Photo by Kevindooley. Licensed under Creative Commons license 2.0.

If your child rides the bus to school in New York City, the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) would like you to know that he or she is being exposed to “harmful pollution levels” during the daily ride. The EDF issued a report yesterday that calls on the NYC Department of Education to cut diesel soot pollution by 90 percent and suggests using diesel retrofit technologies to do so. On top of that, EDF recommends retiring the buses three years sooner than is now standard. And, if the Department does so, EDF says, it “could be using the largest, cleanest school bus fleet in the country within just a few years.” It certainly will take a while to do so, because there are more than 7,000 public school buses in the city. A few other options from the ABG archives:

• Plug-in hybrid school bus
• Biofuel-powered school bus
• Using a diesel particulate filter

[Source: Environmental Defense Fund]

Continue reading EDF calls for 90 percent reduction in NYC school bus soot pollution

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Opel has added a special low fuel consumption ecoFlex model to the expanding mid-size Insignia lineup. The new Insignia that debuted this summer is the replacement for the mid-sized Vectra and the first product off GM’s Epsilon II platform. The newest addition to the family uses GM’s new 2.0L common rail diesel engine rated at 160 hp and 258 lb-ft of torque. As with all diesels, the torque comes in early, this one peaking at 1,750 rpm. That’s good enough to get the Insignia to to 62 mph in 9.5 seconds. Combustion efficiency is enhanced by cylinder pressure sensors integrated into the glow plugs. The pressure sensors help the engine management system control the fuel injection system. The Insignia ecoFlex isn’t quite ready for prime time yet, so no official fuel mileage numbers are available yet. However, Opel expects the Insignia ecoFlex to get under 140 g/km in CO₂ emissions. In addition to the new engine, the ecoFlex gets low rolling resistance Michelin Primacy HP tires and some aero tweaks bring the drag coefficient down to 0.26.

[Source: Opel]

Continue reading Paris 2008: Debut of the Opel Insignia EcoFlex

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Audi has a brand-new A4 for 2009, and the automaker has big plans in store of the new model’s efficiency. Being shown as we speak in Paris is the A4 TDI concept e, which uses a 120-horsepower TDI engine from the VW parts bin that’s been tweaked with light-pressure valve springs, a revised cooling system and the lack of a power steering pump, which is now electric. While slowing, brake energy is recaptured and stored in a secondary battery that powers the car’s systems while the engine is shut down, which will be much more often due to the stop/start system that has also been added. Aero-tweaks including an underbody pan and low rolling resistance tires round out the mods. Desipte the slow 10.5-second run to sixty, the powertrain combination really scores big with its 59 mile per U.S. gallon rating on the combined EU cycle and carbon emissions of just 105 g/km. We’d wager that a production version of this concept can’t be far behind. See the full press release after the break.

[Source: Audi]

Continue reading Audi unveils A4 TDI concept e

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We got a preview of Citroën’s new Hypnos hybrid ‘ute a month ago and the real thing is even more ka-razy than we thought. Offset rainbow seats? You got it. Suicide doors and a pillar-free frame? No problem. An interior that Citroën calls a “powerful sensory experience, verging on the magical”? But of course.

Yes, this is a concept vehicle where Citroën designers were given free reign to dream (I won’t suppose they were testing a substance or two while at the drawing board). Just check this description out:

A ceiling-mounted camera films the driver’s face and regularly measures anthropometric data. The system compares these measures with pre-recorded data to gauge the driver’s state of mind and adjusts the cabin lighting and scented air-freshener fragrance in consequence. …

Hypnos combines technology with creativity to striking effect with its original onboard clock, designed by the artist Michel Serviteur. Combining advanced technology and sheer poetry, the clock changes colour depending on the light at different times of day. Dispensing with needles and digital read-outs, this dreamlike timepiece emits a succession of rhythmic colour pulses like the breathing of a living being.

Got all that? You can read the whole thing after the jump.

Things get a little more sensible with the powertrain. The Hypnos concept is powered by Citroën’s HYmotion4 technology, which is a diesel hybrid drivetrain that propels the car from a rear axle-mounted electric motor. In the concept, that would net the Hypnos a 52 mpg (U.S.) rating with emissions of 120 grams of CO₂ per kilometer. Citroën calls the HYmotion4 technology “feasible from an industrial standpoint,” but what I really want is that Willy Wonka interior.

