last
updated 21st October 05
by 4ecotips.com
Putting the
"wow" in greener cars
According to Reuters Asia auto correspondent,
Chang-Ran Kim, motorists are "seeing
more hybrids and even some zero-emission
fuel-cell vehicles on the road, making
it tougher for auto makers to put
the "wow" in their green
products."
At the Tokyo Motor Show which opens
this weekend, he says "many car
makers will twin futuristic technologies
like advanced fuel cells and drive-by-wire
with head-turning designs and quirky
concepts to upstage rivals.
 Kim
points out: "Among the three
concept cars from Toyota Motor Corp.,
Japan's top car maker and a leader
in clean-vehicle technology, is the
gull-winged Fine-X, a new fuel-cell
car that has four independently steered
wheels which enable it to rotate on
the spot.
"With no noted output or driving
range improvement over its existing
fuel-cell vehicle, Toyota is playing
up the car for other eco-friendly
features such as a body and interior
that use biodegradable fibers and
plastics.
 "The
maker of the popular Prius hybrid
car will also show off a one seater
"mobility machine" called
the i-swing, which runs on three wheels
at high speeds and upright on two
wheels in slow mode. The vehicle is
an evolved version of the PM, which
stole the limelight at the Tokyo Motor
Show two years ago."
Honda, Japan's third-biggest auto
maker will show off the FCX concept,
which, Kim explains, "proposes
the future styling of a fuel-cell
car once the industry manages to develop
smaller fuel-cell stacks and store
more hydrogen in smaller tanks.
"With the compact mock fuel-cell
stack tucked between the driver and
passenger seats, and two small hydrogen
tanks between the rear wheels, the
FCX has an ultra-low floor and more
cabin space than fuel-cell cars now
being tested on the road.
 Among
non-Japanese brands, Kim points out
that DaimlerChrysler AG will show
the Merc F600 Hygenius fuel-cell car
for the first time in Japan. The compact
model has a driving range of over
400 km (248.5 miles) - 100 km short
of being considered practical."
DaimlerChrysler's research and technology
chief, Thomas Weber, said in a statement:
"This represents a major step
toward bringing the fuel-cell drive
up to full production maturity,"
said in a statement.
The German-US company is aiming to
mass-produce zero-emission fuel-cell
vehicles some time between 2012 and
2015.
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