Amid hybrid mpg rating controversy, Ford talks to EPA about fuel economy testing procedures

Ford is talking to the EPA while the agency reviews data from Consumer Reports that says the Fusion and C-Max Hybrids' mpg claims were exaggerated.

Ford is talking to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) about fuel economy ratings, Bloomberg reports, while the EPA is currently looking into claims that the carmaker’s Fusion Hybrid and C-Max Hybrid fall well short of their 47 mpg across-the-board ratings.

After Consumer Reports tested both cars, its average figures were 37 mpg (combined) for the Fusion Hybrid and 39 mpg for the C-Max Hybrid. Last week, the EPA said it would investigate the magazine’s data.

While Joe Hinrichs, Ford’s chief of operations for North and South America, said the carmaker would talk with the EPA to determine if changes to the fuel economy testing procedure are necessary, he also said the company is not lobbying for any specific changes at this time.

Blue Oval representatives also stand by the assertion, made in previous statements, that variations in driving style account for the mpg discrepancy.

“We’ve designed our hybrids to drive exactly the same as our other vehicles” by giving them more horsepower than Toyota’s Prius line of hybrid vehicles,” Raj Nair, Ford’s product development chief, said at a press event in Detroit. “It makes them more sensitive to spirited driving.”

Nair said fuel economy could drop by as much as 17 mpg, depending on how the cars are driven. The EPA has agreed with this in previous statements.

Last week Linc Wehrly, director of light-duty vehicle compliance at the EPA’s Ann Arbor, Michigan laboratory, told the Detroit News that “There’s absolutely no doubt: A hybrid is going to be far more variable than a conventional vehicle.”

Consumer Reports was not the only publication to have trouble getting the advertised mileage out of a Ford hybrid. Green Car Reports noted an average of 40 mpg on two separate drives of the C-Max Hybrid.

Both the Fusion and C-Max Hybrids are rated at 47 mpg in all three EPA categories (city, highway, combined). The cars also use the same powertrain: a 188 horsepower gasoline four-cylinder engine, electric motor, and 1.4-kWh lithium-ion battery pack.

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ZTE’s Grand S 1080p tablet/smartphone hybrid to be launched at CES 2013

A snippet of information published on the CES 2013 schedule has revealed ZTE will launch the Grand S at the show, its first entry into the burgeoning 5-inch, 1080p smartphone/tablet hybrid market.

The coming year is shaping up to be one filled with 1080p smartphone/tablet hybrids, a trend kicked off recently with the arrival of the HTC J Butterfly, the Droid DNA and this week, the Oppo Find 5. The next model could be coming from ZTE, at least that’s the impression we get from its listing on the CES 2013 schedule.

An entry for January 8 reveals a ZTE announcement set to take place between 1:30pm and 2:30pm, where it will be, “Introducing the ZTE Grand S,” a currently unannounced device. Clicking the link brings up a windows with some explanatory text, saying, “Be the first to see the brand new Grand S, ZTE’s flagship handset in its high-end Grand Series of products.”

A new top-of-the-range phone from ZTE sounds interesting enough, but it gets better, “ZTE’s first FHD [which we take to mean Full HD] smartphone is also the world’s thinnest for 5-inch FHD smartphones. Made of ceramic and featuring traditional Chinese style, the Grand S is the perfect phone for the fashionable set.”

So, the Grand S will have a 5-inch, 1080p screen just like the other devices we mentioned. For it to take the title of world’s thinnest, it needs to beat the Droid DNA’s 9.7mm thickness, which doesn’t sound too difficult, although we’re still waiting for the Oppo Find 5’s official dimensions. Early leaks pointed to a 6.9mm thickness, making it only sliver off the record-holding Oppo Finder at 6.65mm thick. If this is right, and as the Find 5 looked a lot thicker in the final pictures it may not be, then ZTE will have managed quite a feat if the Grand S is under that figure.

ZTE has previously been rumored to be producing a 5-inch, 1080p device named the Nubia Z5, which according to a recent rumor will measure 7.6mm thick, bringing it well under the DNA’s dimensions. The same source hinted the phone would feature a 12-megapixel camera, 2GB of RAM and a Snapdragon S4 chip. In the past, ZTE has used the quad-core Nvidia Tegra 3 processor, in the Grand Era for example, and sources have told CNet the Grand S will indeed feature a quad-core processor.

The devices are most likely the same, as ZTE has a habit of renaming its phones for different markets, however there’s a chance the Nubia name has been dropped in favor of continuing to build its already partially established Grand series.

CES 2013 begins on January 8 and continues until January 11.

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Is this Dualshock and PS Move hybrid the PlayStation 4′s controller?

People love motion controllers like Kinect but video game enthusiasts still want the precision of a controller. A newly published Sony patent suggests Sony is trying to make a device that manages to be both.

There’s been no shortage of rumors and hearsay regarding the future of Sony’s console gaming business. The fourth generation PlayStation will be a more developer-friendly machine than the PlayStation 3 according to sources within the industry, describing the machine as more of a “modified PC.” There has been little discussion of what the next PlayStation’s controller will look like, though. Is Sony planning on sticking with the Dualshock gaming controller that’s stayed relatively unchanged for fifteen years or will it opt for a next-generation version of the PlayStation Move motion-sensing wand? Patents suggest the PlayStation 4’s controller may be a mix of both.

A patent filed by Sony in 2011 describing a gaming controller called a “Hybrid Separable Motion Controller” was made public on Thursday. The device seen in the above image and in other figures on the patent shows what is an explicit cross between Sony’s existing controllers. It features the same bulbous heads as the PlayStation Move and the swim twin analog stick design used in all Sony controllers since the original Dualshock came out in the late ’90s for the original PlayStation.