[Source: Citroën]

Continue reading Paris 2008: Citroën’s Hypnos brings the rainbow into your car

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Chevrolet has fully taken the wraps of the new Orlando compact people mover for its debut at the Paris Motor Show. We still don’t know for sure if the Orlando will be offered here in North America, but the rest of the world will get this compact seven seater. For its debut in Paris, the Orlando is being shown with GM’s new 2.0L diesel engine rated at 150 hp and 236 lb-ft of torque. The three-row Orlando is based on the new generation Delta compact platform that also underpins the new Cruze, the next Astra and, of course, the Volt. The Orlando was originally planned to be built in Detroit alongside the Volt, but the Wall Street Journal recently reported it would not be built here. However, more recent reports indicated otherwise. The Orlando has style elements from the Sequel fuel cell concept and could appeal to people moving out of SUVs that still need room to haul the kids around. An Orlando with either the Two-Mode or mild hybrid system could prove to be a very capable and efficient people mover here in the U.S.

[Source: Chevrolet]

Continue reading Paris 2008: Chevrolet Orlando MPV debuts

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How would you like to have a mid-sized sedan or station wagon that gets over 57 mpg (U.S.)? That’s exactly what Volkswagen has unveiled in Paris as the Passat BlueMotion II. It’s being shown as a further evolution of the latest Passat BlueMotion, part of VW’s lineup of cars optimized for low CO₂ emissions. With a common rail diesel engine that uses SCR after-treatment to the meet the 2013 EURO VI emissions standard, the CO₂ emissions are rated at only 109 g/km. In addition to the clean diesel engine, the Passat gets aerodynamic tweaks, longer gear ratios and an automatic start stop system. So far, there is no word on when the BlueMotion II will hit production, but for a car as big as the Passat to get that kind of mileage is phenomenal. Yes, I know the EU mileage rates skew high, but real world is still likely to be in the upper 40s, so sign me up.

[Source: Volkswagen]

Continue reading Paris 2008: Volkswagen Passat BlueMotion II, 57.4 mpg mid-size wagon!

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After twenty days on the road John and Helen Taylor have completed their journey around America and earned a new entry in the Guinness book of world records. After 9,419 miles through 48 states, the Taylors consumed just over 11 tanks of ultra low sulfur diesel. That works out to 58.82 mpg and 853 miles per tank of fuel. The couple did the trip in a completely stock 2009 Volkswagen Jetta TDI. The Taylor’s stated goal is demonstrate what can be achieved by common sense changes to driving techniques. Through a combination of a light right foot, driving about 5 mph under the speed limit and proper maintenance they hope to teach people how to get out the most out of their car.

[Source: FuelAcademy.org]

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As it stands today, the vast majority of police cars are powered by large gasoline-fed V8 engines up front, which drives the rear wheels through an automatic transmission. The steel body sits atop a heavy steel frame to which a decidedly old-tech set of suspension bits, including a live rear axle, are affixed. Very old-school, so to speak. There are some, though, looking to change all of this. Carbon Motors plans to unveil a prototype police vehicle that’s made specifically for the job, as opposed to a converted Ford Crown Vic or something like it.

An aluminum space-frame would provide the basic structure for the Carbon Motors car, while composite body panels make up the exterior skin. The company “will be pushing the clean-diesel agenda very hard, with its 40 percent fuel economy improvement,” according to William Santana Li, CEO of Carbon Motors Corp. For its performance driving abilities, rear-wheel drive would be kept. The company hopes to sell between 10,000 and 80,000 units annually.

[Source: Automotive News - sub. req'd]

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Despite the fact that the sixth-generation of VW’s insanely popular hatchback has yet to hit the driveways of actual customers, speculation on gen-seven is already well underway. Number-six continues the tradition of enlarging each successive model-year, but that trend is set to come to an end after this redesign. Europe is currently working on legislation to limit carbon emissions and the U.S. is set to cap manufacturer’s fuel efficiency at a much more stringent rate that what we have now. Therefore, the Golf, or Rabbit in the States, should shed a few pounds in its Extreme Makeover and will likely get some smaller entry-level engines. We’d imagine that Volkswagen is hard at work on diesel engines, especially considering the buzz surrounding the Jetta TDI these days, as well as small gasoline engines with forced induction. Whatever happens, expect efficiency to take top priority as the years pass by.

[Source: Automotive News Europe - sub. req'd]

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If you are a fan of the diesel engine - and Volkswagen’s TDI engine series in particular - VW would love it if you’d go ahead and spread your love of the oil-burner with your family and friends. Of course, having the only 50-state legal diesel on the market, at least for a little while, the automaker stands to benefit from whatever pent-up demand there may be for efficient and clean diesels. Offering its Jetta in either sedan or wagon wagen forms, the German automaker hopes it has something to please everyone.

With consumer perception of diesel engines in America still mired in the ’70s and 80s era of mediocrity, VW will need all the advocates it can get to help educate the masses on the benefits of the compression ignition engine. Based on our first impressions, at least the automaker is starting off with a good product. Based on the success of this model, VW will make decisions on what other models to bring across the pond.

[Source: Automotive News Europe - sub. req'd]

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