Green Options

Nissan has announced plans to sell compact hybrid vehicles based on its own technology in Japan, starting from 2011.

The Japanese outfit intends to make a low-cost, compact powertrain featuring an integrated electric motor providing supplemental power to the main gasoline engine. Energy will be provided by high-performance lithium-ion batteries.

According to Nissan the hybrids should be more than twice as fuel efficient as the equivalent gas-powered offerings.

Tesla Motors Inc. has selected BorgWarner Inc. for the production of a single-speed gearbox for the Tesla Roadster and is initiating a ramped-up production rate.

Tesla engineers developed the specifications for the new gearbox and provided them to BorgWarner. The new powertrain delivers about 30% higher motor torque on a single gear ratio, and it achieves a 10% higher EPA combined range.

The Roaster torque will be increased to 280 foot-pounds, while the EPA rated range of the car will increase to 244 miles, up from 221 miles. The quarter-mile time for the car is now in the 12.9 second range.