Last year, Lexus became the first automaker to introduce a production eight-speed automatic transmission in the latest LS460. Recently, German transmission manufacturer ZF announced a new eight-speed of its own which is claimed to provide a 14-percent boost in fuel efficiency compared to a five-speed. It looks like Audi and BMW will likely be the first to directly challenge Lexus when they start using the ZF. Audi may be first out of the gate in 2009, with eight-speed installations in the A8, Q7 and the expected A7 coupe. BMW will probably follow a year later with the X6 and the next-generation 7 series getting the extra gears. Mercedes-Benz already has a seven-speed that it builds on its own. Mercedes' powertrain chief admits that an extra gear could be added to the unit but that the incremental improvement would be limited. As more gears are added, the weight and complexity of the system increases and the improvements become smaller and smaller. Seven and eight-speed transmissions will likely remain the maximum for the foreseeable future and six-speeds will probably take the bulk of volume in mainstream segments.
Another of the honorees in this year's International Engine of the Year competition is BMW's latest diesel engine. The dual turbo 2.0L four cylinder that debuted in the 123d this year was selected by the 65 member jury as the Best New Engine for 2008. This new engine provides exceptional power for a 2.0L diesel and excellent fuel economy. The 123d is rated at 204hp while achieving 45mpg on the EU driving cycle and emitting only 138g/km of CO2. The engine uses a pair of turbochargers of different sizes to provide quick low end response and plenty of top end power. Features like an aluminum block have helped cut 38lbs from the weight of the engine compared to BMW's older four cylinder diesel. The performance and emissions of this engine are also enhanced by a third-generation common rail fuel injection system and particulate filter.
We've seen the renderings - some fanciful, like the ones above, some unsurprising - and heard the rumors about the new all-electric BMW/iSetta vehicle. If we trust the phrasing in a short story in Global Insight (no direct link, sorry; found the story in Lexis Nexis thanks to the EDTA), then we can celebrate a new development at BMW. The story, written by Tim Urquhart, starts, "BMW will give the green light to an all-new zero-emission vehicle (ZEV) city car that will see the premium carmaker enter an all-new segment." This fits with the news that came out about a month ago that said that a decision would be made sometime this year. The new EV - which might be called the iSetta or potentially co-branded (?) with Smart - will likely have li-ion batteries. We're ready for some official confirmation on this one, don't you think?
It's likely that at some distant point in the future, lead-acid starter batteries will go the way of the dodo, at least in green cars. The fact is that newer technologies like nickel metal hydride and lithium ion are much lighter than the lead-acids currently underhood of nearly every car in the world. Still, advancements in lead-acid technology are being made, and as more and more vehicles begin demanding more from their batteries, the humble lead-acid battery is changing with the times. For instance, BMW's new efficient dynamics technology required a new battery capable of supporting high loads. Banner Batteries stepped up to the plate by offering a 90Ah AGM battery, which is capable of offering the necessary power for the stop/start micro-hybrid BMW.
Fortunately, nearly everything that goes into the lead-acid battery is recyclable. Over 95 percent of the lead-acids currently underhood will end up recycled, most likely into another battery. Europe takes up the slack for some other countries by recycling nearly 100 percent of their starter batteries. New sensors are also being added to lead-acid batteries in order to make them last longer. It's good to know that old dogs like lead-acid batteries are still learning new tricks.
In the name of increased efficiency, and quite possibly playing the game of automotive one-upmanship, luxury automakers such as Mercedes Benz, BMW and Lexus have been adding more and more gear ratios to their automatic transmissions. By allowing a computer to choose the most appropriate ratio for any given scenario, the vehicle's engine is required to only make as much power as absolutely necessary, potentially saving fuel in the process. ZF, one of the largest transmission makers in the world, claims that their new 8-speed unit boasts an efficiency increase of eleven percent over its older 6-speed unit. The transmission giant has just developed a new modification, though, which could increase the overall vehicle efficiency even further. By adding a hydraulic impulse storage unit, the new ZF unit can support stop/start functionality, which they claim can result in an additional five percent reduction in fuel consumption.
They're doing it again. Somebody out there has come up with yet another rendering of what the new electric Isetta from BMW might look like. In contrast to the otherones we've shown you, this looks more like the BMW of today rather than the Isetta of yesteryear. The fancy speculative drawing appeared on AUTOCAR.co.uk along with conjecture that the city car could be powered by a rear-mounted petrol (or possibly diesel) engine in addition to the battery model. It could even have a BMW motorcycle engine. Since there is a strong possibility the car will be based on the underpinnings of the Mila Alpin concept and that its maker, Magna, is currently hard at work on a plug-in hybrid, we feel this seems a likely powertrain option as well.
