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7 Апрель 2009BMW Balances Horsepower and MPG.
9 Август 2008
As the auto industry scrambles to produce vehicles with greater efficiency, each firm is developing its own strategy and its own way to market its tactics. BMW uses “Efficient Dynamics” to describe its approach, which has a nice ring but has lacked much substance.
But a sneak peek of BMW’s upcoming 2009 7-Series sedan in Mirimas, France, gave a small group of journalists a chance to learn what efficient dynamics really means.
The core concept is to combine world-class drivability—BMW’s trademark—with exemplary emissions management and fuel-saving technologies. There are seven primary areas tactics:
- Drivetrains optimized for clean combustion
- Lighter weight construction, such as aluminum doors and side panels
- Regenerative braking to supply and store energy
- Electric power steering for greater efficiency compared to hydraulic systems
- Air vent controls to enhance aerodynamics and reduces air resistance
- Gear shift indicators informing the driver when to upshift or downshift for maximum efficiency
- Low-resistance tires
One item not on the list is cutting back on power. The next generation BMW 7-Series will arrive in the United States next spring with a new, more powerful 4.4-liter V8 engine outputting 400 horsepower—40 more horses than the current model. Many would argue that increasing performance—especially to 400 horsepower—runs counter to efficiency goals. But BMW is trying to do at least two things at once: boost power efficiency and give drivers an exciting ride, hence the code name of “efficiency dynamics.”
In the case of the new BMW 7-Series, the resulting fuel economy is approximately 21 miles per gallon in the EU test cycle. Compare that to the current 7-Series’ combined 18 miles per gallon with a significantly less powerful engine. "The idea is that efficiency and dynamics are not mutually exclusive components. Advancing one should not adversely affect the other," said Dr. Klaus Draeger, BMW project leader and board member, in an interview with Hybridcars.com.
BMW is not claiming that the 7-Series is the poster child for green motoring, but, at the very least, it indicates BMW’s direction for future products. With its approach, smaller models like the 3-Series, which currently gets around 22 miles per gallon, the level of efficiency could jump to the subcompact neighborhood, somewhere above 30 miles to the gallon. BMW’s start-stop system has already been added to the 1-series and some 3-Series models overseas and could be available in the U.S. by next year. There has also been speculation about a 7-Series hybrid in the next two years—but BMW is staying quiet about a full hybrid gas-electric system.
Hybrid Battery Maker Cobasys Continues to Falter, Daimler Sues
7 Август 2008
A former Cobasys employee said problems at Cobasys are “the largest stumbling block" in getting hybrids to the market for the partnership between GM, Daimler, and BMW.
Daimler AG, maker of Mercedes-Benz luxury cars, is suing Cobasys for failing to provide hybrid battery packs as agreed for a planned Mercedes-Benz gasoline-electric SUV. The German automaker paid Cobasys $6 million in connection with development of the batteries. Cobasys is jointly owned by Energy Conversion Devices Inc. and a division of Chevron Corp.
News of the lawsuit, reported in the Detroit Free Press, follows revelations earlier this year that Cobasys, a supplier of nickel metal hydride batteries, provided faulty hybrid batteries to General Motors. In December 2007, General Motors voluntarily recalled 9,000 hybrid vehicles due to an internal leak in the battery pack that caused the hybrid system to fail. The vehicle could still be driven, although without the benefits of the hybrid system. GM’s hybrid sales have been negatively impacted by limited battery supply.
The availability of reliable hybrid battery systems is seen as the key to expanding global hybrid production. Nearly every major automaker is heavily investing in hybrid battery production, and in strategic partnerships with battery suppliers. The next generation of high-mpg hybrid and plug-in hybrid vehicles will also depend on automakers’ supply of batteries.
In an exclusive interview with HybridCars.com, a Cobasys executive—who asked not to be named—responded to GM statements and press reports, saying, “A lot of it is not correct," but declined to elaborate further.
Cobasys Blamed for Lack of American Hybrids
In turn, a former employee of Cobasys, who also chose to remain anonymous, wrote to HybridCars.com, placing the blame on the Cobasys management team. In an email, he wrote that the contract between Cobasys and the hybrid partnership between GM, Daimler, and BMW—which locks the partners into using Cobasys batteries for its current mild hybrids—is “the largest stumbling block in getting this product to market, and hopefully will not sour the North American market on American hybrids.” The inside source said that the automakers in the partnership have almost completely taken over responsibility to redesign the 880/800 battery. GM is serving as the lead in the effort. He added, “Now our American ingenuity and capabilities are being called into question by our foreign partners.”
The former employee wrote that the few engineers and scientists with the skills to resolve Cobasys’s problems had “been forced out or fired, primarily because they realized the difficulties ahead and had the misfortune to voice it to management who was blinded by a nice facility and pretty brochures.”
