Printed 10/19/16 Page of
Download 3.26 Mb.
|
- Navigate this page:
- 110,000 cars have been sold to date, and Daimler-Chrysler, the new owner, is on track to achieve profitability by 2004.
- This same niche opportunity is being seized by Global Electric Motors (GEM), a Fargo, Nebraska-based start-up and leading manufacturer of NEVs in the U.S., now owned by Daimler-Chrysler.
- Dan Sturges, is director of Mobility Lab, which serves as a resource for communities designing sustainable transportation. Contact him: dan@mobilitylab.org
- Yet despite her appearance, and despite her list of advanced degrees (including mechanical engineering from Stanford), it hasnt been easy.
- French Air Car -- top speed 110 kmh; goes for 10 hours.
- He said MDI had already sold 32 of the small factories and was hoping to swell the total to 300 in the next few years.
- Toyota to Raise Number of Hybrid Models to Over 10
- Hybrid Cars Gain Star Power
- Car salesman Chris Cutright has sold so-called hybrid cars to many Hollywood stars.
- Despite Lower CO2 Emissions, Diesel Cars May Promote More Global Warming Than Gasoline Cars
- Mark Z. Jacobson, Associate Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Stanford University. Writing in the Journal of Geophysical Research-Atmospheres
- The state of California is implementing an even more restrictive standard in 2004, allowing only 0.006 grams per kilometer [0.01 grams per mile] of particulate emissions.
- The research was supported by NASA, the Environmental Protection Agency, the National Science Foundation, the David and Lucile Packard Foundation, and the Hewlett-Packard Company.
- Americas automobiles are headed in the wrong direction -- at least when it comes to fuel efficiency, according to new data from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
In Europe, the diesel-fueled Micro Compact Car (MCC), founded by Mercedez-Benz and the creator of Swatch watches, is giving consumers what they want: a $10,000 price tag, 69 mpg, easy parking, and a fun experience. Owners can change the colors of side panels at the drop of a hat; slogans like “Reduce to the Max” woo buyers, and enthusiasm is generated by stacks of colorful cars, displayed Matchbox-like in glass towers in several European cities. 110,000 cars have been sold to date, and Daimler-Chrysler, the new owner, is on track to achieve profitability by 2004. Think Like A System Given the limited driving range, what pure electric vehicles like Th!nk do best is provide emissions-free and fuel efficient mobility for short distances. That’s why the technology well serves particular applications like transporting golfers around courses, workers around campuses, and the disabled and infirm inside of enclosed spaces like airports. If cars could be slotted into Darwinian-type niches, electric vehicles would find a cozy but growing spot ideally suited for short hauls, and within a larger system designed to serve the needs of the consumer for convenient, affordable mobility, clean air, and pleasant communities. This is what Budget Rent-A-Car discovered when they made electric cars available for rental to environmentally conscious businesspeople at LAX airport, and now they say they can’t buy enough of the Toyota RAV4-EV, the only electric suitable for highway use, to satisfy the demand. This same niche opportunity is being seized by Global Electric Motors (GEM), a Fargo, Nebraska-based start-up and leading manufacturer of NEVs in the U.S., now owned by Daimler-Chrysler. GEM cars are positioned as “feeders” in car sharing schemes like Seattle’s Flexcar and Boston’s Zipcar that are cropping up around the U.S. They also play a role as part of the transportation systems in planned communities including DC Ranch in Scottsdale, Arizona, Celebration in Florida, and Bay Harbor in Michigan. Playa Vista, a community in Los Angeles, recently selected GEM and a companion company, eMotion Mobility, to develop what promises to be the most comprehensive zero-emission vehicle mobility system in the nation. This program envisions the wide use of an array of GEM NEVs for passenger and utility purposes as well as zero-emission trams to canvass the property. Certain vehicles would be shared among residents and businesses through an Internet reservations system or by calling a toll-free number. Th!nk Mobility positioned their “City” car as a connector to suburban transportation systems. Was this the right niche? Think Differently Ford’s 1999 launch of Th!nk seemed headed in the right direction: a spirited philosophy for a new kind of transportation system; a repositioning of the company as a leader in sustainable mobility. So what went wrong with Th!nk? Was Ford too late to the party? Did its marketing fail to capture consumers’ imagination? In the U.S., where “big” equates with “safe” and gasoline prices are relatively cheap, this may take