Allternatives » automobiles

Bosch criticises hype on electric cars

Fabio Bacigalupo — Sun, 28 Dec 2008 17:17:08 +0000

Bernd Bohr – chief of vehicles at Bosch – criticizes the recent discussion on electric cars as too euphoric in an interview with German magazine “auto motor und sport”. He does not think it is realistic that in 2010 affordable electric cars that have the same comfort as conventional cars will be available in the market. As late as 2015 there will be small test series which are subsidized by the state through tax reductions or the industry for image reasons. Bosch’s forecast except 2.5 million to 3 million hybrids and 800.000 electric cars in 2015 with 80 million cars alltogether.

Source in German: Autokrise: Bosch kritisiert Hype um Elektroautos

Better Place

Fabio Bacigalupo — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 10:20:20 +0000

A project by one of the SAP founders aims to make the world a better place by building a network of recharge stations for electric cars. You subscribe to a plan to exchange your car’s batteries at any of their stations. Better Place is the electric car’s way of a petrol station and also replaces other infrastructure needed for personal mobility. See the video for more information.

Jetcar 2.5 – Fuel efficient automobile

Fabio Bacigalupo — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 22:53:16 +0000

Ironically racing cars with a terrible mileage are called jet cars. What I am writing about today is a new kind of car where the recent model (Jetcar 2.5) consumes only 2.5 liter of fuel per 100 km. That’s around 1 gallone per 100 miles. It is a hand-built and custom made car from a German company called Jetcar Zukunftsfahrzeug GmbH.

I first read about this company and its products in an article (German) in my favorite daily newspaper. Two brothers are running the company. They also own a company which does wind energy solutions which cross finances the Jetcar company. What a smart move!

Their engineers are already working on a convertible and the Jetcar 1.5 which will only need 1.5 liter per 100 km.