The Top Five Finalists for the Green Car of the Year Award

March 27, 2012 :: Posted by - admin :: Category - Green Cars

The manufacturers know that when they join in the LA Auto show, they are indeed participating in one of the most eco-conscious events in the world. Just recently, the journal for green cars has just announced the Green Car Award of the Year in the City of Angels. 
The finalists actually came with different powertrains to contest and these include diesel, electric, natural gas, and hybrid. With all these characteristics, it has been proven that any of them can somewhat appealing and encouraging to all eco-friendly car drivers out there. The Top 5 Finalists are as follow:
Volkswagen Passat TDI
In the United States, Volkswagen is considered as one of the producers of eco-friendly cars. The green car community returns the favor as the TDI model has been perennially included in different eco concerns’ top choices. Although TDI didn’t win the title, at least it took home the Motor Trend 2012 Car of Year Award.
Mitsubishi i
The Mitsubishi i EV have been selling in the market of Japan since the year 2009 and it was in its side and longer form. This car is powered by a synchronous electrical motor and a pack of lithium-ion battery at 16 kwph. Its range is estimated at 62 miles but you get the assurance that you only get to consume a little energy on that testing. Priced at only $27,900, this car is several thousand lower than the popular Nissan Leaf.
Toyota Prius V
The list of green car finalists isn’t complete without Toyota Prius V. This model is practically considered as the grandfather of the modern powertrain vehicle. Prius is always included in green car journals and rivals many different types of small SUVs and crossovers.
Ford Focus Electric
EV enthusiasts cheered the moment Ford has announced its plans for its electric version of the popular Focus car. With the onboard charger, Ford Focus Electric is always on the go.
Honda Civic Natural Gas: The Winner
Honda Civic Natural Gas has bested the other finalists for the Green Car of the Year Award this year. There are many reasons why this car has garnered an almost synonymous verdict from the judges:
- It comes with the cleanest internal engine for combustion that has been certified by EPA
- Its natural gas is compressed and clean; it is almost domestically produced
- Designed to offer efficiency in a way that the driver needs not to pay much attention on it.

Get Ready for Natural Gas Powered Cars

March 23, 2012 :: Posted by - admin :: Category - Green Cars

With volatile gas prices, it is expected to see natural gas powered cars on the road sooner than estimated. Automakers are getting ready to make use of the blooming prospects of natural gas production and the proposed tax credits and go all out for future production.
Chrysler is leading the pack when it starts to sell its Ram 2500 Heavy-duty pick-up said to be running on compressed natural gas. The heavy-duty truck pick up has tanks for gasoline and natural gas with automatic shifting provision in its engines. The dashboard contains gauges for both fuels.
On the other hand GM is also set to sell its first natural gas powered car -Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Siera 2500 HD giving Chrysler an early competition. Ford Motors has been unchallenged since 2009 with its natural-gas ready pick-ups is now heading for more improvements to beat competitions.
Natural gas has been the favorite alternative for highly priced gasoline. It is deemed as the solution in importation issues as sources are from domestic grounds. Natural gas is seen as good fuel alternatives with 30% less green house gas emission making it eco-friendlier. Natural gas is also cheaper than other fuel like diesel and gasoline. The United Sates has abundant source of natural gas and production is much cheaper making it a cheap alternative fuel supply.
But natural gas are not that attractive to U.S. consumers as there is still less numbers of fueling stations making it a hard to find fuel source. Most fuel stations are owned by local government and private fleet owners. These fleet owners are the priority of these filing stations. Another reason is that there is a limited choice as there is only one Car Company that is dedicated to natural gas powered car. Honda, a Japanese carmaker has been the sole distributor of natural gas-cars in the U.S.
The cost of additional fuel tanks and parts also hinder the attractiveness of natural gas powered cars. A natural gas built car also has high price tags of $26,000 for Civic. Although GM is not giving hints on the price of its Ram version, observers predict it could be on the upscale class. The coast of conversion is also high and a cost of $18,000 to convert one car to natural gas is a lot of money on the part of the vehicle owners.
Critics of gasoline are predicting that with all the things going around the importation and uncontrollable high price of gasoline, natural gas has a big chance to provide the best solution. However, car critics riveted by saying as long as the high price sticks for a long time, carmakers will always be on the lookout for the best alternative solutions.

