Published:11-December-2009
By Staff Reporter
Fitted with a new lithium-ion battery positioned between the axles
Mercedes-Benz has started production of the second generation of the smart fortwo electric drive in France.
The company claims that it has not compromised on the space offered by the vehicle or its focus on safety compared to the launch vehicle in the range.
However, it is fitted with a new lithium-ion battery positioned between the axles and will be available for purchase from 2012.
Marc Langenbrinck, managing director of the smart brand and the head of sales and marketing at smart, said: "smart is once again taking on a pioneering role and redefining zero-emission urban mobility.
"We are the first manufacturer in Europe to launch a series-produced electric vehicle in eight countries at once. Daimler is spearheading electromobility with the smart fortwo electric drive."
He added that the vehicle is the next step in the 'evolution of the brand', which provides vehicles that are small enough to park perpendicular to the flow of traffic.
Other features of the two-seater vehicles are that they have the lowest fleet fuel consumption across all manufacturers and a fresh design, said the company.
Discover a car that has been perfectly designed for your everyday life. A car that offers maximum comfort, agility, safety, ecology and driving fun. A pioneering vehicle concept that is one of the best with its low CO2 emission figures.
Discover the smart fortwo – as a coupé and a cabrio in the pure, pulse, passion and BRABUS equipment lines.
The rest of us might have to pay a $99 reservation fee and wait a minimum of one year to purchase a new Smart Car, but ain’t nothing stopping the City of Somerville from obtaining those golf-cart wannabes.
Discover the smart fortwo – as a coupé and a cabrio in the pure, pulse, passion and BRABUS equipment lines.
The rest of us might have to pay a $99 reservation fee and wait a minimum of one year to purchase a new Smart Car, but ain’t nothing stopping the City of Somerville from obtaining those golf-cart wannabes.
Mayor Joe Curtatone pulled a couple of strings last week at the Somerville-based Herb Chambers auto dealership and secured four new Mercedes Smart Fortwos for the school custodians and property assessors to use at work. At night the code inspectors will get the Smart Cars. They’re replacing a 1994 Chevy Blazer, which boasted a dismal 11 miles to the gallon.
Like their eco-vain neighbors in Boston, Somerville’s pretty proud of their pint-sized vehicles, decorated with the city’s seal, with their 60 miles to the gallon and their perpendicular curb parking. We’re wondering if Keohane and Cartman need to put Somerville on Smug Alert. Somerville spokeswoman Lesley Hawkins believes they are forging ahead of a national trend. The municipality is the first in the country to use Smart Cars for city employees, but she’s betting they won’t be the last. (Smug Alert increasing to Yellow.)
Mayor Curtatone adds that the environmentally friendly vehicles will help “maintain fiscal responsibility, lower carbon emissions, and promote alternative means of commuting.” (We hit Red, people; we hit Red!!)
The cars are also available to city employees to sign out on a case-by-case basis for use on official city business. If this pilot program is successful, the city will look to purchase more Smart Cars to encourage city employees to bike or take public transportation to work and then use the Smart Cars for city errands. (Wa-ooo-waa-ooo-wa–ooo! We’re at White Hot! Repeat: Tofu White Hot!)
Whether you love them, or think they should come with a bag of Callaways, Smart Cars are here to stay. More than 11,000 Americans purchased Smart Cars since their U.S. launch in January and the number of worldwide drivers is fast approaching one million. Even GM wants in; the automaker will bring the Chevy Beat—a brand sold in Europe—to the U.S. within the next few years.
If Somerville is a reliable indicator, GM better enter the market before the rest of Chevy’s SUVs are scrapped. Of course, the town may still need a few SUVs for those pesky occasions when the superintendent of school custodians needs to transport anything bigger than a laptop.
—DAVID MASHBURNSaturday 19 December 2009
Wednesday 18 November 2009
Smart: What's New for 2010?
By Ed Hellwig, Lead Senior Editor | Published Nov 18, 2009
2010 Smart Fortwo: The only running change for this year is the addition of an optional armrest for $80. Later in the 2010, the Smart Fortwo Electric Drive will be offered in select cities. It uses lithium-ion batteries to provide roughly 80 miles of range. Full production is expected to start in 2012.
Thursday 12 November 2009
Cavalier Telephone Adopts Convergys’ Smart BSS Solutions
United States - November 11th, 2009 - Convergys Corporation, a global provider of relationship management, announced today that Cavalier Telephone, a full-service provider of reliable and efficient telecommunications solutions for business, consumer, and government customers, has signed a license agreement for Convergys’ Smart BSS Solutions. Convergys will also provide Cavalier with consulting services as part of this agreement.
