The Audi A1 e-tron debuted at the Geneva Motor Show in March of 2010. The hatchback's 12-kWh lithium-ion battery pack propels its down the road for up to 30 miles before its range-extending single-rotor 254cc Wankel engine fires up. Audi intends to launch a field test of its A1 e-tron in Munich, Germany, in mid-2011 and will supply 20 of the extended-range electric vehicles to partners E.ON, Stadtwerke München and the Technical University of Munich.

With the on-road test date drawing near, UQM Technologies has announced that its PowerPhase electric drive motors will propel the fleet of A1 e-trons. The PowerPhase range of brushless, permanent-magnet motors can be configured to crank out up more than 167 horsepower (125 kW) and up to 221 pound-feet of peak torque. In the A1 e-tron application, the front-mounted electric motor puts out a healthy 102 hp. We hope to uncover more details on the A1 e-tron's novel powertrain as on-road trials commence.



Live photos by Drew Phillips / Copyright ©2010 AOL

[Source: UQM Technologies]

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Back in October of 2010, the California Air Resources Board (CARB) rated the 2011 Chevrolet Volt as an Ultra Low Emissions Vehicle (ULEV). That's below the SULEV and PZEV ratings of cars like the Jetta TDI, Toyota Prius, Honda Insight and Honda CR-Z. Unfortunately, the 2011 Volt's ULEV status and its inability to qualify as an Advanced Technology Partial Zero Emissions Vehicle (AT-PZEV) means that it's not eligible for California's $5,000 tax rebate.

However, reports indicate that General Motors is working on a modified Volt, to be launched in 2012 or 2013, that will qualify for California's substantial rebate. The General has reportedly decided to offer a version of the Volt that has a ten-year or 150,000-mile warranty, thus making the plug-in hybrid AT-PZEV compliant. GM currently backs the Volt's electric-drive and battery components with an eight-year or 100,000-mile warranty.

If the reports pan out to be true, Volt's sold in California may eventually be eligible for both the $7,500 federal tax credit and the State's $5,000 rebate, effectively cutting the base price of Chevy's $41,000 plug-in by $12,500.



[Source: Care2]

While we've just heard news that there won't be any hybrid pickups streaming out of Ram's retail showroom floors, according to a report from Bloomberg, the truck manufacturer is mulling the possibility of adding a natural-gas powered model to its Ram truck lineup.

When Bloomberg questioned Fred Diaz, Ram's chief executive officer, regarding the possibility of a natural gas-powered Ram, he responded with this:

I'm eager and very interested to see what we can do with CNG in our truck applications. If that becomes the new in-thing for alternative fuel going forward, we're going to be miles ahead of the competition.

Diaz continued, claiming that Ram could potentially experiment with CNG-powered trucks by offering them to fleet customers with access to a refueling station. However, he declined to provide a possible launch date for a natural gas-powered Ram and did not specify which of its truck models could get the CNG-burning system.



Photos copyright ©2010 Chris Shunk / AOL

[Source: Bloomberg]

If it's good enough for Formula 1, it's good enough for NASCAR. Heck, if it's good enough for every single automobile sold in the United States for the past several decades, it's good enough for NASCAR. What's this newfangled techno-wizardry we're talking about? Fuel injection.

For the first time since the series kicked off in 1947, the so-called stock cars that travel full-throttle around tracks all across America will abandon their carburetors in favor of an Enging Control Unit sourced from McLaren and a computer processor from Freescale. That tandem reportedly beat out eight rival bids.

According to NASCAR Vice President of Competition Robin Pemberton, "This is a positive step that will provide greater fuel efficiency and a greener footprint while maintaining the same great competition that we have seen on the race track."

Fuel efficiency ought to go up, as will horsepower. Interestingly, NASCAR competitors like Ford and Toyota happy about the switch. "We think it's very important that both the cars and the technology in NASCAR are more closely related to production cars. The move to fuel injection is another important step in that process," said Jamie Allison, Director, Ford North America Motorsports.

NASCAR expects to have its fuel injection technology all sorted in time for the 2012 season opener, the Daytona 500.

[Source: National Speed Sport News, Fox Sports | Image: Reinhold Matay/AP]

According to The Detroit News, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is turning up the heat on its investigation into faulty Volkswagen fuel pumps. The administration has announced that it is currently looking into 97,272 diesel Volkswagen and Audi vehicles after receiving a total of 160 complaints about the issue. NHTSA says that in roughly half of those complaints, the bad pumps resulted in an engine stall on the highway or in traffic that prevented the engine from being restarted. Even so, no major accidents have been attributed to the faulty pumps, though one minor fender-bender has been reported as a result of the issue.

The investigation covers 2010 Golf hatchbacks, 2009-2010 Jetta sedans and certain 2010 Audi A3 models as well.

Volkswagen says that the fuel pump issues that it has encountered have resulted from diesel fuel that has been contaminated with gasoline. The company says that even a small amount of gas mixed in with diesel fuel can cause the pumps to shut down. Unfortunately for thusly affected owners, fuel system damage due to using the wrong fuel won't be covered under warranty.

Meanwhile, Volkswagen has informed NHTSA about 120 separate fuel slip-ups, some of which came courtesy of dealers and service personnel using the wrong fuel.