some doing. The Th!nk portfolio, primarily offered through dealerships, consisted of a City EV, a golf cart-like Neighbor EV, and two electric bikes. Did such mission-specific vehicles require a different approach to sales? Rather than choosing a former engineer for the Explorer— regardless of how successful and innovative—to head the Th!ink Mobility division, might they have been better served by someone outside the industry, say from communications or even the weight loss industry with its emphasis on behavior change? In short, Did Th!nk think differently enough? Persevere Successful eco-innovation, like any radical innovation takes perseverance. With the help of its suppliers, MCC, which has already invested over a billion dollars, can afford to hold out until 2004 until it makes its first projected profit, and it continues to invest in new styles and models. Daimler-Chrysler continues to support growth of GEM. For sure, the company that brought us the Mustang and the Taurus—indeed, the company that ushered in an entire new era in mobility a century ago—certainly has the smarts to figure such things out as strategic positioning and creative marketing. Ford lost $5 billion last year. In better times, they might even have had the power to muscle in on early competitors and to persevere until markets develop more fully and profits can be made. Things to Think About The demise of Th!nk begs much larger questions, however. Our current system of mobility needs to be changed. We don’t need more cars on the road capable of being driven endlessly, even at higher levels of fuel efficiency. We need a system that reduces traffic jams, helps transit become more effective, and provides low cost mobility. Th!nk provided the playing pieces but no game board. However, is it really up to individual companies, no matter how large or storied, to foot the bill for changing the system? Can we create a mechanism by which various societal stakeholders take on the holistic challenges together? Ford finds itself in a quandary representative of many well-intended sustainability leaders: how do we get from here to there while still making a profit? With competition from Europe and Japan aggressively leveraging the environment as a source for “eco-innovation” —and potentially driving us out of critical world markets—we all have a stake in the outcome. The early death of Th!nk represents a greater loss to Ford than meets the eye. Ford has missed out on opportunities to begin the transformation to a new kind of transportation company; to provide their 400,000 employees with a much needed morale boost; and to gain access to new markets here in the U.S. and abroad. We extend our support to the thousands of Ford employees who must be as disappointed and frustrated as we are in the green business community. If our collective resolve to address the challenges is as strong as the hope Th!nk originally embodied, we’ll all be able to think once again that the prospects for a truly sustainable future will be bright indeed. Jacquelyn Ottman is president, J. Ottman Consulting, Inc. and author, Green Marketing: Opportunity for Innovation. She is keynote speaker this month's Towards Sustainable Product Design 7 conference in London. Contact her: jottman@greenmarketing.com Dan Sturges, is director of Mobility Lab, which serves as a resource for communities designing sustainable transportation. Contact him: dan@mobilitylab.org http://evworld.com/databases/storybuilder.cfm?storyid=437&subcookie=1 Clare Bell: The EV Vet By Elaine Lissner But Bell hasn't always been under the hood. "I grew up in Palo Alto-not quite the People's Republic of Berkeley, but close! My stepfather took me to anti-war rallies in the '60s, and my mother comes from coal country in the north of England, one of the first badly polluted areas in the world. I was a tomboy, and I liked cars, but I was aware from a pretty early age that cars weren't environmentally benign." So tinkering with cars was out, but electric cars seemed different. "It was during the Gulf War, and I had been driving my little Nissan Sentra to peace rallies sporting a peace flag, feeling like a hypocrite. Burning gas going to peace rallies!" Determined to make her actions match her words, Bell took advantage of her electrical engineering training and built her first electric car-- from a kit purchased out of the Whole Earth Catalog-- in the garage of her incredulous boyfriend. Lightning Bug, the dune buggy-style result, was soon joined by a Porsche 914 conversion, and hobby became job as word of her engineering talents spread. Since then she has worked for a Who's Who of electric car manufacturers, including Green Motorworks; the Pivco City Bee station car program in Alameda, California; Ford's Th!nk Nordic division (the successor to the City Bee); and most recently, Corbin Motors, creators of the Sparrow.
