Friday 6 November 2009

I Just Love Cars, Planes, Boats And Trains,

and here is one BMW made earlier, it is a Vision Efficient Dynamics plug-in hybrid concept vehicle, bit of a mouth full but there it is, it is called the Vision and is powered by a hybrid power-train consisting of a 1.5l, three-cylinder turbo-charged diesel engine and two electric motors, a 163bhp (120kW) diesel engine sits just ahead of Vision’s rear axle, powering the rear wheels by itself or in combination with an electric motor - which has a 38kW peak power output,
a second electric motor - with continuous output of 60kW - is used to drive Vision’s front wheels, this motor is also capable of producing up to 84kW for 30 seconds or up to 104kW for ten seconds, energy storage is provided by a 10.8kWh 98-cell lithium-polymer battery pack, which weighs 85kg (187lbs) and sits along Vision’s spine in a similar layout to the Chevrolet Volt and AMG SLS eDrive, the Vision has an electronically limited top speed of 155mph,
all well and good if it keeps the tree huggers happy, and I must admit I like the look of it, but there are two or three questions that no manufacturer of any "green" car has yet to answer,
1 how long do the batteries last before replacing them?
2 how much does it cost to replace them?
3 how much does it cost to dispose of the dead batteries in a environmentally friendly way?
I would think the answer to question 1 will be 3 or 4 years, I think the answers to questions 2 and 3 are going to be pretty ugly!

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