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Saturday, July 17, 2010
Ford To Use Compact Power for Li-Ion Ford Focus
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In brief: Ford has selected Compact Power, Inc. (CPI, owned by LG Chem) to provide lithium-ion battery packs for the Ford Focus Electric in the U.S. market, which debuts next year.
Make/Model: Ford Focus Electric
Manufacturer: Ford
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CPI is also providing batteries for rival General Motors with the Chevy Volt. The batteries being used will be virtually the same, in fact, using LG Chem's proprietary chemistry and safety-reinforced separator technology.
CPI will begin assembly of battery packs for the Focus Electric next year at its Troy, Michigan plant. Initially, the lithium-ion cells will be sourced from Korea (LG Chem) until CPI's new Holland, Michigan plant is online.
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Mercedes E-Cell: AMGee Whiz!
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Built on the high-performance SLS AMG speedster, the E-Cell version will have performance nearly matching its famous 6.3L V8 gas-engine counterpart. Speed, acceleration, and handling are all optimized in this sexy electric car from Daimler's Mercedes-AMG unit.
Specs:
* Type: Electric Supercar
* Class: 2-Seat Sports Coupe
* Manufacturer: Mercedes-AMG
* Propulsion system: Electric
* Top Speed: Unknown
* Vehicle range: Unknown
* Battery system: 48kWh Lithium-ion
* Time to full battery recharge: 6-8 hours
* Price: Not Firmly Stated
* Availability: 2013
The manufacturer says
We take social responsibility very seriously and with the SLS AMG E-CELL we are demonstrating a further milestone in our "AMG Performance 2015" strategy. It is our goal to continually reduce the fuel consumption and emissions of new models in the coming years, while at the same time enhancing the core brand value of performance
Overview
Introduced in 2006, the SLS AMG is a high-end sports car that's received fame and popularity amongst supercar enthusiasts. Now the car is set to become the platform of an all-electric sibling, the SLS AMG E-Cell. The new E-Cell is being designed to not only fit the new drive train within the existing SLS aluminum space frame, but to closely match the awesome performance of the 6.3L V8, 571hp original it is based upon.
The E-Cell has a power output of 526hp (392kW) and 880Nm (649lb-ft) of torque and a 0-62mph speed of 4 seconds, just 2 tenths (0.2) shy of its gasoline-powered sister. That's extremely impressive, but the beauty doesn't end there. This performance car includes a lot of style.
The signature Mercedes-AMG gullwing doors set off the sleek and powerful styling of the SLS, but under the hood and body are some extremely high-tech and high-performance enhancements to match the new electric drive given this speedster.
The E-Cell is powered by four, 3-phase AC synchronous motors, one for each wheel. Rather than mounting them directly to the wheels and tires, Mercedes opted to attach them to high-torque drive shafts. This reduces the amount of non-floating weight (weight directly on the ground), which improves performance and comfort.
The motors can each achieve up to 12,000 RPMs and, of course, torque is instantaneous with electric motors, which gives the E-Cell a power advantage over the standard SLS.
The liquid-cooled, high-voltage lithium-ion battery system is modular in design. It holds an energy content of 48kWh with a 40Ah capacity giving it a maximum load potential of 480kW. Using an intelligent parallel circuit design for each individual battery module maximizes safety and reliability and also allows for slightly better efficiency in regenerative braking power recuperation. The cooling circuit for the batteries can be boosted by the car's air conditioning system. Battery packs are positioned in front of the firewall, along the center tunnel, and behind the seats to evenly distribute their weight ñ each module is the same as the others, allowing for easy replacement when required.
was modified, however, from the double-wishbone of the original to a more robust, independent multilink suspension with pushrod damper struts. This also allowed for room for the extra drive shafts (the original SLS is a front-wheel-drive, rather than all-wheel). The new motorsport-based suspension means better handling for the weight characteristics of the E-Cell.
Finally, AMG ceramic composite brakes are mounted on all four wheels to maximize stopping power. The oversized discs are made of carbon fibre-strengthened ceramic and are in radial floating arrangements with their aluminum bowls. These brakes are higher-performing and 40% lighter than their iron counterparts.
Body enhancements to the electric car removed some of the intake and airflow requirements of the gasoline engine to further improve aerodynamics for the electric drive. The automatic rear spoiler remains, moving to optimize airflow according to vehicle speed.
