Green Car Tips » Automotive Trends

Johnson Controls RE3 Concept

Jonas — Sun, 18 Jan 2009 19:49:36 +0000

This Lithium-Ion battery-powered Johnson Controls RE3 Concept will most likely never see the road as it’s a concept born to die as a concept — but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t deserve a quick entry on Green Car Tips!

Why? Well, it’s pretty, it’s high-tech, and it’s zero-emission!

Natural Gas as the Next Best Alternative Fuel

redspot — Sat, 27 Sep 2008 03:28:07 +0000

The trend in commercial cars today is not to increase speed or power, or to make cars more flashy and head-turning. Car manufacturers are looking to make cars that primarily work on alternative fuel. Biodiesel is very popular in the market today – so do other fuel cell technologies for cars, hybrids, and electric cars. Now, the next best alternative fuel is said to be natural gas.

Compressed natural gas is seen to enjoy the same popularity and rave reviews as biodiesel and ethanol. The rise of natural gas in the market is all about achieving commercial practicality and environment friendliness. However, the production of cars running on compressed natural gas is not really the issue – the actual problem is whether there will be gas stations that can provide CNG or compressed natural gas to such vehicles.

Right now, there are only 1,600 refueling stations that sell CNG. That’s not even close to 1% of the total number of imported gasoline stations, which is at 200,000 to date. As far as the number of CNG powered cars today, there are about 130,000 all over the world, although they are mostly concentrated in the U.S. And a lot of these cars are commercial vehicles transformed into CNG powered cars.

BioDiesel Pumping in Schoharie County

redspot — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 00:59:49 +0000

If you’re from New York, more particularly from the Schoharie County, then you’re in for a treat. A biodiesel pump has finally opened up for business last Thursday. Now you do have an option. You can get imported gasoline for your car or the fresh new biodiesel. So which one is it? The one from Iraq or the one from vegetable oils?

The trend in the Schoharie County, as far as the vehicle industry, is to go green. With a pit stop now offering biodiesel, more car users should be tempted to use alternative fuel for their car.

Coming from renewable energy, biodiesel is much cleaner, more efficient, and a lot more popular these days. In fact, Pete Lopez, the assemblyman for the Schoharie Country is promoting its use. Furthermore, he uses no other fuel for his car.

Part of the plan of Schoharie County is to make all the operators and owners of the public buses to run only on biodiesel. If that one went smoothly, then the entire fleet of the county, especially the one used for public works, will be fueled by biodiesel alone.

With this development, it is clear to see that counties and the whole nation in general, is doing its share to promote alternative fuel that is more practical to use and is a lot more environment-friendly.

Hybrid Cars: A Quick Assessment

redspot — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 15:57:01 +0000

The automotive industry is having a terrible year this time around. With the sales going down, auto manufacturers have a very big problem to face. The release of hybrid cars didn’t so much help in boosting their sales. But even so, auto makers know that the future is bright for the company that invests in fuel-efficient cars.

General Motors has released a total of six hybrid car models recently, with several of them running on biodiesel and similar alternative fuel. But it seems like Toyota won in this contest, because they were the ones who had successfully sold more than 185,000 units of hybrid cars worldwide during the first 8 months of 2008. Most of their sales came from the Pruis, which is by far, the most popular hybrid car in the market today.

Auto car makers are investing on hybrid cars primarily because they are responding to the government and public’s call for alternative fuel. With the prices of gasoline sky rocketing, there’s no best way to save than not being too dependent on imported gasoline. The trend is, if you can keep your car from running on too much gas, then you are better off. More so if your car can run independently of these fuels and work primarily on the alternatives such as ethanol, electricity, and biodiesel.

Lexus LF-A – The Great Concept of Luxury Cars

Jonas — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 03:53:41 +0000

Image Credit:Wikipedia

What is Lexus LF-A?

The Lexus LF line is a series of concept cars built by Lexus, the luxury vehicle division of Toyota Motor Corporation. The “LF” stands for L-finesse,[1] a new design direction by Lexus. The new design language of L-finesse was first introduced on the LF Series concepts and has now extended to all new vehicles in the Lexus lineup. The LF Series vehicles include three coupes/convertibles, the LF-A, the LF-A Roadster, and the LF-C, two sedans, the LF-S and LF-Sh, and one crossover SUV, the LF-X. These vehicles feature new design cues which are emblematic of the L-finesse philosophy of Intriguing Elegance, Incisive Simplicity, and Seamless Anticipation, and are fitted with new vehicle technologies. The first concept vehicle of the LF Series, the LF-X, appeared in 2003. Several of the LF concept vehicles have appeared close to their production counterparts, while the design cues of other LF concepts appeared on more distinctly different production vehicles.

Another great details about Lexus LF-A to be a Future luxury cars from Michael.

Lexus LF-A – Future of Luxury Vehicles
By Michael C Walker

The Lexus LF-A is a concept supercar which was initially introduced at the 2005 North American International Auto Show (NAIAS), the car was later reworked upon by Toyota’s premium brand for slight modifications and was re-launched at Detroit at 2007 North American International Auto Show.

LF-A altogether provides a bold new design to Lexus brand and marks the beginning of a new era in supercars. The styling of the LF-A is rooted in a design direction called L-finesse, the concept of L-finesse design direction was used to reshape and redefine the 2005 model to give it a more refined look which was earlier presented at 2007 NAIAS. The later version has revised styling and refinement; the front end, in particular is made more curvaceous to give LF-A the sporty look and provide better aerodynamics.

