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Despite thousands of automotive gasoline fires in the U.S. every year, we’ve pretty much normalized the risks of the highly explosive liquid that we use to fuel our cars.

But for electric cars, there’s a whole new set of potential fears. One may be driving through water–it’s not like tossing a toaster into a bathtub–and another may be the possibility of accidents, a concern particularly top-of-mind for emergency first responders.

Volvo, of all automakers, may be best positioned to alleviate any fears of errant electricity in crashes involving electric cars.

While Chevrolet has shown a photo of its 2011 Volt range-extended electric car after a barrier impact, Volvo’s new CEO, Stefan Jacoby, puts it most bluntly: “We are the first car maker in the world to show what [an] … electric car looks like after a crash”.

Its C30 DRIVe Electric, the compact hatchback it has converted to battery electric power, is its first all-electric car. And befitting its reputation for ultimate safety, it not only showed the car at the Detroit Auto Show, it also showed one that had been used for crash testing.

The wrecked C30 Electric on display at the 2011 Detroit Auto Show hit a barrier at 40 miles per hour, a standard element of  European crash-safety testing.

Just for good measure, Volvo also posted a video of the crash test itself, in the usual slow motion (see below).

Note that in all the photos, the battery pack remained undamaged. It is painted green, and can be seen in photos of the underside of the car as reflected by full-size mirrors sitting below the C30 Electric test car, as well as in the video starting about 0:35.

In accidents, electric cars have a few needs beyond those of regular cars. The high-voltage cables connecting the battery pack, electric motor(s), power electronics, and charging port have to remain intact.

Volvo reinforced the structure around the battery pack, and added new routines to its crash sensors that will automatically cut all electric power within 50 milliseconds (1/20th of a second) after an impact.

This eliminates any chance that the body would become electrically charged if a cable were severed or its insulation damaged, allowing it to ground to the steel body.

Because the engine that usually sits under the hood is gone, Volvo added reinforcements to the under-hood structure to distribute frontal impact force.

Volvo is now testing a fleet of C30 electric cars in Sweden, and it expects to put the car on sale there early next year. Test cars will arrive in the U.S. by the end of this year.

Range is quoted at 75 to 95 miles, and GreenCarReports briefly drove the car at last fall’s Los Angeles Auto Show.

You can follow all our Detroit Auto Show coverage on our hub page: on-the-ground reporting, live tweets, and more.

[Volvo Cars]

This story originally appeared at Green Car Repor

As part of the family of four Toyota Prius hybrids that the carmaker unveiled at the today’s Detroit Auto Show, it showed a concept for a new, compact Prius hatchback.

Low, edgy, and relatively sleek for a highly aerodynamic Kamm-tailed car, the Prius C concept is actually Toyota’s second concept on the compact hybrid theme, the first being the lime-green FT-CH Concept that was unveiled at the same show last year.

The Prius C Concept is still only a styling exercise, but watch for Toyota to launch a production version of the car sometime during the first half of 2012.

Like the Prius V multipurpose vehicle that will go on sale as a 2012 model, the company says the Prius C responds to its customers’ desire for Prius fuel efficiency and design in different packages.

Stay on top of all of the happenings at the 2011 Detroit Auto Show through our show page, where we’re bringing you the latest news, previews, live photos, videos, and more straight from Cobo Hall.

This story originally appeared at Green Car Repor

Ford’s U.S. lineup is about to change in a very significant way. And as the automaker emphasized in its Detroit Auto Show press conference, with several high-volume small car models expected to arrive this year and next, you’ll soon see plenty of smaller and greener alternatives in Ford’s lineup.

But to dealerships that have long subsisted on heavy sales of pickups and SUVs, it might take a change in sales attitude—and some new training.

A cadence to focus on one at a time

“Really, we have a nice cadence of rollout this year,” said Jim Farley, Ford’s vice president for global marketing, sales and service. There’s plenty of time, Farley says, to fine-tune the message, and get dealerships ready for these new products.

First, later this month Ford will launch the Focus sedan and 5-door hatchback; deliveries of the 2012 Focus Electric will begin by end-of-year, with high volume ramping up next year; and C-Max models will join the lineup early next year, along with the high-performance Ford Focus ST.

The Fiesta was treated as the beginning of a Ford car line rejuvenation, said Farley, and the automaker treated the model’s launch this past year as a test case for the many other small cars and electrified vehicles to follow.

Marketing strategies gleaned from Fiesta

According to Farley, a number of Focus marketing strategies will be following lessons learned with the Fiesta—and involvement in the Focus Rally: America and the Amazing Race.

