TheGreenCarWebsite.co.uk recently caught up with Julian Wilford, co-Founder at the NICE Car Company.
The London-based electric car company has several models currently available to London residents and a few very exciting models in the pipeline; including an all electric version of the highly desirable Fiat 500, named the e500.
We spoke to Julian about a number of topics including what the future holds for NICE Car Company and whether the UK Government are providing enough assistance to the development of the electric car, amongst other interesting issues.
To read the interview, click the link below.
Interview with the NICE Car Company – September 2008
October is Tyre Safety Month, and lending their support Protyre will be offering a free five-point tyre safety to motorists across their 31 outlets.
The condition of your tyres has a serious affect on both fuel consumption as well as safety. Research has shown that a 20 per cent under inflated tyre will reduce tyre life by 25 per cent as well reducing fuel efficiency.
Visitors to the Protyre supported TyreSafe website at www.tyresafe.org can log on to obtain the correct tyre pressures for the tyres on their car.
This year’s MPG Marathon which runs between Bristol and Macclesfield and back, takes place on Wednesday 8th and Thursday 9th October.
The first marathon took place in 2000, and organisers, the AA and ALD Automotive expect another successful year as a result of the current focus on eco-driving techniques, fuel efficiency, hyper-miling and all things green.
The competition is open to fleet operators of both cars and light commercials, with different classes to compare the best MPG achievements. It is not too late to enter and prove your eco-driving ability.
The winners are the drivers who achieve the best MPG within their class. For further details, visit www.mpgmarathon.com/
Pandas have always been symbolic of the environment – and so it’s only natural that the top-selling Fiat Panda would follow suit.
Fiat is launching a money-saving, planet-friendly green car version of the Panda through its 167-strong dealer network. There are two options available to customers – the Panda Active ECO and the Panda Dynamic ECO.
The Active ECO is powered by a 1.1 litre petrol engine which has 54bhp at 5,000rpm. It returns exceptional fuel consumption at 42.8mpg in the urban cycle, 68.3mpg in extra urban and 56.5mpg combined. Its top speed is 93mph and it races from 0-62mph in just 15 seconds.
The Dynamic ECO meanwhile is a 1.2 litre petrol engine car with 60bhp at 5,000rpm. It matches the Active ECO’s fuel consumption figures but has a top speed of 96mph with acceleration time at 14 seconds.
Perhaps most notably for green car enthusiasts both vehicles have exceptionally low carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions at just 119g/km thanks to low rolling resistance tyres and a low viscosity engine.
Speaking about the vehicles Elena Bernardelli, marketing director for Fiat UK, said: “It has been a busy summer for Panda with the launch of Mamy and Cross, and we are delighted to announce these new ECO cars too. This is another example of how seriously we take the environmental issue, while offering drivers real value-for-money motoring.”
The two newcomers cost £7,105 (Active) and £7,705 (Dynamic). That’s a mere £100 extra compared to the standard versions but with a reduction in VED tax band from C to B there is an immediate saving of £85, which should make these eco-friendly versions hot-sellers. The vehicles are on sale now.
There were celebrations for the NICE Car Company after it scooped the title of electric vehicle of the year at the 2008 GreenFleet Awards – the full results of which you can check out here.
The vehicle that scooped the award was the NICE MyCar, which is an Italian designed two seat vehicle that was launched at the British International Motor Show back in July.
There are numerous benefits to the MyCar including incredible running costs of around 2p a mile. In addition, the MyCar benefits from being exempt from vehicle excise duty and there are no congestion charges for its drivers to pay in London. On top of this, there are zero emissions and with a price tag of just £8,995 it is sure to be a hit when it arrives in the UK next month.
GreenFleet singled out the vehicle for being stylish and functional, along with its low running costs and expects it to widely increase the appeal of electric cars.
NICE Car Company co-founder Julian Wilford was understandably thrilled with the award.
“We are obviously delighted to have won the award,” he said.
“Since launching NICE in 2006, our aim has been to bring clean, affordable and convenient transport to private and corporate customers alike. MyCar is the latest in a growing portfolio which already features the largest range of all-electric cars, vans and motorcycles on sale in the UK today.”
NICE had more good news to celebrate at the awards ceremony as it was commended in the Green Marketing category for its 2008 motor show campaign where it was the only all-electric vehicle company to invest in a stand alongside mainstream car makers.