The article goes on quote BMW CEO Norbert Reithofer as saying, "co-operation [with another car maker (*cough* Mercedes)] is possible" and added that the decision would be made by the end of 2008 "whether to go it alone". With a target production date of 2012 we expect an officially official announcement and drawings any day now.
The advent of changes to London's congestion charge that makes the fees based on a vehicle's carbon dioxide emissions has prompted many automakers to tweak some of their models to get their emissions down. Any car that emits less than 120g/km of carbon dioxide is exempt from having to pay the charge. The latest brand to go after that threshold is BMW with their 318d. The existing version is rated at 123g/km, so BMW will make some changes to get into the charge free band. BMW engineers feel they can meet the challenge with the 318d. The smaller 118d already achieves 119g/km with it's start-stop system and brake energy regeneration. Both cars use a 1.8L four cylinder turbodiesel. Some changes in gearing, lower rolling resistance tires and some aero tweaks may be all it takes to meet the target.
"H2R" is the title of a project developed by Danish-Icelandic artist Olafur Eliasson. What's it all about? This is BMW's 16th art car in which the outer shell is replaced by ice. The H2R is a racing car powered by hydrogen, and it was developed to achieve speed records in terms of "sustainable mobility" (their words). Olafur Eliasson has removed the outer covering of the H2R prototype and replaced it with a complex skin of two reflecting layers of superimposed metal spanning the body of the car. This shape is covered with fragile layers of ice which are obtained by spraying 2,000 liters of water over the frame, inside a freezer, where the car is shown. OK, so this is not very green after all.
As usual with art car projects, the artist has something to says about the H2R project: "By bringing together art, design, social and environmental issues, I hope to contribute to a different way of thinking-feeling-experiencing cars and seeing them in relation to the time and space in which we live." If you're interested, the car will be shown from May 29th at the State Museum of Applied Arts and Design in Munich, Germany.
Pretty soon, we're going to have to list the people who aren't driving a BMW Hydrogen 7. BMW is offering the car to celebrities, average citizens and politicians the world over. Some of us get to drive it around the block, others get to keep it for a week or two. The latest to be handed the keys is EU Parliamentary president Hans-Gert Pöttering (pictured), who stepped into the car yesterday in Strasburg. BMW says (after the jump) that this move was "In line with the European Parliament's efforts to take measures to reduce its own CO2 emissions." Pöttering will use the car for work-related trips. For his part, Dr. Norbert Reithofer, Chairman of the Board of BMW AG, said the Hydrogen 7 "shows that we have initial solutions and are on the right track" and that for "regeneratively produced hydrogen has the most potential to secure our mobility in the future." Potential, always with the potential.
Back in January BMW made the big announcement that it would finally introduce modern clean diesel engines to the U.S. market. At the time the Bavarian manufacturer told us that the new 335d and X5 xDrive35d would be launched by later in 2008 without getting any more specific than that. A blog specializing in news about the blue and white propeller brand is reporting that the new models will debut in mid-October. We decided to give BMW a call this afternoon and talked to spokesperson Charlene King. She reiterated the company has not made any new announcements about availability and re-confirmed that the diesels would debut this fall.
When we first heard about the new mono-fuel BMW Hydrogen 7, we were rather impressed by the extremely low emissions numbers posted by the model when tested at Argonne National Laboratory. The fact that BMW was able to reduce the emissions, boast better range and make more power as compared to their previous-generation Hydrogen 7 was pretty cool. According to Dr. Thomas Wallner, lead engineer in Argonne's hydrogen vehicle testing activities, "[The Hydrogen 7's] engine actively cleans the air. Argonne's testing shows that the Hydrogen 7's engine actually shows emissions levels that, for certain components, such as Non Methane Organic Gases (NMOG's) and Carbon Monoxides (CO's), are cleaner than the ambient air that comes into the car's engine."
So, because air is required for the hydrogen combustion, and there are pollutants already present in the air, at times the exhaust from the BMW is cleaner than the air it took in. Does that warrant BMW referring to their hydrogen-burner as a "pollution-consuming internal combustion engine?" Perhaps we're just picking nits, but that sounds a wee bit like greenwashing. It's not like the overall air is cleaner after going through the system, after all. Read their entire press release after the break.
