Range Extending
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A look under the hood of Mazda’s future includes a patchwork of “what if” possibilities and a series of juggled timelines. Mazda is in a tough spot right now with regulators and in finding its place across many global markets. Part of the issue is that Mazda is considered an Intermediate-size manufacturer and subject to California’s ZEV mandate, requiring a certain percentage of its sales volume to be electric cars, plug-in hybrids, or hydrogen vehicles. Unlike some other small or intermediate carmakers, it doesn’t have any overarching major-automaker...
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Mazda rotary engine may find new life in self-driving Toyota e-Palette project
Mazda's famed rotary engine may spin once again. The automaker confirmed the development of a range-extending rotary engine with Toyota for use in a shared future project. Toyota revealed the e-Palette concept on Monday at the 2018 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. The vehicle, a...
Sean Szymkowski -
Mazda all but confirms rotary range extender engine for electric car
How Mazda plans to integrate plug-in hybrid and battery-electric vehicles into its range of increasingly efficient gasoline and diesel models is a topic that interests parts of the global auto industry. In 2019, the small Japanese maker will offer a combustion-engine technology never before...
John Voelcker -
UPS electric van with fuel-cell range extender to be tested in California
Considerable skepticism remains that passenger vehicles powered by hydrogen will become a major part of U.S. sales any time soon—or ever. Quietly, however, analysts suggest that hydrogen may provide a solution to the different challenges of producing zero-emission heavy trucks and delivery...
John Voelcker -
Electric jet startup is backed by Boeing and JetBlue
Seattle-based startup Zunum Aero has received funding from Boeing HorizonX and JetBlue Technology Ventures toward making its dream of electrified air travel a reality. Sometimes billed as the Tesla of the airplane industry, Zunum is developing a relatively small regional aircraft with about 700...
Green Car Reports -
Mazda's electric car gets patents for rotary range-extender engine
Recent patent filings suggest Mazda’s next Wankel engine will equip a battery-powered car, not a rear-wheel drive heir to emblematic sports coupes like its RX-7 and RX-8. Mazda has invested more time and money into the rotary engine than any other automaker, so executives are reluctant to let...
Green Car Reports -
Mazda may launch an electric car in 2019.
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Workhorse range-extended electric pickup truck announced for future
Workhorse plans to launch an extended-range electric pickup truck in 2018.
Stephen Edelstein -
Range-extended electric Nissan Note to launch in November?
An extended-range electric Nissan Note will launch in Japan in November, according to a new report.
Stephen Edelstein -
Peugeot tests Aquarius Engines electric-car range extender
PSA Peugeot Citroën is testing electric-car range extenders from Israeli startup Aquarius.
Stephen Edelstein -
Ultra-Efficient BMW Four-Seat Plug-In Hybrid For Research Only, Not Sales: Report
The limited-production Volkswagen XL1 ultra-economy two-seater gets astounding fuel efficiency from its two-cylinder diesel plug-in hybrid powertrain. It's well over 100 miles per gallon if you use the European test cycle (which differs from U.S. tests). But at a six-figure price and a production...
John Voelcker -
BMW i3 REx: Road-Tripping With 72 Electric Miles, 1.9-Gallon Gas Tank
An owner takes his range-extended electric car on a 462-mile road trip.
Stephen Edelstein -
General Motors took the wraps off its second-generation Voltec electric-drive system this morning that will power its 2016 Chevrolet Volt range-extended electric car. Company executives declined to give specifications for power of the two electric motors, the range-extending engine, or range of the final vehicle. DON'T MISS: 2016 Chevrolet Volt To Use New 1.5-Liter Four As Range Extender Engine But they did give some percentage improvements and weight reductions for the new powertrain over that used in the current first-generation Volt. [EDITOR'S NOTE: This article has been expanded from the...
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FedEx Tests Wrightspeed Electric Trucks With Diesel Turbine Range Extender
While electric passenger vehicles get the lion's share of public attention, commercial trucks are often as good or better for electric drive. With a huge global fleet and a constant drive to reduce emissions and fuel costs while improving efficiency and delivery speed, FedEx has long tested...
John Voelcker -
FedEx Follows French Lead, Tests Hydrogen Fuel-Cell Range Extenders
FedEx will deploy 20 electric delivery trucks equipped with hydrogen fuel-cell range extenders.
Stephen Edelstein -
2014 BMW i3 With Range Extender Priced At $46,125, Or $3,850 More
Adding the small range-extending engine to the 2014 BMW i3 battery-electric minicar will increase the price by $3,950, the company announced this evening. The standard 2014 BMW i3 electric car starts at $42,275 including delivery, before any Federal, state, or local incentives. BMW had announced...
John Voelcker -
Chevy Volt's Next Range Extender: New Opel 1.0-Liter Three-Cylinder Engine?
It's been rumored for a while that the next-generation Chevy Volt electric car would get a new, smaller, three-cylinder engine as a range extender. Now we've seen what that engine could be, in the guise of a 1.0-liter turbocharged three-cylinder engine unveiled by GM's German arm, Opel, at this...
John Voelcker -
2012 Chevrolet Volt (Vauxhall Ampera) Drives From U.K. To France, Underground
Last week, the Chevrolet Volt became the first production car to drive from the U.K. to France, using the service tunnel of the Eurotunnel underwater railway line between the two European countries. What’s more, the stunt was orchestrated by Top Gear Magazine, the more measured, printed...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
Over the past few years, we’ve seen lots of innovative ways designed to help electric car owners travel beyond the range of a single charge without waiting for hours to refuel. For example, owners of the 2012 Nissan Leaf and 2012 Mitsubishi i can recharge their car’s battery pack to 80 percent full in under 30 minutes at specially-built rapid charging stations, while Israeli customers of Better Place simply drive to the nearest automated battery swap station to switch out their empty battery pack for a fully-charged one in around 6 minutes. But now a German company has revisited a...