TOP 10 GREEN CARS – 2015 VANCOUVER AUTO SHOW

This Tuesday we had a unique opportunity to preview the Vancouver International Auto Show. This year’s show features a wide variety of electric, hydrogen and hybrid-electric vehicles. We took full advantage and we’re absolutely thrilled to see so many manufacturers putting research and development into clean transportation technologies. Almost every manufacturer had something future-friendly to offer.

With so many vehicles to choose from, we had a hard time narrowing down our top ten green cars. So we’ll focus on the electric and hydrogen fuel cell vehicles. Scroll down for photos and links to our favorite production models and concepts (in no particular order).

BMW i3

Engine: Full Electric
Visit the BMW i3 website

Chevy VOLT

Engine: Full Electric
Visit the Chevy VOLT website

Hyundai Tucson Fuel Cell

Engine: Hydrogen Fuel Cell
Visit the Hyundai Tucson Fuel Cell website

KIA SOUL EV

Engine: Full Electric
(Winner of the 2015 AJAC Canadian Green Car of the Year)
Visit the KIA SOUL EV website

Mercedes Benz Smart fortwo electric

Engine: Full Electric
Visit the Smart fortwo electric website

Mitsubishi i-MiEV

Engine: Full Electric
Visit the Mitsubishi i-MiEV website

Nissan BladeGlider

Engine: Full Electric (Concept)
Visit the Nissan BladeGlider website

Nissan LEAF

Engine: Full Electric
Visit the Nissan LEAF website

Toyota i-ROAD

Engine: Full Electric (Concept)
Visit the Toyota i-ROAD website

Toyota Mirai

Engine: Hydrogen Fuel Cell (Concept)
Visit the Toyota Mirai website

All photos by Alex Ramon.

Which one of these is your favorite? Leave your comments below…

• random guy
  a green car show. I need to go to one of those
• Jonas Blomberg
  Mirai is my favourite. It showed the hydrogen naysayers to be wrong. Musk and Tesla are going to get a lot of fossil free competition!
• kurt
  i prefer the research into hydrogen over electrical although it is an older technology i feel their is a higher improvement rate and can provide a highly efficient end result
• http://solar-power-now.com/ Solar-Power-Now.com
  Great concept cars! The future of transportation is green!
• Jonas Blomberg
  Mirai is my favourite. In the future I would like to see hydrogen-battery hybrids.That would lower the cost of emission-free transport and join the best of the two major alternatives.
• Ma Beliv
  No tesla??? Quite weird isn’t???
• Ma Beliv
  Mirai won’t survived. Too complicated and hydrogen too expensive to make and too expensive to buy. So wrong. What is the point using it?? Electric is so simple and so cheap running it. It is the cheapest way and the engine is so simple. No muffler, starter, no radiater….no nothing. It is the futur.

Read More

HYDROGEN-POWERED TRAM DEVELOPED IN CHINA

In an effort to reduce China’s harmful and plentiful greenhouse gas emissions, Chinese company Sifang (a subsidiary of China South Rail Corporation) has developed the world’s first hydrogen powered tram. The tram took two years of research and development to complete, and will be powered entirely by hydrogen fuel cells. Since this is a tram and not a train, the top speed will only be 70 kilometers per hour and it will be used in urban areas only. It is designed to carry 380 passengers.

The tram will take 3 minutes to refuel and will have a 100 kilometer range. The company says the main benefits for cities will be cleaner air and reduced operation costs. The only emission will be water. It will not produce nitrogen oxides, as the temperature of the fuel cells will be kept under 100 degrees Celcius.

Watch the video:

What do you think? Leave your comments below…

• Norman Taylor
  This is a wonderful development for sure and could be developed for the rail networks around the world and should be very suitable for light rail applications.
• http://thenewnorth.org/ James M. Holtzman
  These guys are so far ahead of us its amazing…
• Val G
  Great move China. Maybe now us Americans will finally think about using mass transit at all…
• The Train Guy
  Sorry, this is just for show, it makes absolutely no sense what so ever.
  In reality the hydrogen fuel cell cycle is far less efficient and thus more wastefull than overhead electrical power.
• Jonas Blomberg
  Train Guy: It makes a lot of sense to have rail-bound vehicles without arial connectors. They cost a lot, and create severe safety and operational problems. With hydrogen (HyTram or HydRail) we can have emission free mass transport. Good move by China! They can earn money by exporting such trams.
• Tony
  It’s great to see this new technology moving forward. I’m hoping at this current pace we’ll start to see this as a viable option in the near future, but I’d love to see the inclusion of additional technologies like the GlidewayPRT transportation brought into the studies as the combination of the two could really reinvent ground transportation.
• Robert Comerford
  Sadly hydrogen as a mobile energy carrier is lacking. The conversion rate means about 3 times the energy needed to do the job and the only economic hydrogen is made from fossil fuels. A battery version would make more sense. The only advantage for this project is the removal of local pollution.
• http://www.radicaltorque.com.au Christian Morales
  Very interesting article. Hopefully this transport will works for a long term to fight the Climate Change.

Read More