He pointed to these problems as the reason why Mercedes-Benz decided to use a lithium ion battery, from Johnson Controls-Saft and Continental AG, for the company’s planned Mercedes S400 luxury sedan hybrid in 2009 or 2010. “Had the Cobasys system worked, and had they had confidence in Cobasys, they would have used them.”
Down Economy Tests Carmakers’ Commitment to Hybrids.
5 Август 2008
When gas prices were in full ascent, nearly every major automaker announced big plans to increase production of hybrid gas-electric vehicles. But the cost of a gallon of gas has started to recede, and the price of a barrel of oil has dropped from nearly $150 a barrel to below $120. At the same time, the new car market has shrunk by millions of units. These factors raise questions about cash-strapped carmakers’ ability to look past the short-term economic picture and maintain their commitment to hybrids.
If auto executives look only at short-term figures, it appears that hybrids have lost their allure. Domestic sales of hybrids in July dropped 6 percent compared to last year, and year-to-date hybrid sales are down 1.6 percent compared to 2007. Even sales of the Toyota Prius, the most popular hybrid car, slid by 7 percent in July.
In the larger view, total sales of light duty vehicles dropped 13.2 percent in July, and have declined 10.5 percent during the first seven months of the year. Meanwhile, despite the downturn in Prius sales—mostly because Toyota does not have enough inventory to meet demand—the Prius was the tenth most popular passenger car in July. Sales of the Honda Civic Hybrid rose by 38 percent compared to last year. Declines in the hybrid market mostly came at the expense of SUV hybrids and luxury hybrids.
In this light, it seems that troubles in the North American auto market have more to do with a failure of automakers to produce fuel efficient vehicles than with general economic woes. While hybrids might serve as the much-needed counterweight to declining sales, success in the hybrid market will take executive resolve—and cash commitments to produce and market new models.
Unfortunately, cash is running low for the domestic automakers. General Motors announced a $15.5 billion loss Friday, the third-worst loss in the company’s history, several times larger than analysts had projected. GM stock finished down 84 cents, or 7.6 percent after the announcement, which, however troubling, is still well above the stock’s 52-week low. The good news for GM investors is that the majority of the losses stemmed from onetime charges and expenses that were essentially unavoidable. The bad news is that nobody is sure how long it will be before the company reports a profit.
Though General Motors may be taking the worst of an auto market that has declined by 10 percent through July, no company has been immune. Toyota, despite being on pace to surpass GM’s 77-year reign as the world’s leading auto-seller, has lowered its global sales projection from 9.85 million to 9.5 million. Ford, which most analysts consider better positioned to lead American automakers into the small car era, announced an $8.7 billion loss weeks ago.
Nobody knows how far and how quickly gas prices will rise and fall. The best economists can’t predict when the economy might turn around. But until it does, carmakers with a long-term commitment to hybrids will be best positioned to survive those ups and downs.
Obama Calls for 1 Million Plug-in Hybrids by 2015.
5 Август 2008
Kicking off what campaign advisors have dubbed "energy week," Barack Obama today called for an "end to the age of oil in our time." He backed up his trademark optimism with the most dramatic auto technology proposals of the 2008 campaign cycle. Obama said he hopes to see 1 million plug-in hybrid and electric vehicles on the road by 2015, a number far beyond the most optimistic forecasts. Obama’s vision amounts to more than wide-eyed optimism—or generalized political pandering. Details from an eight-page energy fact-sheet the campaign circulated to the media:
- $4 billion in tax credits to American automakers to retool plants for the production of plug-in hybrid cars capable of 150 miles to the gallon.
- A $7,000 tax credit for consumers who buy early model plug-in vehicles.
- Half of all cars purchased by the federal government will be plug-in hybrids or all-electric by 2012.
The new proposals will be folded into Senator Obama’s 10-year, $150 billion energy package, which aims to eliminate American dependence on foreign oil by 2019. Obama’s vision for energy independence isn’t all green. The most widely reported headline from today’s energy speech in Lansing, Mich. was Obama’s change of heart about offshore drilling and the release of oil from the strategic energy reserves. Many environmentalists view these compromises as unnecessary and ill-advised, especially considering how much easier it will be to get congressional action on the latter two points of his plan.
Could Obama succeed in bringing about a green-tech revolution? Is it feasible to produce 1 million 150-mpg plug-in hybrids by 2015? Is the $4 billion tax credit tantamount to a corporate giveaway to Detroit automakers which have dragged their heels on hybrid technology? As is usually the case with visions of a more fuel efficient future, there’s plenty of room for both optimism and skepticism.