Get Smart

Europe is the stage for the emergence of Smart cars. If you’ve seen the movie the Da Vinci Code, you probably saw how the female protagonist was able to elude all those policemen by snaking through heavy traffic in her small, but surprisingly fast, car. That was in France. In places like London and Paris, Smart cars are very popular because they are very practical to drive in congested streets. This, plus the fact that Smart cars are integrated with new technologies, did not elude the US market. A couple of years ago, the same model that you saw in the Da Vinci Code was introduced in the US.

Now, there are various new models that are set to debut in Europe and are expected to take the world by storm. One of these is Norwegian-owned Th!nk’s lithium-ion battery powered car. That is the same kind of battery you would often find on cellular phones; although the one that you’ll find on this vehicle is probably a lot larger. The battery is developed by A123 sytems and Enerdel and is expected to last for 180 km (city) as long as it has been charged for a minimum of 8 hours. And unlike other electric cars, it does not even need to be charged when not in use. And if you think that it is sluggish just by the looks of it, then you are mistaken. Th!nk says that it tops out at 100 km/h. It even takes little effort to maintain as compared to your run-of-the-mill gasoline-powered vehicle. It is set to debut in the UK market in autumn of this year and its msrp will be around £14,000.



In the US, Smart cars may not be as popular as it is in cities like London, Rome and Paris but people are beginning to get smart and getting one. Mercedes introduced one that has three cylinders and it scores about 30 mpg in the city and as much as 40 mpg on the highway. That is twice as much as what you can get from an SUV, and even a family sedan. It may take twice as much time get to where you are going if you are accustomed to driving fast cars, but then again for a dollar or less for a complete 8 hour charge, who’s gonna complain about the speed difference? It’s all about the math. For a gallon of gasoline, you’ll shell out about $3.20 and you will get about 25-35 km. But with a Smart car, all you have to do is plug it in for 8 hours (that costs about $0.60 cents to $1 on an electric bill) and you can drive it for almost 100 km, or in the case of the Th!nk vehicle mentioned above, 180 km in the city. Hybrid Smart cars also are very economical. You can get over 40 mpg even while driving at 60-70 mph. With the hype being generated by these cars, it is no surprise that there is a long wait list.

There are drawbacks. No one is denying that. It’s small, definitely not as flashy as your average vehicle, it seats only two people and there is little room for cargo. But its advantages definitely outweigh most of the disadvantages. You will be able to save up on gas money. And it’s practical to drive in the city where locating a parking space can be very taxing. You will also have no problems with the seating capacity if you only use it to go to work or to the grocery store. It is guaranteed to be safe notwithstanding its compact size because numerous tests have been conducted before it was mass-produced. All in all, it is a smart choice.

Source: ClimateChangeCorp

Recent Technological Advances in the Automotive Industry

What’s new in automotive technology? Here are a few things that I came across while I was browsing the Net yesterday.

A system that alerts your doctor when you get a heart attack or if you figured in an accident. A technology that calculates the time needed for you to reach your destination, and one that gives you a simpler and quicker route. And a device that communicates with other people’s car if they are veering dangerously to your own vehicle. That’s wireless technology at its best. These are just some of the new technologies that car engineers are working on at present. Some of these may sound surreal, but they are within reach, experts say. There are, however, a few obstacles along the way.

In an article, A Wireless Wonderland, featured in the Telegraph, Britain’s No. 1 quality newspaper website, the pros and cons of these technologies are put in detail.

Beat the jams, avoid prangs

The vision: Cars will communicate wirelessly with other vehicles to warn them when they are about to break sharply, reducing accidents. Cars will also boast intelligent sat-nav systems, wirelessly connected to a transport hub relaying real-time road and rail info, capable of planning the fastest route by road and of informing you when it would be faster to take another mode of transport. Tickets will be automatically booked at the touch of a button, and paid for using a pre?pay card.

The reality: This kind of in-car technology is already well advanced: parking sensors alert drivers to hazards, while auto-braking on some vehicles will bring the car to an emergency stop. Combining this technology with that which powers self-driving cars is the next logical step. Sat-nav systems are already able to access real-time traffic updates; improving this to make it link into a central database would be easy enough - the difficulty comes in developing a software platform used across the whole transport network that will allow operators to share information in a consistent, usable format.