Dressed in dirty jeans and sneakers, her wispy hair shoved under a baseball cap, Bell seems like she'd have no problem fitting into the auto industry. Yet despite her appearance, and despite her list of advanced degrees (including mechanical engineering from Stanford), it hasn't been easy. At Ford's Th!nk Nordic factory in Norway, Bell found herself one of very few women-and when she disagreed with the head of the Th!nk electrical department, she had very little support. In the resulting power struggle, Bell lost. Now, after eleven years in the electric auto field, the EVet is out on her own, on retainer with Silicon Valley Sparrow-owners to keep their birds running smoothly. Today EleDuck is getting a wiring upgrade so that the sound from the stereo will no longer blink in and out in time with the turn signals. Bell relishes these opportunities to improve the Sparrows and do repairs she wouldn't have had time for as an employee. Though the Sparrows are keeping her busy for now, and their owners clearly appreciate the old-fashioned house-call service, this survivor is already thinking about her next incarnation. If Ford follows through on its plan to abandon Th!nk City production (despite demonstrated demand) in favor of suing the California Air Resources Board, she'd love to teach Ford a little lesson about survival.
Inventor, car enthusiast and environmentalist Guy Negre has built a car powered by compressed air and hopes it will be chuffing along roads across the world within the next few years. The car can be refilled with air at home using an electric compressor and Negre hopes that, one day, drivers will be able to recharge the cars in filling stations in three minutes for as little as three dollars. The air car, which he says will cost 6,800 euros ($6,700), looks a little like DaimlerChrysler's easy-to-park Smart city car, with one row of seats wide enough for three and a curved, pod-like front end. Rather than selling the cars directly, Negre's company Motor Development International offers investors a factory package containing the machinery needed to build the cars. "We aim to have the first CAT on the road by mid-2003, with the first on sale toward the end of 2004," said Negre. He said MDI had already sold 32 of the small factories and was hoping to swell the total to 300 in the next few years. Each factory would produce 4,000 cars a year. "The technology is all there," Negre said. "Now all we need is time and money to get the factories up and running." http://www.evworld.com/databases/shownews.cfm?pageid=news241002-07 Toyota to Raise Number of Hybrid Models to Over 10 Source: Kyodo News [Oct 24, 2002] NAGOYA, Japan - Toyota Motor Corp. said Oct. 24 it plans to increase the number of its environment-friendly gasoline-electric hybrid vehicle models to more than 10 by the end of 2006 from the current three. The automaker already decided to release the luxury Alphard mini-van (in photo) equipped with the new system by 2004
Source: CNN [Oct 24, 2002] LOS ANGELES, California (CNN) -- California has the ultimate car culture -- it is often said that there, you are what you drive. California is also a capital of air pollution, and of efforts to cut down auto emissions. Put those three factors together and you have an unusual trend: a status symbol in reverse -- a cool car that is not exactly a high-performance vehicle. Car salesman Chris Cutright has sold so-called 'hybrid' cars to many Hollywood stars. "I sold Cameron Diaz her car; Leonardo DiCaprio has bought three Prius' from us, we're talking to Alec Baldwin right now, he's certainly interested in the car," Cutright said. The Toyota Prius runs on both petrol and electric power. It is Toyota's entry in the race to develop mass-produced, low-emissions cars. But it is not cheap. The Prius is smaller than the Toyota Corolla, sold for less than $14,000, but costs 50 percent more at $21,000. Toyota plan to use the hybrid technology in future models. Expectations of developing electric cars have faded as the cars are too expensive and need constant charging. Chrysler is developing the hydrogen-powered fuel cell car, but they are years from mass production. Stars appreciate the Prius for its discreet appearance. Baldwin said: "The Prius is a great public relations veil, it's a shroud I can wear that will hide me. No one would ever dream I would be the guy behind the wheel of that car, that's great." But in Los Angeles, you are what you drive...so what are you if you drive this quiet little car? For Baldwin, "you're a genius with foresight, you are a far seeing genius." "Certainly somebody who's environmentally conscious," Cutright said. http://www.evworld.com/databases/shownews.cfm?pageid=news241002-01 AEP Sodium-sulfur and AVESTOR lithium-metal-polymer batteries show great promise
