During a presentation at the recent 2011 Electric Utility Fleet Managers Conference, fleet managers discussed their experience with putting medium-duty diesel-electric hybrid trucks into full-time day-to-day work. Better fuel economy and significant downturn in engine idling time were reported by Duke Energy on their 2009 model year hybrids. Service work for hybrids takes longer than expected because of the need to find experienced support. Pacific Gas & Electric, with 3500 pickup trucks, is re-evaluating the business case for hybrids. PG&E uses an electric-vehicle research center to validate different alternative technologies. Florida Power & Light has 21 hybrid line trucks and a total of 364 hybrid vehicles, trimming total fuel use by 10% from 2006 to 2010.
Consumers often question why gas prices at the pump are slow to drop when the price of oil declines and rise quickly when oil prices are up. Station owners may have paid a much higher price for their existing gasoline and slowly sell through it, knowing their next tank load will cost less. Competition is a key factor as stations resist dropping prices until someone else does. Supply and demand also impact the pump price with current gasoline inventories lower than last year.
Toyota will introduce the cleanest and most-technically advanced Prius built to date at next month's auto show in Frankfurt, Germany. A newly designed, compact lithium-ion battery enables the new plug-in Prius hybrid to achieve a remarkably low fuel consumption rating of 2.2 liters per 100 kilometers (107 miles per gallon U.S.) and CO2 emissions of just 49 grams per kilometer. It will go up to 20 km (or 13.4 miles) on battery power alone. The Prius plug-in hybrid will be on sale in the U.S. in early 2012 and in Europe next summer.
Porsche's 911 model was named the most desirable brand in the latest Ideal Vehicle Awards from AutoPacific, Inc. The awards balance quality problems with features that surprise and appeal to customers such as comfort, ride and handling, fuel economy and performance. Ford captured more individual segment wins than any other manufacturer by winning in seven product segments, including top hybrid with the Ford Fusion, and top light-duty pickup with its F-Series. American brands won in 11 of 24 Ideal Vehicle Award segments, while European brands captured seven wins, and Asians took six.
Two researchers demonstrated at the Black Hat conference their ability to not only unlock a Subaru Outback but start up its engine using only an Android smartphone and some creative programming. They used a technique called "war texting" to intercept the password used by the car they hijacked although industry officials claim that is not supposed to be possible. The demonstration presents the possibility that car thieves will trade up for keyboards and smartphones, gaining entry to the newest models that haven't been properly programmed to prevent hackers from gaining access.