Today is Children's Day in Japan and that means it's also the day of the annual electric vehicle (EV) races at Tsukuba circuit. Sponsered by the Japan EV club with coordination from Daihatsu Motor Co. (maker of really cool little cars we can't buy in America), the event will feature 30-minute endurance races and 20-lap sprint races with EVs of all stripes including slick open-wheeled racers (like the one pictured above from last year's event). The ever popular electric racing kart (ERK) gymkhana will also be featured.
The day begins with at 7 AM with a vehicle inspection and will end after the "commendation ceremony" at three in the afternoon and admission is free. Happy Children's Day!
As we've reported before, Nissan is committed to the continuously variable transmission (CVT) for use in passenger cars due to the environmental improvements that the alternative transmission's enhanced efficiency allows. CVT transmissions are not locked into set gear ratios, instead they can offer any ratio which falls in between their minimum and maximum values as defined by multiple internal pulleys or planetary gearsets. In 2007, Nissan surpassed its stated goal of selling a million CVT transmission units in passenger cars by selling 1,088,000 in total, just less than thirty percent of its total global sales. In North America and Japan, though, the CVT represents almost half of Nissan's total transmission output.
Just how much good are Nissan's CVT's for the environment? Nissan's data suggests that a million cars equipped with CVT's is equal to the carbon reduction of 200,000 hybrids -- many of which use CVT transmissions as it is.
The Society of Automotive Engineers of Japan will honor Mazda next month for the automaker's research into combustion of catalysts in diesel particulate filters (DPFs). Mazda's goal, unsurprisingly, is to design future DPFs that burn up exhaust soot and other particulates better. Mazda's winning research looked at how a catalysts' oxygen exchange characteristics affect particle combustion, and the company has discovered ways to get the DPFs to clean the exhaust better. This is all lab work for now, but Mazda says that the discovery could lead to better DPFs in both automobiles - the Mazda2 diesel, we'd like to think, and whatever vehicles get Mazda's upcoming common-rail direct injection diesel turbo diesel engines - and general diesel engines in the future. More details after the jump.
Mitsui Mining and Smelting, a company with roots that go way back in history, is out to make history in the lithium ion battery market. Known in Japan as Mitsui Kinzoku, they are part of the humungous Mitsui Group whose origins can be traced back to a humble miso shop founded more than a hundred years before the American War of Independence. That's old.
What's new is their breakthrough with silicon-based negative electrode (SILX®) for lithium ion batteries. It seems they've been able to achieve double the energy capacity of a carbon-based negative electrode, boost the energy density 30 to 50 percent and dramatically improve cycle life. What's that mean in English? Their battery could help your electric car accelerate faster, go further and last longer.
Mitsui Mining and Smelting plan on commercializing their technology in 2010. There are still some details like manufacturing processes to work out and the matching of other components like positive electrodes and such. They already have companies knocking on the door for their SILX® and are planning to partner with battery makers and original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) to get their tech in your hands (or car) as quickly as possible. Read more about their battery chemistry and marketing strategy from their press release after the jump.
Although The Great Race has been postponed due to the recall of travel permits through China, the show will go on. According to the official website, "Great Race Sports owners, executives and participants are dedicated to honoring the history of this illustrious race." We think that the race, assuming it does take place, could gather a great deal of attention the world over. We've been keeping an eye on the race with posts on the E85-powered 1967 Aston Martin DB6 that will take part and other ethanol participants. This bears watching.
Ken Okuyama, formerly of General Motors, Porsche and Pininfarina, hopes to offer a vehicle known as the K.08. It's supposed to be powered by lithium ion batteries and be made from lightweight aluminum and carbon fiber. We'd expect it to be pretty pricey if it ever does go on sale and be offered initially in Japan only. Call us dreamers, but we want it in the U.S. too!
When we drove the jellybean on wheels (the Mitsubishi i MiEV) at the New York Auto Show last month, we were pretty swept away. This is one nice EV. Maybe we weren't quite as enthralled as the kids in this commercial for the all-electric car, but we're still in favor of the i MiEV making it to showrooms soon.
