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Inhabitat's Week in Green: Ekinoid, HDlive ultrasound and the world's lightest electric vehicle
Each week our friends at Inhabitat recap the week's most interesting green developments and clean tech news for us -- it's the Week in Green. It's been an exciting week for green building as Inhabitat reported that some of the world's top architects unveiled plans for high-tech developments with light environmental footprints. Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG) won an international design competition for Europa, a new green-roofed city outside of Paris. Construction began last week on a new solar-powered stadium for the Euro 2016 football championship designed by Herzog & de Meuron. San Francisco celebrated the reopening of the Exploratorium this week in a new net-zero building along the city's waterfront. In Mexico City, a helipad on the roof of an office building was converted into a co-working space with a gorgeous rooftop garden. And we also profiled the Ekinoid, a spherical, self-sufficient home that sits on stilts and is built to withstand disaster.
Fiat-Chrysler CEO says governments shouldn't 'strong arm' automakers into producing electric vehicles
Fiat may now be producing electric vehicles, but CEO Sergio Marchionne apparently doesn't think they represent the future for the automaker just yet -- or, at least, the only future. Speaking at the Society of Automotive Engineers World Congress in Detroit yesterday, Marchionne said that his company is losing $10,000 on every 500e car sold (a figure he first offered fully two years ago), and added that "doing that on a large scale would be masochism in its extreme." Those comments came as part of a larger point he was making about the push towards electric vehicles, and what he described as "strong arm" tactics from governments promoting EVs over other alternatives. Instead of "rushing into embracing EVs as the only technological solution," he says, "government can help drive best results by remaining technology neutral." As for what Chrysler itself is looking at beyond EVs, Marchionne pointed to traditional engine improvements and alternative fuels like natural gas, which he says is the "cleanest alternative available in terms of emissions."
TomTom partners with Fiat and Toyota to deliver in-dash navigation, traffic (update: Mercedes, too)
If you're a GPS company, one way to keep the smartphone feature creep at bay is to strike deals with car manufacturers, and bake your wares into their vehicles. TomTom has done particularly good securing these partnerships and Fiat is just the latest company to sign on the dotted line. Its navigation software will be built into the Uconnect Radio Nav systems found in the 500L series from the Italian car marker. It will eventually roll out to other vehicles and Fiat brands, but there was no timeline given. TomTom also inked a deal with Toyota's European arm to put TomTom HD Traffic in any vehicle packing a Touch&GO in-dash device. For more, check out the PR after the break. Update: TomTom announced that it'll also be doling out traffic info to select Mercedes-Benz vehicles in 12 European countries via HD Traffic, which will be baked into the luxury car-makers COMAND nav system.
Fiat's 500e EV debuts at the LA Auto Show, we go eyes-on
We've had ample opportunity to ogle the electrical version of Fiat's venerable 500 when the Italian firm fortold its US arrival years ago. This week at the LA Auto Show, the car finally made its official debut, so naturally, we had to swing by and check it out. While we've got plenty of eye-candy of the diminutive EV in our gallery below, allow us to first regale you with the car's specs. Under the hood lies a 111HP motor powered by a 24 kWh battery that generates 147 pound-feet of torque -- not exactly the stump-pulling grunt of its new Yankee competition, but still plenty of power for such a small car. Range tops out around 80 miles in general use, while city drivers can expect an extra 20 miles per charge. Speaking of, the car gets all the juice it needs through a 240-volt outlet in just under four hours. Can't wait to get one? Well, Fiat's not telling how much the 500e will cost, but we do know it'll be available in California starting Q2 of 2013, and it'll come to the rest of North America by the middle of the year.
Fiat will lose $10,000 on every 500 EV it sells, still intends to bring it to US in 2012
Any new technology generally costs an arm, a leg, and a bit of your sanity to adopt early, but that's a luxury that the well settled auto market cannot afford. In light of its elastic economics, car makers looking to go electric have had to be extremely aggressive in cutting their own profits, an aggressiveness that's now been estimated by Fiat's CEO Sergio Marchionne to cost them as much as $10,000 per unit sold. Fiat's famed little car, the Cinquecento, is going to be hitting the US in a new EV configuration in 2012, in spite of the fact it'll be causing a ding to the company's bottom line. It's not actually clear whether Mr. Marchionne is factoring in research and development costs or whether he's talking purely of material costs, though Fiat's fate is hardly unique -- the Nissan Leaf isn't expected to generate a profit for a good couple of years yet. The Fiat 500 EV's likely price was indirectly revealed, too, by the company chief's assertion that it'll retail for about three times the cost of its gas-powered version. So about $45,000. Yikes!
Chrysler's Peapod NEV killed in bankruptcy
Chrysler's Peapod neighborhood electric vehicle always seemed like more of an experiment than a profit-maker, and unfortunately idealism isn't too popular with creditors -- according to Edmunds, the Peapod was canceled in March as part of the company's bankruptcy proceedings. Apparently adapting the Peapod's button-cute design to federal safety standards was overly expensive, so Chrysler and new part-owner Fiat will convert the existing Fiat 500 to electric operation. The Peapod design and other assets are up for sale, so there's a chance someone else will pick up the pieces, and Peapod designer Peter Arnell may yet build a full-speed EV in the future, so we'll keep our eyes open.
