Green

Infiniti doesn’t want you to look at the Project Black S prototype and ooh and ah over its looks. It’s a Q60 with an aero makeover. No, Infiniti created the Project Black S as a technological showpiece, due to be revealed Monday in the periphery of the Paris auto show. Beneath its hood is what Infiniti’s mulling for the sportier side of its electrified future. The prototype incorporates a hybrid system that finds energy at every turn — not just from regenerative braking, but exhaust gasses, too. While mashing the throttle of an internal combustion vehicle is hardly the greenest way to generate electricity, drivers looking for added boost likely won’t mind. For this harbinger of hybrids to come, Infiniti adopted technology developed by the Renault Sport Formula One team. The “dual-hybrid” setup incorporates three motor-generators: one harvesting kinetic energy from braking, with two others drawing power from exhaust gasses generated by the … [Read more...] about Back to Black: Infiniti’s New Concept Is All About What’s Under the Hood

While popularity varies among brands, hybrids remain a tough sell in today’s marketplace, despite half of all automaker-produced literature going towards the touting of their environmental cred. Still, few automakers stand apart from the crowd by not offering a green vehicle of some sort, even if it’s a low-volume, rarely-heard-about offering aimed at satisfying the EPA. Infiniti, which recently deep-sixed its Q70 Hybrid (not long after jettisoning the QX60 Hybrid), has now done the same with the gas-electric version of the Q50 midsize sedan. It’s a confusing product time at Infiniti, with new models arriving as others depart. This isn’t the end of green vehicles for Nissan’s luxury marque, however. Hybrid power will return, just not in the same form. Green Car Reports broke the OEM-confirmed news late last week. With the Q50 Hybrid discontinued, Infiniti finds itself among a small number of automakers without an electrified vehicle. We singled out Mazda … [Read more...] about Infiniti Joins Mazda in the Hybrid-free Zone

Exclusivity is not a word often associated with Hyundai, and with good reason. Like Nissan (but even more so), Hyundai’s reputation is built on a foundation of mass-produced vehicles with inherent value. And, even in the world of green cars, it seems that game plan can’t change. So, it’s no surprise to see Hyundai take a hatchet to the price of its 2018 Sonata Plug-in Hybrid. In dropping the model’s entry price by $1,350 and adding one mile of electric driving range, Hyundai hopes it’s enough to attract the attention of would-be buyers. It needs to. In June, the model sat at 21st place on the public’s PHEV shopping list. Starting now, a Sonata PHEV will set you back $33,350 before a $885 destination charge, while the Limited model grows $250 to $38,850 before destination. For the base sticker, you’ll see the same 2.0-liter inline four and 50 kWh electric motor, the latter of which is good for 67 horsepower. The transmission remains a six-speed … [Read more...] about Plug-in or Not, Hyundai Doesn’t Want to be Seen as the Expensive Choice

The second-generation Volvo XC90 announced the brand’s confident and triumphant return to the forefront of automotive discourse. With its parental troubles behind it, the 2015 model year XC90 arrived with dignified, upscale sheetmetal and served as a styling template for future models like the S90 and XC60. It also heralded the brand’s move towards downsized powerplants assisted by electric motors. The company’s CEO, Hakan Samuelsson, sees a not-too-distant future where plug-in hybrids make up a quarter of its sales — an attainable goal on a global scale, given China and Europe’s fondness for such models. In the United States, though, Volvo’s plug-in XC90 — lately, anyway — seems to be headed in the opposite sales direction as its plug-free model. Slightly odd, as plug-in hybrids are ascendent in America.Speaking to Automotive News Europe, Samuelsson discussed the brand’s recent growth – not just in global sales, but … [Read more...] about Volvo Boss Predicts a Plug-in-filled Future, but Americans Don’t Seem That Keen on the Brand’s Biggest Greenie

future plans to produce electric cars starting from 2020. Newly revealed information details the Dyson plan further: there will be a halo car first, and it will be followed by two less expensive models.Initial information said that Dyson's vehicles would be powered by solid-state batteries, but according to the Financial Times, that appears to not be the case for the first vehicle to launch. Instead, the first car would be a lithium-ion powered limited edition of less than 10,000 units, and it would work as a trial run for Dyson to really get into EV car manufacturing. The company confirmed to Autocar that Ann Marie Sastry, the executive known for solid-state battery technology has left the company late last year, but Dyson would not disclose whether this has had an effect on the future battery pack choice for the first vehicle.Behind Ann Marie Sastry's original embarking on the Dyson project was Dyson's acquisition of Sakti3, a solid-state battery company in Ann Arbor, Michigan. The … [Read more...] about Dyson’s electric car venture to be three-part