Porsche to Offer Lithium-ion Battery

Porsche will offer as an option a lithium-ion starter battery in place of a standard lead battery on a few select models. Available in January for the 2010 911 GT3, GT 3 RS and Boxster Spyder, the li-ion starter battery will lower the car’s weight, as well as enhance performance and dynamics, Porsche says.

The pack comes in a separate unit and can be interchanged with the lead battery. The li-ion battery recharges more quickly, has a greater number of charging and discharging cycles, a lower self-discharge and a longer service life, Porsche says. While a lead battery only has 30% of its total capacity available at any given time, the li-ion battery does not have this problem.

When the charge level drops below a certain level, a warning signal tells the driver to charge the battery, which can be done either by driving the car with only the engine or using a normal battery charger.

Although lithium-ion batteries do not show a lot of promise at breaking into the SLI battery segment (standard starting, lighting, ignition), Porsche hopes racing enthusiasts will spring for the simple, low-weight replacement battery. And how much must they spring? The option will cost a healthy $2,400.

Porsche Offers Li-ion Starter Battery Option (Green Car Congress)

Honda, Hyundai, Toyota Tops in Fuel Efficiency

Honda has the most fuel-efficient U.S. fleet with an average of 23.6 mpg, followed by Hyundai and Toyota in second and third place, respectively, according to preliminary figures released by the Environmental Protection Agency.

Hyundai averaged 23.4 mpg and Toyota had 23.2 mpg — close on the heels of Honda. Volkswagen came in fourth with 22.3 mpg, while Nissan and BMW tied for fifth with an average of 21.6 mpg. Of those, only Toyota and Nissan offer both full-size pickups and SUVs.

Highlighting the gap that has plagued the Detroit Three’s gas-guzzler habit, the American automakers finished in the last three slots of the study. Ford averaged 20.5 mpg, GM had 19.9 mpg and Chrysler had just 18.7 mpg.

The official figures won’t be released until October or November of next year, but the final verdict seems to be an average of 21.1 mpg for all vehicles sold in the 2009 model year. This is a one-tenth improvement on 2008’s average and a 0.5 mpg improvement from 2007.

These EPA figures are based on real-world fuel-economy rankings and sales versus the EPA ratings on window stickers, which are based solely on the EPA’s testing methods.

Honda Leads in Fuel Efficiency (Detroit News)

Americans Slowly Buying More Fuel-Efficient Vehicles

U.S. consumers are increasingly buying more fuel-efficient vehicles, but the pace of mileage improvements remains slow, according to a report issued by the Environmental Protection Agency.

American vehicles averaged 21 mpg for the 2008 model year, which is a 0.4 mpg increase from 2007. The average is expected to increase to 21.1 mpg for 2009, although the EPA warns that the past year's upheaval in the auto industry could render that forecast false.

The elephant in the room is the Obama administration's insistence that automakers hit a 35.5 mpg average by 2015. Keep in mind that this is just what car companies have to build, though not necessarily what consumers have to buy. Even after the $4 per gallon of gas price spike of 2008, consumer behavior has not altered as quickly as some would like.

It should also be noted that the federal government's fleet average uses a completely separate formula for measuring mileage; it's not what the EPA lists on new-car window stickers. This means achieving the 35.5 mpg standard will not necessarily ensure a real-world 35.5 mpg fleet average.

Purchases of Fuel-Efficient Vehicles Increase Slowly (Detroit Free Press)

Iowa Town Has EV Charging Stations at the Ready

Iowa businessman Mike Howard’s philosophy on electric vehicles that can be summed up as, “You’ve got to start somewhere.” Thus, Elk Horn, Iowa – population 650 — has four charging stations built and waiting for EVs, with another four stations planned for next year. In terms of charging stations, this single-handedly puts Iowa ahead of almost every other state, excluding those on the West Coast.

Each station costs $6,000; Howard has already spent approximately $30,000 on the total effort, with plans to drop another $50,000 next year to expand farther into Iowa and Nebraska. Howard wants to focus on Interstate 80 corridor, with eventual plans to build a charging corridor from Chicago to Denver.

Is this ambitious or pointless? With only 96 EVs out of the 4 million registered vehicles in Iowa (and only one converted Chevy S-10 pickup in Elk Horn), you’d undoubtedly think the latter. However, Howard might simply be better at reading the writing on the wall.

The Obama administration established a $3.4 billion grant program to develop electric vehicles and upgrade the power grid, but that money went primarily to Arizona, California, Oregon, Tennessee and Washington. As vehicles like the Chevy Volt and Nissan Leaf hit roads in the next year, plug-ins will become a permanent fixture of the American automotive landscape; EVs are expected to be 2% of cars on the road by 2015 and 30% by 2030.

While the investment may take a while to pay off, could you imagine owning the largest network of charging stations on a major Interstate? As long as he has a good dose of patience, Howard could turn out to be prescient.

Tiny Iowa Town Has the Chargers, Awaiting Drivers (Associated Press)

Feds Green the Fleet but What Happens to Old Cars?

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act appropriated money to buy 17,246 new vehicles, including 3,000 hybrids, in an effort to improve the fuel economy of the federal fleet across agencies as diverse as the Marines to the U.S. Forest Service.

