Author Archive
Time Magazine’s 50 Best Inventions of the Year – including 3 electric cars!
Time Magazine, in a November 2008 special edition, celebrated what it sees as the fifty most important inventions of the year, including some green motoring items.
Credit crunch may delay Joule production plans
It seems that the global financial crisis will delay the mass production of the Optimal Energy Joule, on which GreenCars recently reported. The company is in need of some €100m (some R1.3bn) in investment to start the building of an assembly plant.
Optimal Energy CEO Kobus Meiring told Reuters: “It is unfortunate that at the same […]
A diesel Cayenne (!), and other green things coming from Porsche
The German sportscar maker Porsche AG is following a rather unorthodox method of cutting the average emissions of its fleet. Where most other producers of large-engines niche vehicles are looking at alternative fuels (like an ethanol powered Koenigsegg) or scaling down engine capacities (like the Ferrari Millechili concept), Porsche is hoping that another manufacturer’s green […]
South African Gordon Murray’s T25 City Car (2010)
Most of us motoring buffs know about local boy Gordon Murray making it big in F1 design a few years back. Friend Gordon then left the racing scene to focus on something more .., well … affordable. After starting Gordon Murray Design (GMD) in Surrey, England, his team of 29 set out to revolutionise the […]
Plug-in VW Golf Hybrid by 2010
Volkswagen last week introduced a plug-in hybrid Golf, a diesel-electric model slated for global launch in 2010-11. “The automaker is staking a claim to that future with a plug-in hybrid drive train it calls Twin Drive.
SA vehicles to get standardised fuel consumption figures … hold the applause
So, from 1 July 2008 every new passenger car sold will have to sport a fuel economy info sheet in the showroom. As part of the Department of Minerals and Energy’s (DME) Energy Efficiency Accord, all new cars, SUV’s and MPV’s (apparently not light commercials…) will need to undergo standardised fuel economy testing to ensure […]
The business of green transport is making headlines
We all know that going green is big business. Big enough, in fact, to reach the pages of business newspapers every week - if not every day. In the Tuesday 17 June edition of Business Day, a double page spread focussing on international company news had no fewer than four reports on international companies meddling […]
General Motors is going green (really!), according to CEO Wagoner
2010 is not only a big year for global sports (South Africa hosts the Soccer World Cup), but also for the automotive world. Big changes are planned for the US motor industry, with planned launches of small cars – the Ford Fiesta and a string of Fiats (mist likely the 500) – on the cards. […]
Antonov pioneering 2-speed supercharger = better performance, low fuel consumption
Volkswagen / Audi and BMW are just some of the companies that are looking towards using smaller forced-induction engines to reduce fuel consumption and emissions while keeping performance at current standards. This is done by the use of turbo or super chargers, or a combination of both. BMW recently won the World Car of the […]
Why Paul McCartney dislikes his free Lexus LS600h
Beatle Sir Paul McCartney is seen as quite a green fellow. In fact, he has done so much for the promotion of green motoring that Lexus decided to give him a brand spanking new LS600h – for free. This luxury sedan is not yet available in South Africa, but will set you back around £84,000 […]
