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Archive for October, 2011

Plugging Into Electric Cars

One thing that often gets raised as a problem when the issue of all-electric cars is discussed is the matter of “refuelling”.  It’s easy enough with hybrid cars such as the Toyota Prius and the hybrid Ford Focus – the battery that provides the force needed to get the wheels turning is recharged by the engine when it’s running on petrol.  But what about all-electric cars?  The battery is always doing its thing and the motion of the car won’t charge it up again (if only it did!).

We all know how petrol-powered cars get refuelled.  We all know where our local gas stations are and many of them double as corner stores and takeaway food outlets.  In small towns, the petrol station often serves not just as the mechanic’s headquarters but also the post office and the general store.  But do these shops cater for electric cars?  Your local petrol station probably doesn’t have a place to plug in one of these.

The obvious thing to do is to plug the car in at home and recharge it in the same way that you would recharge your cellphone or camera.  So far, so good.  You’ll certainly notice the difference in your electricity bill, but this is only to be expected and you won’t be forking out at the petrol station.  But what about when you go on holiday or out of town on business?  Now where are you going to plug in to recharge?  Installing solar panels on the roof of your car so it can charge up as you go could be one option, especially in the more tropical and desert bits of Australia.  However, people do need to and want to drive at night and in bad weather, for one thing, and nobody’s taken a car covered with solar panels past the concept stage, at least so far.

This issue is one that does get considered by those in places of power who want to encourage electric cars as a way of decreasing dependence on fossil fuels (However, it must be remembered that the electricity plant has to be run on something, and if the plant is run on petrol, oil or gas, electric cars aren’t going to solve the problem of greenhouse gases and a non-renewable resource.  Electric plants powered by wind, water, the sun or nuclear energy (which has its own issues) don’t have this problem.)  In the United States, grants have been awarded to at least one organisation to develop the equivalent of a petrol station for electric cars: a plug-in station.

Richmond, in Virginia, USA, is one recipient of one of these grants.  The money will go towards working out how to build a charging station, as they are calling these facilities, and ultimately building them.  It will also go towards educating mechanics, most of whom got their training on your good old standard internal combustion engine and aren’t familiar with what’s under the hood of a purely electric car.  Things to be considered when designing a charging station will include how to make it straightforward to use for drivers, getting the station onto the grid, how not to cause brownouts if heaps of people charge up their cars, how to charge (in the payment sense) for the electricity and so forth.

This isn’t the first initiative taken regarding electric cars in Virginia.  One power company, in an effort to get more people adopting electric and hybrid vehicles, introduced a special charging rate for electricity for owners of electric cars, who paid less for their electricity if they wanted to charge up their cars overnight.

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Volkswagen moving forward faster than ever

There are many new VW vehicles showing up on the road now and in the very near future for us all to aspire to. The all-new Beetle, the second generation Touareg and the convertible Golf returns with great style.

The new generation Beetle id brings a well needed masculinity and strength to the table. Coupled with sportiness, trademark interior styling and today’s technology, it is a winner. The Beetle’s engines are those of the award winning Golf to offer you the performance you have come to expect from VW. It is longer, wider and lower than its predecessor which gives it a purposeful stance on the road. VW has incorporated new front end styling and a meaty rear spoiler to add to its modern touches. The Australian specifications are not yet announced but it will be hitting Aussie shores in 2012.

The second generation Touareg is everything you could want in a modern SUV. It is roomy, fuel efficient and impressively light in the steering. On the road it is lower to the ground with a very large nearly athletic profile. It carries (in some engine choices) VW’s BlueMotion Technology and wonderful Nappa leather seats with splashes of ornamental wood and brushed alloy to keep the contemporary styling running throughout the VW model range. We suggest that you try the new V6 TDi Turbo-diesel. Its aim is to impress.

After a nine year absence the new convertible Golf has returned. VW is the leading manufacturer of convertibles in the world. In 1949 VW launched the first ‘cabriolet’ as the Beetle Cabriolet. It was a runaway success. It was followed by the Karmann Ghia (1955), Golf Cabriolet (1979), Golf Cab III (1993), Golf Cab IV (1998) and more recently the Eos (2007). Today we have the all new Beetle cab and the newest Golf Cabriolet.

The Golf Cabriolet features an electric folding soft –top roof (9 seconds start to finish), two-doors & four seats. The other great thing about the roof is that it does not take up the boot spaces like hard top roofs do. The Golf Cabriolet has a 250Ltr boot at all times. In a sneak peak it looks like a small Eos with a black fabric roof with the interior styling nearly identical.

