Plug-in hybrids are seen by many, including Magna, as the next great  frontier.

By John O'Dell, Senior Editor

Another entry in the plug-in hybrid race, this time from a competitor with really powerful potential.

Magna International, the top-tier Canadian auto parts maker, says it will roll out a plug-in car late next year or in 2010.

So as not to foul relationships with the major automakers that it already supplies with scores of parts, Magna says it won't sell a competing plug-in but will sell them the bits and pieces needed to make their own.

In markets where its customers don't sell cars, though, Magna intends to field a complete plug-in under its own brand.

The company, which reported $26.1 billion in sales and a $663 million net profit last year, is serious about becoming a car maker.

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By Robert E. Calem, Contributor

New York -- Mercedes-Benz is preparing to transform its flagship S-Class sedan into an "economy" car offering gas mileage comparable to that of the Honda Accord, and that will be only the beginning of the car's fuel consumption makeover, the company promises.

The key change: incorporating a new lithium-ion battery that Mercedes-Benz parent Daimler AG has been developing since the early 1990s.

Due largely to technology advances achieved in the last six years, Mercedes-Benz engineers say, the battery is now ready for mass production and will be used first in the S400 BlueHybrid , a new gasoline-electric S-Class sedan slated to go on sale after the summer of 2009.

The following year, the battery is to be used in a diesel-electric hybrid version, the S300 BlueTec Hybrid, and after 2010 in the more powerful S400 BlueTec Hybrid.

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Lithium-ion battery packs being tested at Argonne National Laboratory.

By John O'Dell, Senior Editor

Toyota, General Motors, Mitsubishi and Mercedes-Benz all say they'll have electric cars with lithium-ion batteries on the road at or near the end of the decade.

Because they can pack more power into a smaller and lighter package than the nickel-metal-hydride batteries that today's hybrids use, lithium-ion batteries are generally considered the only way to go as EV and hybrid technology pushes into the future.

But over at Honda Motor Co., chief Executive Takeo Fukui is suggesting that charging ahead slowly is the best way to go when assessing the battery portion of that technology.

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Smart is testing electric models in England and could start in U.S. next year. 

By John O'Dell, Senior Editor

We spied an electric Smart Fortwo prototype that we weren't supposed to see while on a visit recently to the Tesla Motors facility up in Northern California.

We don't know if this means that Tesla is angling for a contract to convert gas Smarts to EVs for a local dealer who wants to get a jump on the crowd, or was showing Smart engineers a prototype being developed for the automaker itself.

But we do know now that Smart USA hopes to begin testing a small fleet of Smart EVs here sometime next year.

That's because Smart USA President David Schembri said so in a New York Auto Show interview with TheCarConnection.

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Daimler's new generation lithium-ion battery pack -- the one that will power the German automaker's upcoming 2009 Mercedes-Benz S400 mild hybrid -- apparently will be shared by development partner BMW and sold to other interested car companies as well.

The battery pack, which Daimler has described as a "breakthrough" that resolves potential overheating and durability problems that can occur with lithium-ion batteries used in automotive applications, is being supplied by German auto parts maker Continental, assembled from battery cells made by a joint venture of Wisconsin-based Johnson Controls and French battery maker Saft.

German automotive magazine Automobilwoche reports that Continental's agreement with Daimler allows it to market similar battery assemblies to other automakers. 

Continental is a potential suplier of batteries for the Chevrolet Volt extended-range electric car, scheduled to go into production by the end of 2010.

THIS....Chevrolet Volt typifies battery-electric cars GM's Lutz wants to promote.

Or THIS.....Honda FCX Clarity uses hydrogen fuel-cell electric drive system.

By Scott Doggett, Contributor

The schizophrenic nature of auto industry in an increasingly green market was perhaps never more evident than this past week, as major carmakers split on the future of fuel-cell vehicles.

Larry Burns, vice president of research and development for GM, kicked things off Monday on a positive note for fuel-cell fans, talking up the importance of company's Project Driveway. That's GM's just-initiated 30-month test program involving 100 Chevrolet Equinox Hydrogen Fuel-Cell Electric Vehicles being driven by consumers in Los Angeles, New York City and Washington, D.C.

Ready for Prime Time

"We just coauthored a paper with Shell that makes a compelling case that the hydrogen infrastructure is real, it's viable, it can be done affordably and safely," Burns told reporters covering an alternative energy conference in New York.

"So the next step here as we learn from these hundred Equinox Fuel Cells will be getting into the thousands. We see that happening within the 2011-2012 timeframe. And then once we get to thousands we need to get to hundreds of thousands and millions. We think that within the next decade that is within our grasp."

So far, so good.

But only hours later, GM Vice Chairman Bob Lutz was reading from a different page.

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German automaker Daimler said Friday it has become the first car company to adapt lithium-ion battery technology for a production car and will use the new batteries in the upcoming S400 BlueHybrid in 2009.

Keeping things cool for reliability has been an ongoing concern with developers of lightweight, high-energy lithium ion batteries for hybrid cars.

Daimler says its engineers have integrated the battery into the car's climate control system to ensure that its is always operating at  60-95 degrees Fahrenheit (15-35 degrees Celsius) "to provide long life and maximum performance.'

The company said it has obtained 25 patents on its battery technology.

And signaling a possible intent to market the technology to others, Daimler calls it, in grandiose marketing language, "groundbreaking key technology that is going to be a decisive factor for the future success of the automotive industry."

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Mereceds-Benz' prototype "DiesOtto" engine has been awarded the Environmental Grand Prize at the 23rd Festival Automobile International in Paris.

The engine, first shown by Mercedes parent, Daimler, at the 2007 Frankfurt Auto Show, combines the horsepower and cleaner emissions of a gasoline engine with the low-end torque and fuel economy of a diesel.

The concept "provides an important basis for the future of the internal combustion engine" and "demonstrates the great innovative strength of the automobile industry," the prize jury said.

The DiesOtto technology includes direct fuel injection, turbocharging, a variable compression ratio and homogeneous charge compression ignition similar to that of a diesel. The ignition, which takes place deep in the engine cylinders under high compression, assures a cleaner and more complete fuel burn than the conventional gasoline engine's spark-ignition at the top of each cylinder.

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Johnson Controls-Saft plant in France is dedicated to advanced auto batteries.

By Scott Doggett, Contributor

Battery makers Johnson Controls of Milwaukee, and Saft Advanced Power Solutions of Bagnolet, France, have opened the world's first factory dedicated to advanced lithium-ion batteries for electric cars and next-generation hybrid vehicles.

The $22 million joint venture plant in Nersac, France, will supply General Motors, Chrysler and Daimler’s Mercedes-Benz cars division, according to a report in the Financial Times.

Aaron Bragman, a research analyst for Global Insight in Detroit, told Green Car Advisor that the plant represents "a significant step forward" in getting production lithium-ion batteries on the market in an automotive application.

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Mercedes-Benz is counting on its new clean diesel engines to help boost sales in a U.S. market suddenly consumed by fuel economy concerns.

But the German luxury carmaker could get another big benefit from diesel sales here: the increased mileage diesel cars and trucks deliver could save it millions of dollars a year in the fines it regularly pays for exceeding the federal CAFE (corporate average fuel economy) standard.

For 2006, the most recent figures available, Mercedes – through its then-parent DaimlerChrysler -- paid a record $30.3 million in CAFE fines, according to data posted recently by the National Highway Traffic Safety Agency.

As we reported previously, the record for the highest annual fine had been held by BWW of North America, which paid $27.9 million in 2001 (breaking its own record of $27.3 million set in 2000).

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