Volkswagen Showcases Clean TDI, Biodiesel, and Hydrogen at Sustainability Summit
PASADENA, CA — Volkswagen of America, Inc. is giving a high profile to vehicles with lower environmental impact at the Designing Sustainable Mobility Summit, being held at Art Center College of Design in Southern California. Here, designers and other transportation experts from many countries are sharing ideas on ways to make future mobility more environmentally compatible.
As this vision unfolds, attendees and Art Center students are being provided the unique experience of driving VW models running on biodiesel, ultra low sulfur diesel, hydrogen, and highly efficient gasoline engines on public roads. Driving some of the very technologies and fuels being discussed at the Summit provides the reality check that moving forward in meaningful and more environmentally-conscious ways is much more than theory. It’s happening today, and in ways that address the needs and desires of drivers now and in the years ahead.
“It’s important to demonstrate that raising the bar in such important areas as fuel efficiency and emissions reduction isn’t just accomplished with exotic or future-oriented technologies,” says Ron Cogan, editor and publisher of the Green Car Journal, which is hosting the Summit’s ride-and-drive. “Volkswagen’s demonstration of its clean diesel and twin charger engines provides real-world examples of environmentally positive technologies that are operating on highways today.”
At the event’s Green Cars/Pasadena ride-and-drive, VW is fielding a Touareg V-10 TDI running on B5 biodiesel, a mixture of conventional ultra low sulfur diesel (ULSD) fuel and renewable biodiesel. Diesel fuel that includes a mix of biodiesel burns cleaner and also helps displace fossil fuel use, contributing to energy diversity. VW has extended warranty protection to its models operating on B5 biodiesel as a way to encourage use of this cleaner fuel.
An advance look is also being offered of a highly efficient, twin charger gasoline engine Jetta in development. This Jetta’s TSI engine provides higher power output from a smaller displacement engine while also achieving greater fuel efficiency and lower emissions. The TSI is popular in Europe and now is being considered for use in the U.S. It uses a supercharger to provide engine boost at lower rpms and an exhaust-driven turbocharger at mid-range rpms and higher.
At the Summit, VW’s Touran HyMotion hydrogen fuel cell vehicle not only shows Volkswagen’s interest in this zero-emission fuel, but also showcases the company’s breakthrough high-temperature fuel cell. A decade of VW hydrogen vehicle development has led to a high-temperature fuel cell that provides a more compact, lighter, and more durable fuel cell system. This technology holds great promise to make fuel cell powertrains more economical, key to future mass production.
These vehicles and many other diverse activities underscore that environment is one of Volkswagen’s core values. Volkswagen of America was named the “industry’s most environmentally friendly automaker” in the J.D. Power and Associates 2006 Alternative Powertrain Study. Additionally, VW received the EU Commission’s European Business Award for the Environment for its innovative Volkswagen SiCon recycling process.
Volkswagen of America, Inc.
Founded in 1955, Volkswagen of America, Inc. is headquartered in Auburn Hills, Michigan. It is a subsidiary of Volkswagen AG, headquartered in Wolfsburg, Germany. Volkswagen is one of the world’s largest producers of passenger cars and Europe’s largest automaker. Volkswagen sells the Rabbit, New Beetle, New Beetle convertible, GTI, Jetta, GLI, Passat, Passat wagon, Eos, and Touareg through approximately 600 independent U.S. dealers. Visit Volkswagen of America online at vw.com.
Mitsubishi Eclipse Concept E
Like a soothsayer peering into a crystal ball, Mitsubishi Motors North America, Inc. (MMNA), today provided a glimpse into the future through the Eclipse Concept-E.