Back in November 2006, Mercedes-Benz, VW/Audi and BMW indicated that the three companies would be cooperating on promoting new clean diesels using the same BlueTec aftertreatment technology. Within a few weeks BMW and, later, Volkswagen made it clear they would not be using the BlueTec branding on their cars. BMW chose to call their system BluePerformance and Volkswagen and Audi are using CleanTDI or simply TDI. Nonetheless all three manufacturers are using the same technology in order to meet U.S. Tier2 Bin5 emissions requirements. All the engines use high-pressure common-rail fuel injection systems along with diesel particulate filters and urea injection systems to eliminate the soot and NOx emissions. The only exception is Volkswagen's smaller 2.0L four cylinder diesel which will use a maintenance-free lean NOx trap in place of urea injection.
As the three manufacturers race to get their first clean diesels to the U.S. market this fall it looks like Mercedes may be filing a patent infringement suit against Audi over the BlueTec technology. It appears that under the original alliance Daimler may have wanted a licensing fee from BMW and VW/Audi. Mercedes has a European patent (EP1054722B1) that apparently covers some aspect of the NOx reduction. It's not known at this point exactly what the patent covers because the after-treatment systems are actually provided by suppliers like Bosch and Delphi. At this point it sounds like a lot of spite and it's anyones guess if this will affect the U.S. launch of the new diesels.
At the international media launch for BMW's new X6 "Sport Activity Coupe" in Spartanburg, South Carolina, company officials confirmed that the hybrid version is indeed coming next year. When it launches in 2009 it will be available only with the the 4.4L turbocharged V-8 that is debuting right now in the 2008 X6. The X6 will be BMW's first application of the two mode hybrid system that is being developed along with GM, Daimler and Chrysler. Like GM and Chrysler, BMW will be using a nickel metal hydride battery for the initial applications. Unlike the two American brands, the BMW engine won't be using cylinder deactivation. According to BMW engineers, they didn't see a significant improvement in efficiency with cylinder deactivation compared to the direct injection and variable valve timing and lift system their V-8 uses.
Like the American hybrid SUVs, BMW chose to apply hybrid technology to a heavy, powerful vehicle because the absolute fuel savings (the number of gallons reduced) are much larger compared to the same percentage increase on a smaller vehicle like the 1-series. In Europe BMW, has started to add systems like automatic start-stop and brake energy regeneration to their smaller vehicles. They are implementing each of these technologies on one platform or powertrain combination at time. The start-stop system is currently available on manual transmission four cylinder cars, none of which BMW sells in the U.S. right now. Over the coming years they plan to expand availability to virtually all of their platforms. In the meantime, the X6 Hybrid will save some gas compared to the regular model, but at 5,000lbs and up, it won't be winning any fuel economy competitions anytime soon.
Do you have a fleet in the UK and you want to know how green it is? Business Car, which is specializes in cars for fleets, has taken CO2 emission information for the three best-selling fleet models, the automaker's CO2 reduction figures, as well as other considerations regarding low-emitting models across the range.
Their results are quite interesting. The top marques are, surprise, Toyota, not only because of the Prius, but thanks to clean diesel technology. Volkswagen follows, thanks to the availability of Bluemotion models across the range and a hybrid announcement. Third is Citroën, which has a lot of cars with low CO2 emissions, although the same can't be said for the upper models. Fourth is BMW which has brought "ecology" to the luxury car segment.
On the negative side there's Saab, which struck out due to the Swedish marque's bet on biofuels and the lack of biofuel support in the UK, as well as the lack of availability of smaller models. Then there's Mercedes, which was hit because they don't (currently) have any green technology vehicles on sale; the company's larger cars are available, though. Closing our the four worst list is the Land Rover, with a high CO2 average, and Mazda, which suffers due to a lack of an eco label. I bet they wish Econectic, parent Ford's green brand, could be handed down.
Can't wait for BMW to possibly unleash a new green vehicle? Got enough cash in the bank to (almost) buy two Tesla Roadsters? Then say hello to your new ride: an all electric 1995 BMW 840Ci. The car has been converted by Eco-Conversions to run on Xellerion nickel-zinc batteries that will move the vehicle for 100+ miles between charges and, according to the description, "provide enough power to maintain the feel and performance of a luxury sports car" (read: go over 100 mph). The all-electric BMW is currently on sale on eBay for the low, low price of $160,000 (want it without waiting? The Buy It Now option is just $165,000). The car is currently in Lisle, Illinois and there are another five days before the auction ends. My birthday's coming up, in case you're feeing generous. Thanks to James H for the tip!
