Ford's first hybrid-only model as a minibus in 2012, optional plug

C-Max as a hybrid-only model in the US

Later this year, Toyota will launch the Prius V, a larger minivan-like Prius. Next year, Ford will launch its own minivan-like hybrid, the C-Max, and it will be Ford's first hybrid-only model, at least in the us.

Currently, Ford offers the C-Max in Europe and planned to offer a version of the 7-passenger gasoline powered C-Max in the us. Ford has since decided to focus on a hybrid-only version instead for the American market.

Unfortunately, early details are still a little vague. The hybrid 41 mpg + C-Max will be a hybrid version of the 5-passenger European C-Max, or the version of the 7-passenger originally intended for the US? My source, the DetroitNews, wasn't clear. But the 5-passenger version seems the most likely candidate.

For example, last year announced the Ford C-Max hybrids and plug-in hybrids in Spain starting in 2013 on the basis of the version 5-passenger to build. Since Ford's "one Ford" strategy aims seems commonality across platforms and countries, a 7-seat version unlikely in the short term. It's just not very one-ish (and an updated visit to Ford's website confirmed that the C-Max hybrid and plug-in hybrids will be based on the 5-seat European C-Max).

Nevertheless, I would leave to see a version 7-seat, as such a vehicle the book on minibuses can really rewrite.

Anyway, in addition to the hybrid C-Max, the C-Max Energi plug-in hybrid is also due out in 2012. Both vehicles will be built next to the Ford Focus, including the electric version, and both vehicles will use lithium-ion batteries.

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Amp delivers the first electric Mercedes-Benz ML conversion

Rich Sajdak for Amp Electric VehiclesPictured on Wednesday, from left to right, Steve Burns, Amp Chairman and co-founder; Gisli Gislason, Northern Lights energy Chairman and chief executive; Jim Taylor, Amp chief executive; and Sturla Sighvatsson, Director of the Northern Lights energy.

Like Elon Musk, the chief executive of Tesla Motors, learned during the filming of "Revenge of the Electric Car", is the development of a et seq. of the ground up a priceless exercise. Amp electric vehicles, an Ohio company that the guts of combustion engines passenger cars removes and replaces them with electric motors, says that it is a more feasible way to et seq. of on the road, even if the roads are almost an ocean away.

On Wednesday morning at his showroom and production complex in Cincinnati Amp executives handed the keys of an electric Mercedes-Benz ML 350 at the company's latest and greatest client, Gisli Gislason, President and chief executive of Northern Lights energy, a utility in Iceland. The luxury s.u.v. is the first vehicle to be produced in a five-year contract between the two companies, during which Amp expects to send 1000 et seq. of the island nation.

Amp has transposed only General Motors passenger cars, mainly depending on the Chevrolet Equinox crossover if the donor vehicle. Of the ML proportions are similar to that of the Equinox, which in the conversion, especially for the company 900-pound battery unit helped.

"We retain a split battery pack to keep the weight balance is roughly equal to the original manufacturer's specification," said Steve Burns, President and co-founder of Amp, in a telephone interview. "We can even the center of gravity a bit to give it better handling reduce."

The worldwide distribution of the ML was also a consideration for Amp. It is a car of the world, so it all European and American crash safety tests passed, "he said. "That's it for part of our approach; We should not worry about developing a defroster or a wiper. "

Amp is not committing exclusively to the ML as its future platform, nor to lock a contract with a battery supplier (Mr. Burns refused to the current supplier of the batteries). This is a benefit of the company business model, said Mr. Burns. "We have a five-year contract, so you can imagine what batteries during that time will do," he said. "We try to be battery agnostic."

Mr. Burns estimates that the ML 100 miles on a charge in pure highway driving, which compares favorably with the estimated range of the Nissan leaf, despite the ML with a weight of almost 2000 pounds must travel more than the pure electric Nissan.

