According to a report from Autocar UK, Renault and Mercedes are teaming up to design a new, modular small car platform that will form the basis for a new Smart Car, a new Renault City car and the upcoming Renault Twizy EV. In addition, the two companies are jointly developing new engine platforms to power these vehicles—well, the gas versions anyway.

Read more of this story »

I’ve been happy with all the recent efforts by European auto manufacturers to bring fuel-efficient diesels back to the States. From Volkswagen to Mercedes, diesels seem to be the new attempt at pleasing the US “green” crowd with classy, low-emissions fuel-sippers.

Reading that last sentence over, it seems funny to call them a “new attempt” because these high mileage diesels have been available to Europeans for a LONG time — but that’s another story.

So, while it’s debatable whether a gasoline-powered Prius at 40 mpg is more “green” than a diesel-powered Jetta at 40 mpg — it all has to do with how much of each type of fuel comes out of one barrel of oil — It’s a fact that having these new clean diesels as an option is certainly something the US has been lacking for a long time. And I appreciate having that option, I really do.

Read more of this story »

What you see above (center) is one of the most well-engineered “Franken-cars” of all time: a factory-modified 1980’s era Mercedes-Benz 190 diesel, stuffed with the company’s latest BlueEFFICIENCY CDI engine, which makes more than double the horsepower and nearly three times the torque of the original 1988 D.

How far we’ve come in 20 years!

More photos, and MBUSA’s own comprehensive press release, after the jump.

Read more of this story »

Mercedes has dipped its toes into the world of hydrogen power (video below) with the launch of its first-ever production fuel-cell vehicle, the B-class F-cell.

Read more of this story »

Read more of this story »

Last week, Toshiba and Volkswagen unveiled a partnership for developing next-gen electric car batteries.

Mostly known for laptop computers here in the States, Toshiba is the General Electric of Japan. They build everything from consumer electronics to nuclear power plant components.

Read more of this story »

Mercedes-Benz plans to unveil all electric plug-ins next month at the 2009 Detroit Auto Show, according to Hybrid Cars. All models go zero to sixty in under 11 seconds!

Read more of this story »

]]> http://gas2.org/2008/12/13/mercedes-to-unveil-all-electric-plug-ins-at-detroit-auto-show/feed/ http://gas2.org/2008/12/12/first-b100-biodiesel-station-opens-in-san-francisco/ http://gas2.org/2008/12/12/first-b100-biodiesel-station-opens-in-san-francisco/#comments Fri, 12 Dec 2008 17:44:36 +0000 Keith Rockmael http://gas2.org/2008/12/12/first-b100-biodiesel-station-opens-in-san-francisco/ In a supposed progressive green city, it won’t be until today that San Francisco finally gets its own biodiesel station – Dogpatch Biofuels. It’s been a long time in the making with permits, and inspections and the like. Hasn’t San Francisco seen biodiesel before? You’d think that they were dispensing nitroglycerin the way the approval process worked like molasses.

We’re not counting the Olympic Station that sells B20 to mostly fleet vehicles and trucks or the op-op that used to operate in SoMa. Here, we have an honest to goodness B100 (or rather B99.99999) biodiesel station for autos. All the Mercedes and converted vehicle owners can rejoice at not having to drive to the East Bay or San Mateo to fill up their tanks. Even better, we can all rejoice at the fact that the station owners get their fuel not from GMO corn or switchgrass or any food but rather from San Francisco’s own waste grease program, so we can all be proud when consuming those greasy fries.

Read more of this story »

]]> http://gas2.org/2008/12/12/first-b100-biodiesel-station-opens-in-san-francisco/feed/ http://inspiredeconomist.com/2008/11/07/germany-passes-tax-breaks-for-low-co2-emission-cars/ http://inspiredeconomist.com/2008/11/07/germany-passes-tax-breaks-for-low-co2-emission-cars/#comments Fri, 07 Nov 2008 12:40:26 +0000 Orion Kubow http://inspiredeconomist.com/2008/11/07/germany-passes-tax-breaks-for-low-co2-emission-cars/

Pay no attention to the latest financial news. It’s time to buy a new Mercedes!

