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Last December we told you that the His Holiness The Pope was keen on swapping his large gas-guzzling Mercedes SUV ‘popemobile’ for a suitable electric car.  

Now Vatican officials have confirmed the details of Pope Benedict XVI’s latest ride: a custom-made M-Class plug-in hybrid based on the technology found inside the Mercedes Vision S500 plug-in hybrid shown at the 2009 Frankfurt Motor Show. 

Why not a pure electric-vehicle, as the Vatican hinted last year? 

Papal safety. In short, the Vatican doesn’t think an all-electric popemobile could accelerate fast enough to get His Holiness out of trouble in an emergency. 

Ever since Turkish sniper Mehmet Ali AÄŸca attempted to assassinate Pope John Paul II in St. Peter’s Square, Vatican City on May 13, 1981, the Vatican has done everything it can to keep the Pope safe when he is being transported. 

Much like The Beast – the U.S. President’s heavily armored limousine – the popemobile is a highly sophisticated, heavily armored car, much heavier than the M-Class Mercedes it is based on. 

It’s the extra armor, bullet-proof glass and emergency equipment that gives the popemobile its extra weight. More weight equals higher energy consumption. 

However, we do have to disagree with the Vatican on its assessment of an all-electric popemobile. 

While it would obviously require a much larger battery pack than those normally found in production electric cars, we think it would be entirely possible to engineer an all-electric armored car with four-wheel electric drive, complete with enough torque to accelerate His Holiness away from an incident quickly and safely. 

We think the real reason for a plug-in hybrid rather than pure electric popemobile lies not with the Vatican, but Mercedes, the automaker of choice for recent Papal vehicles. 

The Vatican does not pay for vehicles, which means Mercedes has to foot the bill for any vehicle it develops for the Pope. Given that, we think Mercedes is reluctant to spend money developing a drivetrain which simply won’t be used in any other vehicles. 

With a possible production version of an S-Class plug-in hybrid in the works, making the popemobile a plug-in hybrid is a no-brainer. 

Neither the Vatican nor Mercedes has given any more details on the popemobile for security reasons, but have hinted that His Holiness will be able to travel around 16 miles in all-electric mode. 

We’re not sure if that’s at regular road speeds or the walking-pace used at official engagements, but with the extra weight the popemobile certainly won’t be getting anywhere near the promised 85 mpge of the 2009 S-Class concept. 

[Deutche Welle]

This story originally appeared at All Cars Electr

Content courtesy of CarsDirect.com Pre-production model The production version of Toyota’s exciting new 2012 Toyota Prius Plug-In Hybrid will release in just a few short months. Hybrid car buyers should consider waiting for the car’s release date in early 2012. The plug-in version’s chief advantage is its ability to run for around 13 miles, Toyota […] More »

Toyota has managed to make its Prius family iconic, instantly identified by its unique silhouettes and body styles, and almost synonymous with ‘hybrid’; and this past year, GM’s Chevrolet Volt, as well as the Nissan Leaf have gone on sale with distinct shapes calling them as among the greenest vehicles.

Now, Ford Motor Co. [NYSE: F] is poised to do the same. At launch, sometime next year, the C-Max will be offered only in Hybrid and Energi (plug-in hybrid) versions, the company confirmed today.

And the automaker clearly has high-volume plans for this all-electrified vehicle. “We’re not really electrifying a certain vehicle as a science project,” said Ford’s global marketing chief, Jim Farley. “We’re electrifying an entire platform.”

A plug-in with 500-mile driving range

The 2013 Ford C-Max Energi will have a two-motor hybrid system, with one traction motor and the other that doubles as a generator system. The C-Max Energi will provide electric-only operation at lower speeds. It’s obviously a much larger battery, but Ford hadn’t yet released its capacity, the model’s range, or whether it will fully provide high-speed operation in electric-only mode. In any case, the automaker confirmed that it will provide a total driving range of 500 miles, including that initial battery-only range.

For the C-Max Hybrid, Ford confirmed that it will be raising the speed at which the system can operate in electric-only mode, from about 47 mph in the current Fusion Hybrid.

This also marks Ford’s first deployment of lithium-ion battery technology in a hybrid. Lithium-io designs are 25 to 30 percent smaller and 50 percent lighter for a comparable power profile, Ford says. The C-Max Hybrid will be the first Ford model to get a so-called third-generation version of Ford’s hybrid system, including the new batteries and all certified to the AT-PZEV emissions standard.

In the C-Max Hybrid, a reworked version of MyFord Touch will also be featured, as well as a version of the automaker’s class-leading Active Park Assist system—making the C-Max models especially well-suited to urban driving.

Faster charging time than Volt?

Recharge time for the C-Max Energi will be faster than the Chevrolet Volt, according to Ford—just under three hours with hardware available through Best Buy and supported by the retail chain’s Geek Squad. The model can also be recharged “easily overnight” using a standard 110-volt household plug.

Ford is already comparing and contrasting the C-Max to the Volt. Chief engineer John Davis, responding to a question after the announcement, said that in full electric mode, you’ll see a degree of similarity in performance and range to the Volt, yet the C-Max will have seating for five as opposed to the Volt’s four-passenger capacity.