Prior to the launch of LF-A Lexus had a market image of producing top notch, premium luxury cars, but with its launch the company is trying to change its perception and also aims to grow its market by producing powerful and beautiful supercars for its customers.

The running variant of the LF-A is powered by a high-revving 500-plus horsepower V10 engine, a specification which puts LF-A in the same league with other gargantuan like Ferrari and Lamborghini. In its concept version the car measured 5 inches shorter than the Porsche 911, yet provided a wheelbase that is 9 inches longer than the 911, an indicator of better ride quality and good control.

Another interesting development in the LF-A is the installation of a massive, fixed rear wing as compared to the smaller versions in other supercars, the rear wing is responsible for giving supercars the required down force at high speeds. Altogether LF-A’s front engine placement, along with a rear-mounted transaxle and radiators provides an excellent weight distribution; and at the same time the powerful engine, aerodynamics and revised styling enable the car to reach a top speed of 200 mph.

Although the LFA is in its prototype, the final production version of LF-A cannot be expected around the corner. The pricing of LF-A is expected to be $100,000 or above, at such a price the LF-A is truly one of the promising super cars to be produced by a Japanese automaker, and surely the production version of LF-A is going to pose big threat for other luxury car manufacturers presently competing with Lexus.

Lexus LF-A
Lexus LF-C

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Michael_C_Walker

Great Videos to check about Lexus LF-A:
1.YouTube – Roadfly.com – Lexus LF-A Concept Car from NAIAS
The unveiling of the new Lexus LF-A concept car in Detroit.
2. YouTube – Lexus LF-A “MKV Supra?”
Fiat 500 Lexus LF-A Nurburgring – Fast Lane Daily

Do you Belive that Your Car could run with Water using HHO Gas Car Conversion?

Jonas — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 03:24:14 +0000

Do you believe that you could drive your car with water?

Do you believe that you could increase your car gas mileage by 20-50% using HHO Gas Car Conversion?

Its really booming right now in the world that we could Convert our Car to Run on HHO Gas. Is that truly true or just big scam? Until now I do not believe that because I never try to use HHO Gas Car Conversion to the car, because I do not have Any car right now . May be later if I have bought one beautiful car I will try this method and prove it.

If you have any experience with HHO Gas Car Conversion and you have try that on your car, you could share to me or share to other that that method is really work and not just another big scam that cheating everyone in the world.

If using HHO Gas Car Conversion really work, I think that’s will be a big discovery in the world, because right now the price of gasoline car is really high and become more high day to day, that’s make people lost much money when buying a gasoline. So if HHO Gas Car Conversion not a scam, it will make many people who own car saving their money on car gasoline.

Will try this HHO Gas Car Conversion if I have a car someday (I dunno when that will be happen to me:):) ). It will be challenging to me if I could drive my car with Water using HHO Gas Car Conversion.

Mazda Rotary Engine – The Future Has Come

Jonas — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 06:34:09 +0000

The future of rotary engine has come. This future of rotary engine has come from Mazda. Which Mazda with best rotary engine?The answer is Mazda 16x.

Please refer to the article below to get deep information of the Mazda 16x become the future of rotary engine.

Mazda 16x – The Future of the Rotary Engine
By Cody Miller

The Mazda RX2, Mazda RX3, Mazda RX4, Mazda RX7 and now Mazda RX8 are all examples of successful rotary engine sports cars. The New Mazda 16x Rotary Engine should further popularize this offbeat combustion engine which features (as rotaries always have) a compact design with an exceptional power-to-weight ratio all in just 1.6 Liters.

Mazda is calling this new rotary engine the “long-stroke rotary engine.” As you may already know, the 13B rotary engine has a displacement of just 1300cc, which is 1.3 Liters. While the Mazda 16x has an engine displacement of 1600cc (800cc x 2), which is 1.6 Liters; and though they’ve made the 16x significantly larger than the 13B – it weighs less than a 13B. This is due to aluminum side housings, which Mazda says shouldn’t scare us.

Mazda’s aim here is “greater thermal efficiency” – which basically means, any car powered by the Mazda 16x is going to move like stink. Mazda says this [thermal efficiency] will increase torque at all engine speeds. (Rotary engines are notorious for having low torque, especially on the low-end.)

They’ve also added Direct Fuel Injection so you can expect the 16x to be considerably more economical compared to rotaries of the past. Harmful emissions will be greatly reduced as well and power should be slightly increased compared to common multi-point fuel injected rotaries such as the 13B. This should lean the fuel-air mixture out as well and may improve the rotaries nasty habit of flooding every time you move her down the street a block.

Mazda has done incredible things with their light and sporty 1.3 Liter 13B – just imagine what they can do with this new Mazda 16x! Better yet, just imagine what you could do with this new Mazda 16x rotary engine! Unfortunately, however, Mazda has yet to announce a production vehicle to carry the 16x. The closest we’ve gotten is the Mazda Taiki, a far-out prototype developed by Mazda under the “Nagare”(which is, Japanese for “flow”) concept of design.

So when will we see this new rotary engine in action?

Many expected this new rotary engine to appear in the 2009 Mazda RX8, but when the cover was pulled off at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit, we saw nothing but the Mazda 13B MSP Renesis engine beneath it’s glimmering hood.

To answer the question; your guess is as good as mine.

For More Information on the Mazda 16x, Mazda RX8, Mazda RX7 and more, visit: http://www.mazdarxnews.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Cody_Miller

So interested to buy one Mazda 16x and get the future of Mazda Rotary Engine?