This is the message that Europe’s largest economy hopes will catch on among its citizens as Europe slides into recession. Two of Germany’s biggest manufacturers, Daimler AG and BMW are reportedly experiencing their worst slump in sales since 2005. This has prompted Daimler to announce that it will close its Mercedes-Benz factory in Sindelfingen Germany, for five weeks. Hoping to avoid a calamity, the German government has passed a new set of tax breaks for cars which meet specific emissions standards. 
“With this package we’re helping the car industry and its workers and at the same time we’re doing something to protect the climate,” says German Economy Minister Michael Glos. The plan includes two years of tax exemption for Euro 5 and Euro 6 emissions standard vehicles and one year of exemption for Euro 4 emissions standard vehicles. (With Euro 1,2 and 3 cars no longer legal to purchase, the German government has effectively subsidized car buying).

Read more of this story »

]]> http://inspiredeconomist.com/2008/11/07/germany-passes-tax-breaks-for-low-co2-emission-cars/feed/ http://gas2.org/2008/10/31/tuners-look-to-hybrids-diesels-and-turbos-to-feed-customers-need-for-green-speed/ http://gas2.org/2008/10/31/tuners-look-to-hybrids-diesels-and-turbos-to-feed-customers-need-for-green-speed/#comments Fri, 31 Oct 2008 15:46:03 +0000 Jo Borras http://gas2.org/2008/10/31/tuners-look-to-hybrids-diesels-and-turbos-to-feed-customers-need-for-green-speed/ Editors Note: This is an industry perspective guest post by Jo A. Borras, who works for the Florida-based high performance tuning company RENNtech.

A summer full of record gas prices has changed the automotive landscape forever, with changing consumer demands and buying habits forcing automakers to quickly bring more fuel-efficient vehicles to market ahead of larger, less-efficient trucks and SUVs.

These changes have also brought issues of energy conservation and environmental responsibility from the “back-burner” to the very forefront of future car design — but one question that has been largely ignored by the mainstream media is how these changes will affect car enthusiasts who usually care more about horsepower and acceleration than economy and emissions.

Read more of this story »

]]> http://gas2.org/2008/10/31/tuners-look-to-hybrids-diesels-and-turbos-to-feed-customers-need-for-green-speed/feed/ http://gas2.org/2008/09/19/a-german-in-paris/ http://gas2.org/2008/09/19/a-german-in-paris/#comments Fri, 19 Sep 2008 18:52:33 +0000 Anthony Cefali http://gas2.org/2008/09/19/a-german-in-paris/ High-performance diesel engines, BluePerformance, and a hybrid oh my!  BMW is set to roll out the green at the Paris Auto show this year.  As the European Union tightens its emissions restrictions, everyone is expected to do their share to help clean up.

Read more of this story »

Editor’s Note: This post is a guest contribution by Anthony Cefali.

Idealism aside, the BlueEFFICIENCY technology at least green in nature. The four-cylinder 200 horsepower diesel engine keeps the performance integrity of a Mercedes vehicle with a 45 mile-per-gallon economy. I do not drive a Mercedes, probably never will, but I do feel that 0-60 in 7 seconds is respectable for a car that is meant to save gas (most Prius driver’s brag that their car will hit 60 in under ten seconds). The cars eco-rating is awfully high. It complies with the European Union’s current emissions standards and is expected to meet the next revision of standards as well. The engine is presently being equipped to its latest C250 model.

Read more of this story »

You look west to see a barren landscape, tumbleweed breezing lazily through the charred remains of a forest.  The rust laden skeleton of what used to be a city echoes the promise of a future long gone.  You are fighting out your days amidst gunfire and tribal warfare in armor composed of animal fur and long deserted hockey pads.  Ironically water isn’t the most important liquid on the planet that spins where the Earth once spun.  You begin to wash the grease smears off your face in a shallow pool…

…oh wait, am I jumping the gun here?

