The Mazda MX-5 is one of the world's best handling cars under $25,000, and as much as we Americans want more power and size to turn the Japanese roadster into a proper pony car, that's probably not going to happen. Increased fuel economy and CO2 reductions will force the MX-5 into the same situation as larger vehicles. It has to get more efficient and lighter to stay competitive. MX-5 program manager Takao Kijima told Drive that Mazda is looking at alternative powertrains for its little roadster, but the Zoom Zoom specialists are also looking to drop 10% of the car's weight. One way to improve efficiency is with diesel technology. Diesels can be 30% more efficient than petrol powerplants, but beefier diesel parts means that total displacement must be smaller than the current engine's 2.0 liters. Another idea is a hybrid, which, like the diesel, would provide instant torque that would also add weight to a vehicle that's just about to go on a diet. Kijima also stated that any MX-5 would absolutely have to have 50/50 weight distribution, meaning that a hybrid with its heavy batteries would by tricky, but not impossible. For our money, we'll take a 10% lighter Miata with a smaller turbocharged, direct-inject gas engine with ethanol injections.
GM is not going to let the Volt or its E-Flex powertrain get lonely. The first Volt -- the one due in late 2010 -- hasn't been finished yet, yet is so popular that GM is publicly theorizing about how far it can spread the technology through the empire. Ideas include a smaller car with a smaller battery pack that could go 20 miles on pure electric, and be much cheaper. A proper wagon, just "a little bit bigger," could also make the cut. And those variants don't all need to be Chevrolets. Other GM brands will certainly be blessed with Volt technology, if not an outright case of brand engineering. Cadillac is one of the wolves thought to be circling the Volt's henhouse, and using Volt systems in a Caddy might allow GM to make a profit on such a car without tax breaks. If there were a more economical Volt with a shorter electric range, Saturn would seem to be a prime candidate. It looks like the sole E-Flex powertrain option not planned is an electric-only car, one without a range-extending gasoline engine. GM feels that people would find it too risky to have no backup. But back to that first car, the plain vanilla Chevy Volt that's still two years away from showrooms – a Volt team member doesn't appear to have forgotten the prime directive: "You always have to do the first car right and well." Amen.
In the future, we'll eat all our meals from toothpaste tubes, everyone will be beautiful and healthy, and we won't need cars, what with the proliferation of nuclear-powered jet packs. Prediction is such thorny business, though Toyota isn't making such a fantastical claim by suggesting that each of its vehicles will have a hybrid option available by 2020. Wired's blog seems to agree that by 2020, hybrids will have proliferated like rabbits, and we'll be awash in electron propulsion systems.We still feel a little cheated that eight years into the 21st century, we still don't have all those things promised to us fifty years ago, but at least automakers are hard at work pushing alternative systems toward viability. Justin Ward, a manager at the Toyota Technical Center overseeing advanced powertrain programs, told a Management Briefing Seminar in Traverse city that work continues on fuel cells to overcome challenges like climate extremes and range. Battery technology, too, will continue to advance, making the current Hybrid Synergy Drive even more efficient. Toyota is still holding off on diesels, and plug-ins present some issues when you consider where that electricity is generated, so it's looking like Toyota will continue to develop its fuel cell technology for the long term and bolster its hybrid offerings in the near future.
General Motors dedicated its new Powertrain Engineering Development Center in Pontiac, MI on Friday. On hand were CEO Rick Wagoner, Powertrain EVP Tom Stephens and the usual array of elected officials trumpeting their involvement in making the new facility happen. Prior to the speech making and pushing of the ceremonial start-up button, we got a tour of the new 450,000 square foot facility that GM proclaims as the largest, most advanced powertrain development center in the world.
VP of powertrain engineering Dan Hancock explained that the center will be responsible for developing the systems that comprise GM's advanced propulsion strategy. GM is consolidating powertrain development operations from four facilities in Southeast Michigan at this new Pontiac location. When the 1,200 relocating staff have moved in there will be 4,300 staff on site. GM is using new systems being implemented to move forward with its Road to Lab to Math (RLM) strategy that will help reduce engineering development costs. The center will lead development of all manner of future GM powertrains from new gas and diesel engines to hybrid systems and the E-Flex system that will power the Volt. Read on to learn about some of the new systems GM is putting in place to help improve its powertrains.
Much has been made of the issues that Tesla Motors encountered with its original two-speed transmission. The fledgling EV automaker was unable to find a supplier that could engineer a two-speed gearbox capable of allowing the Tesla Roadster to hit 0-60 in four seconds and meet specified targets for its range. The two-speed box was eventually dropped in favor of what has been called "powertrain 1.5", which uses a single-speed gearbox and other improvements to the electric motor and inverter to achieve Tesla's seemingly incongruous goals of performance and efficiency.
JB Straubel, Chief Technical Officer Tesla Motors, recently posted an update on the progress of powertrain 1.5 on the company's blog, and be warned, if you're not up to date on how highly complex electric motors and transmissions work (like us), you'll probably get lost. The basic nuts and bolts of it amount to a Tesla Roadster that will have both a 33% higher peak torque output and an additional 10 miles of range versus the 1.0 car. According to our own Sam Abuelsamid who has followed the Tesla Roadster's development from gestation, these two seemingly irreconcilable accomplishments were achieved mainly through lowering resistance at every point along the powertrain. This was done by redesigning some components, using low resistance materials and switching to a new, shorter gear ratio of 8.27:1. You can read Sam's nitty gritty explanation of the changes over at AutoblogGreen, but it seems the little EV company that could is finally getting back on track after some major set backs.
Ford intends to jump into the turbocharging arena in a big way with "EcoBoost", and is planning to move up to 500,000 vehicles in the U.S. annually with twin-spool technology. Ford claims its EcoBoost suite of engine technoloies will give customers fuel savings of up to 20% versus a like-powered naturally aspirated engine, and the first samples are scheduled to go on sale in about a year. We wanted to learn more about Ford's plan, so we accepted an invitation to speak with Ford's director of Advanced Powertrain, Dan Kapp. Click play on the video above to see what Dan has to say about EcoBoost.
