MyCar is electric vehicle of the year ,that's NICE

Now from the sublime to the ...well, let's say more practical considerations for most of us on the road ,who though wowed by the excitement of the racing circuit, nevertheless need some more modest form of transportation in their daily life. What better than the recently acclaimed electric city car of the year produced by the people at the NICE Car Company, the Italian-styled two seater MyCar. Starting from £8,995 the environmentally-friendly and very economical Mycar comes with batteries included.

NICE stands for No Internal Combustion Engine . This means that the MyCar when running produces no CO2 or other emissions, and at 2p per mile, no road tax,and no congestion charge in London it is light on motoring costs.

First launched at the London Motor Show in July, MyCar was last week given the electric vehicle of the year award by GreenFleet. The car was chosen by GreenFleet for its stylish and functional design,low running costs and its perceived contribution to increasing the appeal of electric cars to city drivers. It will be in the UK next month. 

For further details go to the NICE website where you will also see the rest of the company's range of all-electric cars,vans and motorcyles which are on sale in the UK today. Click here.

The Fab  908 HDi FAP hybrid racer from Peugeot

Last weekend saw the outing at Silverstone of Peugeot Sport's impressive 908 low emission racing car. As hybrid cars go this is a truly beautiful looking vehicle - but then I can't resist posting about a racing car every now and again, when I can.

The 908 HY's technology features a kinetic energy recovery system in its hybrid power plant, which enables a significant amount of the kinetic energy generated while braking to be either recovered or stored. This energy, otherwise lost in a non-hybrid car, is used to reduce fuel consumption of  3-5 per cent without loss of performance.

The Peugeot 908 is a racing demonstrator which can operate in either electric mode or with internal combustion engine only, or a combination of both. During the course of a race saved energy can be used to deliver extra power, or to reduce fuel consumption. This is achieved from a system comprising a 60kW gear-driven electric motor-generator (in place of the conventional starter motor), 10 battery packs housing 600 lithium-ion cells, and an electronic power converter to control the flow of energy from batteries to motor-generator.

Peugeot hope to use the 908 as part of an endurance racing programme (including such as the Le Mans series, the final round of which was held at Silverstone last weekend) both for serious competition and as a research and development tool benefiting its brand of production cars. Whether Peugeot will be allowed to use its groundbreaking technology in 2009 will depend on new regulations to be published by the Automobile Club de l'Quest. Let's hope this exciting car, and others like it, will be racing and helping boost the  future motor production of low emission cars.

 

Buy soon  into the concept of sub-100g/km CO2 emissions with the Golf BlueMotion

Around mid-2009,the new concept Volkswagen Golf BlueMotion will go on sale. With a 1.6 litre TDi common rail diesel engine, this Golf will be spare on fuel at a combined 74.3 mpg ,while only emitting 99g/km of CO2. Its performance and economy matches the Polo BlueMotion which is one of the most fuel efficient cars on sale today.

Even in standard non-BlueMotion form, the new Golf with a 2.0-litre TDi 110 PS common rail engine will achieve a combined cycle 62.mpg and emissions of only 119 g/km of CO2. This model will be available from next January.

These models obtain their efficiency gains from energy-saving changes to drivetrain and aerodynamics. Low rolling resistance tyres and revised ratios in the five speed gearbox also help to reduce the loading on the engine.

It is good to see that as with every other diesel in the new Golf range the BlueMotion concept is fitted with a  particulate filter.

Proton applies ecoLogic with new LPG/petrol dual fuel car range

The Proton GEN-2 range just got bigger with two new additions to the family - two dual models able to run on either liquefied  petroleum gas (LPG) or petrol.

The new ecoLogic GEN-2 is priced the same as the petrol-only equivalent. So in effect you can begin saving money immediately without the extra cost of converting (between £1,500-£2,000) to LPG running.  Autogas say there is an immediate saving in fuel costs of upto 40% using LPG. Fleet News supports this, based on an average mileage of 10,000 miles and prices of £1.12 and 58p of petrol and LPG respectively.

So is this a tried and tested alternative fuel for a car? Well,there are over 140,000 vehicles in the UK currently using LPG, and 11 million vehicles worldwide. Although the UK number seems in low proportion to the total of all vehicles running on LPG, the infrastructure for re-fuelling has had to develop from a low base. Now,it is becoming much easier to fill-up on LPG. There are currently some 1,400 re-fuelling outlets in the UK,mainly at motorway service stations and supermarkets.

As well as being cheaper to run the Proton ecoLogic GEN-2 offers a more eco-friendly alternative to petrol and diesel. As an alternative,the makers say it produces 15-20% lower emissions of CO2,and also it emits fewer particulates and less nitrous oxide. LPG is a by-product of the crude oil refining process, and so should be in plentiful supply.

As well as providing these cost saving and environmentally-friendly benefits, Proton are marketing a 1.6-litre saloon and a hatchback version to a high specification, including as standard, reverse distance sensors,electric front and rear windows,automatic central locking,air conditioning and pollen filter, and alloy wheels.

The dual operation is not complicated. From ignition ,the engine runs on petrol switching to LPG when it is most efficient to do so, usually after about 20 seconds. Faced with the need to keep costs down, you could do well to look at the Proton GEN-2 ecoLogic range of cars.In the showrooms from this month,the hatchback is priced at £10,995,the saloon £10,795.

Next up, soon, the Volkswagen Golf Bluemotion which is likely to make a stir.

 

With the all-new lower emissions Ford Fiestas come better insurance rates and residual values

Ford have announced that the high-tech all-new Fiesta will go on sale next month with insurance groups the same or lower than the outgoing model. Data provider CAP is also said to have set the new Fiesta's residual value with an average rise of 7.9 per cent.

These are bonus savings in addition to an already impressive increase in power,lower emissions and a range of big-car features. The Fiesta,priced at from just £8,696, will be £155 cheaper than its equivalent previous generation entry model. A typical residual value increase is expected of £1,000. Across the range the savings could be from £700 for the Zetec 1.4 litre TDCi to £1,175 for the Titanium 1.6-litre petrol model. Insurance savings could be around £40 with three models having the same insurance group and all the others a lower one. The 1.6 litre Zetec drops from 6E to 4E, say Ford.

I made an earlier post on the all-new Fiesta on August 9th if you wish to refer back (the picture above is of the ECOnetic model of the Fiesta).You can also click on at the Green-Car-Guide web site.