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Tag: Hybrids

  • Walmart Truck Prototype Is Eco-Friendly And Badass

    Walmart Truck Prototype Is Eco-Friendly And Badass

    Have you seen Walmart’s new prototype for their trucks? You should definitely take a look because the design is very impressive.

    The prototype was unveiled at the Mid-America Trucking Show. Walmart wanted to show off the truck as proof that the company is making sincere steps to be more eco-friendly.

    It remains uncertain if the Walmart Advanced Vehicle Experience or WAVE trucks will ever become the norm. Even so, there are potential positives to take away from the prototype’s existence.

    “[It] may never make it to the road,” wrote Walmart president and CEO Doug McMillion, “but it will allow us to test new technologies and new approaches.”

    McMillion blogged about the project back in February, however the effort to make Walmart trucks more fuel-efficient goes back nearly a decade.

    The company pledged in 2005 that the fuel efficiency of its massive fleet would be doubled by the year 2015.

    The organization claims it has achieved greater fuel efficiency over the last ten years, improving to 84 percent over their 2005 baseline. With a fleet that contains approximately 6,500 tractors and 55,000 trailers, that is impressive.

    In order to meet its original goal, Walmart must look at other ways to improve.

    Enter the WAVE initiative.

    The prototype is actually 4,000 lbs lighter than other trucks on the road and has 20 percent less aerodynamic drag.

    The truck would grant drivers greater space and visibility. It’s ultra futuristic design makes it easily distinguishable, which could be an added bonus of generating buzz and attention for Walmart.

    As for fuel efficiency, the WAVE trucks are meant to run on gas and electricity while cutting back on emissions quite considerably.

    The concept is an exciting one, though it’s going to take a lot of money and adjustments to make it happen on a unanimous level.

    For now there is no set date for WAVE trucks to be integrated by Walmart into their fleet of trucks.

    Image via YouTube

  • Even More Hybrid Tablets Are on the Way

    Even More Hybrid Tablets Are on the Way

    The PC market is still in decline, though the bottom of the market may now be in sight. At the same time, the tablet market is still going strong, growing nearly every quarter at a rapid pace.

    Given these realities, it isn’t surprising that PC manufacturers are now turning to hybrid PC/tablet devices to boost their notebook segments. The only problem is that these devices might fit a niche that doesn’t yet exist. With many containing hardware inferior to notebooks in the same price range, consumers looking for productivity seem to be turning toward Chromebooks and slim notebooks while favoring their substantially smaller tablets as mobile computing devices.

    Still, these facts aren’t likely to stop manufacturers from building out the hybrid PC/tablet market. Market research firm Juniper Research today released a new report predicting that PC manufacturers will ship almost 50 million hybrid tablet devices by the year 2018. This represents a significant rise from the estimated 9.5 million hybrid tablets that were shipped during 2013.

    Judging from the current lineup of hybrid tablets, it would be easy to dismiss the segment an already failed attempt to shove the tablet hype into the notebook space. While this may be true with current devices, Juniper predicts that devices released over the next few years will increase the diversity of the market and bring some worthwhile products that certain consumers may purchase.

    Juniper predicts that hybrid tablets will be expecially attractive to enterprise customers and gaming enthusiasts. Luckily for manufacturers, these two types of consumers are exactly the type of niche consumers willing to spend a premium for high-end devices. This should help keep the average sale price for hybrid tablets steady in the coming years.

    The firm also believes that the education market may embrace hybrid tablets in the coming years as tablets become viewed increasingly as an educational tool. Hybrid tablets that are priced lower could appeal significantly to governments looking to supply schools with tablets that are more functional that traditional tablets.

    Image via Asus

  • Toyota Prius Tops Best-Value List For Second Year

    Motorists in the U.S. may have noticed the trend in the past few years of more Toyota Prius vehicles on the road. There’s good reason for this trend above the environmental concerns that so often surround conversations about hybrid vehicles: the Prius simply give customers great value for its price.

    Consumer Reports this week announced that the Toyota Prius has topped its best overall new-car value list for 2013. This marks the second year in a row that the Prius has topped the list.

    According to Consumer Reports, the Prius’ fuel economy, performance, and reliability put it once again at the top of the list. The report estimates the Prius’ five-year ownership costs at just $0.47 per mile.

    “The Prius’ 44 mpg overall is the best fuel economy of any non-plug-in car that Consumer Reports has tested,” said Rik Paul, automotive editor at Consumer Reports. “Though it’s not particularly cheap to buy, the Prius’ depreciation is so low that it costs less to own over the first five years than its initial MSRP. We call that a bargain.”

    Toyota’s Avalon Hybrid Limited also earned high marks from Consumer Reports in its large cars value rankings. Other vehicles to be mentioned for their high value include the Honda Fit the Subaru Legacy 2.5i Premium, and the Lexus ES 300h, which topped the luxury cars category.

    On the other end of the spectrum, the Nissan Armada was cited as having the worst value for a new car. Consumer Reports points to the car’s low 13 mpg fuel economy and poor reliability as factors in the ranking. The Armada was scored with $1.20 per mile five-year ownership costs. Other lower-value cars included the Volkswagen Beetle 2.5L and the Nissan Altima 3.5 SL.