There are a host of common-sense EV issues that dealerships (and customers) still need to be informed about, he added, such as that the electrical load of EVs when they’re being charged can be about the same as that of the rest of the appliances in a house together.

EVs to become a core business?

While Ford is delegating Best Buy for charger installation, service, and support for its 2012 Focus Electric, Farley clarified that’s a responsibility that will definitely be moved back in-house to dealerships in the long run. In the meantime, he said, Ford is working with dealerships on fundamental changes to the delivery and service for EVs.

While EVs might create a buzz at the dealership, it could be some time before they’re profitable for the company, however. On the Ford stand, executive chairman Bill Ford commented that there’s no specific time frame for Ford to become profitable on its EVs and electrified vehicles, like the Focus Electric. “But ultimately it’s a business we need to make money with,” he asserted.

This story originally appeared at Motor Authori

While Toyota dominates global hybrid production, Ford was the first company to launch a hybrid SUV: the Ford Escape Hybrid, in 2004.

Now, Ford is pioneering another hybrid model: the small minivan, or as Europeans call it, the people carrier.

Hybrid mini-minivan

Between 10 and 10:30 am today at the Detroit Auto Show, Ford will pull the wraps off a pair of hybrid 5-seat small minivans: the C-Max Hybrid, and the plug-in hybrid C-Max Energi.

They will be launched roughly three hours ahead of another hybrid small minivan, the Toyota Prius V, which will be unveiled shortly after 1 pm the same day.

Plug-in hybrid for sale

The two cars will go on sale in North America during 2012, and in Europe the following year. That puts Ford neck and neck with Toyota, which plans to put a production version of its Prius Plug-In Hybrid on sale midway through 2012.

It’s important to note that the C-Max concepts shown at the 2011 Detroit Auto Show are a shorter version of the C-Max than the one that will go on sale in the U.S. as the 2012 Ford C-Max.

Five seats, with or without plug

With its longer wheelbase, the gasoline 2012 C-Max offers seven seats, whereas the hybrid concepts each hold just five people. Nonetheless, the hybrid C-Max models clearly sketch the outlines of Ford’s expanding hybrid program.

Not only is the C-Max Energi the first plug-in hybrid Ford will sell, but both vehicles use a lithium-ion battery pack, Ford’s first. That technology is expected to be used in all future Ford hybrid models as they’re redesigned, including a new Fusion in 2012.

Lithium cells are both more powerful and lighter than the nickel-metal hydride technology used to date in all Escape Hybrids and Fusion Hybrid sedans. Ford says they’re up to 30 percent smaller and 50 percent lighter those used in its older packs.

Better mileage than the Fusion Hybrid …

Ford stresses that it wants to offer buyers a choice of fuel efficient vehicle technologies, from high-mileage gasoline engines to its hybrid range. Now, it will add a plug-in hybrid that can recharge its pack from grid power (as well as an all-electric Focus sedan).

So for gas mileage, the all-important proof of a hybrid’s efficiency, how will the new C-Max hybrids do when they go on sale?

Ford says the C-Max Hybrid will deliver better gas mileage than the 2011 Fusion Hybrid sedan, which the EPA rates at 41 mpg city, 36 mpg highway.

And it says the C-Max Energi plug-in hybrid will travel more than 500 miles on a single tank of gas, the longest range of any plug-in vehicle on the market.

… AND single-occupancy HOV Lane access!

Ford also tweaks Chevrolet by noting that the C-Max Energi will qualify for California’s AT-PZEV status, meaning it can get the single-occupant HOV Lane access sticker denied to the 2011 Chevy Volt.

Moreover, it will deliver better fuel efficiency in gasoline mode than the Volt, which the EPA rates at 37 mpg when the range-extending gasoline engine switches on.

Ford promises that the C-Max Hybrid will operate in all-electric mode at even higher speeds than the Fusion Hybrid’s 47-mph maximum, itself usefully higher than the 30-mph maximum in Toyota’s various hybrid vehicles.

Common components

To keep costs down and make production of the two hybrid variants possible, Ford has attempted to reuse as many components of the Hybrid in the Energi as possible–among them the hardware for the control system circuitry.

On the outside, excluding the badges (and a charge door on the Energi’s left-front fender), the C-Max hybrids are similar styled to the standard C-Max. If you didn’t notice the shorter wheelbase, or count the seats, you might never notice the difference.

That charge door carries a little visual cue for its function, however: As in the Focus Electric, the light ring around the charging port flashes twice when connectivity is achieved.

