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from the but-the-fill-ups-take-a-while dept.
Aston Martin is the latest car maker to announce it's going to move to an all-hybrid lineup. CEO Andy Palmer has told the Financial Times that "We will be 100 per cent hybrid by the middle of the 2020s." Palmer also told the FT that he expects about 25 percent of Aston Martin sales will be EVs by 2030. A similarly bold announcement was made by Volvo earlier this summer; however, in this case Aston Martin will continue to sell non-hybrid versions of its cars as an option.
The first all-electric Aston Martin will be the RapidE, a sleek four-seater due in 2019. But that will be a limited-run model, with only 115 planned. There's also the hybrid Valkyrie hypercar in the works, an F1 car for the road that's being designed by Aston Martin in conjunction with Red Bull Racing's Adrian Newey. But there will be more mainstream (if such a word can apply) hybrid and battery EV Aston Martins coming, too. Like Volvo, some of these will just be 48V mild hybrids.
Guess it's embarassing when your gas-powered supercar gets left in the dust by an EV.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by hemocyanin on Wednesday August 30 2017, @07:15PM (2 children)
It's coming, a hybrid PU Truck, 5000# towing capacity, 2200# payload capacity, AWD, 80 miles all electric (310 miles with a tank of gas), 7.2 kw power export (power your tools from the truck's battery): http://workhorse.com/pickup/ [workhorse.com]
Also: http://www.motortrend.com/news/workhorse-w15-4wd-plug-electric-work-truck-prototype-first-drive-review/ [motortrend.com]
Looks promising.
(Score: 1) by Rich26189 on Wednesday August 30 2017, @08:58PM (1 child)
Thanks for the link, I hadn’t heard of this vehicle. As a fleet vehicle it sounds great but for weekend projects and a 5 days-a-week commute it may be a little much. Though at 28/32 mpg city/highway it's better than my Tacoma (4 cyl, 5 spd manual) which averages 23-24mpg.
Interesting that the truck’s engine driven generator will power the motors as well as recharge the batteries. Contrast that with Toyota’s hybrids, the Camry at least, where the generator only powers the motors and the batteries are only charged using regenerative braking. I believe the Highlanders have a similar arrangement and, should the engine fail to start, can get only about two miles on a fully charged battery assuming the vehicle was already “on” and moving.
(Score: 2) by hemocyanin on Thursday August 31 2017, @07:20AM
It also comes with an estimated 52k price tag so it won't be cheap to buy but then, I recently looked at getting a used pickup for going into the mountains and I can't believe the prices on those things -- you could buy a Porsche for less money, built more recently, and with fewer miles. Maybe I exaggerate a little, but I often see early 90s, as in quarter century ago, Toyota pickups with 200,000+ miles, being advertised for $5000. No matter how great something is, there will be a lot of worn out stuff in something that old which will keep a mechanic rich and happy. No I don't have time to learn how to be a mechanic.
I have a little trailer (about 3' 10" wide and 6' long) with a 1450 pound capacity to haul stuff and my gas car (a Subaru Outback) is rated to tow a max of 2700 pounds, so I'm just going to stick with that. While I wouldn't take the car off road, logging roads are no obstacle and that's all I need to drive on anyway.