Source: American Geophysical Union [Oct 22, 2002] WASHINGTON - Laws that favor the use of diesel, rather than gasoline, engines in cars may actually encourage global warming, according to a new study. Although diesel cars obtain 25 to 35 percent better mileage and emit less carbon dioxide than similar gasoline cars, they can emit 25 to 400 times more mass of particulate black carbon and associated organic matter ("soot") per kilometer [mile]. The warming due to soot may more than offset the cooling due to reduced carbon dioxide emissions over several decades, according to Mark Z. Jacobson, Associate Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Stanford University. Writing in the Journal of Geophysical Research-Atmospheres, Jacobson describes computer simulations leading to the conclusion that control of fossil-fuel black carbon and organic matter may be the most effective method of slowing global warming, in terms of the speed and magnitude of its effect on climate. Not only does soot warm the air to a much greater extent than does carbon dioxide per unit mass, but the lifetime of soot in the air (weeks to months) is much less than is that of carbon dioxide (50 to 200 years). As such, removing soot emissions may have a faster effect on slowing global warming than removing carbon dioxide emissions. The model Jacobson used tested 12 identifiable effects of airborne particles, known as aerosols, on climate, eight of which had not previously been described in scientific literature. Jacobson notes that it is not currently possible to quantify each of these effects individually, only the net effect of all of them operating simultaneously. "Since 1896, when Svante Arrhenius first postulated the theory of global warming due to carbon dioxide, control of carbon dioxide has been considered the most effective method of slowing warming," Jacobson says in an interview. "Whereas carbon dioxide clearly causes most global warming, control of shorter-lived warming constituents, such as black carbon, should have a faster effect on slowing warming, which is the conclusion I have drawn from this study. The Kyoto Protocol of 1997 does not even consider black carbon as a pollutant to control with respect to global warming." The reason the issue of diesel versus gasoline is important, says Jacobson, is that, in Europe, one of the major strategies for satisfying the Kyoto Protocol is to promote further the use of diesel vehicles and specifically to provide a greater tax advantage for diesel. Tax laws in all European Union countries, except the United Kingdom, currently favor diesel, thereby inadvertently promoting global warming, Jacobson says. Further, some countries, including Sweden, Finland, Norway, and the Netherlands, also tax fuels based on their carbon content. These taxes also favor diesel, he notes, since diesel releases less carbon per kilometer [mile] than does gasoline. Nevertheless, the small amount of black carbon and organic matter emitted by diesel may warm the atmosphere more over 100 years than the additional carbon dioxide emitted by gasoline. In Europe and the U.S., particulate emissions from vehicles are expected to decline over the next decade. For example, by 2005, the European Union will introduce more stringent standards for particulate emissions from light duty vehicles of 0.025 grams per kilometer [0.04 grams per mile]. Even under these standards, diesel powered cars may still warm the climate more over the next 100 years than may gasoline powered cars, according to the study. The state of California is implementing an even more restrictive standard in 2004, allowing only 0.006 grams per kilometer [0.01 grams per mile] of particulate emissions. Even if the California standard were introduced worldwide, says Jacobson, diesel cars may still warm the climate more than gasoline cars over 13 to 54 years. In an interview, Jacobson said that new particle traps being introduced by some European automobile manufacturers in their diesel cars appear to reduce black carbon emissions to 0.003 grams per kilometer [0.005 grams per mile], even below the California standard. "I think this is great, and it is an indication that tough environmental laws encourage industry to change. But," he said, "diesel vehicles emitting at this level may still warm the climate more than gasoline over a 10 to 50 year period, not only because of black carbon emissions, but also because the traps themselves require addition fuel use. Gasoline/battery hybrid vehicles now available not only get better mileage than the newest diesels but also emit less black carbon." In practice, less than 0.1 percent of light vehicles in the United States run on diesel fuel, whereas more than 25 percent do in Europe. (Almost a third of new European cars in 2000 were diesel powered.) In both the United States and Europe, virtually all heavy trucks and buses are diesel powered, and American diesel consumption rates for all modes of ground transportation combined are about 