Chrysler says all-electric Fiat 500 will carry Americans, American Touristers in 2012
Curvy, sumptuous concept and prototype electric vehicles are definitely easy on the eyes, but if you've been searching for something a touch more "real," fresh-out-of-bankruptcy Chrysler has one car that's not going back to the drawing board. Our compatriots over at Autoblog report that the all-electric Fiat 500 EV -- which saw a limited run of 100 in Europe and made a cameo at this year's Detroit Auto Show -- will actually be produced and sold in the US starting in 2012. Since the automaker's not talking specs, it's hard to say how it'll compare to a Volt or a Leaf, but history (peek the 'More Coverage' link down below) tells us the original electric Fiat 500 got up to 120 miles on a charge. We'd caution you not to get too worked up by that hot hatch action, though -- despite the fact that the Peapod made it briefly to market, this isn't the first time Chrysler's told us to expect a commercial vehicle we can charge. Here's hoping for better results this go 'round.
Nokia's Terminal Mode spotted in the wilds of the Geneva Motor Show
Those lovely people over at Nokia have furnished us with a few images of what their dashboard integration will look like, as well as the names of a few more partners for the Terminal Mode initiative. Intended to smarten up your car's hardware with the phone's capabilities -- whether that be to play back music, use Ovi Maps, browse the web, or whatever else -- this was announced in partnership with Alpine yesterday, but today we're hearing that Fiat, Harman Becker and Valmet Automotive are also getting in on the fun. The gallery below shows off a mockup from Valmet, which plops your Nokia into a cradle just under the Eva concept's "on" button, and then transfers all the important stuff onto an LCD integrated into the dashboard above. Nokia tells us that each OEM will have their own particular design, so this might not be how they'll all look, but as far as ease of use goes, we don't know how you can improve much on what's being shown already. Let's just hope the software is as effective as the presentation is handsome.%Gallery-87345%
Automakers agree on common plug to recharge electric vehicles
Just hours after General Motors put forth a proposal for a standardized plug for electric vehicles, in flies this. German energy firm RWE has stated that a cadre of respected automakers and energy firms have all come together in agreement on a three-point, 400-volt plug that will enable electric cars the world over to be recharged anywhere, regardless of which recharging station they stop at. Caroline Reichert, an RWE spokeswoman, noted that the idea here is to ensure that "a car can be recharged in Italy in exactly the same way as in Denmark, Germany or France." We're told that the agreement includes nods of acceptance from the likes of Volkswagen, BMW, Ford, General Motors, Fiat, Toyota, Mitsubishi, Eon, Vattenfall, EDF, Npower, Endesa and Enel, and while there's no time frame for when it'll be introduced, we're pretty stoked to hear that at least something has been decided upon.
Blue&Me-equipped Fiat 500 to hit Europe this year
A proposal made way back in February of last year is finally bearing fruit, as Microsoft and Fiat have finally made good use of their long-standing partnership. At the 2007 Geneva Motor Show, the two announced that the Blue&Me system would indeed be shipping in the Fiat 500 this year, and it was noted that "top-end" versions would get the system built right in, while entry-level 500 buyers could opt for it as a factory option for an undisclosed price. The do-it-all in-car technology system "guarantees owners an outstanding combination of intuitive, hands-free navigation, communications, and entertainment features,"and while exact launch dates by market weren't noted, Italians can expect the newly-featured 500s to arrive first, while those in Germany and UK will get served by the year's end. Click on through for a few more shots of the vehicle.[Via TechDigest, images courtesy of Slashgear]
Fiat's tri-powered Multipla Multi-eco
Dual-powered cars aren't quite as unique as they used to be, but a vehicle that's able to run on three different power sources should be enough to perk up anyone's energy-saving, cost-cutting ears, even if just a little bit. At least that's what Fiat hopes will be your reaction to its latest concept car / tongue-twister, the Multipla Multi-eco. In addition to running on plain-old gasoline, it'll get you where you want to go on either methane or E85 bioethanol. The methane gets a fuel tank of its own, but the car's ECU is able to sort out the gas and bioethanol itself, letting you use any combination of them. This being a concept vehicle, however, you won't exactly be able to get behind the wheel of one anytime soon. However, Fiat is making a slight variation commercially available in the form of the Panda Panda, which lacks the E85 bioethanol option but still lets you run on your choice of methane or gasoline.[Via Autoblog]
Fiat introduces line of branded cellphones
In yet another example of an automobile manufacturer leveraging the brand to release a distinctly non-car product (see: BMW, Ferrari, Lamborghini), Fiat has announced that it will begin selling a line of cellphones conspicuously emblazoned with the company's logo. Suggesting that this lineup values fashion over function, no specs are immediately available for any of the individual models, although we do know that all will feature cameras, MP3 playback, Bluetooth, and the usual suite of Internet functions. Crafted out of "cold" aluminum, the handsets were designed to be displayed in engine piston-like cases that are meant to invoke the good times you can only find by tooling around the European countryside in your Fiat Panda Monster. The new models -- which were built to easily pair with the Microsoft-powered Blue&Me in-car Bluetooth system -- will be available in chichi Italian boutiques later this month, with a general European rollout to follow this summer.[Via textually and Autoblog]