From 1st January 2011, the Department for Transport introduced individual grants of £5,000 to purchase electric vehicles (EVs). This is part of the Office for Low Emission Vehicles' £400 million fund to reduce emissions from road transport.
Hankook Tire has celebrated five years as main sponsor of the TUNE IT! SAFE! initiative at the Essen Motor Show. On November 26, Hyun-Jun Cho, managing director of Hankook Tire Germany, and Dietmar Olbrich, the company’s sales and marketing director, joined Dr. Andreas Scherer, Germany’s state secretary at the Ministry of Transportation, and German Federal Ministry of Transport and Automobile Tuners Association (VDAT) president Bodo Buschmann in a contract signing ceremony covering this year’s campaign. Following the ceremony the 2011 campaign vehicle, a customised German police car to be used for raising public awareness about safe and legal vehicle tuning, was handed over to the German police.
One of off-road racing's toughest tests, Yokohama Tire-sponsored racers took on the SCORE Baja 1000 between 17 and 20 November using the manufacturer’s Geolander M/T+ tyres. Heidi Steele achieved a third-place finish in Class 6 for unlimited, production mini trucks. Driving her customary Ford Ranger, Steele, the two-time defending Class 6 champ, and her co-drivers and Desert Assassins teammates Rene Brugger and Pat Dailey, finished the gruelling 1061.69-mile course in 27:43:10.
Construction work on Nexen’s newest passenger car and light commercial vehicle tyre factory in South Korea’s Gyeongnam Province has begun following its groundbreaking ceremony on June 24. The 500,000 square metre Changnyeong facility is being built with a 1.2 trillion won (£646 million) investment and Nexen anticipates its output will boost the company’s South Korea and China total to 60 million pieces per annum.
On Sunday May 30 the 10th Michelin Challenge Bibendum gets underway. This year the five-day event is being held in Rio de Janeiro, and Michelin states that during the course of the week it will present future generations of its low fuel consumption tyres, the first prototype tyres for electric vehicles (which can reportedly increase vehicle operating range by almost ten per cent) and motorised wheels plus the Michelin Active Wheel, both products intended to optimise the design of electric and hybrid vehicles.
Continental is working together with two other companies on a project related to lithium-ion batteries for commercial vehicles. Specifically, Continental, along with automotive suppliers ZF Friedrichshafen and ads-tec, are embarking on a joint project to develop production techniques for optimising the pre-assembly and final assembly stages of lithium-ion energy storage unit modules for use in hybrid commercial vehicles. This joint project, titled “FUEL” or “Future goes Electric”, is being sponsored by Germany’s Federal Ministry of Education and Research as part of a government economic stimulus package.
Goodyear Dunlop has spent the last week showcasing four concept and prototype tyres featuring innovations for future use on earth and in outer space in addition to its five latest tyres for European motorists. The company said that over the course of the Geneva Motor Show (which closes on Sunday) it has welcomed “thousands of visitors” to its stand, unveiling new technology from the both Goodyear and Dunlop brands. European president, Arthur de Bok suggested that the innovations on show “demonstrated our capability to deliver relevant technology to our customers.”
The share of electrified powertrains is expected to increase significantly in all major automotive markets as a result of marked decreases in the cost of batteries over the next decade. Yet the desire to capitalise on this growing market may lead to problems in the years ahead: According to Roland Berger Strategy Consultants, planned investments in battery production will result in significant overcapacity occurring between 2014 and 2017, especially in the US and in Japan. As a consequence, experts at the strategy consultancy believe only six to eight global battery manufacturers will survive the next five to seven years. This is the conclusion the company drew from its “Powertrain 2020 – Li-ion batteries – The next bubble ahead?" market survey.
“As a company, we lead the industry with forward-looking tyre technologies that contribute to greater road safety and reduce the impact on the environment.” These words of confidence came from Goodyear Dunlop Tires Europe president Arthur de Bok, who was commenting on the company’s presence at the Geneva Motor Show and the innovations the company is highlighting there.
Nearly £1 million of funding has been awarded by the Technology Strategy Board, a government established public body, to a consortium led by advanced battery manufacturer Axeon. The partners, who will match the funding, state they are developing new battery chemistries that will deliver high energy densities, thus making them ideal for use in plug-in electric vehicles (PHEVs). The £2 million project aims to accelerate the introduction of next-generation batteries that offer higher energy density combined with lower cost. It will, says Axeon, take advanced battery chemistry out of the research laboratory and into a real-world prototype PHEV application and help to consolidate the UK’s position as a strategic centre for battery development.
The important subject of the role tyres will play in meeting the demands of ever more environmentally oriented hi-tech vehicles was addressed by Michelin at the North American International Auto Show (NAIAS) in Detroit. During a press conference on January 12, Dr. Patrick Oliva, the Michelin Group’s global vice president for Sustainable Development, shared the tyre major’s view of the tyre’s place within the future of automotive transportation.
Michelin North America has announced the 2011 theme for the Michelin Challenge Design, its global vehicle design competition. In its tenth year the competition bears the name ‘PLUS 10. The Best is Yet to Come!’ and entrants have the opportunity to share their transportation concepts for the year 2021.
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According to Michelin, a special power train requires a special tyre. And it claims to have embraced this philosophy when designing its first concept tyre for electric vehicles. Known as the EV, the Michelin concept tyre is intended to provide a range of benefits that include increasing the vehicle’s range between charges or reducing battery size to optimise use of interior space. At the same time, the tyre is said to enhance driving safety and deliver superior longevity. Furthermore, says Michelin, the prototype tyre offers a quiet ride that is ideally suited to a relatively noise-free power source.
The UK's streets and car parks could see thousands more charging points for electric and plug-in hybrid cars thanks to £30 million of Government funding. Transport Secretary Andrew Adonis today invited cities and businesses to join together to bid for the money which will help fund the installation of charging points on streets, car parks and in commercial, retail and leisure facilities.
China's auto industry has shown signs of overcapacity, but automakers continues planning further expansion, Chinese state news agency Xinhua has reported that the country’s largest car makers face overproduction, but have further expansion plans anyway. China’s car production capacity is predicted to exceed 16 million units by 2012.
Leading auto companies, including SAIC Motor, FAW Group, Dongfeng Motor and Changan Auto, have each announced multi-million unit sales targets for the coming two years. Chery Auto, for example, has set an output and sales goal of 1 million units by 2012. Beijing Auto is aiming at output and sales of 1.5 million units in 2010 and 2 million in 2011.
In the auto industry stimulus plan unveiled in March, China set a target of annually producing 500,000 electric vehicles and hybrid vehicles in 2009-2011, with new-energy vehicle sales making up 5 percent of total passenger vehicle sales.
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