Thinking Back the Scientific Discipline of Green Cars

March 13, 2012 :: Posted by - admin :: Category - Green Cars

Environmental-friendly concepts are the nation’s long-term aim to fight global warming crisis in our surroundings. Survey poll has measured and stated that our earth is dying slowly due to the exponential increase of fuel-emission gases, pollution and other toxic waste. The focus delineates vehicle exhaust as well as industrial factories, which contributes a broad impact to air pollution harming the ecodiversity of life. Thus, we are grateful that technology has intruded to the convergence of reducing detrimental unpleasant gas and thereby make use of hybridized electric-powered engines in the auto industry.

Because green cars did not grasp the attention of automotive previously, it was diesel and other burning-fuel emissions that utilize one of the basic aspects to get the engines running. Probably history did criticize the use of car batteries and electric engines towards the aerodynamic mechanics in automobiles that are too costly. It will take years before drivers can accommodate the price of using such expensive speculations.  Not long enough, automobile researchers and car specialists have brought back the idea of implementing “green” to vehicles at an affordable expense.

Alternative methods including power electric motors, fuel cells and renewable sources (biofuel) are currently exploited in modern motifs of green cars and contemporary hybrid autos today.

In discussion of the emergence of General Motors Production in 1996, the company developed a concept of using electric vehicle for the purpose of leasing it at an affordable price. It was the Alternating-Current (AC) motor and battery packs (lead-acid and nickel-metal hydride) that stroke drivers to utilize efficient energy-saving mechanics. Even though charging would take 6 to 8 long hours, it managed to accelerate at a speed to 80 mph. However, GM EV-1 vehicles were eradicated later after generating more than a thousand units of vehicles.

As technology advances in the use of various economical batteries, the science of lithium-ion battery is born. It has been discovered that lithium-based batteries are more efficient than other ionic elements. For instance, Reva Electric Car Company is presently producing G-Wiz lithium-ion batteries with exquisite specs for an urban rear wheel drive. L-ion brand produces top speed up to 51 mph and is much lighter than previous G-Wiz battery model.

The new generation of hybrid and green cars continue to take the trend in automotive industry and bring many drives to the test. Fuel cell powered cars, on the other hand, uses proton exchange membrane (PEM) that effectively put an interest in using compressed hydrogen, methanol or catalyzed hydride-sodium agents to run under various auto brands.

Toyota RAV 4 is already using this fuel-cell efficient battery to drive at an incredible range of 500 kph while GM Zafira can reach 300 miles during its actual test drive.

Audi’s A2 2004 motif automobile design has infused the use of a 66 kilowatt fuel-cell hybrid ranging at 137 mph whereas the prestigious Ford Explorer consumed hybrid battery production streaming at 560 kph.

Are Green Cars For You?

March 12, 2012 :: Posted by - admin :: Category - Green Cars

Green cars are eco-friendly vehicles scientifically adjusted and equipped with features that make it produce a less harmful impact to the environment in comparison with the usual internal combustion, gasoline or diesel-fed engines.  It is the same term used for LEVs, ULEVs, zero emission cars, low-carbon emission cars, and any other means of transportation, which exceeds the Euro6 average. Run on alternative types of fuels and/or highly developed engine technologies, green cars list includes clean diesel trucks and vans, natural gas vehicles, flexible-fuel vehicles, fuel-cell and hydrogen-powered vehicles, battery electric vehicles, hybrid electric vehicles, and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles. 
However, because of the high level of technology applied on green cars, the cost of buying them has gone up exponentially. A hybrid car will be within the vicinity of $20,000 to $30,000 higher than its conventional counterpart. This has compelled a lot of people to mull over the efficiency of green cars and if the advantages that it presents are worth the extra costs that buying it entails. The truth is, there can be no standard computation that can be made to ascertain whether the payback for a green car’s augmentation cost is matches the value of its use. There are so many variables that need to be taken into consideration and the answers will be derived only on a case-to-case basis.  Some of the elements that will form part of that consideration include the erratic fuel prices, the ever-changing government incentives on the purchase of green cars, the retail price of hybrids or green cars, the vehicle’s fuel operating cost per mile, and other wild card factors like hybrid car additional perks. In addition, you cannot ignore the fact that people differ in their driving habits and one’s driving style has a direct impact on the car’s fuel consumption and longevity.
Nevertheless, despite all the skepticism on green cars and their efficacy, its benefits are undisputed. Green cars greatly reduce one’s dependence on oil. Plus, nobody would be able to contest that hybrid cars help reduce the world’s pollutants and that, in itself, is its own reward. No one can also contest the immediate savings on fuel consumption when one uses a green car. With the ever-increasing cost of gasoline prices showing no end, the resale value of green cars are amazingly high and it is setting a trend that is set to last for a very long time.