economy. On these roads, the Prius was nearly silent most of the time, creeping along in electric-only mode. The Civic always needed its gas motor to idle, but the smart and aggressive engine stop-start system would often cut power when we were coasting up to a light under light loads. As soon as the light turned green and our foot released the brake, the engine started quickly. And once under way, the Civic stays in electric mode longer than before. On a few of the backroads near Glendora, the Civic was the more engaging partner. Neither car will be mistaken for a sport sedan, but spirited driving just feels more natural in the Honda. After 198 miles and ten hours of traffic congestion, the Prius once again came out on top when we refueled back in Santa Monica. This time, the Toyota delivered 50.2 mpg to Honda's 43.7 mpg.

The Bottom Line

In out test, both hybrids exceeded their EPA ratings. Averaging our two loops, the Prius delivered 50.8 mpg while the Civic returned 45.4 mpg. The Prius remains the unequivocal hybrid fuel economy king, but the Civic is closing the gap. If gasoline prices continue to rise much beyond today's $4 per gallon national average, both Toyota and Honda should see sales of these two hybrids skyrocket. But if we could have just one of these cars to drive every day, our pick would be the slightly-more-fun Honda.

Source; 2012 Honda Civic Hybrid - 2011 Toyota Prius - Popular Mechanics

2012 Honda Civic Natural Gas Information Review

Hmmm.... maybe Honda's onto something here....
Honda Revs The Civic For US Natural Gas Push

by Jeff McMahon at Forbes blog

Honda’s plan to sell its Civic Natural Gas in all 50 states this fall positions the Japanese carmaker to take advantage of a market that American industry has been hesitant to enter.

But it’s a market that may blossom if Congress passes T. Boone Pickens’ Nat Gas Act.

The problem with compressed natural gas vehicles has been a lack of filling stations in the U.S. to keep them on the road. The problem with stations has been a lack of vehicles to keep them in business.

For this reason, American government and industry have settled on a strategy of converting fleets to natural gas, including public transit and government fleets, heavy-duty freight fleets that currently rely on diesel, and light-vehicle fleets like taxis that can refuel at a single location.
I

t takes a fleet to support a station, according to the Department of Energy, which offers this advice to people thinking of opening a compressed natural gas filling station:

The first task is to identify customers who will use the station. How many vehicles will use it, and what type? Are there alternative fuel fleets in the area? “In the past some people believed ‘if we build it they will come,’ but many speculative CNG stations have failed,” says Rob Adams, vice president of Marathon, which specializes in CNG station design. “If you don’t know who’s going to use the station, you shouldn’t build it.” There should be a base number of quantifiable customers, such as a local fleet of alternative fuel taxis, to get the station started, says Adams.

via Alternative Fuel News, DOE (pdf)
The U.S. approach has changed little since DOE published that best-practices brochure in 2003, even though the U.S. is much closer to tapping vast domestic sources of natural gas.

In testimony before the House Energy and Commerce Committee on Thursday, natural-gas-vehicle industry spokesman Richard Kolodziej emphasized the potential of natural gas to displace diesel fuel in heavy-duty trucking:

“While there are many options to displace gasoline in light duty vehicles, there are very few options to displace diesel,” he said. “If the role of the federal government is to reduce our dependence on foreign oil, and diesel is one of the problems, natural gas has to be one of the alternatives.”

Kolodziej testified in support of House Resolution 1380 — the New Alternative Transportation to Give Americans Solutions, or NAT GAS Act — which would provide tax credits for companies to buy and manufacture natural gas vehicles and build refueling stations. The bi-partisan bill, part of the Pickens Plan, has broad support, including 180 co-signers.

In testimony, Kolodziej said the bill would help convert fleets to natural gas:

The market tells us that vehicles are the highest value application of all natural-gas uses. Natural gas is the fastest growing alternative fuel globally…. Most of those are smaller sedans, but for a number of reasons, including the sheer geographic size of America, the strategy of the US NGV industry has been to focus on high fuel-use fleets: trash trucks, transit buses, short-haul 18-wheelers, school buses, urban delivery vehicles, shuttles of all kinds, and taxis.”

More stations for fleets will provide more stations for individual motorists—many stations perform double duty—and the bill should foster the market for natural gas vehicles across all sectors. There are about 112,000 NGVs on U.S. roads today compared to more than 12 million worldwide, according to NGVAmerica.org.

The Nat Gas Act will provide incentives for the production of natural gas vehicles in the U.S. Honda has been doing that since 1998, and the company believes now is the time to roll them out nationwide.

In September, a Honda executive told hybridcars.com the company planned to double sales. In April, it announced it will establish the Civic—long the only natural gas light-duty vehicle manufactured in the U.S.—as the first sold in all 50 states.

For the rest of the article;

http://blogs.forbes.com/jeffmcmahon/2011/05/09/honda-revs-the-civic-for-us-natural-gas-push/