And as a sidenote, in the interest of focusing on a single unique body style, the roomier, seven-passenger Grand C-Max design that Ford had previously said was also in the pipeline for North America won’t be coming to these shores at all.

Ford to triple electrified vehicle production by 2013

Ford plans to triple its production capacity of electrified vehicles by 2013, from a current total of about 35,000 today (all hybrids). To date, Ford has about 140,000 hybrids on U.S. roads—which pales in comparison to Toyota, which passed cumulative one million Prius models sold in the U.S. a few months ago. But it is the number-one domestic producer of hybrids.

Both the 2013 Ford C-Max Energi and C-Max Hybrid models will be built in Southeastern Michigan, Ford confirmed, and alongside the upcoming 2012. Also, Ford is planning to keep all core-powertrain aspects in-house, in Michigan, for the C-Max. It’s already readying for increased production at its Van Dyke transmission plant, and the larger plug-in battery for the Energi model will be brought to the automaker’s Rawsonville plant.

Ford will begin producing the new hybrid transmission later this year and will be starting production early next year on the new C-Max models. The 2013 Ford C-Max Hybrid is set to arrive in the first half of the year, with the C-Max Energi to follow later in the year. 

[Ford]

This story originally appeared at Green Car Repor

Content provided by New Car Pricing Insider RIP, Yellow Carpool Sticker: 2004-2011 Well, it was fun while it lasted.  The State of California made hybrid ownership just that more appealing by issuing Yellow Clean Air Vehicle stickers effectively allowing owners to drive unaccompanied in the state’s carpool lanes back in 2004, shaving precious minutes from […] More »

Visitors to the world’s most prestigious motorsport event, the Formula One Monaco Grand Prix, were among the first to see the first Fisker Karma off the production line put through its paces as it made its European driving debut on the famous street circuit.

Royal Purple announces the release of their new 0W-20 motor oil.  The introduction of this viscosity was prompted by Toyota and Honda recommending zero weight synthetic motor oil for a growing number of new models.  Lower viscosity oils are used to help improve fuel economy. Royal Purple 0W-20 exceeds industry standards and is an American […] More »

The Michelin Challenge Bibendum is an annual event run by the French tire company aimed at promoting the development of sustainable mobility. At this year’s event in the German capital of Berlin Porsche rolled out its Boxster E electric car prototype, revealing a few more saucy details about its testing schedule and zero-emission future.

Porsche is currently testing three different Boxster E prototypes as part of the “Model Region Electro-Mobility Stuttgart” large-scale trial to explore the everyday practicality of electric cars and how they are used, especially in terms of driving and battery charging.

Common to all three prototypes is a mid-engine layout, which is retained from the production Porsche Boxster. Benefits of using this platform for electric car testing have been its relatively low weight, packaging attributes and low drag.

Also common is an Active Sound Design system that provides drivers with acoustic feedback as well as alerting pedestrians and other road users.

When it comes to the drivetrain, however, things start to change.

The first Boxster E prototype features a twin electric motor drivetrain with constant mesh gearboxes that act on the front and rear axles. In this way, the Porsche Boxster E features an all-wheel drive layout without the weight penalties of having drive shafts and differentials. To ensure stability and traction, a central electric control unit looks after the synchronization of the two electric motors and controls the drive torque distribution between the axles.

Peak output comes in at 180 kW (241 horsepower) and 398 pound-feet of torque, with maximum engine speed coming in at 12,000 rpm. This guarantees true sports car like performance, with the 0-62 mph dash taking just 5.5 seconds. Top speed is limited to 124 mph, more than enough for public roads, and is achieved without any gear change at all.

Additionally, the high power output of the two motors offers a second advantage: it means more recovered power is available because more energy can be recovered during braking and thus an increase in overall efficiency.

The second and third Boxster E prototypes only feature a single motor on the rear axle and therefore deliver half the output, 90 kW (120 horsepower) and 199 pound-feet of torque. Understandably, these models are considerably slower, taking 9.8 seconds for the 0-62 mph dash and with a top speed of just 93 mph.

The heart of the new Boxster E prototypes are their lithium-iron-phosphate based traction battery, which weighs up to 750 pounds and sits where the internal combustion engine normally lies in the production Boxster. The overall weight of the Boxster E prototype is just over 3,527 pounds.

Each of the battery’s cells has a nominal voltage of 3.3 V and an individual capacity of 20 Ah. Its energy content is 29 kWh of which approximately 26 kWh are available for use. Its maximum power output is 240 kW, or 60 kilowatts more than the all-wheel drive Boxster E draws under full load. The battery and power unit components are connected to two water cooling circuits.

Based on the European combined cycle, the combined energy from 440 individual cells is good for approximately 107 miles of driving range when fitted in the rear-wheel drive prototypes.

Charging takes approximately nine hours using a regular household power outlet but Porsche promise that quicker times are possible using a rapid charging function currently in the works.

Will we see the Boxster E on sale in a few years? At the moment it’s tough to say, since Porsche maintains that the three electric cars taking part into the Stuttgart electric vehicle study are nothing more than rolling test-beds.

For now we’ll just have to wait. But if you’re really itching for an electric Porsche, there are companies like Germany’s Ruf that are already offering electric Porsche 911 conversions for sale. 

This story originally appeared at All Cars Electr