Convergys will implement its Product Control Manager Smart App, a centralized product catalog and product lifecycle management solution, for Cavalier in the first quarter of 2010. Convergys’ solution will help Cavalier, which serves hundreds of thousands of telecommunications customers throughout the eastern United States, automate the management of its products throughout the entire product lifecycle, rapidly launch new offers, and streamline the ordering and fulfillment of products.
"With Convergys’ Product Control Manager, we will now have a consolidated view of all our product data, which will allow improved order administration and lifecycle management, enabling Cavalier to achieve better service delivery timeframes and an overall improved customer experience," said Rick Gambriel, CIO, Cavalier.
"Systematic product data management supporting ordering and fulfillment is a must-have for communications providers facing increased competition and customer expectations," said Bob Lento, President, Information Management, for Convergys. "Convergys’ Product Control Manager Smart App will help Cavalier dramatically shorten its time to market for new convergent offers and help drive significantly improved customer satisfaction, while also helping to reduce the costs associated with supporting a highly complex product portfolio."
Convergys Smart BSS Solutions deliver innovative support of convergent services leveraging real-time marketing innovation, minimizing risk, reducing operational costs, and generating revenue in order for our clients to focus on building valuable relationships with their customers. Convergys supports six of FORTUNE’s Top 10 communications companies.
Convergys will implement its Product Control Manager Smart App, a centralized product catalog and product lifecycle management solution, for Cavalier in the first quarter of 2010. Convergys’ solution will help Cavalier, which serves hundreds of thousands of telecommunications customers throughout the eastern United States, automate the management of its products throughout the entire product lifecycle, rapidly launch new offers, and streamline the ordering and fulfillment of products.
"With Convergys’ Product Control Manager, we will now have a consolidated view of all our product data, which will allow improved order administration and lifecycle management, enabling Cavalier to achieve better service delivery timeframes and an overall improved customer experience," said Rick Gambriel, CIO, Cavalier.
"Systematic product data management supporting ordering and fulfillment is a must-have for communications providers facing increased competition and customer expectations," said Bob Lento, President, Information Management, for Convergys. "Convergys’ Product Control Manager Smart App will help Cavalier dramatically shorten its time to market for new convergent offers and help drive significantly improved customer satisfaction, while also helping to reduce the costs associated with supporting a highly complex product portfolio."
Convergys Smart BSS Solutions deliver innovative support of convergent services leveraging real-time marketing innovation, minimizing risk, reducing operational costs, and generating revenue in order for our clients to focus on building valuable relationships with their customers. Convergys supports six of FORTUNE’s Top 10 communications companies.
Friday 1 May 2009
Electric cars
Electric cars can operate only for short distances and at low speeds. They must be recharged before they can be used again. They typically use dirty energy from the grid rather than clean energy from a renewable source. Hybrid cars produce pollution like other gas-powered cars. They can also be significantly more expensive than ordinary gas-powered cars. Biodiesel fuel is more expensive than gasoline. Although the source of biodiesel fuel is renewable, it still uses the Earth's resources. Biodiesel cars can experience technical problems such as clogged fuel lines. Also, biodiesel is not readily available.
Electric cars have a power cord that can plug into an ordinary electrical outlet. Hybrid vehicles have a gas-powered engine which produces electricity to run electric motors. There are also solar charging stations and solar roofs available for both electric and hybrid vehicles. Natural gas cars use methane which has been processed to remove all hydrocarbons. Some larger natural gas vehicles use the gas in its liquid form. Many regular diesel vehicles have been adapted to use biodiesel. Biodiesel is typically made from vegetable oil with lye or alcohol. This separates glycerine from the oil and changes it to a form that a car
Electric cars have a power cord that can plug into an ordinary electrical outlet. Hybrid vehicles have a gas-powered engine which produces electricity to run electric motors. There are also solar charging stations and solar roofs available for both electric and hybrid vehicles. Natural gas cars use methane which has been processed to remove all hydrocarbons. Some larger natural gas vehicles use the gas in its liquid form. Many regular diesel vehicles have been adapted to use biodiesel. Biodiesel is typically made from vegetable oil with lye or alcohol. This separates glycerine from the oil and changes it to a form that a car
Tuesday 3 March 2009
Green Car
The Clarity is just one of a number of next-generation green automobiles that are beginning to come off assembly lines in Japan. Such vehicles have been around for years, but almost always as one-off utopian designs or experimental models that were designed mainly to attract good press. Now Japanese automakers are entering the green-car mass market, in many cases years before their competitors. Nissan plans to introduce an electric vehicle to the United States and Japan by 2010. Toyota is road-testing a plug-in hybrid it plans to launch in 2009. (There's unconfirmed buzz that it may use solar power as well.) Mazda will offer the world's first hydrogen-gasoline hybrid in Japan by next March. All these companies are benefiting from close cooperation with electronics manufacturers, component makers and suppliers that are helping to push Japan to the forefront of green-car technologies. "Globally, Japanese companies are definitely at the top right now," says Mike Omotoso, an analyst for J.D. Power and Associates.