    “Just because a car is cheap to buy doesn’t mean it’s a good value,” said Paul. “The Nissan Versa Sedan, for example, is one of the least expensive cars that Consumer Reports has tested. For about $1,500 more, we’d go with a Honda Fit, which is fun to drive, cheaper to own, more reliable, and provides almost twice the value.”

  • Emissions Laws May Push Electric Car Adoption

    Though electric vehicles are slowly becoming more popular in western markets, car manufacturers are still being conservative with the technology. This may change rapidly in the coming years, however, as emissions mandates begin to put pressure on manufacturers.

    Market research firm Strategy Analytics this week predicted that emissions and fuel economy laws will force car manufacturers to move more of their efforts towards their electric vehicles. Such laws, said the firm, will soon outpace the efficiency that auto manufacturers are able to squeeze out of traditional combustion engines. The firm also sees laws in individual cities limiting emissions as a factor that could quickly help shift the distribution industry away from diesel engines.

    “The problem for electrification strategies is to develop powertrains that remain affordable to consumers – while gasoline prices stabilize and even fall,” said Kevin Mak, senior analyst for Automotive Electronics Service at Strategy Analytics. “Without the battery chemistry breakthrough, we believe that a standard 48 volt mild hybrid system fitted across a model range can bring about the increased electrification necessary for auto makers to meet future mandates, but without the high cost associated in deploying large battery packs as on a niche selection of full hybrid and plug-in vehicles. Meanwhile, developments in dynamic wireless charging may also provide an alternative to large battery packs in the long-term.”

    Strategy Analytics points to a variety of fuel-saving technologies that will need to be implemented in the short-term to meet emissions requirements, such as full hybridization of vehicles to improved engine-off systems. Alternative fuels such as hydrogen also get a mention from the firm.

  • Electrics to Make Up 7% of Light Vehicle Market by 2020

    With electric car sales now rising and charging station infrastructure for the vehicles now rolling out, it seems that electric vehicles are finally starting to become mainstream. With major car manufacturers now debuting fully-electric plug-in models, the number of electric vehicles on U.S. and European roads is set to rise steadily for years to come.

    Market research firm Navigant Research today released data forecasts predicting that nearly 7% of “light duty” vehicles sold worldwide in 2020 will be plug-in or hybrid electrics.

    “Electric vehicles, including plug-in models, are becoming an increasingly important part of the global automotive market,” said Dave Hurst, principal research analyst at Navigant. “This growth is being driven not only by the inherent appeal of the vehicles, but also by consumer demand for vehicles that cost less to operate than traditional internal combustion engine vehicles, government incentives, and a rebounding economic climate.”

    Navigant’s prediction is based on several factors. First, as mentioned by Hurst, is that consumers are being incentivized to buy electric vehicles through monetary concerns. With gas prices continuing to rise, tax rebates given by government environmental initiatives could entice consumers to make the switch to electric.

    Car manufacturers themselves are also beginning to see the monetary incentives in electric vehicles. In addition to tax incentives, electric car batteries (which, according to Navigant, can make up around half the cost of plug-in electric vehicles,) are now falling in price. Navigant predicts that batteries for plug-in hybrid electric vehicles in particular will fall 26% by the year 2020.

    (Image courtesy Nissan)

  • Audi Hybrid Vehicles Win Big at Le Mans

    For the first time in history, a hybrid vehicle has won at Le Mans 24 Hours. Audi fielded a team of four of its Audi R18 e-tron quattro hybrid vehicles, and the cars have taken first, second, third, and fifth place.

    “By achieving this further success at the world’s most important endurance race our engineers demonstrated their high technological expertise in a particularly impressive way,” said Rupert Stadler, chairman of the board of management of Audi. “With the e-tron quattro in combination with ultra lightweight design, we put a completely new technology on the grid and immediately won with it – this cannot be taken for granted by any means, particularly here at Le Mans. This weekend again showed the type of things that can happen in this race and how important perfect preparation is.”

    The hybrids were out of the lead for only a few laps on Saturday, when Toyota hybrid cars overtook them. When the Toyota vehicles were forced out of the race early, it was clear that the Audis, if they could stay in the race, would be the victors. Audi touted the electrically-driven axles of the cars, and stated that it is already testing the technology in some production vehicles, where the drive shaft has been replaced by electric cables.

    “This was a race of the kind you can arguably experience only at Le Mans,” said Audi Motorsport head Wolfgang Ullrich. “You should never rejoice too early at Le Mans, which was obvious again especially on Sunday noon. The whole world was already talking about a one-two-three-four victory and all of a sudden two of our cars had accidents almost simultaneously. That the squad repeatedly managed to repair the cars so quickly after the slips clearly speaks for Audi Sport Team Joest that can simply be banked on at Le Mans. On the whole, I can only take my hat off to the entire squad of Audi Sport that worked extremely hard for a year to make this triumph possible.”

    (photo courtesy Audi)