75 to 80 percent of those in Europe. Control of fossil fuel black carbon and organic matter will not by itself eliminate long term global warming, says Jacobson. This would require reductions in emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases, in addition to reduction of particles. Other strategies to be considered for reducing black carbon and organic matter from the atmosphere could include the phasing out of indoor biomass and coal burning and improved particle collection from jet fuel and coal burning, he says. This reduction would provide the additional benefit of reducing the 2.7 million people who die annually from air pollution, as estimated by the World Health Organization. The health costs of particulate pollution range, in industrial countries, from $200,000 to $2.75 million per ton, Jacobson notes. The research was supported by NASA, the Environmental Protection Agency, the National Science Foundation, the David and Lucile Packard Foundation, and the Hewlett-Packard Company. http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/transportation/91778_celectric18.shtml Sparrow in state of Washington--car or motorcycle? http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2002/10/30/MN172978.DTL New cars headed in reverse on fuel usage Only 3.5 percent of next year's models hit 30 mpg threshold Carol Emert, Chronicle Staff Writer Wednesday, October 30, 2002 ©2002 San Francisco Chronicle. URL: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2002/10/30/MN172978.DTL America's automobiles are headed in the wrong direction -- at least when it comes to fuel efficiency, according to new data from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. E-mail Carol Emert at cemert@sfchronicle.com. ©2002 San Francisco Chronicle. Page A - 1 A tiny 3.5 percent of 2003 passenger vehicles -- just 33 of the 934 models now rolling into showrooms -- can drive 30 miles or more on 1 gallon of gasoline, according to an analysis of the EPA's 2003 Fuel Economy guide released Tuesday. That compares to 5.5 percent of 2002 vehicles, or 48 of the 865 models released last year, that get 30 mpg or better, according to an analysis by the Associated Press. "It's very unfortunate, given what's going on in the Middle East, that automakers are continuing to offer products that increase oil dependency," said David Friedman, senior analyst with the Union of Concerned Scientists in Berkeley. The EPA has estimated that a driver can save $1,500 over five years by switching to a car that gets 30 mpg from a 20 mpg model. That's assuming a cost of $1.50 per gallon of gas and 15,000 miles driven each year. The possibility of a war against Iraq has dramatically increased the price of crude oil, and lawmakers in Washington and Sacramento are tussling over regulations to lower pollution and conserve the world's limited supply of fossil fuel. Americans' penchant for large, gas-guzzling sport utility vehicles is largely responsible for a steady decline in fuel efficiency since 1988. Light trucks including SUVs, whose average fuel efficiency was 17.3 mpg last year, now account for about half of the new vehicles sold in the United States. Diane Steed, president of the pro-SUV Coalition for Vehicle Choice, said fuel-efficient vehicles such as hybrids are well and good -- "but they are not very popular in the marketplace." The EPA's 10 most fuel efficient models typically make up less than 2 percent of auto sales, she said. 'VALUING OTHER ATTRIBUTES' "Right now people are valuing other attributes -- things like towing ability, seating capacity and cargo space -- higher than fuel economy," Steed said. "That's because the price of gasoline is pretty cheap at this point." Environmental advocates called Tuesday's report an indictment of American automakers, which failed to produce any of the 10 most fuel-efficient vehicles, ceding that ground to Japanese and German companies. "Until American manufacturers start using modern technologies like better engines, better transmissions and better aerodynamics, we will continue to pay too much for gas, pollute too much and be in hock up to our eyeballs to OPEC," said Dan Becker, a spokesman for the Sierra Club in Washington, D.C. The Honda Insight, a gas-electric hybrid, occupied the top two spots with a manual transmission model that gets 64 mpg and an automatic that comes in at 56 mpg. The Toyota Prius automatic, another hybrid, ranked third at 48 mpg. The Honda Civic manual hybrid ranked fourth and the all-gas automatic Honda Civic ranked fifth. The manual Toyota Echo occupied the eighth spot while diesel-burning Volkswagen New Beetles, Golfs and Jettas rounded out the top 10. Toyota Motor Corp., whose Prius was the first electric car, has pledged to make all of its products hybrids by 2012 and is gunning to increase its global market share to 15 percent by 2010. Among SUVs, the Toyota RAV4 got the best gas