JustBritish

The electric version of a Rolls Royce Phantom presented by the British luxury car maker at this year’s 2011 Geneva Auto Show will not spawn any production version, at least not yet, according to the company’s CEO, Torsten Mueller-Oetvoe.

In March, when the model was presented, Rolls said it was trying to probe the public’s reaction to an electric luxury car, and only after having enough data would decide whether to build it or not. Now, some three months later, the model has been given the temporary axe, not because people showed little interest, but because the model, at least for now, would make no sense.

According to the CEO, since most of the people buying Rolls Royce cars live some great miles away from cities, the limited range current batteries can provide will not help them very much. Meaning their interest in the model is low.

The electric Rolls Royce 102EX is powered by two motors and a single-speed transmission (combined to create 389 hp and 590 lb-ft / 800 Nm of torque). It reaches 0-60 mph in less than 8 seconds and has a top speed of 99 mph (159 km/h). The nickel cobalt manganese battery (one of the largest ever installed in a car), gives the model a range of 125 miles (201 km).

Even if for now the idea of driving an electric Rolls Royce has been left aside, the manufacturer’s officials do admit that a hybrid model would make a better choice than an EV for the moment, both for the company and for the clients.

Close on the heels of Tata Motors-owned Land Rover announcing its plans to develop hybrid cars, the Indian automaker’s another British subsidiary has now decided to toe the line.

Jaguar Cars, is now reportedly looking to introduce hybrid versions of its XJ and XF models in 2013-’14, using hardware developed with sister brand Land Rover, as reported by Britain’s Car magazine. The magazine has also stated that the first Jaguar hybrids could be launched soon after the planned 2013 introduction of the first Land Rover hybrid.

It was reported very recently that by the end of 2010 Land Rover will be testing the first diesel hybrid prototype called the ‘range_e’ which is being developed using a Range Rover Sport platform. Tests of this vehicle will use the existing 3.0 litre TDV6 diesel engine featuring a ZF 8-speed automatic transmission. The goal is to achieve a range of 20 miles using electric power only emitting less than 100 g/km of CO2 emissions and to achieve a top speed of around 120 mph.

According to ‘Car’, Jaguar’s hybrid system, which also will employ the ZF hybrid transmission, will be applied eventually to every model in the range. The Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) engineering centre in the British Midlands is developing both diesel- and gasoline-electric hybrid powertrains for use across both model ranges,” the magazine said. The system will “quickly spread across the XJ, XF, XK Jaguars and the Discovery, Range Rover and Range Rover Sport,” according to Car, and will be upgraded with plug-in capability by 2015.

It is to be mentioned that Jaguar Land Rover is already active in four ongoing projects that are part of the Technology Strategy Board/ Department of Transport Low Carbon Vehicles Innovation Platform. These projects, which demonstrate technological innovations that could be applied to future vehicle models, are the ‘Limo-Green’ Series Hybrid; a Flywheel Hybrid System for Premium Vehicles; the REcycled ALuminium (Real) project; and a Range Extended Hybrid Electric Vehicle (REHEV).

Read more: Jaguar XJ and XF models could also turn hybrid by 2013-14 – WheelsUnplugged
Automobile Industry News – Under Creative Commons License: Attribution

The year was 1984. Roger Dougal, a newly minted Ph.D. in electrical engineering, was beginning his career in the University of South Carolina’s College of Engineering.

He was the new owner of a 1972 MGB – a red convertible, perfect for life in the Palmetto State, where he could zip along the highways and city streets with the car’s top down practically year-round. Lightweight with easy handling, the MGB was a snazzy roadster for a young professor on the go.

But that was, shall we say, soooo last century.
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It looks like a regular Opel (Saturn) Astra, but the car that’s pictured is completely different. This vehicle is Lotus Engineering’s first attempt at creating a hybrid vehicle, and represents the launch of a branch of the British firm dedicated to engineering and developing hybrid and electric vehicles.

Underneath its hood, Lotus Engineering has fitted a small 1.5-liter three-cylinder gasoline engine featuring a turbocharger that’s mated to a mild hybrid drivetrain system. The 12 kW electric motor adds power, but not at the cost of fuel economy, and because it isn’t a full hybrid system that allows the car to run on pure electrical power, it poses a price advantage.

Lotus has also taken a load off of the main engine by switching over the water pump and the fuel pump to items that are purely electrical, a change that benefits the car with 2-percent improved fuel economy.

As importantly, the new power plant puts out greater performance than most entry-level gasoline engines on the market today, at 158 horsepower and 177 lb-ft of torque. This also betters the performance offered by the 1.8-liter inline-four sold in the North American Astra. At the same time, the engine cuts back on fuel economy and emissions by a significant amount.

By swapping out the four cylinder for a three cylinder, Lotus has made the engine smaller, some 35-percent less complicated, but more importantly about 20-percent lighter.

Lotus Engineering proves a point that many automakers have shown in concepts; that downsizing for fuel economy can be done with giant gains in fuel economy and equally large reductions in emissions. We might see Lotus-derived powertrains soon too, as they’ve officially partnered up with US-based ZAP electric cars.

Source: Automobile.com