#50 Future Hybrids

 
Go Hypermiling Podcast

Type: Audio
Hosts: Wayne Gerdes, Kacey Green, and Manuel Santos
Recorded: July 23, 2010
Music: Grow by April Start and Blue Eyes by Audra Connolly
Runtime: 1 hr 2 min : 52 sec
Moderating: Kacey Green
Main Topics: Honda announces new advanced environmental technologies | 2011 Hyundai Sonata Hybrid first drive | Honda CR-Z goes for a ride 
Sponsors: CleanMPG, Hybrid Canada, & Midlands Hybrid | Enginer PHEV kits, Midlands Honda, & CleanMPG Scangauges

Our Technique: Handling the heat

Wane lets us know how he beat the heat while he was in the CR-Z for a week, we discuss how to minimize the impact of the air conditioner on your fuel economy. We go into specifics for mechanical AC compressors, electric AC compressors, and electro-mechanical hybrid AC compressors. How can you lessen the load on your HVAC system? …

Honda announces new advanced environmental technologies

Manuel lets us in on a few nuggets of Honda’s plans for the future in the area of Hybrid technologies…

2011 Hyundai Sonata Hybrid first drive

We talk about the new Hyundai Sonata’s hybrid variant …

2011 Honda CR-Z goes for a ride

Wayne lets us know everything he found out on his week-long test drive of the new Honda, tune in to hear what he has to say …

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Kacey Green
Go Hypermiling! 
“Hypermiling in today’s world”

#50 Future Hybrids

#49 CR-Z: The first drive

 
Go Hypermiling Podcast

Type: Audio
Hosts: Kacey Green, and Manuel Santos
Recorded: July 15, 2010
Music: Fooled by Hello Industry and Merrigans Reel by Jim Fiddler
Runtime: 34 min : 06 sec
Moderating: Kacey Green
Main Topics: CleanMPG tests the 6-speed MT CR-Z for a week | Tragedy in the back seat: Hot-car deaths
Sponsors: CleanMPG, Hybrid Canada, & Midlands Hybrid | Enginer PHEV kits, Midlands Honda, & CleanMPG Scangauges

Our Technique: Choosing Alternate Routes

Perhaps the route you always use for your commute may not be the best for either fuel economy time or both.  We discuss ways to plan your commute as well as ways to re-route on the fly for weather, road-blockage, traffic, etc. …

CleanMPG tests the CR-Z 6MT

Wayne gets to play with a Honda CR-Z weeks before the official launch for a week at his home.  He pulls some amazing mileages and notices the small things…

Tragedy in the backseat: Hot-Car deaths

Manuel and I discuss the the tragedy of Hot-Car deaths, distracted parenting and ways to make sure this doesn’t happen to your family …

Please feel free to post a comment or to leave an audio comment using the button on the sidebar of this site (rings your phone).

Kacey Green
Go Hypermiling! 
“Hypermiling in today’s world”

#49 CR-Z: The first drive

#47 Sonata Kilo-Tank

 
Go Hypermiling Podcast

Type: Audio
Hosts: Wayne Gerdes, Kacey Green, and Manuel Santos
Recorded: June 13, 2010
Music: .22 this song is “Peter and Jane” and we will close today with Fall Out Boy’s “Nobody puts baby in the corner” 
Runtime: 41 min : 51 sec
Moderating: Kacey Green
Main Topics: 2011 Hyundai Sonata “Challenge” - One day, 1,000 miles and just one tank of gas…, Fueleconomy.gov’s Most Fuel-Efficient Cars in America: 1984 to 2010, Honda CR-Z Sporty Hybrid
Sponsors: CleanMPG, Hybrid Canada, & Midlands Hybrid | Enginer PHEV kits, Midlands Honda, & CleanMPG Scangauges

Our Technique: “Setting your mirrors for safety, and what that has to do with FE”

How to set your mirrors and what in the world does that have to do with Fuel Economy?

2011 Hyundai Sonata “Challenge” - One day, 1,000 miles and just one tank of gas…

I am sure some have seen the banner Sean uploaded earlier this afternoon and may have been wondering what the heck it’s all about?
Chronicled here is a captivating story just getting started… with the final chapters yet to be written.
The 2011 Sonata – A new day dawns for the everyday family sedan.
Early last December, the newly redesigned 2011 Hyundai Sonata made its press debut at the Los Angeles Auto Show. While a mid-sized sedan launch would not normally grab our attention unless it were hybrid or diesel powered, this conventionally powered 2.4L sedan stood out as something out of the ordinary. …

Fueleconomy.gov’s Most Fuel-Efficient Cars in America: 1984 to 2010

Fueleconomy.gov has released two new top ten lists to help consumers purchase a fuel-efficient vehicle. Unlike other top ten lists that are limited to current model year vehicles, these new lists draw from twenty-six years of EPA and real-world fuel economy data, making them useful for consumers considering a new or used gas miser:

1. Fueleconomy.gov’s Top Ten EPA-Rated Fuel Sippers (1984 to present)
2. Fueleconomy.gov’s Top Ten Real-World Fuel Sippers (1984 to present)

The first list shows the most fuel efficient vehicles based on EPA fuel economy ratings, while the second list shows the most fuel efficient vehicles based on fuel economy estimates reported by fueleconomy.gov’s “Your MPG” members-ten members must provide estimates for a vehicle’s real-world MPG to be included in the list, and the list is updated weekly as new data are submitted from members. …

Honda CR-Z Sporty Hybrid

The three major Japanese car makers are taking a distinctly different approach to the imminent arrival of the electric car. Nissan has jumped in with both feet and will launch Leaf, its battery-powered e-car, at the end of the year. Toyota is putting its eggs in the true hybrid basket - its Prius is capable of both battery- and petrol-powered drive. …

Please feel free to post a comment or to leave an audio comment using the button on the sidebar of this site.

Kacey Green
Go Hypermiling! 
“Hypermiling in today’s world”

#47 Sonata Kilo-Tank - Go Hypermiling!

#35 Honda Strikes Back

Go Hypermiling Podcast

Type: Audio
Hosts: Kacey Green, Manuel Santos and Wayen Gerdes
Recorded: March 21, 2010
Music: Time of Day by the Clintons
Runtime: 33 min : 14 sec
Moderating: Kacey Green
Technique: Steady State Driving Styles
Main Topics: Honda narrows Prius lead with Li-Ion’s | 18-wheeler caught on video with car attached to front bumer at 60 mph | CR-Z is hot in Japan
Sponsors: CleanMPG, Hybrid Canada, & Midlands Hybrid | Enginer PHEV kits, Midlands Honda, & CleanMPG Scangauges

 Our Technique segment is how to maintain high fuel economy during a somewhat steady state driving scenerio.

General discussion on how to handle the long road ahead.  

Honda narrows Prius lead with Li-Ion’s

Can snazzier batteries jump-start Honda’s hybrid sales? The Honda Civic Hybrid is planning to switch to lithium-ion batteries in a bid to make it more competitive with the embattled Toyota Prius (which has the lion’s share of the hybrid market).

Li-ion is, of course, the default battery for nearly all the world’s coming plug-in EVs, and it has by far the greatest energy density of any available chemistry. Hybridcars.com reports that li-ion packs could even be cheaper than the nickel-metal packs standard in hybrids today.

While not the biggest deal in the world, it’s still very significant—the only hybrid to use li-ion right now is the Mercedes S400, and that’s in a whole other price category. Bloomberg got its scoop, as it often does, from its Japanese reporters (Makkio Kitamura and Yuki Hagiwara). Honda Executive Vice President Koichi Kondo told them in a Tokyo interview that the Civic Hybrid would have li-ion within the next two to three years. “Lithium will become a lot more prevalent,” he said.

Honda’s li-ion plans hadn’t made it to this side of the world. A U.S.-based Honda spokesman told me, “I suspect you read the same story I did. That’s the first I’d heard of it and now you and I know the same very limited amount. It is way too soon to disclose details of any kind regarding the next-generation Civic, and I assure you that would be the answer provided by anyone (PR or executive) in North America.” 

Honda18-wheeler on video with car stuck to the front bumer at 60 + mph

A Truck driver was videoed in this once in a lifetime sequence.

An unaware truck driver was captured on video going driving along without a care in the world at 60 + mph while a car was stuck sideways to the front bumper. He even passed a car whose occupants had the forethought to begin filming using their mobile phone.

The Renault Clio got trapped (no cause of the accident has been released yet) and even more outrageous, how did the truck driver not realize he was pushing this poor guy and his Renault along at 60 + mph?

Miraculously, the car’s driver was not hurt.

In the video, taken on the A1(M) near Wetherby, West Yorks, a passenger shouts: “He hasn’t seen it!”

Eventually, the truck driver did stop and the Renault driver got out unharmed.

The source of the film said they had been “inundated” with calls since the story broke…. Imagine that???  

 Honda CR-Z hot in Japan 

Honda can’t afford another hybrid failure. After lackluster sales of the newly redesigned Insight, Honda needs a hit in the hybrid segment. They are hopeful that the upcoming CR-Z can garner sales success and be a hit here in the States, but the outlook is uncertain. Whether or not the CR-Z will be a sale success or flop here remains to be seen, but the new hybrid is hot in Japan.

The CR-Z has been on sale in Japan for 3 weeks now and Honda has taken more than 8,000 orders. Honda had expected to sell only 12,000 units in the first year in Japan, so they are more than halfway there. Remember, the Insight was initially a hot vehicle in Japan as well, but its success did not carry over to the US. 