Mercedes-AMG says that the SLS AMG E-Cell will likely see a limited production run as early as 2013.
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Friday, July 16, 2010
2014 Audi R4 Rendered - Future Cars
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July 2010
Stagnation means death in any business, which is why automakers are constantly evolving and expanding their lineups. But, while market research and focus groups design some vehicles—witness the BMW 5-series GT—Audi seems to follow a different approach in which intuition plays a bigger role. Cars like the low-slung, beautiful A7 and the R8 need no lengthy explanations.
Now Audi is preparing to launch another mid-engined sports car, a little brother to the R8 very likely to be called R4. We got our first glimpse of it at this year's Detroit auto show in the form of the e-tron concept—which, confusingly, bore the same name as the bigger 2009 Frankfurt concept resembling the R8. Compact, with clean and powerful lines free of gimmicks, the Detroit e-tron is one of the best-looking small coupes we've seen lately—and most of its styling will carry over into the production model when it hits showrooms in 2013.
Audi is planning coupe and roadster versions of the R4. With the company’s emphasis on lightweight materials, the R4 could come in below 2500 pounds, depending on how much aluminum engineers will be allowed to use. We predict a hybrid body structure of steel and aluminum.
Look Out . . . Miata?
But perhaps Audi will leave the mid-engine-screamer segment to sister company Porsche, which is hinting at a new mid-engined sports car priced well below the Boxster and Cayman. This companion to the R4 will bear Porsche's softer, more traditional styling language and be powered by a four-cylinder engine as well—at least in its entry-level configuration. It makes a lot of sense to consider a VW version of the R4 as well, after the positive reaction to the VW BlueSport concept.
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http://www.caranddriver.com
2011 Ferrari 458 Challenge - Official Photos and Info
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2011 Ferrari 458 Challenge - Official Photos and Info
BY JUSTIN BERKOWITZ
July 2010
At Ferrari’s annual dealer meeting in Maranello, the company provided a little surprise when it took the wraps off of its newest track star, the 458 Challenge.
The 458 Challenge, like the 430 Challenge before it, is the prancing stallion’s factory offering for its one-make Challenge race series. And also like the car before it, the 458 Challenge is closely related to its roadgoing sibling, in this case, the 458 Italia. Ferrari says that the Italia's 4.5-liter V-8 engine will remain in production tune, producing 562 hp when wound to a shrieking 9000 rpm. The torque curve, however, will look a bit different; Ferrari has tweaked the gear ratios and calibration of the seven-speed dual-clutch transmission to favor torque at lower engine speeds.
As is usually the case with any new Ferrari, whether it's a brand new model or a special edition, the 458 Challenge heaps on the technology. The electronic "E-Diff" differential, already in place on regular 458s, makes its debut in a Ferrari track car. A special race-oriented suspension is installed, wherein ride height is reduced by 1.2 inches, and Ferrari has cut weight by deploying carbon fiber and Lexan throughout the car. The 458 Challenge also adds new-generation Brembo brakes, which debuted on the 599XX, and Ferrari's trick F1-Trac traction-control system that allows drivers to select two specific track-biased settings for dry to wet conditions. According to Ferrari, these enhancements translate into a two-second improvement over the 430 Challenge when lapping its Fiorano test track.
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http://www.caranddriver.com
The BMW M3 GT2
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The BMW M3 GT2
Derived from the BMW M3 high-performance sports car, the BMW M3 GT2 boasts a 4.0-liter V8 engine with a maximum output of 500 bhp, an upgraded chassis, racing-caliber brakes, and extensive use of lightweight materials. Able to reach 100 mph in 3.4 seconds, the BMW M3 GT2 is rapidly emerging as a real first year contender at this year’s event.
For the Comeback at 24 Le Mans BMW Motorsport is supported by numerous successful partners. This is why the BMW M3 GT2 will be labeled with the logos of Castrol, Crowne Plaza, Dunlop, Randstad, Sympatex, LuK, H&R, BBS and NGK for the race on the “Circuit de la Sarthe”.