Photos copyright ©2011 Drew Phillips / AOL

[Source: The Detroit News]

Nissan has officially broken ground on the construction of a lithium-ion battery plant in Cacia, Portugal. The facility, which will be erected on a 30,450-square-meter plot of land owned by partner Renault, should be fully operational by December of 2012.

Construction of the Cacia plant requires a total investment of €156 million ($211 million U.S. at the current exchange rate) from Renault-Nissan, but it's money well spent. The li-ion manufacturing site will, upon completion, boast a total capacity of "50,000 units a year" and create approximately 200 jobs. The Cacia plant is one of many li-ion battery manufacturing sites that the Alliance will construct to support its extensive rollout of electric vehicles.

While speaking at the groundbreaking ceremony, Nissan's chief operating officer Toshiyuki Shiga outlined the Alliance's massive European battery production efforts, stating:

The Cacia plant will be one of three facilities in Europe supplying batteries to electric vehicles produced by the Alliance, starting with the 100% electric Nissan Leaf. Together, the three plants will enable the Alliance to rollout electric vehicles in Europe on an unprecedented scale, bringing the world one step closer to a zero-emission future.

In related news, construction of Nissan's 1.3-million-square-foot Smyrna, TN battery plant is on schedule, with a completion date set for sometime in 2012.

[Source: Renault]

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Have you been waiting patiently for that long-promised hybrid Ram truck that Chrysler has supposedly been working on for the last several years? We have bad news for you: Speaking to PluginCars.com, Ram CEO Fred Diaz firmly put that notion on ice when he bluntly said, "Truckers don't want to buy hybrids."

We're not so sure truckers are anti hybrid more than they are not willing to cough up the necessary funds to bring meaningful hybrid technology to their pickups. Either way, General Motors' fullsize hybrid trucks have failed to set the market on fire, and there's little indication Chrysler's would either... unless the automaker was prepared to offer them at an extremely favorable price point, which seems unlikely.

At least for now, it seems that the only hybrid pickups Ram will be offering are the recently announced plug-in models that were developed using funds from a $48 million grant from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act and a separate $5 million grant from the Canadian government. A total of 140 PHEV Rams will be offered to fleet customers within the next several months.

The good news for mileage-conscious buyers is that Diaz suggested other technologies from Fiat are likely to make their way to the Ram division at some point. Multiair and light-duty diesels sound like a good starting point...

[Source: PluginCars.com]

Mid-January reports from the U.S. Energy Information Association confirm what should be obvious to motorists across the nation; gas prices are on the rise. This rise has put the price of gasoline above the $3 per gallon mark throughout the vast majority of the U.S. and is driving consumers towards more fuel-efficient vehicles.

Back in January, Ford's chief executive officer, Alan Mulally, stated:

As fuel prices go up, people put more emphasis on fuel economy. We saw previously that as gas prices get above $3, people start making different decisions.

Swapalease, a company that specializes in facilitating automotive lease transfers, indicates that the $3 per gallon cost has evoked an emphasis on the importance of fuel efficiency. The lease-transfer firm reports that it has received an abnormally high amount of requests for fuel-sipping autos and notes that clients looking to transfer out of leases due to abysmal fuel economy is on the upward trend.

Shocking, we know. Read all the details after the break.

[Source: Swapalease | Image: A Siegel – C.C. License 2.0]

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Ever wonder what differentiates a gas-electric hybrid from a pure battery-powered vehicle? Probably not, but maybe you're perplexed about what actual features distinguish a plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV) from a battery-powered car that plugs in. While we're fairly certain that most of our regular readers have a thorough understanding of the differences between hybrids, electric vehicles (EVs) and PHEVs, newcomers to the green scene may have difficulty grasping some of the complex concepts.

Fortunately, Ford has released a three-minute animated video that does a rather remarkable job of explaining, in simplified terms, the differences between hybrids, PHEVs an EVs. Hop the jump to catch Ford's animated clip explaining the distinguishing features of each of its electric-drive models.

[Source: Ford]

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When Saab unveiled its first-ever battery-powered vehicle, the 9-3 ePower, we enthusiastically claimed:

With a projected range of 125 miles and a 0-60 mile per hour acceleration time of less than 8.5 seconds, Saab's first-ever electric vehicle, the 9-3 ePower, brings the automaker into the battery-powered mix with authority. Based on the 9-3 Sport Combi wagon, the Saab 9-3 ePower's cargo-hauling abilities offer versatility that's typically absent in the battery-powered segment.

Part of the ePower's impressive performance can be attributed to its use of Boston-Power's robust Swing 4400 lithium-ion battery cells, but the use of UQM Technologies' 135-kW PowerPhase electric motor reinforces Saab's projected performance specs. The 135-kW (181 horsepower) unit is based on the lesser 100 kW PowerPhase motor, which spins the wheels of the Coda Sedan. With more grunt flowing from its electric motor, we'd expect the 9-3 ePower to crank out some stellar (for a battery-powered vehicle) performance numbers and, according to Saab's testing, it has.

Two-year trials of 70 9-3 ePowers will begin in Sweden late this year. Saab intends to turn the knowledge it gains from on-road testing and evaluation into a high-performance, production electric vehicle.



[Source: UQM Technologies]

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