Mayday alerts and enhanced medical care

The vision: Cars of the future will contain a "black box" style communications hub that will be able to alert the emergency services if you have a crash or pass out at the wheel. If the person involved in the crash has their medical details embedded on their person, paramedics will be able to access them and decide on the most effective course of treatment.

The reality: Crash-response technology already exists and is an extra on many high-end vehicles. Enhancing this technology to alert the emergency services in the event of any accident will be relatively straightforward. And software already allows people to store their medical records on their mobile phones. However, finding a way to securely and confidentially embed them in wearable technology will be the main challenge.

These technologies could prove to be very beneficial once they hit production lines. The emergence of so-called “Smart” cars will be in the offing once these are perfected. Maybe in a few years time your car will be able to tell you where you are likely to get jammed in traffic, or maybe even where you can fill up your tank if it’s already almost running empty. Some even went so far as to say that your car can even order for you at the rest stop that’s in close proximity to your vehicle. Safety and convenience will be increased because of the existence of wireless technology. We did not believe them when they said they can invent cars that run on electricity, and even water. And now the streets are replete with them. So when they say Smart cars will be the new thing, I am in no position to argue any longer.

To Wait or Not to Wait?

If those (Shell’s) FuelStretch Tips are not working out for you, maybe you are doin’ it wrong. Or, then again, it may be time that you bought a new car that’s really more fuel-efficient. You will shell out some hard-earned cash but consider it as an investment. Analysts see no decrease in the price of gasoline in the near future, so your new car will be more useful in the months, and maybe even years, to come. I’m actually giving you options here. One day I’m encouraging you to keep your car and just try to do things that can let you make the most out of every drop of gasoline, then, the next day I advise you to buy a hybrid instead. Well, it’s all a matter of perspective. I’m just posting for the sake of providing information. The choice is still up to you.

Well, a lot of hybrids showed up recently, some of which are just concept cars that aren’t that far from coming out of the production lines. Hyundai brought two eco-friendly concept cars to the recent Busan Auto Show, namely the i-Mode and i-Blue. It was revealed in a press release featured by Damon Lavrinc of the AutoBlog that:

The i-Mode is an innovatively styled, eco-friendly and socially adaptive vehicle.

The materials used are lighter and more adaptable than the metal and glass they replace. This, in combination with a light weight body construction, reduces fuel consumption and CO2 emission. Self-healing water based bodywork finishes from Bayer add to the environmentally friendly concept of the vehicle and even let minor scratches magically disappear by themselves.

If the i-Mode is innovative as it is adaptive, then the i-Blue concept is downright impressive.

The i-blue concept, which was developed at Hyundai's research center in Japan, is an eco-friendly model that emits nothing but water.

At the Geneva International Motor Show in March, Hyundai Motor unveiled three i-blue line-ups, including i10 blue, i10 blue CNG and i30 blue.

i-30 Blue:
With the 90PS new 1.6CRDi diesel engine, the i30 5-door emits an impressively low 125 g/km CO2. With the i-blue package, this is reduced by 15.2% lowering the CO2 emissions to just 106g/km. Naturally, this percentile reduction is also reflected in reduced fuel consumption.

"Blue" represents Hyundai Motor's eco-friendly strategy and related technologies.

Hyundai and the Eco-Sphere:
Hyundai has always been at the forefront of ecological consideration. From the very beginning, we have offered our customers the best possible economy combined with technology designed to protect them and our world. Long before legislation arrived, Hyundai had cut pollution in all of its factories and introduced recycling codes.

Hyundai is indeed giving other automakers a reason to keep on researching ways to make their vehicles far better. But Toyota is a step ahead of most of the other car manufacturers. In fact, they have already announced their plans of redesigning the Prius hybrid. The plan is to make it more buff and give it more oomph in the horsepower department. More upgrades will also be available. There will be no significant changes in the weight though. The plan to unveil this new concept Prius is scheduled for January of next year.