BMW Art Cars
Since 1975, artists from throughout the world have turned BMW automobiles into art signifying a particular period through the Art Car program. In 2007, the latest installment was revealed with Olafur Eliasson’s “Your mobile expectations: BMW H2R project.” Many of the cars by the likes of Warhol, Lichtenstein, Stella, Rauschenberg, Hockney and Holzer have been exhibited in renowned museums throughout the world including the Louvre, the Guggenheim Museums, and the Shanghai Art Museum. They have been displayed at the BMW Museum in Munich, between 2006 and 2010 and many went on a world tour throughout Asia, Russia, Africa, India, the United States and Mexico. The Koons car number, “79,” pays tribute to the 1979 Andy Warhol car. The Warhol car was assigned the number “76,” an homage to the 1976 Frank Stella car, both of which raced at Le Mans.
With over 100 major projects worldwide, BMW Group cultural programs have been an integral part of the company’s contributions to society for almost 40 years. Besides contemporary art, architecture and design, classical music and jazz are key components of this engagement.
Koons and BMW
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Koons and BMW
The germination of Koons’ collaboration with BMW began in 2003, when he expressed his desire to create a BMW Art Car. His relationship with BMW started more than two decades ago when he drove a BMW while residing in Munich, home to the BMW Group headquarters. Koons is known for his heartfelt appreciation of cars. Earlier this year he was even recognized by music icon Bono of U2 as one of the ideal artists to design a car that would make the world fall in love with automobiles again.
Koons’ creative process for the BMW Art Car mirrors techniques, some borrowed from transportation design and development, which he regularly employs for his artistic production. For example, in the creation of Koons’ monumental sculptures, his studio uses 3-D CAD models to evaluate the surfaces, assembles them via methods found in bike chop shops, and paints them in a manner based on sophisticated automotive painting techniques.
The 24 Hours of Le Mans race
In 2010, BMW Motorsport Director Mario Theissen announced the driver line-up for the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Andy Priaulx (GB), Dirk Müller (DE) and Dirk Werner (DE) will race the BMW Art Car #79. Jörg Müller (DE), Augusto Farfus (BR), Uwe Alzen (DE) will drive the BMW Le Mans car #78.
The 24 Hours of Le Mans is the world’s oldest endurance race in all of sports car racing, held annually since 1923 near the town of Le Mans, Sarthe, France. Commonly known as the Grand Prix of Endurance, it is organized by the Automobile Club de l’Ouest (ACO) and runs on a circuit containing closed public roads. The race is designed not only to test a car and driver’s ability to be quick, but also to last over a 24-hour period.
French auctioneer and racing driver Hervé Poulain first had the idea of asking an artist to paint the car he himself would compete with. Taking up this initiative in 1975, American artist Alexander Calder painted a BMW racing car, thus laying the foundation. The Art Car experiment was soon continued: a year later, Calder Art Car co-driver Sam Posey introduced Frank Stella to the idea of BMW Art Cars when the New York-based artist covered a BMW with his typical grid-like pattern. Stella’s work was followed by a series of celebrated pop artists: Roy Lichtenstein, Andy Warhol and Robert Rauschenberg. Apart from Rauschenberg’s Art Car, all these took part in the Le Mans 24-hour race, some of them enjoying remarkable success.
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The Design Process
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The Design Process
As part of his creative process, the artist collected images of race cars, related graphics, vibrant colors, speed and explosions. The resulting artwork of bright colors conceived by Koons is evocative of power, motion and bursting energy.
“These race cars are like life, they are powerful and there is a lot of energy,” said Koons. “You can participate with it, add to it and let yourself transcend with its energy. There is a lot of power under that hood and I want to let my ideas transcend with the car – it’s really to connect with that power”.
Koons has been in an intense collaboration with BMW’s team in Munich for months to ensure that the 17th BMW Art Car would be race-ready for the 24 Hours of Le Mans.
Traveling back and forth to Germany many times since the February 2 announcement that Koons would create the 17th BMW Art Car, the artist has worked with the BMW engineering and design teams to conduct in-depth explorations of materials and application options that will prove crucial to optimizing both the aesthetic and aerodynamic attributes of the race car. Working with actual 3-D computer-aided design (CAD) models of the BMW M3 GT2, Koons could simulate the application of the graphic to the car’s surfaces and evaluate it from all angles.
Koons even donned a helmet and joined BMW’s Rahal Letterman Racing Team for testing in Sebring, Florida, on February 23. Koons was able to experience the M3 GT2 at race speed to further inspire his design. As Koons describes it, he witnessed “the raw unfiltered performance” of the M3 GT2 from the seat of a historic BMW M1 race car. Koons also drove a BMW M3 Coupe on the circuit to further the dynamic exercise.
