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Ideally, if you are going to write a regulation aimed at achieving a goal, it should be written so that it's technology neutral and for the most part the US Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) rules are just that. The bottom line aim of CAFE is to reduce the amount of energy used for road transportation in the United States.
Back in 2007 when the current requirements were passed by congress, many outside observers felt that requiring automakers to hit a fleet average of 35 mpg or more by 2020 would require large numbers of plug-in electric vehicles. While there will undoubtedly be a certain percentage of new vehicles running on electrons by the end of the decade, many in the auto industry started looking at the latest available engine technologies and came to the realization that they could actually achieve the required improvements without a big, heavy battery pack at a much lower cost and without sacrificing the flexibility of liquid fuels.
The problem lies in the fact that as fuel efficiency increases, the percentage of savings from each incremental improvement drops as I explained in this article I wrote several years ago.
http://green.autoblog.com/2009/07/23/greenlings-where-are-the-most-important-mpg-increases-at-the-u/
If you can achieve a real world 50+ mpg in a midsize car at a price of $25-30,000 it becomes much harder to justify the cost and limitations of a battery electric vehicle. The combination of downsized engines with advanced combustion technology and hybridization will probably be the volume play by the end of the decade.
#fuelefficiency #cafe #electricvehicles
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How tough CAFE delays EV acceptance
As you may have noticed, the industry's enthusiasm for electric vehicles has dimmed considerably in the past year. You could cite several reasons: election-year attacks on the Obama administration…
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The Automobile Club de L'Ouest takes a unique approach to racing in the way it sets the rules for the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Normally the race has 55 starters, but the organizers have long reserved a 56th starting position for technically interesting newcomers and recently, the ACO has focused on efficiency for that extra runner.
Today, the ACO announced that in 2013, the 56th spot will be taken up by the GreenGT H2. What makes this car unique is indicated by the H2 name as in hydrogen!. GreenGT is building a fully electric sports prototype powered by a 340 kilowatt hydrogen fuel cell and a pair of electric motors with a combined output of 400 kW. Although there is no mention of it, there will almost certainly be a battery on board for regenerative braking and extra acceleration boost.
http://www.greengt.com/en/greengt-h2.php
If this thing is successful it will provide a big boost to the wave of fuel cell road cars that have been announced by +TOYOTA +Mercedes-Benz USA +Honda and +Hyundai Worldwide!
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Auto News – 24 Heures du Mans 2012 – The 56th Pit Box in 2013 will be for the GreenGT H2 – LeMans.org
All news about 24 Hours of Le Mans on www.lemans.org
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While the hybrid Audis and Toyotas are expected to dominate at Le Mans in two weeks, one of the most interesting entries will running unclassified from the 56th pit box. The +Nissan DeltaWing campaigned by +Highcroft Racing had its first run against other competitors today at the Le Mans test day and put in a very good showing.
With only half the power of the LMP2 machines (along with half the weight and drag) the radical looking DetlaWing ran a very strong best lap of 3:47.980 seconds which dropped it into the middle of the P2 pack.
Best of luck to the Highcroft crew in France!
In album March 16, 2012 (5 photos)
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In other more interesting racing news, today was the official test day for the 24 Hours of Le Mans and as usual for the past decade, +Audi International was at the top of top of the charts. The two hybrid R18 e-trons led the way with 8 time winner Tom Kristensen and long-time partners Alan McNish and Dindo Capello setting the fast time. Audis took the top 3 spots with the gas-electric hybrid +TOYOTA TS030s in 4th and 5th.
It's been a while since Toyota went to Le Mans and while they have also been fast in the past, they have struggled to make it through two rotations of the clock. The flywheel hybrid diesel Audis will definitely be the machines to beat in 2012.
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Auto News – Journée Test ? 24 Heures du Mans – The dress rehearsal for the 2012 24 Hours of Le Mans – LeMans.org
Set two weeks before the 80th running of the 24 Hours of Le Mans, the Test Day was a fantastic appetiser for the main course, and 23000 spectators were present this Sunday to enjoy it. They were able …
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The Detroit IndyCar Grand Prix has been red-flagged after 45 of 90 laps. I'm not at the race this year but I attended the last two races in 2007 and 2008. The race was revived this year after being shelved for economic reasons.
Unfortunately while Belle Isle is a lovely locale for a race, it suffers from all the maladies of a temporary street race. Let me make this clear, with the exception of Monte Carlo and perhaps Long Beach, all street circuits should be banned. Because of the absence of run-off areas, the entire track is lined by concrete barriers and fences that make for terrible sight-lines for the fans and a lousy racing experience for the drivers.
After the 2007 race I put forth the idea that Detroit organizers should remove the fencing and transform the circuit into a permanent road course the way Montreal did with the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve where the Canadian Grand Prix is run.
This year, the Detroit race was stopped because of man-hole covers and huge chunks of pavement coming loose, leaving huge and dangerous pot holes. If the course were properly paved and opened up, this sort of thing could be avoided but instead we have a huge embarrassment.
It's great to see racing return to Detroit, but if we are going to do it, we should do it right.
#detroitgp #detroit #belleisle
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Detroit Grand Prix 2007: The Postmortem
After a five-year hiatus, motor racing returned to the Motor City this year and to a large extent it was a huge success. The race was revived in large part
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There are some fascinating but bizarre ideas here for the future of Manhattan from the past
via The Verge http://www.theverge.com/2012/6/3/3059327/retro-futuristic-new-york-city
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New York Retro Futurism
New York Retro Futurism. New York's retro futurism is particularly interesting becuase the city itself is an anachronistic view of modernism – an antique skyscraper city. Each one of these proposa…
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Starlings at the feeder
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A blue jay at the feeder
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A few hours ago my wife noticed a woodpecker out in the front yard
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