mileage, 27 mpg, while five vehicles tied for the worst with 14 mpg: the Cadillac Escalade, the Cadillac Escalade Ext, the GMC K1500 Yukon, the GMC K1500 Yukon XL and the Land Rover Discovery Series II. According to the AP analysis, the average fuel efficiency of new models dropped for the third year in a row with the 2003 vintage to 20.1 mpg, a 6 percent drop from the peak of vehicle fuel economy in the late 1980s. While the AP number is a simple average of all new models, the EPA tracks fuel efficiency weighted by sales in its annual Fuel Economy Trends Report, which is due out later this year. Last year the average fuel efficiency as measured by the EPA was 20.4 mpg, and it is expected to come in between 20 and 21 in this year's report, said Dan Zinger, assistant director in the EPA's office of transportation and air quality. At its peak in 1988, U.S. vehicles averaged 22.4 mpg, Zinger said. TOUCHY TOPIC IN CALIFORNIA The new vehicle data is sure to fuel the heated debate over auto regulation, both in California and nationally. Gov. Gray Davis in July signed landmark legislation requiring automakers to meet not-yet-finalized vehicle emission standards with their 2009 models. California is the first state to impose such regulations. The Alliance for Automobile Manufacturers, which could not be reached Tuesday, has pledged to fight the bill. Congress attempted to address fuel efficiency in a wide-ranging energy bill this year, but the standards got watered down significantly and the bill had not passed when Congress adjourned in the fall. The issue is likely to be left to the next Congress. Big automakers and the Justice Department, meanwhile, are fighting a California mandate that 10 percent of cars offered for sale in the state be electric, or "zero emission." That requirement was supposed to go into effect next year. And California's phaseout of the gasoline additive MTBE, which is believed to pollute ground water, is expected to raise the price of gasoline over the next year. The EPA's Fuel Economy Guide, which provides detailed statistics for each 2003 model car, van and truck sold in the United States., can be downloaded at www.fueleconomy.gov. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- BEST, WORST MILEAGE The 2003 model vehicles that get the best and worst fuel economy by vehicle classification, as rated by the Environmental Protection Agency. Numbers following the vehicles reflect fuel economy first in city driving, then highway driving, then combined: Two-seater Best: Honda Insight (electric-gas hybrid) 61/68/64 Worst: Ferrari Enzo Ferrari 8/12/(no combined figure provided) Minicompact Best: BMW Mini Cooper (manual) 28/37/32 Worst: Aston Martin DB-7 Vantage Coupe and Volante (manual) 11/18/13 Subcompact Best: Volkswagen New Beetle (manual, diesel) 42/49/45 Worst: Ferrari 456 MGT/MGTA (automatic) 10/15/11 Compact Best: Toyota Prius (electric-gas hybrid) 52/45/48 Worst: Bentley Continental R 11/16/13 Midsize
Best: Honda Accord (manual) 26/34/29 Worst: Bentley Arnage 10/14/12 Large Best: Chevrolet Impala 21/32/25 Worst: Bentley Arnage LWB 10/14/12 Small station wagons Best: Volkswagen Jetta Wagon (diesel, manual) 42/50/45 Worst: BMW 540i Sport Wagon (automatic) 17/21/19 Midsize station wagons Best: Ford Focus (manual) 27/36/31 Worst: Audi S6 Avant 15/21/17 Sport utility vehicles Best: Toyota RAV4 (manual) 25/31/27 Worst: (five-way tie) Cadillac Escalade, Cadillac Escalade Ext, GMC K1500 Yukon, GMC K1500 Yukon XL, Land Rover Discovery Series II 12/16/14. Flexible fuel vehicles, when using ethanol (five-way tie): Chevrolet K1500 Avalanche, Chevrolet K1500 Suburban, GMC K1500 Yukon, GMC K1500 Yukon XL, Chevrolet K1500 Tahoe 10/13/12 Minivans Best: (two-way tie) Chrysler Voyager/Town & Country, Dodge Caravan (both 2WD) 21/27/23 Worst: Kia Sedona 15/20/17. Flexible fuel vehicle, when using ethanol: Chrysler Voyager 2WD 13/17/14 Small pickup Best: (two-way tie) GMC Sonoma, Chevrolet S10 (four-cylinder, manual, 2WD) 22/28/24 Worst: (two-way tie) GMC Sonoma, Chevrolet S10 (six-cylinder, manual, 2WD 16/24/19 Standard pickup Best: (two-way tie) Ford Ranger, Mazda B2300 (both manual, 2WD) 24/29/26 Worst: (two-way tie) Dodge Ram 1500 4WD, GMC K1500 Sierra Denali AWD (both automatic) 12/16/14. Flexible fuel vehicles, when using ethanol: (two-way tie) GMC K1500 Sierra, Chevrolet K1500 Silverado (both automatic, 4WD) 10/12/11 Cargo van Best: (Two-way tie) Chevrolet Astro, GMC Safari (both 2WD) 17/23/19 Worst: Dodge Ram 2500 2WD 13/14/14; Flexible fuel vehicle, when using natural gas: Dodge Ram 2500 2WD 11/19/14 Passenger van Best: (two-way tie) Chevrolet Astro, GMC Safari 2WD 16/20/17 Worst: (three-way tie): GMC H1500 Savana Pass Van AWD, Ford E150 Club Wagon, Chevrolet H1500 Chevy Express AWD 13/17/15 http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2002/10/31/BA32966.DTL Download 3.26 Mb. Share with your friends:
|