Aah, Tesla. That cheerful automaker that has managed to silence most of its peers with its revolutionary electric cars has done it again. The company’s Model S has won favor globally from car aficionados, who’ve crowned it to be one of greenest ways to ride. The car has been extremely well received in Norway and nearly 1493 Model Ss were sold in the country just last month alone! That’s twice as much as the number of VW Golfs sold last month!
One of the many reasons petrol-heads despise electric cars, despite the fact that they perform equally well as their gas-guzzling counterparts, is the fact that most EVs are as silent as mice and when it comes to the supercar domain, the more the noise, the bigger the head turner! To put an extremely long sentence into perspective, German automaker BMW understands how important it is for a supercar to roar and has given its brainchild, the BMW i8, a distinct growl. When switched into Sport Mode, the car begins to produce quite an ear-pleasing sound, despite the fact that it possesses a smaller gas-powered engine.
As an accompaniment to the market launch of the A3 e tron, Audi is offering customers in Germany green electricity – Audi energy. With Audi energy, the A3 e tron is totally emission-free when operated electrically. The power all comes from renewable energy sources and is generated exclusively at hydro-electric power stations in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. The Audi A3 e‑tron can be recharged when parked at your home with Audi energy. At the same time, the entire household is supplied with eco-friendly electric power.
Seems like Bhutan isn’t the only nation in the world with ambitious plans of turning its transport system greener in the near future. Far north, the Scandinavian nation of Norway will become the first country in the world with one electric vehicle on the road for every 100 cars! The Tesla Model S showed up in Norway some time ago and impressed Norwegians so much, that the electric vehicle topped monthly sales charts! Shortly after, the Nissan LEAF also turned hugely popular and was crowned a bestseller in October 2013.
Driving and electric car isn’t something to suit everyone’s taste buds, until we finally run out of fossil fuels and human kind has no other alternative means to get around that is. So, to keep the gas-guzzling folk happy, Audi has come up with a smart way to keep fuel consumption and carbon emissions low. The system, installed in a test Audi A6, literally hooks up with traffic lights in the vicinity and can help predict when a light is expected to turn green, keeping idling time to a minimum.
A while ago, we came across news of Bhutan’s plans to go green. The beautiful Himalayan country seems to have kept up with its plans to give nature a hug and has recently teamed up with Nissan to achieve its ambitious goal. Nissan will help Bhutan build an electric-vehicle fleet and put its expertise in building green cars to the best use! “There is a lot of courage, a lot of will, a lot of vision behind the Prime Minister of Bhutan’s positioning on the electric car and I feel good about supporting this,” said Nissan CEO Carlos Ghosn.
One of the world’s biggest automobile manufacturers, the Volkswagen Group, doesn’t mind spending a few bucks occasionally in going green. And by a few bucks, we mean roughly about €10.2 billion! The company is investing more in energy-efficient and eco-friendly vehicles, to help lighten its own carbon footprint and give mankind cleaner ways to travel. Currently, the Volkswagen Group has 54 model variants to offer, each of which emit less than 100 grams CO2/km!
While the rest of us prefer to jump aboard the green bandwagon and drive energy efficient and sparkly green Chevrolet Volts and the lovable Toyota Prius, a few car owners still prefer to stick to the more environment-chocking side of affairs. While looking at the statistics of some of the greenest cars around us recently, we decided to also draw up a list of the world’s most inefficient cars. Here it is!
Audi successfully managed to drop jaws around the world when it first unleashed its V8 supercar, the R8. The German luxury car manufacturer has now confirmed its intent to build an energy-efficient version of its brainchild and plans to push the e-Tron R8 to production lines. Audi’s new head, Ulrich Hackenberg stated at the Detroit Motor Show, “I think electric drive has a big future. With battery tech now it is vital to have plug-in hybrids, but as batteries improve we will move more towards all-electric.”
Cars may be luxurious and a privacy-friendly way of getting around. However, these personal modes of transport are the most inefficient mode of commute, as pointed out by a report by the University of Michigan. As opposed to this, airplanes are the most efficient way of travelling and to match up, the automobiles of today need to improve efficiency levels by a whopping 57%!