But perhaps the future is more clearly visible through the glowing plasma bulb located in the car’s center console. Because when the Eclipse Concept-E’s parallel hybrid motor is switched on, that plasma indicator light glows with its own unique energy, letting the driver know that there’s more here than meets the eye. Read more
Compressed Natural Gas
Search for an alternative fuel has been a concern for all governments for many years. With the hybrid technology being a success in the US markets, a wider technological application has been sought in this area. With more and more fuels such as ethanol, bio-diesel and hydrogen, added to the alternative fuel list of hybrid cars, the option of choosing CNG is also not ruled out. CNG has been widely used in buses and heavy load carriers in many parts of the world. Yet it has not dominated the car market. The difficulty of converting a conventional engine to a CNG-compatible one has been a serious concern for the manufactures as well as the car owners.
CNG contains a large percentage of methane (CH4) along with traces of other hydrocarbons. It is extracted from natural gas, which is produced by the decomposition of animal and plant wastes. Read more
Toyota FT-HS Concept
Pairing a potent hybrid powertrain with essential sports car fundamentals, the FT-HS concept was a joint undertaking of Calty, Toyota’s North American-based, research and design center located in Newport Beach, Calif., and Toyota’s California-based Advanced Product Strategy Group. The design team was assigned the task of creating a mid-priced sports car that integrates ecology and emotion in a concept that addresses the question “What is a suitable sports car for the 21st Century?”
“Drivers today are not satisfied with cars that are simply fast,” said Kevin Hunter, vice president, Calty Design Research. “In addition to driving enjoyment, today’s drivers are concerned about safety, ecology and social responsibility.” Read more
Bio-diesel and the hybrid cars
“The use of vegetable oils for engine fuels may seem insignificant today, but such oils may become, in the course of time, as important as petroleum and the coal-tar products of the present time.” The above text is a brief from the speech made by Rudolf Diesel, on his innovative diesel engine which was powered by bio-diesel and won the award at World Fair in Paris in 1900.
The new hybrid technology proved Diesel’s words exactly true. With a greener fuel available to replace the non-renewable diesel and petrol, the car manufacturers are working day and night exploring innovative technology to offer maximum efficiency with the environment-friendly recyclable fuel. Read more
Lotus Exige 265E
The Lotus Exige 265E the most powerful road version of the Lotus Exige ever and it runs on environmentally friendly Bio Fuel!
Lotus Engineering, the engineering consultancy division of Group Lotus Plc has developed a bio-ethanol E85 version of the Lotus Exige.
The research vehicle is a true Lotus (it weighs just 930 kg unladen) and is called the Lotus Exige 265E. 265 indicates the approximate horsepower and is consistent with the naming strategy of other one-off and limited run Lotus variants such as the Lotus Sport Exige 240R; the E indicates the environmentally favourable bio-ethanol E85 fuel (85% ethanol alcohol and 15% petrol / gasoline) that powers this extremely high performing sportscar. Read more
Technology Trends
Hybrid cars are becoming the smarter choice for drivers who want the benefits of better fuel efficiency. Experts feel that hybrid batteries would undergo further innovation. At present, hybrid vehicles use NiMH technology, but auto experts are betting on lithium-ion batteries which may dominate the market. Looking at the hybrid technology trends, automakers may be able to deliver a hybrid battery with half the present size and cost.
Diesel hybrids have lots of potential as diesel offers more fuel economy than gasoline. Outside of the United States, diesel hybrids would be more fuel-efficient than gasoline hybrids, experts opined.
Look at the auto giants, which are sprucing up their technology in order to cope up with the customer demands. Ford is planning to launch Flex-Fuel Ford Escape hybrid. Flex-fuel may get more attention. Ethanol and other bio-fuels, which have gained national attention, offer the ability to use home-grown fuel, rather than foreign oil. Besides, flex-fuel creates competition between fuel choices. Read more
Chevrolet Volt Concept
While the technologically advanced Chevrolet Volt has the capability to travel 40 miles on electricity alone, at first glance, the concept could easily be mistaken as simply a design statement.
The Volt conveys an immediate message of agility and sophistication, with exterior proportions more commonly associated with classic sports cars. Twenty-one-inch wheels and sheer, taut surface relationships reiterate the statement. The Chevrolet Volt’s athletic design challenges the notion that an environmentally conscious vehicle can’t be beautiful and possess an aesthetic spirit that matches its driving characteristics. Read more