Please feel free to post a comment or to leave an audio comment using the button on the sidebar of this site.

Wayne Gerdes
Go Hypermiling! 
“Hypermiling in today’s world”

#35: Honda Strikes Back - Go Hypermiling!

#30 Special! - Go Hypermiling!

Go Hypermiling Podcast

Type: Audio
Hosts: Kacey Green, Jud Engles and Mike Sirach
Recorded: January 10, 2010
Music: Al Philpp and The Woo Team - The Experimental Album II - Awakening
Runtime: 20 min : 55 sec
Moderating: Kacey Green
Technique: Grill Blocking
Main Topics: Jud’s NAIAS Crushes, Mike’s NAIAS interests,  & Kacey’s NAIAS Prospects
Sponsors: CleanMPG, Hybrid Canada, & Midlands Hybrid | Enginer PHEV Systems, We Use Coupons 

Kacey, Jud, & Mike look forward to the North American International Auto Show.

Please feel free to post a comment or to leave an audio comment using the button on the sidebar of this site.

Kacey Green & Wayne Gerdes
Go Hypermiling!
“Hypermiling in today’s world”

#30 Special! - Go Hypermiling!

#19 CR-X Reborn - Go Hypermiling!

Go Hypermiling Podcast

Type: Audio
Hosts: Kacey Green, Manuel Santos and Wayne Gerdes
Recorded: October 26, 2009
Music: Shannon Hurley - Overboard
Runtime: 48 min : 00 sec
Moderating: Kacey Green
Technique: Taking a bite out of the cold
Main Topics: 2011 Honda CR-Z- 2nd Concept revealed on the Tokyo Autoshow Floor, Boom in U.S. coal plants poses big questions and Oil at $80 per barrel with gas and diesel rising sharply.

Sponsors: CleanMPG, Hybrid Canada, & Midlands Hybrid | Enginer PHEV Systems, Friarsgate Mobil, Sound proof foam.

For our technique segment, Wayne teaches us about the effects of colder temperatures on fuel economy.

Kacey then goes into detail about the upcoming 2011 Honda CR-Z Hybrid concept recent introduced to the Tokyo Auto Show crowds.

Manuel tells us about the problems and promise of King Coal including pitting consumer power demands against the environment.

A very well balanced discussion with both sides taken into account.

Finally Wayne tells us about $80 per Barrel oil for the first time this year. Gasoline may never again be as cheap as it was just 9-months ago…

Please feel free to post a comment or to leave an audio comment using the button on the sidebar of this site.

Kacey Green & Wayne Gerdes
Go Hypermiling! 
“Hypermiling in today’s world”

#19 CR-X Reborn - Go Hypermiling!

#16 Silence is Golden - Go Hypermiling!

Go Hypermiling Podcast

Type: Audio
Hosts: Kacey Green, Manuel Santos and Wayne Gerdes
Recorded: October 4, 2009
Music: Thievery Corporation - DC 3000
Runtime: 36 min : 0 sec
Moderating: Kacey Green
Technique: Basic Setup
Main Topics: The Deadly Silence of the Electric Car, 2010 Prius III Prices on the Rise, Jack Rickard Leads the Quest for the Ultimate BEV
Sponsors: CleanMPG, Hybrid Canada, & Midlands Hybrid | Enginer PHEV Systems, Sunshine Toyota in Winnipeg, Palmetto Horse and Hound

First for our technique segment, Wayne teaches us about basic setup of our vehicles.

Next, Kacey has a surprise for us in the form of the pre-production CR-Z Concept car. We note the 6MT (6 speed Manual Transmission). We discussed engine sizes and fuel economy potential for the final version of the car. Kacey drops the thought provoking nugget that perhaps this car may have a dual clutched sequential transmission.

Kacey then brings us the news that folks are again trying to “bell the hybrids”; busybodies are again targeting hybrid cars and their owners with the misguided notion that the vehicles are too quiet and they absolutely have to stick their hooks into these cars and trucks. 

Manuel tells us about Jack Rickard and his pursuit of building the world’s best battery electric vehicle.

Finally Wayne tells us what’s happening in the world of the Prius 3G. Toyota has finally released details on the Prius I and pricing. I describe their efforts as trying to create an Insight competitor pricewise and failing miserably giving us a fat stripped down car that the typical Prius owner isn’t interested in. We discuss what this car means for fleets, and tinkerers, as well as try and decide if real people will be able to get their hands on this mythical unicorn. 

Please feel free to post a comment or to leave an audio comment using the button on the sidebar of this site.

Kacey Green & Wayne Gerdes
Go Hypermiling! 
“Hypermiling in today’s world”

#16 Silence is Golden - Go Hypermiling!