Fuels and powertrains
Prince Charles converts sports car to run on wine
Thanks to Johan over at Arniston Bay for the following article:
Prince Charles has converted his vintage Aston Martin car, given to him on his 21st birthday by Queen Elizabeth II, to run on English wine, a spokesperson said.
The move, part of the prince’s green drive to reduce by 12.5% his carbon footprint up to 2012, […]
Better Place heads to Australia
We’ve talked a bit about Better Place before - the brainchild of ex-SAP honcho, Shai Agassi. Not content with simply rolling out in Israel, Better Place has recently added Denmark and now Australia to their expansion program.
Green Car Congress has posted an in-depth article about the details of Better Place’s move to Aussie.
Better Place is […]
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 […]
Mazda: 30% more efficient fleet by 2015
Internal combustion engines may not be around forever but they’re certainly going to be the most common propulsion systems on our roads for many years to come, so it’s always good news to hear that automakers are making good progress in terms of ICE efficiency and emissions reductions. Recently, Mazda has announced the exciting […]
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 […]
Hybrid / hydrogen drive does not signal death of manual transmission!
Take a look at the hybrids currently on sale in the world, from Toyota, Honda, General Motors (in the US only) and Ford, as well as concept hydrogen powered cars. Almost all are equipped with automatic transmissions, most of which are of the continuous variable transmission (CVT) kind found locally in a few Audi’s and […]
Saving the world … one gear at a time.
Decades ago cars were produced with gear boxes offering only three or four forward gears. These days, high-end models can offer up to seven or eight gears. Volkswagen is following suite, and is upgrading its Direct Shift Gearbox (DSG) from a six speed to a seven speed. This implies many fuel saving opportunities for the […]
RNRF plans biodiesel plant in Coega
Australian-owned Rainbow Nation Renewable Fuels (RNRF) is in the final stages of securing a government license to manufacture biodiesel at Coega-based plant. RNRF has secured an 80-year lease from the Coega Development Corporation (CDC) for 40 hectares of a new industrial development zone near Port Elizabeth.
Food vs. Fuel – a summary in the South African context
The two questions behind viable biofuel production have always been: Can we make it and can we sell it? At present, the answer is a double YES! Tremendous technological developments, both in producing the fuels and developing applications therefore, as well as global oil prices heading above $100 for a barrel, this is the time […]
Zimbabwe opens the 5th largest biofuels plant in the world
A new biofuel plant has just been opened 15km north of Harare. It was funded by capital from Zimbabwean and South Korean companies and is estimated to save the country about 80 million barrels of foreign oil each year.
The plant will use soy, wheat and sunflower seeds. <sarcasm>Good thing there’s a food surplus in Zim, […]