The General Services Administration claimed that this would lead to a 40 percent improvement in fuel efficiency and remove 334 million pounds of greenhouse gases over the next seven years. However, the GSA does not take into account that unlike the Cash for Clunkers program, which scrapped consumers’ cars, the government’s vehicles will be sold at auction and presumably put back on the road.

Depending on how much these old vehicles are driven (and whether they replace vehicles that are even less fuel efficient), they could still be on the road for a long time. While greening the federal fleet certainly won’t hurt the environment, the GSA claims must be balanced against the fact that the old vehicles will likely still be driven in some capacity.

"At a value of approximately $40 million, the government-owned replaced vehicles will not go to waste," the GSA said in a statement. "They will be resold to further invest in greening the federal fleet."

The GSA used $300 million in stimulus money to replace cars, trucks and buses with new models that offered better fuel economy. So far, the agency has auctioned off approximately 8,000 of the old vehicles.

Spin Meter: Feds Buy Green Cars, Auction Rejects (Associated Press)

Study Predicts 14 Million EVs on the Road by 2020

An optimistic new study by the Electrification Coalition says that as many as 14 million electric cars could be on U.S. roads by 2020 and account for 75% of all light-duty miles driven in the country by 2040.

Called the Electrification Roadmap, this highly ambitious plan has the backing of a consortium of companies including Nissan, FedEx, Coda Automotive and Coulomb Technologies. Basically, this coalition says that one in four cars on the road will be an EV by 2020.

The Electrification Coalition concedes that to achieve this lofty goal the federal government will have to provide strong incentives and pursue policies that encourage the spread of plug-in vehicles.

The group proposes building “electrification ecosystems,” meaning it wants to introduce “all the separate elements, from cars to infrastructure, simultaneously” to several major U.S. cities. The idea is to use government support to create pockets across the country that can demonstrate the benefits of plugging in.

Nissan CEO Carlos Ghosn thinks a target of 1 million EVs on the roads by 2015 is more realistic.

Still, the group flouts one wild card, which is the price of oil. Spikes in the cost of gas could spur consumers toward fuel-efficient cars faster than predicted. In the (unlikely) event that the group was right and the U.S. reaches the 2040 target, oil consumption for passenger cars would drop from 8.6 million barrels per day to 2 million a day.

Group Predicts 14 Million EVs on US Roads by 2020 (Reuters)

Obama, China Come to Agreements on Clean Energy

As expected, President Barack Obama’s trip to China did not produce any major breakthrough agreements on greenhouse-gas emissions reductions. However, the trip did lead to a number of agreements on how the U.S. and China will cooperate on clean energy initiatives, according to the Obama administration.

The White House released a list of seven energy- and environment-related deals finalized on Obama’s trip, the most relevant of which may be the U.S.-China Electric Vehicles Initiative. The initiative will foster cooperation between the world’s two largest economies in developing “joint standards” of battery and grid development, which will lead to demonstration projects in more than a dozen cities.

Nissan Wants Higher Electric Car Tax Credit

Do you think $7,500 is a generous tax credit for those buying an electric or plug-in electric hybrid vehicle? You’re not running Nissan it seems. CEO Carlos Ghosn is part of a group petitioning the U.S. government for funds to create an electric-car infrastructure. Part of that plan includes beefing up the tax credit to something that will help to offset the high-entry price these new cars will have when they enter the market.

This is an interesting move since Nissan’s proposed Leaf electric car, which is slated for sale in limited numbers next year, is supposed to be an affordable vehicle without the existing $7,500 tax credit. Without a spike in gas prices, consumers won’t see the value in electric cars, the group says. Higher tax credits could help lure consumers. 

Firms Call for Electric Car Tax-Credit (Wall Street Journal)

Chrysler Electric Program Still In Place

Despite reports to the contrary, Chrysler says it’s still working on hybrids, plug-in hybrid electrics and battery-electric vehicles. Rumors hit the Internet yesterday that Chrysler was scrapping its electric portfolio and program and had halted plans to bring a trio of electric products to market. However, after contacting Chrysler and reviewing the company’s presentation from last week, it is clear the company is still working on hybrids, work being done as part of a grant from the U.S. Department of Energy. However, it doesn’t look like the three green concepts from last year’s Detroit auto show (shown below) will become a reality, which is not much of a surprise. 

According to the last week’s presentation by Paolo Ferrero, vice president of powertrains — see the chart above — the company will roll out its electric products very slowly, starting with a hybrid Ram 1500 pickup in 2010. In 2011, two pilot programs of plug-in electric vehicles — a minivan and a Ram 1500 — would hit the streets in demo fleets of 100 or so.

Hybrids Selling Despite Tough Circumstances

Here are a few figures worthy of note: hybrid sales are up 11.4% year-on-year this October, while also grabbing a 2.9% market share.

Also keep in mind that overall light duty vehicle sales were pretty much flat. According to Autodata, October 2009 saw 838,052 units sold, while October 2008 had 838,156.

Why is this significant? Hybrids managed this increase despite relatively low gas prices and a slumping economy.

Toyota, not surprisingly, sold the most hybrids (18,757 units), a 15% increase year on year, while Ford followed in second (2,282 units) with a 14.3% increase year on year.

Reported US Sales of Hybrids Up 11.4% in October Year-on-Year; 2.9% New Vehicle Share for the Month (Green Car Congress)