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BMW-Toyota sports car to use all-wheel drive and supercapacitors

BMW's newly minted alliance with Toyota will result in a hybrid all-wheel-drive Z4 / Supra replacement, complete with supercapacitor technology for increased performance, Autocar reports.

The car will have a front-engined direct-injection four cylinder turbo and electric motors driving all four wheels. The supercapacitor system will be derived from technology first seen in Toyota's Hybrid Supra HV-R in 2007 when it won the Tokachi 24 hour race and more recenly Toyota's Le Mans LMP1 race cars.

BMW will supply the 2.0 liter turbocharged engine combined with electric motors produced by BMW at its engine plant in Munich while a Toyota-developed electronics system is expected to provide torque-vectoring capability.

With the car expected to have a front mounted engine and sequential manual gearbox in a conventional longitudinal powertrain layout it will be interesting to see what type of electric motors BMW deploy to drive the front wheels, perhaps in-wheel motors?

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1,000-hp AWD hybrids to dominate 2014 Le Mans

There's no more popular saying in the world of motorsport than "racing improves the breed". Although in most cases, most racing series require strict rules on technology to keep races competitive and costs down, that's rarely the case.

The one place where automakers still push the limits of technology? The 24 Hours of Le Mans, which this year will feature three machines from Toyota, Audi and Porsche that offer radically different paths to cars of the future — hybrid, all-wheel-drive ones at that.

The favorite comes from Audi; they've won 12 times at Le Mans since 2000, and in one of the two races it didn't win the Audi machinery still won under the Bentley brand. The R18 e-tron quattro the company drove through the streets of western France earlier this week features the latest changes to the winning strategy, with a 4-liter, turbocharged V-6 diesel engine paired with a flywheel hybrid system for maximum fuel efficiency. That flywheel powers the front wheels, and a second system recaptures energy from the heat of the exhaust.

Toyota has been attempting to challenge Audi in endurance racing for a few years, making some progress and winning a couple of races, but never breaking through the German automaker's dominace. For this year's TS040 model, Toyota revised its entire system, adding a front-wheel-drive to the 3.7-liter V-8 supercapacitor powered hybrid from last year. In total, Toyota says the setup can generate nearly 1,000 hp, while using 25 percent less fuel than last year's vehicles as required by Le Mans rules for 2014.

The most interesting new model comes from Porsche, which hasn't raced in the top class at Le Mans for 16 years. The 919 Hybrid combines a battery pack and Formula 1-style hybrid energy system similar to what Porsche uses in the 918 supercar with a turbocharged V-4 engine — a configuration chosen to save weight and space. Porsche executives call the 919 the most complicated machine the company has ever built, and despite living under the same Volkswagen corporate roof as Audi, there's no apparent sharing between teams or slack in competition.

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BMW Lifts i3 Electric Car Production to Meet Rising Demand [VIDEO]

BMW has increased production of the i3 electric city car 43% to meet demand that has exceeded the carmaker’s initial expectations.

The premium manufacturer in recent weeks has raised daily output to 100 vehicles from 70 previously at the factory in Leipzig, Germany, where the model is assembled, Harald Krueger, BMW production chief, said in an emailed statement to Bloomberg.

BMW has already built more than 5,000 i3s since the start of the year, Krueger said. The current production rate translates to about 20,000 vehicles for the full year, almost twice as much as BMW’s initial sales forecast.

BMW began rolling out the i3 last November and will begin bringing the i8 hybrid sports car to market in June. Both vehicles have a carbon fiber chassis to cut weight and improve fuel efficiency. The Munich-based automaker said in February that it’s building a second production hall at a jointly run plant with SGL Carbon SE (SGL) to boost assembly of the material.

“Following the market introduction in Europe, we’re now rolling out the i3 in the U.S.,” Krueger said in the statement. “The U.S. will be the largest market for the i3.”

BMW gained as much as 43 cents, or 0.5 percent, to 90.57 euros and was up 0.3 percent as of 1:21 p.m. in Frankfurt trading. The stock has climbed 5.8 percent this year, valuing the German manufacturer at 57.9 billion euros ($79.9 billion).

Chief Financial Officer Friedrich Eichiner said in October the company was considering a production increase for the model after early demand exceeded expectations. BMW said at the time it had 11,000 orders for the compact car, which will cost $41,350 in the U.S., and aimed to sell more than 10,000 in 2014.

“BMW invested a lot of money” on their electric-car push and using carbon fiber, said Stefan Bratzel, director of the Center of Automotive Management at the University of Applied Sciences in Bergisch Gladbach, Germany. “It was a bold move, but it also bears some risk as production is complex. They need to make this work.”

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Mercedes-Benz Starts B-class Electric Drive production

Mercedes-Benz has kicked off production of the new B-class Electric Drive at its plant in Rastatt, Germany.

Set for sale in lef-hand-drive guise in selected European markets during the latter half of 2014, the five-seat MPV has been conceived as a rival to the likes of the BMW i3 and Nissan Leaf. Unlike the uniquely styled electric car competition, however, the new zero emission Mercedes-Benz is based on an existing model – the second-generation B-class.