While our gas crises hasn’t quite reached ‘Mad Max’ proportions yet, things are close enough that the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers will make this September “Green Check-Up Month.” After countless years of making oversized and inefficient autos, Ford and Chevy are now going to tell us how to save gas.

Read more of this story »

Over the last few months, several big car makers, including Nissan, Subaru and Mitsubishi, have announced plans to produce all-electric cars before the end of the decade, or soon after. Now Daimler has announced that it to plans to jump on the growing EV bandwagon, with plans to roll-out a Mercedes-Benz electric car in 2010. According to Chief Executive Dieter Zetsche, the company also plans to offer an electric Smart car in the same year.

At this stage, it’s unclear whether the cars will be based on an existing model, or on a completely new platform. If the former, it’s likely that the Mercedes EV will be based on either an A-Class or B-Class, as is the case with their fuel-cell prototype (pictured below).

Read more of this story »

New diesels will get better mileage and have cleaner emissions than your average car. Pictured above: 2009 Jetta SportWagen 2L TDI Clean Diesel.

Later this year (see the timeline below), we will finally begin to see an influx of new model diesels in the United States. While diesels make up 50% of the market share of vehicles in Europe, they’re still trying to shrug off the stigma of being dirty, noisy beasts here in the US. So what changed?

Read more of this story »

At the 2008 Geneva Auto show, Mercedes debuted their new diesel-hybrid SUV, which gets a whopping 40-MPG. Add the latest in emissions-control technology, and this vehicle breaks the world’s record for lowest carbon-emitting SUV.

See the full story at Gas 2.0.

Mercedes plans to release a diesel-hybrid SUV capable of 40 miles per gallon, with cleaner emissions than your standard car. Demo’d at the 2008 Geneva Auto show, the SUV is built on Mercedes’ relatively new BlueTec emissions control technology—a combination of catalytic converters and advanced chemical processing that scrubs out the worst pollutants produced by the diesel engine.

The 4-cylinder, 214 horsepower engine will also break the world’s record for lowest carbon emissions (157 g/km) in an SUV.

The new Vision GLK BlueTec hybrid sports a standard hybrid-electric system: An electric motor seamlessly supplements the 2.2 liter diesel engine during fuel-intensive acceleration. Regenerative braking repowers the lithium-ion batteries, and start-stop technology shuts the motor off when the car is at a dead stop.

Read more of this story »

What lessons can be learned from this tiny car, that Europeans are calling Un-American?

When my husband and I look for a parking spot on the crowded Chicago streets, we often joke that our tiny Smart car would have many potential parking spots. Our joke can now become a reality as the Daimler Mercedes-Benz Smart car hits the American market. This car might help show Americans that bigger is not always better.

With nearly 1 million car sales in 36 countries, this car has made quite a splash over the last 10 years. The US Smart car will range in price from $11,590 to $16,590. In the US, there is a waiting list with 40,000 people who have forked out a $99 deposit. This exceeded the expectations of most, with many people doubting that the car will be popular on this side of the pond.

The car is a contradiction of everything that I think of as a typical American car. This two passenger car is a mere 106 inches in length and has a 3 cylinder engine. It gets about 40 miles per gallon, which I found slightly disappointing. Roughly half the length of an SUV, there are significant advantages to parking a car of this size.

Many people are calling for a cultural change to respond to the environmental challenges that face society. This car demonstrates European moderation, while providing a comfortable ride (for two). Could this car begin to undo the American mentality that bigger and more powerful is always better?

If nothing else, this car helps reduce the land area needed for parked cars and reduces the gas consumed to power it. The driving experience in urban areas is a bit more relaxed due to a larger choice of parking spots and increased mobility through congested areas.

It is too early to tell how popular this car will be in the US, or if we are willing to give up size and power for convenience and savings.

>> Related: ZPM’s 106 MPG Air Car Could Hit the Streets Next Year