Driving Clean at Art Center

02/12/2007

Last week's Designing Sustainable Mobility Summit at the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, California provided BMW, Ford, Honda, and Volkswagen a perfect stage on which to demonstrate their wide variety of advanced, environmentally-friendly technologies. As automotive designers and transportation experts gathered at the summit to discuss the future of mobility within an environmental context, Green Car Journal's "Green Cars/Pasadena" ride-and-drive allowed summit attendees and Art Center students to experience some of these same solutions for themselves by driving models powered by biodiesel, ultra low sulfur diesel, hydrogen, natural gas, and efficient gasoline engines.

BMW fielded multiple Hydrogen 7 internal combustion hydrogen sedans, while Ford brought its Focus PZEV, Focus FCV fuel cell sedan, and an Escape Hybrid. Honda showcased an FCX hydrogen fuel cell vehicle and its Civic GX, a natural gas sedan that's sold to fleets nationwide and to consumers in California and New York. Representing biodiesel capability was VW's Touareg V-10 TDI (pictured) running on B5 biodiesel - a mix of five percent renewable biodiesel and 95 percent ultra low sulfur diesel fuel. VW's warranty protection currently covers models running on B5, which encourages drivers to use this environmentally positive fuel. VW also brought its Touaran HyMotion, powered by the company's high temperature fuel cell technology.

The event provided a rare opportunity to try out VW's twincharger technology that's popular in Europe but not yet available here in the States. Showcased in a European-spec Jetta with a TSI engine, the package combines a supercharger that runs at low engine rpms with a turbocharger for mid-range and higher rpms, which effectively eliminates turbo lag. This approach allows using a smaller engine than normal to meet a vehicle's power requirements, providing both better fuel economy and fewer emissions.

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