While my Japanese has gotten seriously rusty ever since I moved away from Japan in 2001, you don't even need my level of understanding to get something out of these videos. As our tipster Yanquetino wrote:
They are worth seeing, IMHO. The second one is especially informative. Despite the Japanese, you can still catch words like "braking," "CO2," "engine," "motor," "battery," etc. (I guess these are all imported from English). More importantly, they provide the specification numbers in Arabic numerals and symbols (14 hours full charge with 110V, 7 hours with 220, 30 minutes to 80% at charging stations, 160 km range, etc., etc.).
I wouldn't be surprised if they eventually port these movies over to English, but for now... they are understandable! Evidently Mitsubishi is committed to bringing the iMiEV to market in Japan. Let's hope that they'll bring them here soon afterwards!
(If you're in favor of the i MiEV in the U.S., don't forget to sign this petition.)
When I watched the commercial, I understood the part where the voiceover says "It's like a cell phone" when the woman plugs the car in. I think it also says "Running on zero" at the end, which means running on zero CO2 emissions. In this clip, a more technical description of what the i MiEV is all about, a vision of what driving an electric car could be like is laid out. I describe this clip after the jump.
As part of Nissan's Green Program 2010, Nissan hopes to reduce 2010 carbon dioxide emissions from global manufacturing to 7 percent below 2005 levels. In order to make this goal a reality, Nissan is requesting environmental reports from every one of their Tier 1 and Tier 2 suppliers which must include the supplier's carbon footprint. According to Automotive News, this will affect 500 Tier 1 suppliers in Japan, 300 in the United States and 300 in Europe, along with an uncounted number of Tier 2 suppliers. In addition, an "environmental representative" must be appointed as a liaison between Nissan and the supplier.
No word yet on just what Nissan will require from their suppliers or what will happen if a supplier cannot meet the guidelines, but this could mark an interesting shift in policy which other automakers may choose to adopt.
Click above for a high-resolution gallery of the 2007 Toyota Prius Touring.
"The Japanese government paid for 100% of the development of the battery and hybrid system that went into the Toyota Prius, " according to Jim Press. This quote was taken from an interview conducted by Business Week which also included Chrysler LLC CEO Robert Nardelli and vice chairman Tom Lasorda.
"I can say 100 percent that Toyota received absolutely no support - no money, no grants - from the Japanese government for the development of the Prius," answers Toyota's Tokyo-based spokesman Paul Nolasco. Irv Miller echoes this sentiment on Toyota's blog.
Hmm... so Press, who worked for Toyota for 37 years, claims that Toyota received help from the government in Japan for the development of their hybrid drivetrain. Just what kind of help goes unmentioned. Toyota denies any assistance. Though Miller believes Press misspoke, Press has since added, "The Japanese government strongly supported R & D (research and development) investment in battery development, and the Prius and other Japanese models benefited from that investment." Sounds like he's not backing down from his claims, and Chrysler is doing a bit of damage control (see the company's statement after the jump).
We have no way of knowing which side is telling the truth, but we can surmise that Press would like to get some of the same treatment, if it did indeed take place, from the U.S. now that he's moved to Chrysler. Also, we wonder what the other Japanese manufacturers have to say on the subject, as they are also mentioned by Press in his later comments.
By now, most people are familiar with the concept of using wave power as an eco-friendly alternative to the burning of fossil fuels. What may be a new concept, though, is using the waves to power a boat. Billed as the most eco-friendly way to power a boat since the sail was invented, wave power is captured by flippers at the bow, and then serves to drive the vessel forward.
Kenichi Horie is a man quite familiar with solo sailing, as well as sailing with unconventional ships. In his 69 years, he's navigated the ocean in solar- and wind-powered boats already and is now looking to set a new world record using his wave-powered ship, the Suntory Mermaid II. Horie will try to travel the 4,350 miles between Hawaii and Japan. Not only is his ship wave-powered, but it also is made from recycled aluminum and the ancillary electronics are powered by solar cells. We wish him well on his journey and will be tracking him on his official website here.
Click above for a high-res gallery of the Mitsuibshi i MiEV (22 photos)
I drive a Ford Mustang GT; I'm Autoblog's resident HUMMER aficionado; and I think my favorite car in New York this year is a Japanese-market all-electric kei car. What is going on?