As the C-Max Energi charges, quadrants of the ring illuminate, flashing to show charge in progress and showing solid when that stage of charging is done. Owners will know their C-Max is fully charged when the entire ring is lit.

See C riders

Both C-Max hybrid concepts are built on Ford’s global platform for compact cars, which now hosts the 2012 Ford Focus (in four-door sedan and five-door hatchback bodies), the 2012 C-Max, and several vehicles yet to be announced.

Among those is an anticipated replacement for the aging Escape crossover SUV that may be announced at the same press conference.

The two C-Max hybrids, the Transit Connect Electric small commercial delivery van, and the just-announced Focus Electric sedan are four of five electrified vehicles Ford says it will introduce by 2012; the fifth is expected to be an Escape Hybrid replacement.

Built in the U.S.A.

The C-Max and its hybrid variants will be built for U.S. sale at Ford’s Wayne, Michigan, assembly plant. The same plant now builds the 2012 Focus, and will also build the Focus Electric that was launched Friday at CES in Las Vegas and also in New York.

For Europe, the pair of hybrid C-Max models will be built in Valencia, Spain. They will be the first hybrids Ford has built and sold outside North America.

Stay on top of all of the happenings at the 2011 Detroit Auto Show through our show page, where we’re bringing you the latest news, previews, live photos, videos, and more straight from Cobo Hall.

[Ford Motor Co.]

This story originally appeared at Green Car Repor

General Motors announced today that it has licensed lithium-ion battery technology developed at Argonne National Laboratories, the research institution that’s funded largely by the U.S. Department of Energy.

The agreement allows GM to use the technology throughout its supply chain, and covers a suite of patents that includes and builds on the technology used in the 2011 Chevrolet Volt.

“The Argonne license is going to allow GM to continue to work on next-generation battery systems, to reduce cost, and improve performance of those systems,” said Jon Lauckner, president of GM Ventures. “And you have to go back to the basic chemistry of battery cells to get those kind of improvements–and that’s what makes the Argonne intellectual property so valuable.”

Return of taxpayer investment, additional Michigan jobs?

The agreement “represents a really important return on taxpayer money, an investment in energy technology research both for Argonne and the Department of Energy,” said Argonne director Eric Issacs, in a conference call held for the announcement.

It also results in U.S. jobs: The technology will also be applied at LG Chem’s battery assembly facility in Holland, Michigan, which will open in 2012 and employ 400. 

In 2008, the U.S. manufactured just two percent of the world’s advanced batteries, but it’s expected to make up to 40 percent of them–or enough for 500,000 electric vehicles annually–by 2012.

GM said that there’s still a lot of development work and validation to be done for this technology, which would be used not in current electrified vehicles but next-generation ones–such as the next-generation version of the Volt, or a future plug-in hybrid.

Volt has it now; but open to other automakers

The license to use Argonne’s patented composite cathode technology will be granted both to GM and to LG Chem, which builds the large-format lithium-ion cells used in the Volt’s 16-kilowatt-hour battery pack. LG Chem confirmed that the company’s battery technology is open to license by other automakers. 

The new technology is already being used in the 2011 Chevrolet Volt, the world’s first mass-produced range-extended electric car (or plug-in hybrid, if you prefer). First deliveries of the Volt took place last month, kicking off in New Jersey.

Argonne’s cathode–a nickel-manganese-cobalt material–offers increases of 50 to 100 percent in energy storage over previous generations of cathode material. It uses a mixed-metal oxide containing both lithium and manganese to extend operating time between charges, lengthen the cell’s life span, and improve safety.

For Volt buyers, this means the battery will last longer between recharges and can be charged at higher voltages (on an individual cell level, not at the plug)–meaning shorter recharge times–than it otherwise would have. LG also confirms stronger safety and a longer life as potential advantages of these materials advances.

[General Motors, Argonne National Laboratories]

This story originally appeared at Green Car Repor

A couple of years from now, it’s likely there will be a lot more electric vehicles and hybrids on the road. And while the typical EV might not be making the sound of a vuvuzela or a Tie-Fighter, you’re going to hear it coming—perhaps with just a little more wow and flutter.

Today President Obama signed the Pedestrian Safety Act (S. 841), which aims to help protect the blind and other pedestrians from “silent vehicle technology,” as it was worded in a press release from the National Federation of the Blind.

Introduced by John Kerry, the bill passed the Senate last April but wasn’t passed until last month.

