The Green LiterGoing the extra mile with electric vehicles, hybrid cars, fuel efficient cars, biofuels and alternative energy sources

To prove that electric cars can race with the other gas guzzling cars, Nisan’s NISMO has converted a Leaf into a race car.

Here’s the nitty gritty so far:

Power is from an 80kW AC motor rated 107 horsepower and 207 lbs.-ft. of torque. It’ll zip from standstill to 62 mph (equivalent to the 0 to 100 kilometers per hour that most countries use for timed acceleration) in 6.9 seconds, Nissan says.

The downside is that it still needs a lot of work to really go out there and compete. The car runs out of charge within 20 minutes when running at race speeds and charging to at least 80% will take 30 minutes. Definitely something to improve upon.

Looking forward to a version 2 of NISMO soon then…

[Article via: USA Today | Image via : PRNewswire]

It looks like Electric Vehicle manufacturers have a soft spot for AT&T. Both Ford and Nissan will be using the telecommunications giant as part of their cars functionalities.

The car manufacturers will have AT&T as the backbone of their wireless network and mobile apps that will monitor the batteries and hunt for the nearest charging stations. The idea seems to be that the wireless network is supposed to pacify any fears of not knowing whether if the EV’s battery will last long enough for the trip.

We’ll see how this union will look like when Ford’s Focus Electric rolls out of production at the end of 2011.

[Article via: Reuters | Image via: Ford]

The Bay Area Air Quality Management District is tendering $3.9 million to four companies in California for them to be able to install more private and public charging stations. This is on a par with the aim of having new electric cars around the region.

The regional government agency that caters to nine counties plans to give out the funds for 30 public fast-charge system. As Chevrolet markets the plug-in hybrid Volt and heads to market an electric vehicle named Ford Focus, and as Nissan offers the all-electric Leaf, the plan of BAAQMD is very advantageous.

$700 rebates are planned to be offered to the first 2,750 consumers who step forward to aid the funding of personal residential charging equipment to new owners of EV’s.

[via Press Democrat]

Oil companies and gas suppliers in Japan are aiming to build around 100 hydrogen supply stations at four key areas as part of the 2015 launch and mass production of hydrogen-powered fuel cell vehicles.

Together with Toyota Motor Corp, Honda Motor Co, and Nissan Motor Co, a total of 10 energy companies announced the plan to build hydrogen supply stations on Tokyo, Osaka, Aichi, and Fukuoka. This is in line with the strong efforts for the expansion of the industry of eco-friendly cars in Japan.

Electricity-generated fuel-cell cars are run by the chemical reaction between oxygen and hydrogen. Production and maintenance of this kind of technology is impossible without the essential infrastructure.

The participating energy companies include Cosmo Oil Co, Idemitsu Kosan Co, JX Nippon Oil & Energy Corp, Osaka Gas Co, and Tokyo Gas Co.

[via Forex Yard]

The re-introduction of the diesel fuelled Nissan X-Trail in Japan is bound to receive some howls from the global warming groups as it has been reported that due to expected higher gas prices, this is an alternative that Nissan has offered to them. But is it?

Diesel is not that far off different from the price of leaded and unleaded gasoline. In fact, you can see from all parts of the world the diesel is being condemned due to the gas emissions that it is bound to create. While it is apparent that most people would want an alternative solution to their transport problems, it remains that this is not among those alternative that a wise transport owner may consider.

This move is expected to add more problems for the environment rather than a solution to the people. From another standpoint, one may even conclude that this new entry of Nissan vehicles may even be considered as a form of just trying to dispose excess vehicles, which hopefully will not be the case.

“Japanese people hate diesels. They think of them as being noisy, dirty and emitting black smoke,” said Koji Endo, a senior analyst at Credit Suisse Group in Tokyo. “Diesels have improved significantly, but it’s questionable whether consumers will accept them.”

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Proper calculation as far as the right amount of fuel to allow cars to accelerate is known to be a problem these days. Especially with the rising cost of fuel, wise driving starts from realizing our faults in driving our cars. There is no perfect driver, only wiser ones. While some love speed, it also means using up fuel the unconventional way.

Nissan for its part, has developed a keen contraption that can help drivers improve their manner of driving and fuel consumption. With this indicator in tow, people who are having trouble as far as maintaining the proper efficiency level of fuel consumption may finally get a break.

The technology involved is simple – when the ECO Pedal is on, the system calculates a threshold of accelerator pedal travel depending on the prevailing driving conditions. A counter push-back control system is activated when the pedal is depressed beyond the threshold level and along with a eco-driving indicator in the instrument cluster, informs the driver of his driving behaviour.

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