My dirty little secret (if you could even call it that) is that I'm alsoverymuchintokeicars. Often endearingly wacky-looking, the little city cars are packaging marvels, boasting roomy interiors despite their compact footprints -- and I love them. This year, the New York Auto Show is home to keis (the Mitsubishi i and Subaru R1e) as well as another JDM favorite, the Nissan Cube. What's interesting is that each one is on display as an all-electric vehicle. What was especially interesting to me is that Mitsubishi's electric i MiEV (it's pronounced "eye-meev", incidentally) was actually available for journalists to drive. So I drove it. Read on and watch video after the jump.
While waste products can be used to obtain biogas or ethanol, the Japanese have found some other use for them. The city of Kyoto has announced a research project that uses hydrogen produced from biomass such as food waste and used cooking oil. The plans are far from modest, with a working prototype expected in 2010 and a fuel cell system to generate electricity from hydrogen produced at the biogas plant by 2013.
The source for hydrogen, biogas, will be obtained through fermentation of waste, as most processes, but the project also aims to use glycerin, one of the byproducts of producing biodiesel from used oil. Kyoto has been running garbage collection trucks and city buses on biodiesel since April 2000. The city also burns food waste to obtain electricity, something that produces a lot of polluting byproducts which they expect to cut with the new biogas-to-hydrogen project.
Tuning firms don't generally find their way onto AutoblogGreen very often. Here's an exception. Japan's Job Design has come out with its new "Hybrid" suite of visual and suspension mods for the Lexus LS600h L and Toyota Crown Hybrid. (The latter employs the powertrain from the Lexus GS hybrid.) While the LS kit is rather hideous, the attention-starved driver should be pleased with the results.After all, the Lexus wears very subtle hybrid markings. Augmenting them with the Job Design kit ought to ensure that the car gets that second glance from onlookers. Then again, maybe they'll just look away in horror.
Japanese kei cars, or "light automobiles," have become increasingly popular in Japan due to legislation making them cheaper to license, insure and pay taxes on. As a byproduct of their small size and small displacement engines, they are also generally quite frugal on gas and low on emissions. Because of their popularity, back in 2006, Honda bought a 51 percent share in Yachiyo Industry, a company which produces kei cars for Honda. Now, they plan to build an entire new plant dedicated to the manufacture of the mini-cars located near their existing Yokkaichi Factory in Japan. The 50 billion yen plant will be producing the front-engine Life and Zest kei cars, as well as the small 660cc engines powering them.
Honda claims that the new plant will be environmentally responsible, but fail to explain how. Based on Honda's past history, we have some amount of faith that the new plant will be as efficient and as eco-friendly as possible. We also appreciate the mini-cars that the new plant will be producing.
In an announcement that surely heralds things to come, Japan's Kyushu University will be home to a new graduate program in hydrogen energy technologies. Other schools around the world have similar programs that deal with hydrogen as an energy carrier (there's a Sustainable Energy Technology program at the University of Twente in the Netherlands, to cite just one example), but Kyushu U says their program will be the only graduate program that deals exclusively with these aspects of using hydrogen, as listed by the Aberdeen Press and Journal:
Hydrogen energy utilisation and conversion.
Hydrogen production and supply.
Safety design technology for mechanical system and infrastructure.
Integration technology to optimise total system performance.
The university expects about ten students to make up the first class. They'll join a team of over 50 researchers at the school, which is a partner in Japan's Research Centre for Hydrogen Industrial Use and Storage. [Source: Aberdeen Press and Journal via EDTA]
The Society of Automotive Engineers of Japan will honor Mazda next month for the automaker's research into combustion of catalysts in diesel particulate filters (DPFs). Mazda's goal, unsurprisingly, is to design future DPFs that burn up exhaust soot and other particulates better. Mazda's winning research looked at how a catalysts' oxygen exchange characteristics affect particle combustion, and the company has discovered ways to get the DPFs to clean the exhaust better. This is all lab work for now, but Mazda says that the discovery could lead to better DPFs in both automobiles - the 
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