The legislation applies to pedestrians, bicyclists, runners, and small children as well, who might benefit from hearing electric and hybrid vehicles make more noise on low-speed city streets.

The worry: That blind or hearing-impaired people might be hit by electric vehicles because they’re so quiet. The electric motor systems and direct-drive systems in EVs simply don’t generate much of an audible sound at low speeds—other than a whine that varies by model from very subtle to almost

It might still be a while before the particulars of the bill are determined and EVs are expected to make a particular noise when they’re traveling at less than 20 mph. The bill calls for a study to be completed, then a new standard will be issued within 90 days of that. The new standard will apply to vehicles made or sold beginning two years after the issuance of the new standard.

Several hybrid vehicles that have been for sale for many years—like the Toyota Prius, of course—run in a near-silent EV mode when coasting or cruising at low speeds. But as we’ve reported, there’s no data set that conclusively shows an issue with hybrids, more than other types of vehicles, hitting pedestrians. That’s even considering that hybrids are driven more in cities congested with pedestrians.

It’s a topic that we’ve covered extensively on our green-car sites All Cars Electric and Green Car Reports. General Motors early on started working directly with the National Federation of the Blind, while Nissan has come up with several potential solutions and told GreenCarReports that such a sound is only needed up to about 12 mph; above that point tire noise is enough. Nissan presented its solution to NHTSA back in September 2009.

[National Federation of the Blind]

This story originally appeared at The Car Connecti

If you’re in the habit of reading obscure press releases, you might have seen one recently announcing that Dallas-based Green Automotive Co. had signed an extension to its agreement with China’s Zotye Auto.

Green Automotive now has rights for 10 more years to distribute Zotye’s electric sport utility vehicles in the U.S. market.

It may not take a decade, but you probably won’t have the chance–and you may not have the desire–to buy a Made-In-China car in the near term.

Picky buyers

When it comes to cars, be it electric or gasoline-powered, American buyers are a very picky bunch. That’s why, despite several optimistic press releases by companies aiming to import cars from China, there aren’t any on sale here yet.

In the case of Zotye, though its small electric SUV looks okay, its fit and finish are far from that required by American drivers, says Bill Fisher, COO of AmAsia International. His Florida consultancy helps Chinese and U.S. companies understand each others’ markets.

Its ultimate goal is to import Chinese vehicles. Fisher checked out Zotye’s vehicles at out at last year’s Auto China in Beijing.  “Their fit and finish is not up to U.S. standards,”  says Fisher.

‘Trying very hard’

Green Auto did not return my calls. But last July I talked with Steven Fly, who was CEO of Green Automotive at the time (he is no longer with the company). He admitted that the early versions of the electric SUV were not impressive. But Zotye was making a lot of improvements, said Fly.

Just a few days ago, I talked to Wu Aibing, special assistant to the general manager of overseas projects at Zotye. Wu said Zotye was “trying very hard to get the car compliant and localized for the American market.”

That includes meeting safety standards and consumer fit and finish demands.  Wu wouldn’t predict when the cars would be ready. “We have a lot of things to do,” he said.

Zotye is a very small automaker: It sold fewer than 90,000 light vehicles in the first 11 months of 2010, according to J.D. Power and Associates. But even mcuh larger automakers in China have trouble meeting the high bar set by U.S. consumers.

Bigger BYD delays too

BYD Co. has repeatedly delayed launching its e6 electric vehicle here in the U.S. Among other reasons, it said, is to make the car more palatable to American buyers.

It plans to hire industrial engineers here in the U.S. to work on the design, says Michael Austin, vice president of the BYD America subsidiary of BYD Auto. Meanwhile, BYD has already re-tooled the U.S. version of the e6 chassis after complaints that there was not enough leg room in the rear seat, he said.

An industry executive here in the U.S. who is familiar with BYD’s cars added: “Suspension-wise, they don’t understand U.S. consumer needs.”

Revisions coming

BYD already has a few cars on the road here, and it will show a revised version of its 2012 BYD e6–called the Premier–at next week’s 2011 Detroit Auto Show.  “We have been very careful to listen to consumer and fleet feedback,” said Austin. “We won’t launch if there are concerns that are not addressed.”

Bottom line: If your heart is set on a car made in China, electric or otherwise, get ready for a long wait. And even when the two of you do get together, don’t let the thrill overcome your usual caution.

Make sure the car you’re considering is built well, has all the features you want, and feels solid. In other words, is it competitive with the best-in-class from other carmakers? When Made-in-China cars and crossovers get to that stage, you’ll hear more about them.

This story originally appeared at Green Car Repor