Acura NSX to be built in Ohio in 2015

Honda today confirmed that the forthcoming Acura NSX hybrid supercar will be built at a brand-new facility in Ohio. This will be the company's third plant in Ohio, and will come as the result of a $70 million investment. Honda first hinted that NSX production would be coming to Ohio when the original concept car was revealed at the 2012 Detroit Auto Show.

Honda's new facility, called the Performance Manufacturing Center, will encompass a 184,000-square foot space inside of the automaker's former North American Logistics building and will employ 100 associates. As you might expect, the Performance Manufacturing Center is located just a few miles from Honda's American-based R&D facility, as well as the Marysville auto plant, where production of the 2014 Accord Hybrid will kick off this fall.

"The location of this facility is in the midst of one of the greatest collections of engineering and production talent in the world. So it makes sense that we will renew the dream and build this high-tech, supercar in Marysville, Ohio," said Hidenobu Iwata, president and CEO of Honda of America, in a press release.

Production of the Acura NSX will begin sometime in 2015. We have already seen the hybrid hero several times in conceptual form, with the latest reveal at this year's Detroit Auto Show giving us a glimpse at the car's interior.

Galileo Cryobox feeds with LNG the turbines of the fastest and environmentally cleanest ferry in the World 

Buenos Aires, 2nd May, 2013 - Seven Cryobox® LNG nano stations, designed and manufactured by Galileo, will fuel the tanks of the 'López Mena', the world's first high speed passenger RO-RO ship powered by Gas Turbines fed on LNG, which will daily cross the River Plate between Argentina and Uruguay.

It will also be the first time that a sea transportation company, such as Buquebus, becomes its own self supplier of a fuel, which is in turn the environmentally cleanest alternative. Developed and patented by Galileo, Cryobox® is the newest LNG production technology that enables this paradigm shift.

So far, the production of LNG was unaffordable for private business companies interested in a clean burning, low-cost and light weight alternative source of energy. Only oil & gas major exporting countries could afford and manage the complex value chain and facilities necessary for its production and delivery.

Cryobox® nano LNG station overcomes these hurdles through a cost effective solution, characterized by a high-pressure thermodynamic cycle that converts natural gas into liquid by cooling its temperature below -153 °C. Having a customizable LNG production capacity, it can reach a peak of 12 tpd (tons per day) or 7,000 gpd (gallons per day). It is a small-scaled mobile and packaged LNG production plant, which is ready to be shipped anywhere on a trailer for its immediate start-off.

Operating together, the seven Cryobox® nano stations commisioned by Buquebus will be able to produce 84 tpd or 49,000 gpd of LNG and then trucked from the surroundings of Buenos Aires to the Buquebus? wharf. The 'López Mena' is an innovative ferry in all respects, being the LNG usage one of the most ambitious. This 100 metre ship will be the largest catamaran operated by Buquebus on the River Plate waters; and the fastest, environmentally cleanest, most efficient, high speed ferry in the world.

With capacity for 950 passengers and approximately 156 cars, it has a projected lightship speed of 53 knots, and an operating speed of 50 knots. The passenger cabin will include tourist, business and first class seating. Launched in Australia by Incat Tasmania Pty Ltd it is the first high speed craft built under the British Code of Safety for High-Speed Craft (HSC code) powered by Gas Turbines using LNG as the primary fuel and marine distillate for standby and ancillary use.

This is a huge step in a new era of eco-sustainable heavy duty transportation. 'The integration of Cryobox® Galileo?s technologies in this challenge will demonstrate that LNG is the most suitable and cleanest power alternative for long-haul trucks; delivery fleets; buses; ships, barges and ferries; and railroad locomotives, when long distances should be covered, even when the odds of refueling are widely scattered. Since LNG has a superior energetic density than any other diesel substitute, it is possible to charge more fuel to cover longer distances in the same tank,' said Osvaldo del Campo, CEO of Galileo.

NYC launches electric taxi 'fleet' with six Nissan Leaf EVs  

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg drove up to the news conference in Rockefeller Center that introduced the first-ever all-electric NYC taxi in the back seat of - you guessed it – an EV taxi. Nissan and NYC chose Earth Day, today, to launch a zero-emission taxi fleet.

The six donated vehicles begin a year-long pilot program as soon as next week, after installation of recharging units is completed. That includes charging units in the homes or garages of participating owner-operated taxis and fleets, and several fast-chargers in strategic spots around Manhattan, which can provide 80-percent battery power in around 30 minutes.

Taxis average 70-100 miles a day in NYC. The 2013 Nissan Leaf has an official EPA range of 75 miles (aka 84 miles), and probably more in the stop-and-go of urban traffic, thanks to regenerative braking, so drivers might not have to recharge at all during their shift. "We want to demonstrate that drivers can integrate the technology without losing business," said David Yassky, the city's taxi and limousine commissioner.

The first Nissan Leaf taxi driver, London-born Uppkar Thind, told me his 12-year-old son thinks the EV taxi is "cool," and that the vehicle is stable and sturdy. Thind was one of more than 100 owner-drivers and fleets who applied for one of six pilot program Leaf vehicles, which requires drivers to provide feedback to Nissan, the city and other governmental agencies and utilities. But that's a small price in return for avoiding the time and expense of gas pumps.

All participating drivers received training from Nissan on adapting their driving style for electric, including feathering both gas and brake to get full advantage from EV torque. All the pilot Leaf taxis are production models, to which meters and the taxi TV screens have been added.