In large part, Japan's lead in green-car technology is an outgrowth of its old austerity. Japan, an oil-poor country, was obsessed with energy efficiency long before global warming made it a worldwide fixation. Now it's seeing the payoff. It's impossible to tally the direct economic effect of the green-car race, but it's huge and likely to grow. The Prius is already the world's most popular green car. By 2015, Goldman Sachs expects the hybrid-vehicle market (including plug-in hybrids) to grow to 2.5 million, up from 500,000 in 2007, with Toyota and Honda in the lead. Analysts say plug-in hybrids, which run on a battery alone for a short range, are the vehicles that will gradually ease drivers out of the gasoline age. Goldman analyst Kota Yuzawa says hybrids could account for 5 to 10 percent of operating profits for Honda and Toyota in 2010. Toyota is already seeing benefits as its costs of producing the Prius, now in its second decade, drop sharply.
Virtually every car company in the world is ramping up intriguing green-car projects. GM plans to debut the plug-in hybrid Volt in 2010, but it is coming up from behind against Japanese rivals that work in often-exclusive national supply networks, as they have for decades. Japanese carmakers aim to protect their edge by joining forces with makers of electronics and batteries. Toyota's joint venture with Panasonic (which is majority-owned by the car company) has already made it one of the world's leading battery companies. Similarly, Nissan recently increased its stake in its joint venture with the battery firm NEC. A.T. Kearney's Eiji Kawahara says that even if Japan does not come up with the next big breakthrough in battery design, the technology for putting it into mass production will likely be Japanese.
Mitsubishi's new electric car, the i MiEV, offers another illustration of why Japan leads. Until now, many electric vehicles have been limited by range, meager acceleration and long charging times. The four-door i MiEV boasts a range of 100 miles per each full charge (compared with 25 for a GM Volt), and, as a recent test-drive around Tokyo showed, its pickup in urban traffic rivaled a gas-powered car. Other new electric vehicles—like Tesla's much-hyped roadsters—may offer even better performance. But in stark contrast to Tesla—an innovative but tiny start-up—Mitsubishi is reaping the benefits of a tie-in with leading Japanese battery maker GS Yuasa that has the two companies preparing for mass production of state-of-the-art batteries by the end of 2009. Already the i MiEV's battery weighs in at a mere 450 pounds (compared with 1,000 pounds for Tesla's model), and the effect on cost is dramatic. Mitsubishi plans to start selling i MiEVs in Japan at the end of next year for a price of about $28,000 (after planned subsidies of about $10,000)—compared with a cool $100,000 for a Tesla. Mitsubishi also says it's close to perfecting "quick charge" devices that would bring the battery up to 80 percent of capacity in half an hour—letting drivers recharge their cars in the supermarket parking lot while shopping.
The secret to making better batteries lies less in incremental innovation—something the Japanese are traditionally good at. Japanese battery makers and automakers have been collaborating since the late 1990s. Both sides use the word suriawase, meaning "coordination and integration." Slowly but surely, these relationships are coming together to give Japan an edge. Though Ford and GM have been loudly touting hybrid vehicles of their own, those are estimated to be much more expensive, and U.S. manufacturers are already turning to the Japanese for batteries that offer the necessary staying power. Batteries are only one part of a green automotive-components industry, which also includes electric motors, inverters and the like, which Japan already dominates. Some analysts estimate the market for hybrid components alone could triple to $5 billion by 2012, and reach $9 billion by 2015. "Japan now has a huge potential to become a world supply center," says Yozo Hasegawa, author of "Clean Car Wars."
