Archives for November 21, 2013
Honda Accord Wins Green Car of the Year Award
November 21, 2013 by admin 1 Comment
2014 Green Car of the Year: Honda Accord
The 2014 Honda Accord is the recipient of Green Car Journal's 2014 Green Car of the Year award. The new model beat out the Toyota Corolla, the Mazda3, the Audi A6 TDI and the BMW 328d in winning the latest award.
The Green Car of the Year award is juror selected and is always announced on the second press day of the Los Angeles Auto Show. The Accord is the second Honda model to win the award in the past three years. Two years earlier the Honda Civic Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) model garnered the award.
Earth Dreams Technology
Honda outfits every 2014 Accord with its Earth Dreams Technology powertrains including a 2.4-liter four-cylinder engine. Honda pairs this engine with a continuously variable transmission or a six-speed manual transmission. The Accord is rated as high as 27 mpg in the city and 36 mpg on the highway.
Customers may also opt for a 3.5-liter V-6 engine. The larger engine is paired with a six-speed automatic transmission or a six-speed manual transmission. The V-6 Accord is rated as high as 21 mpg in the city and 34 mpg on the highway.
Earth Dreams represents a number of technological advances over earlier generation Honda powertrains. For example, its gasoline engines make use of variable valve timing and employ a lift electronic control system to improve thermal efficiency and to reduce friction. The result is better fuel economy and fewer emissions. The new technology also encompasses improvements to its diesel engine line, its transmissions, and to its hybrid systems.
Accord Hybrid Models
But it is the Honda Accord Hybrid that leads the model line in fuel efficiency and has the lowest emissions. The standard hybrid, powered by a 2.0-liter four-cylinder engine paired with a continuously variable transmission and an electric motor, is rated at 50 mpg in the city and 45 mpg on the highway. A plug-in version of the Accord Hybrid is also available, making 47 mpg in the city and 46 on the highway. Moreover, when this model runs on a combination of electricity and gasoline it makes a fuel economy equivalent to a whopping 115 MPGe.
In presenting this year's award Ron Cogan, editor and publisher of Green Car Journal and CarsOfChange.com said, "With its efficient internal combustion, hybrid, and plug-in choices, the 2014 Honda Accord delivers exactly what consumers are looking for today. It all comes together this year for the Accord in ways that speak to significant environmental performance built into a mainstream, volume model that's a joy to drive. The Accord is a deserving winner of Green Car Journal's 2014 Green Car of the Year."
Responding on behalf of Honda about the Green Car of the Year Award was Mike Accavitti, senior vice president of Automobile Operations at American Honda. Said Accavitti, "Led by the 2014 Accord Hybrid, the entire Accord lineup really embodies the promise of the Honda brand to deliver both fun-to-drive enjoyment and outstanding fuel efficiency at the highest level. I want to say thank you to Green Car Journal, not just for honoring Accord, but for shining a spotlight on the environment and our shared vision for an ultra-low carbon future."
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Filed Under: Automotive News Tagged With: EARTH DREAMS TECHNOLOGY, EV, Green Car Journal, GREEN CAR OF THE YEAR, HONDA ACCORD, Honda Accord Hybrid, PHEV
Hyundai Tucson FCV: First Mass Produced Fuel Cell Electric Vehicle
Bring it on. The first mass-produced fuel cell vehicle will not come from Honda, General Motors or Toyota, who are among the biggest names associated with this emerging technology. Instead, the winner in the race for the first hydrogen-powered vehicle will be Hyundai when its 2015 Tucson FCV (fuel cell vehicle) hits the market next spring.
Arriving Spring 2014: 2015 Hyundai Tucson FCV.
2015 Hyundai Tucson FCV
Hyundai took the wraps off of its Tucson FCV this week at the 2013 Los Angeles Auto Show. It will be made available at several southern California Hyundai dealerships beginning in spring 2014. With $2,999 down and a 36-month lease signed, customers will pay $499 per month to drive one. The lease package also includes unlimited free hydrogen refueling and access to the company's "At Your Service Valet Maintenance" plan offered exclusively to Hyundai Equus and Tucson FCV owners. That plan provides a free loaner vehicle if the FCV needs to be serviced, with a Hyundai dealer picking up and returning the serviced vehicle to the customer's home, including the delivery of the loaner vehicle.
Tucson FCV availability will be restricted to southern California initially. The biggest problem facing this technology is that a hydrogen fueling infrastructure is not yet in place across the country. As of this writing, there are just 10 hydrogen stations in the United States, with eight of these clustered in the Los Angeles area. A ninth station can be found in Emeryville, Calif. The lone east coast station can be found in Columbia, SC.
How to Order One
The US Department of Energy's Alternative Fuels Data Center tracks the number of public stations, but not the private ones. The state of California is backing hydrogen energy and has vowed to develop as many as 100 hydrogen fueling stations across the state over the next few years. For its part the federal government has thrown its support behind H2USA, a private-public partnership developed to push for a national hydrogen fueling infrastructure. Automakers such as Hyundai, Toyota, Mercedes-Benz, and Nissan have joined with various gas and hydrogen associations to support H2USA.
Hyundai has established an interest page or what they say is the first step in the Tucson FCV ordering process on it website. Visit Hyundai Tucson Fuel Cell and you'll be asked to provide your first name, last name, email, and zip code. Hit the submit button and you'll be registered.
This east coast guy did sign up and received the following message: "Unfortunately the Tucson Fuel Cell is not currently available in your area. It may become available in the near future, so please check back and stay updated with our fuel cells." The sign up page also touts the FCV's 300-mile range, what some other vehicles offer. Unlike any other mass-produced vehicle, the Tucson FCV runs on water and has zero emissions except for harmless water vapor.
Soon after signing up, I received the following note from Hyundai via email: "You're now on the list for upcoming announcements about the exciting new Hyundai Tucson Fuel Cell. It's completely reimagining the idea of an electric vehicle. Keep an eye on your inbox for more updates and to find out when the Tucson Fuel Cell will be available in your area." I had to pull the message out of my spam box, by the way.
How hydrogen power works.
Refueling and Testing
Hyundai says that the FCV can be refueled in under 10 minutes or for about the same time you would refuel a gasoline-powered vehicle. They are also touting the minimal cold-weather effects of FCV technology compared with battery electric vehicles while emphasizing the 221 foot-pounds of torque derived from its electric motor. Hyundai says that its fuel cell fleet has been in operation since 2000 and has completed more than 2 million durability test miles. That testing has also put the Tucson FCV through numerous crash, fire and leak testing scenarios.
The 2015 Hyundai Tucson FCV will be built at the same Ulsan, Korea, manufacturing plant that produces the gas-powered Tucson. And, yes, I'll let you know if Hyundai ever follows up with a message announcing availability beyond its initial marketing base.
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MIT Names Audi, Toyota As Disruptive Companies
KPMG Survey: Automotive Executives and Electric Vehicles
Tucson FCV photos and charts courtesy of Hyundai Motor America.
Filed Under: Engineering & Technology Tagged With: 2015 TUCSON FUEL CELL, crossover, F2USA, hydrogen, HYDROGEN STATIONS, Hyundai Motor America, sport utility vehicle, TUCSON FCV