At the heart of the new car is a lithium-ion battery produced by Tesla Motors – a company with which Mercedes-Benz has enjoyed close technical ties ever since its parent company Daimler took a minority ten per cent stake in the California-based electric car maker back in 2009.

Developing 177 hp and 340 Nm (252 lb ft) of torque, the electric motor of the car can propel it from naught to 100 km/h (62 mph) in just 7.9 seconds, while the Tesla-sourced battery can keep it on the road for approximately 200 km according to European NEDC ratings or 115 miles in US city driving.

Source: Autocar

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Audi to build A6 E-Tron Plug-In Hybrid In China

Together with its Chinese joint-venture partner FAW, Audi is to launch a plug-in hybrid car for the Chinese market. The Audi A6 e-tron will be based on the long-wheelbase version of the Audi A6, which is already produced in China, and will be specially developed for the most important market of the German premium manufacturer.

"We are shaping the future of electric mobility in China," stated Prof. Rupert Stadler, Chairman of the Board of Management of AUDI AG. The efficient full-size sedan with a 50-kilometer range when operating solely under battery power is to be produced within the joint venture by FAW-Volkswagen in Changchun in northern China.

Zhang Pijie, President of FAW-Volkswagen: "Audi and FAW have been cooperating closely for more than 25 years. Together, we have built up the premium segment in China. Now we are cooperating on the next generation of automobiles." The two types of drive system of the plug-in hybrid technology offer customers emission-free driving with electric drive and unlimited range with the additional combustion engine.

The Audi A6 e-tron is equipped with the latest battery technology and represents another milestone in Audi's efficiency program in China. The Audi Group is pushing ahead with its activities in the area of electric mobility under the Audi e-tron heading. The focus is on a holistic approach. All systems and components are coordinated to work together optimally. This allows Audi to further reduce its cars' CO2 emissions and creates a basis for CO2-neutral mobility.

The brand with the four rings is the first manufacturer to equip all of its models produced locally in China with efficient start-stop technology and kinetic energy recovery systems. Audi was already a pioneer in 2012 with the integration of lightweight components in local production. Since the beginning of the efficiency program with FAW-Volkswagen in 2011, Audi has reduced the average fuel consumption of the models it produces in China by more than 20 percent.

"We are the market leader in China's premium segment and will continue systematically with the application of efficiency technologies. Audi is thus supporting the Chinese government's targets for the reduction of fuel consumption," stated Dr. Dietmar Voggenreiter, President of Audi China and Head of the China Region at AUDI AG. Starting this year, the company produces engines complying with the efficient Euro 6 standards in Changchun. Audi already offers its Chinese customers a wide range of imported hybrid models (the Audi Q5 hybrid quattro*, Audi A6 hybrid* and Audi A8 L hybrid*). The Audi A3 e-tron* plug-in hybrid will also come to China.

Strict efficiency criteria apply to the construction and operation of Audi's new factory with FAW-Volkswagen in Foshan, southern China. This is where the Audi A3 Sportback* is produced, which had its market launch on March 21. The Audi A3 Sedan* from Foshan will follow before the end of this year. In 2013, the brand with the four rings delivered 491,989 cars in China (including Hong Kong), an increase of 21 percent compared with 2012.

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Electric vehicles ‘will beat petrol cars’

Electric cars will be so affordable and have such a long range between re-charges that petrol cars will not be able to compete in the next generation of cars, Mitsubishi Motors Corporation president Osamu Masuko predicts.

He said car and battery manufacturers were working on a seven-fold increase in battery capacity, increasing potential car driving ranges to more than 1000km, and major reductions to battery cost, one 20th of 2009 prices, that would drive the growth in electric cars.

“Once these things are achieved, the petrol engine can't compete,” he said, adding: “In 10 years time, we might see a dramatic change.”

He likened the rise of EVs to that of mobile phones, which had had a major impact on old style land-line telephones.

“The world is changing, and it is definitely advancing, this battery technology,” he said.

Mr Matsuko said the lithium-ion batteries for an electric car in 2009 cost as much as a Toyota Yaris, but had more than halved since.

He said the Japanese government had a target to reduce the cost of batteries for cars to one 20th of the price of the 2009 variety, and with seven fold capacity.

A 2009 electric car could travel 150km, he said, meaning the EV of the future should do more than 1000km.

Mr Masuko said Mitsubishi would not be able to meet future fuel consumption and emissions regulations in the United States, Europe and China if it did not introduce electric and PHEV cars into its mix.

He said car companies who failed to meet the regulations would have to pay penalties.

“Paying penalities is not realistic,” he said.

Mr Masuko said the fact that China – along with Bolivia and Chile – controlled one of the few sources of raw lithium for the making of current batteries was a concern, meaning the product was often used as a political bargaining tool.

However, Kazakstan supplies were now coming on stream, reducing the risk of supply instability, he said.

In the longer term, new battery substances possibly would further reduce the reliance on Chinese lithium, he said.