2014 Porsche Panamera S E-Hybrid is one mean green machine

The entire Porsche Panamera lineup gets a refresh for the 2014 model year, and new additions to the range include two long-wheelbase models and this E-Hybrid fuel-sipper that makes its debut here at the Shanghai Motor Show. And, well, we say "fuel-sipper" lightly.

Porsche has packed its hybrid Panamera with 416 horsepower and 435 pound-feet of torque, and that certainly makes for one quick sedan-hatchback-thing. Hitting 60 miles per hour will reportedly take just 5.2 seconds, on its way to a top speed of 167 mph. And while Porsche hasn't revealed specific powertrain details, the company says that the S E-Hybrid "improves upon the concept offered by the previous Panamera S Hybrid with a more powerful electric motor," which leads us to believe that the supercharged 3.0-liter V6 engine at the heart of it all still remains intact.

Fuel economy numbers (or estimates) have not been released as of this writing, but we expect to have that information closer to the car's on-sale date later this year. As for the new battery system, Porsche says that when plugged into a 240-volt charging station, it can be fully charged in just two and a half hours. When topped off, the Panamera S E-Hybrid should have an electric driving range of around 20 miles at speeds up to 84 mph, though, obviously, not at the same time.

Fiat 500e priced at $32,500, leases start at $199/month

Something interesting happened on the way to make the 2014 Fiat 500e a real car. As the idea for the car was bandied about in public for many years, Fiat-Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne complained bitterly, saying the only reason the car was coming to market was because mean ol' California was forcing Fiat to do so. This was after he said that Fiat would lose $10,000 on each one they sell. That's all pretty boilerplate stuff. What's interesting is that Fiat has gone ahead and priced the Fiat 500e so competitively that you'd think they wanted to sell a million of these things. Or lease a million, at least.


That's the message we take away from the surprisingly affordable lease price of $199 a month for 36 months with $999 down. Those are the same numbers as if you went in to lease a gas-powered 500 Pop. If you want to buy the little electric vehicle outright, it'll cost you $32,500, but that's before a potential $7,500 federal tax credit and – since the car will only be sold in California, at least for the first year – the state will kick in another $2,500. Fiat is also promising company rebates that could drop the price down to $20,500, which puts the 500e well into the range of most of the people we know of in the EV buyer demographic.

The 500e is officially rated at 122 MPGe in the city, with highway efficiency at 108 MPGe, for a combined 116 MPGe. The official range number is an impressive 87 miles, and from what we've seen, that might be a low estimate. Throw in up to 12 days of free rental cars through Enterprise and something called the Fiat 500e Pass program and you've got a non-Tesla EV that allows drivers a long-distance solution when needed. The electric Cinquecento goes on sale in California this summer. Want one? Have your say in Comments.

Elon Musk hints a Texas plant could build Tesla pickup 

Tesla CEO Elon Musk was in Texas this week, fighting for his company's right to sell electric cars directly to consumers. He also hinted that Tesla might have big plans for Texas, if this one little law just goes his way.

"I have this idea for a really advanced electric truck that has the performance of a sports car but actually more towing power and more carrying capacity than a gasoline or diesel truck of comparable size," Musk told Automotive News. "That could be really cool, and I think that would probably make sense to do that at a new plant."

This is not the first time Tesla has floated the idea of a pickup EV. Last July, Tesla's chief designer, Franz von Holzhausen, said, "There will be a time and place for us to develop something around a pickup. That's a market for which the torque of an electric motor would be ideally suited."

The possibility of a new plant in Texas – Tesla's first outside of California – is the carrot that Musk is dangling in front of lawmakers when he's discussing the EV sales law. That law would allow Tesla to sell directly to customers instead of requiring dealerships to be franchised, and Musk says Tesla could sell as many as 2,000 vehicles a year if the company was allowed to sell its EVs this way. Should such an exemption be granted, Tesla may invest tens of millions of dollars in stores and service centers, Musk says.

Texas might not be at the front of anyone's mind when it comes to EVs, but, as of the end of last month, the Lone Star State actually had the second-most publicly accessible charging stations in the US, 432, behind California's 1,207.

US public charging stations increase by 9% in first quarter 

The US increased the number of publicly accessible electric-vehicle charging stations by about nine percent in the first quarter of 2013 as retailers and municipalities looked to start meeting increased demand from drivers of plug-ins vehicles like the Nissan Leaf and Chevrolet Volt.

As of March 22, plug-in drivers could access 5,678 charging stations across the country, up 478 from an even 5,200 on December 18, according to figures published by the US Department of Energy. At that pace, US should add about 1,900 stations this year, potentially bringing the total to around 7,100 by the end of the year.

Charging stations continue to be most prevalent on the West Coast. As of March 22, California had 1,207 stations, or more than a fifth of the country's total. Washington and Oregon had 326 and 310 stations, respectively, putting a third of the US charging stations in the three westernmost continental states. Meanwhile, Texas had 432 stations, while 352 stations have been deployed in Florida.

As for retailers, Walgreens is by far the plug-in friendliest, with 365 stores deploying plug-in stations nationally. 55 Kohl's stores had public stations as of March 22, while Whole Foods was home to 39 stations.

The popularity of plug-in vehicles among Americans continues to rise even as demand for hybrids and diesels appears to be flattening out. For the first quarter, Americans more than doubled purchases of electric vehicles and plug-in hybrids to almost 18,000 vehicles, including the 4,750 Model S cars sold by Tesla Motors.