If you do not want to wait for the Hyundai concept cars or the next Prius to go out in the market, then you can just consider getting a small car like the Honda Fit, or what’s called the Jazz in some places. You can get 30 miles on a gallon; that’s twice as much as what you can get from an SUV. Or you can get a Chrysler and get yourself one of those pre-paid cards that get you free gasoline for a fixed amount of time.

Tips That Could Save You Some Gas Money

Gasoline prices could reach an all time high $4 a gallon before the end of spring this year, analysts said. Just this March, the price at the pump rose to $3.222 a gallon, a far cry from last year’s prices. And this trend is expected to continue for months to come. More people are trooping to commuter stations. And even more people are turning in their SUVs for hybrids. But there are still people who still want to make use of their good old gas-guzzling vehicle, primarily because it is more comfortable that way.

Aside from buying hybrid vehicles or taking the train, there are ways that you can reduce your gasoline expenses as what John and Helen Taylor, the couple who holds the Guinness World Record for Fuel Efficiency, has proven. First, here is a background information about the car, a Volkswagen Golf FSI 1.6, that they used.

DICOMWG12 scores the fuel-efficiency of the Volkswagen Golf FSI 1.6 at a combined rate of 40.40 mpg. The Auto Express gives it a combined rating of 42 mpg. CarPriceChecker rates it at 42.2 mpg. While both the AutoWeb and Yahoo! Cars scores it at 44.1 mpg. All in all, that’s about 42.56. Now, here’s the exciting part, the record-holding couple was able to crank it up to an average of 52.1 mpg on several trips. How were they able to do that? They followed Shell’s “FuelStretch" tips, to wit:

1. Drive smoothly: Avoid heavy acceleration or braking. Speeding, rapid acceleration and braking can lower your gasoline mileage by 5 percent at lower speeds around town and by 33 percent at highway speeds.
   
2. Replace dirty or clogged air filters: Replacing a dirty or clogged air filter with a clean one can improve gasoline mileage by as much as 10 percent. A car's air filter can protect the engine from impurities.
   
3. Keep your engine well-tuned and repair any problems immediately: If your car has failed an emissions test or is noticeably out of tune, repairing the problem could improve your gasoline mileage by 4 percent on average.
   
4. Make sure tires are not over or under-inflated: Proper air pressure cuts down on fuel used while driving. Keeping tires at the correct pressure can improve your gasoline mileage by more than 3 percent.
   
5. Minimize vehicle drag: Keep your trunk and back seat clear of unnecessary items that only add weight. Removing excess weight can improve your gasoline mileage.
   
6. Use the recommended grade of oil in your engine: Following your manufacturer's motor oil recommendation can improve gasoline mileage by up to 2 percent. Look for motor oil that says "Energy Conserving" on the API performance symbol to ensure it contains friction-reducing additives.
   
7. Choose a high-quality gasoline: Top automakers say that carbon deposits can build up on critical engine parts, which can decrease the power, performance and fuel efficiency of your vehicle. Audi, BMW, General Motors, Honda, Toyota, and Volkswagen recommend using TOP TIER Detergent Gasolines to help keep engines clean. All Shell gasolines meet TOP TIER standards and stop gunky build-up on critical engine parts to help cars perform at their best.
   
8. Use cruise control on major roads and in free-flowing traffic: Maintaining a constant speed can improve gasoline mileage.
   
9. Avoid idling: When you idle, you get zero miles per gallon.
   
10. Avoid higher speeds: Gasoline mileage usually decreases when driving at speeds over 60 miles per hour.
    
11. Plan your outings to avoid separate trips: Combine your errands into one outing to avoid short separate trips. This helps avoid unnecessary cold starts and keeps your car's engine running warm and more efficiently.
    
12. Pay with a rebate credit card: Credit cards offer a simple way to pay for things quickly, but using a rebate credit card means earning rewards with every purchase. For example, with a 5 percent rebate on Shell gasoline purchases and a 1 percent rebate on all other purchases**, the Shell Platinum MasterCard(R) is one of the best rebate cards of its kind, helping consumers lower the cost of driving without sacrificing the quality of their gasoline.

Source: The Auto Channel