Japan's push for green-car dominance is also spilling over into the materials sector. Japanese steelmakers have for years been innovators in ultralight and high-strength steel. Toray, a carbon-fiber pioneer that provided material for the Boeing Dreamliner fuselage, is experimenting with making carbon fiber inexpensive enough for cars. High-tech materials some day could reduce the weight of a car by half. A superlight sports car produced by Ken Okuyama Design will soon start selling in Japan; the K.O 7, using carbon fiber and aluminum generously, weighs just 1,650 pounds. (The K.O 8 is still in the concept stage.)
In large part, Japan's lead in green-car technology is an outgrowth of its old austerity. Japan, an oil-poor country, was obsessed with energy efficiency long before global warming made it a worldwide fixation. Now it's seeing the payoff. It's impossible to tally the direct economic effect of the green-car race, but it's huge and likely to grow. The Prius is already the world's most popular green car. By 2015, Goldman Sachs expects the hybrid-vehicle market (including plug-in hybrids) to grow to 2.5 million, up from 500,000 in 2007, with Toyota and Honda in the lead. Analysts say plug-in hybrids, which run on a battery alone for a short range, are the vehicles that will gradually ease drivers out of the gasoline age. Goldman analyst Kota Yuzawa says hybrids could account for 5 to 10 percent of operating profits for Honda and Toyota in 2010. Toyota is already seeing benefits as its costs of producing the Prius, now in its second decade, drop sharply.
Virtually every car company in the world is ramping up intriguing green-car projects. GM plans to debut the plug-in hybrid Volt in 2010, but it is coming up from behind against Japanese rivals that work in often-exclusive national supply networks, as they have for decades. Japanese carmakers aim to protect their edge by joining forces with makers of electronics and batteries. Toyota's joint venture with Panasonic (which is majority-owned by the car company) has already made it one of the world's leading battery companies. Similarly, Nissan recently increased its stake in its joint venture with the battery firm NEC. A.T. Kearney's Eiji Kawahara says that even if Japan does not come up with the next big breakthrough in battery design, the technology for putting it into mass production will likely be Japanese.
Mitsubishi's new electric car, the i MiEV, offers another illustration of why Japan leads. Until now, many electric vehicles have been limited by range, meager acceleration and long charging times. The four-door i MiEV boasts a range of 100 miles per each full charge (compared with 25 for a GM Volt), and, as a recent test-drive around Tokyo showed, its pickup in urban traffic rivaled a gas-powered car. Other new electric vehicles—like Tesla's much-hyped roadsters—may offer even better performance. But in stark contrast to Tesla—an innovative but tiny start-up—Mitsubishi is reaping the benefits of a tie-in with leading Japanese battery maker GS Yuasa that has the two companies preparing for mass production of state-of-the-art batteries by the end of 2009. Already the i MiEV's battery weighs in at a mere 450 pounds (compared with 1,000 pounds for Tesla's model), and the effect on cost is dramatic. Mitsubishi plans to start selling i MiEVs in Japan at the end of next year for a price of about $28,000 (after planned subsidies of about $10,000)—compared with a cool $100,000 for a Tesla. Mitsubishi also says it's close to perfecting "quick charge" devices that would bring the battery up to 80 percent of capacity in half an hour—letting drivers recharge their cars in the supermarket parking lot while shopping.
The secret to making better batteries lies less in incremental innovation—something the Japanese are traditionally good at. Japanese battery makers and automakers have been collaborating since the late 1990s. Both sides use the word suriawase, meaning "coordination and integration." Slowly but surely, these relationships are coming together to give Japan an edge. Though Ford and GM have been loudly touting hybrid vehicles of their own, those are estimated to be much more expensive, and U.S. manufacturers are already turning to the Japanese for batteries that offer the necessary staying power. Batteries are only one part of a green automotive-components industry, which also includes electric motors, inverters and the like, which Japan already dominates. Some analysts estimate the market for hybrid components alone could triple to $5 billion by 2012, and reach $9 billion by 2015. "Japan now has a huge potential to become a world supply center," says Yozo Hasegawa, author of "Clean Car Wars."
Japan's push for green-car dominance is also spilling over into the materials sector. Japanese steelmakers have for years been innovators in ultralight and high-strength steel. Toray, a carbon-fiber pioneer that provided material for the Boeing Dreamliner fuselage, is experimenting with making carbon fiber inexpensive enough for cars. High-tech materials some day could reduce the weight of a car by half. A superlight sports car produced by Ken Okuyama Design will soon start selling in Japan; the K.O 7, using carbon fiber and aluminum generously, weighs just 1,650 pounds. (The K.O 8 is still in the concept stage.)
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