Although mainly electricity provider of Northern Lights will function as a distribution channel of the Amp vehicles. Mr. Gislason works to secure orders from businesses, municipalities and individual buyers in Iceland, which, according to Mr. Gislason, easy to quarry.

"Gasoline is about $ 8 per gallon right now, and Iceland has low import duties on et seq. of," he said in a telephone interview. "A Mercedes s.u.v. would, in fact, to import the same price, plus you would have to purchase gas. For us it is a no brainer. "

Iceland also generates much of its electricity through hydro-electric and geothermal sources, thereby reducing the cost-benefit analysis of E.V. operation, he said.

The tool for the agreement with Amp is not exclusive, so that Northern Lights partners with other manufacturers E.V. conceivably could be. However, the Lord Gislason don't expect rapid action. "Amp can deliver our cars. Today, she gave us a real car. We are not told by a large manufacturer, ' Oh, there's a delay. We get them now. "

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Saab first E.V. program with funding in Flux, awaits her fate

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The Saab ePower, a purely electric vehicle based on the 9-3 Sport Combi-wagon.

Saab's head engineer partnership with the Chinese manufacturer Hawtai Motor Group, announced on May 3, would have brought 120 million euros ($ 171 million) to the ailing Swedish car maker. The deal, however, fell apart, leaving Saab's head engineer future as murky as it was when it first halted vehicle production more than a month ago. Also left in flux is Saab's head engineer ePower electric vehicle program.

The transatlantic partnership paired Saab with Boston-Power, a Massachusetts-based battery developer that supplies the Asian market for electric scooters and bicycles, as well as the computer industry. In a bit of incidental symmetry, Boston-Power is headed by a Swedish woman, Christina Lampe-Onnerud.

"Saab's head engineer financial situation hasn't affected the electric car program at all," said Dr. Lampe-Onnerud in a telephone interview conducted before the Hawtai deal dissolved. "Both companies are determined to bring a really great E.V., with high-performance batteries to the market, as soon as possible." Through a spokeswoman, she declined to comment on the collapse of the Hawtai partnership.

Michele Tinson, a spokeswoman for Saab, said in a telephone interview on Thursday that if the car maker secures its long-term financing, the E.V. project will go forward.

The Saab ePower, which was first shown at the Paris auto show last fall and is based on the Saab 9-3 Sport Combi wagon, initially would be built in a run of 70 vehicles. This would constitute a vanguard test fleet, which would take part in field trials in Sweden scheduled to start this year and extend into 2012.

Boston-PowerDr. Lampe-Onnerud, with the Saab chairman Victor Muller, at the 2010 Paris auto show, where the Saab ePower was introduced.

Families in Sweden would be enlisted to test the cars, and data collected in what Saab describes as "aircraft-style black box recorders." A few test cars could also come to the United States, but Dr. Lampe-Onnerud said those plans were not firm.

The ePower is equipped with a 135-kilowatt electric motor, the equivalent of a 184-horsepower gas engine, which drives the front wheels and is powered by Boston-power's style 35.5-kWh lithium-ion battery pack, with cells made at the company's factory in Taiwan. Saab claims the wagon accelerates from zero to 62 m.p.h. in 8.5 seconds to a top speed of 93 m.p.h. It was expected to have a range of 124 miles.

Despite the cold winters in Sweden, Boston-Power claims its air-cooled batteries can perform in temperatures as low as-35 Centigrade, and in European testing, retained full power at-20 Centigrade.

Readying the car for its Paris offers his show debut made for some sleepless nights, Dr. Lampe-Onnerud said, an ordeal justified by the finished car. "Saab is getting more inquiries on the ePower than it can reasonably fill," she said. "There is a longing in the Saab crowd to see an electric car with all the features they know and love. This is not a compromised vehicle. "

Saab is in talks to revive its deal with Hawtai and reportedly is also negotiating with another Chinese auto maker, Great Wall Motors. Vladimir Antonov, the Russian investor, is another possible savior.

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