On bulb is fixed on each side of the controller and it can be split in two with each half containing the accelerometer and gyro technology in an individual Move wand. This device would do away with the need for the analog stick companion for the move and would also ease audiences into games that use two Move controllers, like the original Sports Champions. According to the patent, this new controller will still need a PlayStation Eye camera to work.

While the number of PlayStation 3 games to support the move controller has been limited, Sony has managed to sell 15 million of the motion controllers in two years. The popularity of the Wii and more recently Microsoft’s Kinect has guaranteed that motion-based video games will remain a popular fixture of the console gaming business. The Move technology is still cumbersome, though, offering precision lacking in Kinect and Nintendo games, but also necessitating a more complex set up process. Part of the reason Kinect has been so successful for Microsoft is its ease of use.

The Hyrbid Separable Controller is a recent piece of technology conceived by Sony, but it’s unlikely that it will be a highlight of the PlayStation 4.

Source: NeoGAF

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BAE Systems develops world’s first hybrid combat tank for U.S. military

BAE Systems has developed a massive hybrid system for the Ground Combat Vehicle, which will hopefully ease demand for fuel and successfully replaced the U.S. military's M2A3 Bradley tank.

Napoleon said that an army marches on its stomach, but any modern day general will tell you that logistics have become far more complicated since Napoleon’s time, and fuel has joined food as something which an army won’t move without. To that end, BAE Systems has developed a hybrid propulsion system for the Northrop Grumman Ground Combat Vehicle (GCV), which is slated to replace the M2A3 Bradley fighting vehicle. BAE says it will deliver up 20 percent better fuel economy than the standard version of the vehicle, but that this is just one advantage. The big torque numbers produced by electric motors can improve the vehicle’s acceleration, and the vehicle will also be able to operate in pure electric mode for a time, thus remaining much quieter and reducing the heat signature.

The 84-ton GCV will be more than twice the weight of the 33-ton Bradley, and is even heavier than the 64-ton M1A2 Abrams main battle tank which the army currently uses. This is largely because of the amount of armor the vehicle needs, but it also needs to be large enough to transport a 9 man squad as well as the three crewmen  safely. The vehicle’s size, weight and cost are primarily determined by its combat role, and BAE developed the hybrid system as a more practical solution to the challenges posed by such a heavy vehicle. The procurement cost per vehicle will be $13 million, but BAE says the hybrid system will trim fuel and maintenance costs by enough that the lifetime cost of the vehicle will be lowered through its use.

The 1,100kW electric drivetrain brings the combined output of the vehicle to 1,500 horsepower, and the added torque allows it to reach 20mph nearly 3 seconds faster (7.8 seconds) than the purely mechanical version of the GCV. The compact design even allows for 3 to 4 more tons of armor. The GCV will be the first hybrid combat vehicle in the world, although we may see more of them if it proves effective and able to ease the strain of logistics.

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Honda CR-Z hybrid gets (a little) more power and mpg for 2013

Slight bumps in power and fuel economy may not be enough to help Honda's unusual hybrid.

Honda’s CR-Z hybrid was supposed to combine sportiness and economy, but ended up being too much of a compromise. The hybrid that was supposed to invoke the original, two-seat Insight and the 1980s CR-X hot hatch ended up doing neither. Luckily, Honda is making a few improvements for the 2013 model year.

The 2013 CR-Z gets a few tweaks that were previously announced for European and Japanese models, including more power from its electric motor. The 1.5-liter gasoline inline-four remains the same, but the motor gets a boost from 10 kW to 15 kW. As a result, power increases from 122 horsepower and 128 pound-feet of torque to 130 hp and 140 lb-ft (models with the continuously variable transmission are stuck with 127 lb-ft).

The bigger electric motor is backed by a larger, 144-volt lithium ion battery pack. It replaces a 100.8-volt nickel metal hydride battery.

Transmission choices remain the same: a CVT or a hybrid-exclusive six-speed manual. The stock shift gets a bigger clutch, and the axle has a shorter final drive ratio for better fuel economy.

The mechanical changes, along with some adjustments to the front and rear fascias, help improve fuel economy, but only slightly. Models equipped with the CVT are rated at 26 mpg city and 39 mpg highway, gaining a whopping 1 mpg in city driving over last year’s model. Manual transmission CR-Zs get a 1 mpg bump in highway mileage, with a rating of 31 mpg city and 38 mpg highway.

Honda will add a nifty Plus Sport System that gives the driver an extra boost of acceleration with the push of a button, so he or she can pretend they are activating the KERS in a fantasy Formula 1 race. The system only works for five seconds at a time, provided the battery has more than a 50 percent charge and the car is traveling more than 19 mph.

Honda is also dressing up the interior with some metallic trim, and added more equipment. The CR-Z now comes standard with a backup camera and Bluetooth, and an infotainment system with voice-controlled text messaging and Pandora is now an option. Other dress-up options include a red-and-black interior trim package and LED headlights.

On the outside, the 2012 CR-Z’s love-it-or-hate it looks remain, although Honda added a front spoiler, mesh grille, blue-tinted lights, and a few other detail changes. The CR-Z doesn’t blend in like other Honda products, but it’s not exactly easy to look at, either.

The 2013 CR-Z starts at $20,675 (plus a $790 destination charge), putting it between the $18,500 Insight and the $24,200 (for a 2012 model) Civic hybrid in Honda’s lineup. Both cars offer better fuel economy (44 mpg highway) and more space, but are admittedly more boring. Still, the CR-Z will still be a tough sell when it hits showrooms November 21.

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