Under Koons’ direct guidance and supervision, his BMW Art Car was produced in assistance with a team of BMW engineers and designers at Schmid Design, (ORT), Bavaria. The challenge to create the BMW Art Car had to do with using a light material and a design that would not interfere with the racecar’s aerodynamics and weight. Timing was also an issue, as there was only a two month window between the first design sketches and the Paris world premiere. This is why digital print on car wrapping vinyl was used covered by a double clear-coating to bring out the color. To apply hundreds of dynamic lines of Koons’ design onto the car, CAD designs were translated from 3D into 2D for the printing process and then painstakingly applied to the entire car as well as onto individual spare parts. Koons design incorporates many bright contrasting colors to communicate the aesthetics of power. The concept design was transformed into hard eged lines of color. Graphics of debris were added to the rear sides and back of the car to similute the power of the car. Furthermore, two graphic rings on the rear of the car represent supersonic acceleration.
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The Design Process
Monday, July 12, 2010
Subsidiary of White or Volvo
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In 1953 White purchased Autocar, which continued thru to the 1970s as part of the "Big Four" White brands. In 1980, with White insolvent, AB Volvo acquired the U.S. assets and brands, to become Volvo-White LLC. Volvo produced trucks under both the White and Autocar brands, with a majority of Autocar products becoming cab over engine models which were also re-badged Western Star for sale in the Canadian market through the early 1990s.
Volvo-White bought GMC's heavy truck business in 1987 creating the Volvo WhiteGMC brand. Volvo dropped any reference to White, and is now Volvo Trucks North America.[citation needed]
The last traditional Autocar with a "Custom Driver Cab" was made in Ogden on December 18, 1987. After that, Autocars were made in the style of other Volvo-White products, with the bow-tie emblem on the radiator and hood side panels. The name changed to Volvo-Autocar in 1996.[2]
Autocar remained a part of Volvo until 2000, when the trademark was withdrawn from the market. After Volvo acquired the North American operations of Renault Trucks in 2001, as the merged company would have an excess/uncompetitive share of the refuse truck market sector, Volvo agreed to sell select vehicle designs for the Xpeditor low cab forward heavy duty product, intellectual properties and the Autocar Company brand rights to Highland Park, Illinois based Grand Vehicle Works Holdings, LLC (GVW).
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White or Volvo
Autocar Company
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Auto car Mustang GTR
The Autocar Company is a Hagerstown, Indiana specialist manufacturer of refuse trucks. Started in 1899 in Ardmore, Pennsylvania as a manufacturer of Brass Era automobiles, and from 1907, trucks. The last cars were produced in 1912, but the company continued as a truck maker until 1953 when they were taken over by the White Motor Company.
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White was taken over in turn by Volvo Trucks in 1980 with Autocar continuing as a division. In 2001, it was sold to Grand Vehicle Works Holdings, which continues to use the brand name for their line of trucks.
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Sunday, July 11, 2010
Black wheels will give your car attitude
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Black wheels will give your car attitude
Silver wheels are boring. If you want a moody ride you need to be thinking about fitting a set of black wheels.
black wheelsWe have a huge selection of black wheels. Below are our favourites.
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BMW Gran Coupe
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BMW Gran Coupe
With elegant lines all over the body and proportions that are sporty yet classy, the 2010 BMW Concept Gran Coupe will soon be on the rise as one of the newest status icons on the road. The 4-door vehicle carries all the marks of a BMW coupe which all boil down to six features: the extensive wheelbase, the vaulted top highlighted by front-drawn lines, the stylish greenhouse, the signature roof line, the clear outline, and the short ledge-like projection at the front. But unlike most coupes, this one boasts of LED front lights that are surely indicative of precision and focus.
Moreover, the front appearance of the coupe is one of flawless elegance. Its kidney grille has the impression of being flat, strengthened by a stylishly irregular side view. The body height of 1.40 meters gives the coupe an ultra athletic look, making it flatter by 100 millimeters than the Series Sedan and the Series 5. Its roofline also winds gracefully to the back, fostering an illusion of extra length for the vehicle. Lastly, the borderless doors let the glassy parts appear like slowly blending in with the car’s body, hinting on the limitless possibilities that are within reach with the Gran Coupe.
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