After the recent Passat update, the all new Jetta and the Amarok, it seems there is still plenty to look at and look forward to in your local VW dealership!

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New Nissans on the horizon

Nissan have announced the launch of four new models between April 2012 and March 2013; the new Micra platform ‘Almera’, the Leaf Electric Vehicle, Patrol SUV and the Tiida replacement into the Australian market. The Tiida replacement vehicle will either be known as the ‘Pulsar’ or the ‘Versa’. The brand Tiida failed to capture the Australian market with sales dropping a whopping 41% this year alone. We assume they will return to the Aussie loved Pulsar, but corporate decisions are sometimes not based on human reality. Go figure.

There may be some difficulty in brand recognition initially as the ‘Almera’ was the name for the European Export of the discontinued Pulsar, now they are moving it to the Micra replacement. Luckily here in Australia, we like our cars simply to sound like a ‘car’ and if they don’t, we simply don’t buy them. Let’s hope they spend enough money on the advertising to make us all ‘see the light’ of yet another branding change.

Nissan Australia has stated that the ‘Almera’ (the new Micra) will be the same platform but it will have four doors and a different body completely and different engines to choose from.

Nissan are hoping to join Mitsubishi and Toyota in the electric car game with the Leaf Electric. Not much has been said about it, but Nissan’s growth in the international market and its tremendously modern designers it will be something to see when it finally arrives. Let’s hope it is priced reasonably unlike its cousin, the iMiev from Mitusbishi.

Australians’ have always loved the Patrol and to convert it to a complete SUV is sheer genius. The Patrol name is synonymous with safety, ruggedness and reliability so it is sure to be a winner if it carries modern styling with all those basic features.

2012 is shaping up to be a great year of growth for Nissan; let’s hope the cars themselves are not a letdown like the Tiida and the Maxima.

Remember to contact the people at Private Fleet for a great deal on any new Nissan..or any other car for that matter!

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Who’s the Oldest Driver Now?

It probably hasn’t caused much of a stir in the motoring world at large, but one of the world’s notable drivers has just died: Ellen Noy.  Ellen Noy wasn’t a racing driver or anything of that sort, but she was the holder of a very significant world record: she was the oldest living driver in the world, still pottering around the place without a blemish on her driving record and still fully licensed at the age of 105.

Ellen Noy was a New Zealander who learnt to drive in the little town of Kaiapoi just out of Christchurch where she was living (and driving) up until her death last week.  She learnt to drive back in the 1950s, taking her husband’s vehicle out at odd moments and in the weekends, although she didn’t get a proper license until 1965.  Obviously, they did things a little differently back then, or else she knew how do dodge the boys in blue (and it was just boys back then, for the most part) when she was learning.  She taught herself to drive, too – she just got in and had a go, rather like Bertha Benz, wife of the automotive pioneer.

Ellen Noy was notable for another reason: her driving record was completely spotless.  In all her years of driving, she never had a speeding ticket and never got done for driving over the limit, and she never had an accident, either.  She’d have seen a few changes over the years regarding regulations and safety – seatbelts weren’t compulsory when she began driving, and things like ABS brakes, crumple zones and ESP weren’t invented.  She was no speedster, but she liked to claim that she didn’t go about at a nervous crawl.  She went as fast as the speed limit let her and she had plenty of confidence when she drove.

It would be nice to say that Ellen was still driving the same car that she learned in back in the 1950s, but this wasn’t the case. Ellen Noy outlasted that car and her wheels of choice were attached to a 1993 model Toyota Starlet – one of the classic hatchbacks preferred by older drivers and single people with an eye to their wallets.  Starlets, like other small hatchbacks, are perfect for the sort of driving that Ellen Noy did: runs to the supermarket, weekly trips to church, social runs to play cards and croquet with friends, so her choice of vehicle isn’t really surprising.  Not that she would have been averse to a new car: when she got the news that she was the world’s oldest living driver, she wondered if she’d be able to get a new set of wheels out of it.

Ellen Noy didn’t hold her title of world’s oldest living driver for long, as she achieved that honour last July when the previous title holder died.  The previous holder was even older: Sheila Thomson of Scotland, who was aged 108.  It’s yet to be revealed who the new holder of the title is and how old they are.

RIP, Ellen Noy: drive on through those pearly gates and enjoy a spin on streets paved with gold.

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