Nine months to go before its launch, no one from the media has ever driven a 2011 Karma. Its maker Fisker decided to reveal the space frame of this plug-in sports sedan during the Geneva Motor Show.
The space frame is designed to play a vital role in distributing the hybrid powertrain throughout the Fisker Karma. The frame holds the engine-generator under the hood of the car.
The lithium ion battery pack of the 2011 Karma is positioned at the spine of the car. This battery makes use of iron-phosphate cells manufactured by A123 Systems. The battery pack is located at the least vulnerable space if ever the driver meets a road mishap.
The 403 horsepower electric motor can be found just behind the rear seat a bit in front of the rear wheels.
The founder of the company noted that the focus of the design must be on torsional rigidity and adaptability to new styles of the car’s body foreseeing the coming of the 2012 Karma S which will have a retractable hardtop.
The space frame is very strong according to Henrik Fisker himself. He explains that the components are joined by about 260 feet of MIG welding spots and about 1,000 rivets. The car is also said to have great resistance to angled roads with about 33,000 N-m for every degree.
More… »
Posted by admin at 3:03 pm on March 9th, 2010.
Categories: Electric Vehicles, Fisker. Tags: Electric Cars, Electric Vehicles, Fisker, Fisker Karma.
Recent press releases have detailed that you can try the Audi e-Tron on a virtual drive through your Play Station. Before you do that, let us give you some info about the Audi electric supercar that impressed the crowd during the Frankfurt Auto Show in Germany.
The e-Tron from Audi features technologies that might be pointing to the direction of how electronic vehicles must be in the future. The e-Tron is based on the platform of the R8 supercar and includes four electric motors connected independently to each of the wheels of the vehicle. It truly lives up to the Quattro tag just like the other range in the Audi fleet.
The output of the motor is just 313 horsepower but has an astounding torque of 3,319 lb-ft. It can zoom from 0 to 62mph in just 4.8 seconds and blast from 37 to 75 mph in a blink of 4.1 seconds.
The car depends on a 53 kWh lithium-ion battery pack for its power. Like in other EVs the battery makes up a big bulk of the weight at 1,036 lbs. Audi managed to keep the weight of the e-Tron to just about 3,527 lbs.
More… »
Posted by admin at 7:26 am on January 31st, 2010.
Categories: Audi, Electric Vehicles, Exotic Cars. Tags: Audi, Electric Cars, Electric Vehicles, Exotic Cars.
Selling a car is not a piece of cake. It is not as easy as stepping on the pedal and zoom from 0 to 100. Even for Ford, marketing their upcoming electric vehicles can be a daunting challenge. An excellent advertising campaign, press releases, and other marketing magical formula are needed for the sales figures to hit their target.
Next year, Ford is planning to release the 2011 Focus EV but the team handling the marketing is having a tough time coming up with a great campaign. They are dealing with a different kind of market since there is the range anxiety that is needed to be dealt with properly when they push for their EVs. Its not that the marketing team don’t have enough juices flowing but they really have to work hard to success.
The car maker has also conducted several studies to know how EV buyers think and react to EVs in general. An interesting fact is that most drivers don’t exceed a 70 mile reading on a daily basis. The Ford Focus will not have a problem meeting that needed mileage but the company needs to assure buyers that the batteries will not run out while they are in the middle of nowhere, or anywhere to be more accurate.
More… »
Posted by admin at 8:47 pm on September 27th, 2009.
Categories: Electric Vehicles, Ford. Tags: Electric Cars, Electric Vehicles, Ford, Ford Focus.
A performance test of the Proterra electric bus was conducted recently by the Pennsylvania Transportation Institute. During the three runs done, the people mover had the best result of 29.23 MPGe and the worst at 17.55 MPGe.
The FCBE 35 from Proterra is powered by the UQM PowerPhase 150 engine. The engine produces a maximum power of 201 horsepower and continuous power rating of 134 hp. Other major features of the vehicle include regenerative braking, voltage and speed control, and optimal four quadrant performance.
The test simulated the duty cycle of the transport bus which traversed the make shift business district and the major transportation arteries. On the central business district phase, the diesel equivalency of the electric bus was marked at 21.35 mpg. The arterial phase returned a reading of 17.55 mpg while the commuter phase had a remarkable 29.23 mpg.
Each stage of the test simulated a central business district run with 7 stops on average per mile cruising on a top speed of 20 mph. The commuter phase had 1 stop with a top speed of 40 mph.
More… »
Posted by admin at 1:10 am on May 28th, 2009.
Categories: Electric Vehicles, Fuel Economy, Proterra. Tags: Bus, Electric Vehicles, Fuel Economy, Fuel Efficiency, Proterra, Public Transportation.