The results are in for our poll on whether you believe electric and hybrid vehicles should produce artificial noise for safety purposes.
There have been concerns raised about hybrid and electric vehicles, as these vehicles are often very quiet. Does this make them a road safety hazard?
See the full results in our press release, click here.
This winners of this year’s 2008 GreenFleet Awards, presented by comedian Hugh Dennis, have been announced.
Held on Thursday, 25th September and hosted by Richmond-upon-Thames Council at the Twickenham Stadium, the prestigious event was attended by manufacturers, innovators and industry experts.
The winners were:
Alternative Fuel Supplier of the Year
Winner: Gasrec
Breakdown/Recovery Company of the Year
Winner: The AA
Car Manufacturer of the Year
Winner: BMW
Dealership of the Year
Winner: Envy Motors, London
Driver Training Company of the Year
Winner: DriveTech (UK)
Eco Driver Challenge
Winner: Jonathan Murray and Greg Archer – Low Carbon Vehicle Partnership
Electric Vehicle of the Year
Winner: NICE (MyCar)
Fleet Manager of the Year (Private Sector)
Winner: Christopher Pascall – EDF Energy
Fleet Manager of the Year (Public Sector)
Winner: Ben Davis, Government Car & Despatch Agency
Green Marketing Campaign of the Year
Winner: BMW
Green Motoring Journalist of the Year
Winner: Sir John Whitmore – Daily Telegraph
HGV Manufacturer of the Year
Winner: Volvo Trucks
Industry Innovation Award
Winner: Ashwoods Hybrid Drive
IT Innovation Award
Winner: Green Road Safety Centre
IT/Communications Product of the Year
Winner: Trafficmaster
LCV Manufacturer of the Year
Winner: Citroën
Leasing/Rental Company of the Year
Winner: Enterprise Rent-a-Car
Outstanding Achievement Award
Winner: Malcolm Noyle
Private Sector Fleet of the Year
Winner: Commercial Group
Private Sector Innovation
Winner: Green Fuels
Public Sector Fleet of the Year
Winner: Government Car & Despatch Agency
TfL Private Sector Fleet of the Year
Winner: Openreach – part of the BT Group
TfL Public Sector Fleet of the Year
Winner: Royal Mail
Visit www.greenfleet.net/ for more information.
Motorists are thinking of their carbon footprint when considering buying a new car, recent research has revealed.
Three in four car buyers are looking for low emissions vehicles for their next purchase, a survey from the Newspaper Marketing Agency (NMA) has discovered.
Two out of three of the 2,665 people questioned said they would change their choice of car to reduce their carbon emissions and a surprising 51 per cent were prepared to pay more for low-emission technology.
NMA also found that Honda and Toyota were the manufacturers considered to be the most committed to ‘doing something’ to reduce the environmental impact of their cars.
Car drivers are also considering saving money too, with fuel efficiency being the only consideration more important than environmental impact. More than four in five believed fuel efficiency was more important than high performance.
(source: The Press Association)
Fans of green cars know there is one overriding objective for manufacturers – to drive down their carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. However, what if that same CO2 could be used as a fuel?
Carbon Sciences Inc, a company that has developed a CO2-to-carbonate technology which can convert the gas into precipitated calcium carbonate (PCC) is developing a process to transform CO2 into low-carbon hydrocarbons (C1 and C3), which could then be upgraded into high-carbon fuels – including petroleum and jet fuel.
Sound far-fetched? Well, Carbon Sciences believes it has developed a multi-step bio-catalytic process that is just right for the conversion of CO2 into fuel.
Traditionally, CO2 conversion relies on direct photolysis which employs light energy to break off the oxygen atoms in CO2 and chemically reacts with hydrogen to create methane or methanol. However, these processes require huge amounts of energy and high temperatures which reduce their economic viability.
This is where Carbon Sciences comes in – it says it has developed a process that can occur at low temperatures and low pressures. At the end of the process, the various compounds are assembled into hydrocarbons including C1 (methane), C2 (ethane) and C3 (propane).
Clearly this is a concept with massive potential. We’ll have more on this development as more information becomes available.
The focus for the motoring industry may be on green cars cutting carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions but it seems our reliance on fossil fuels is only increasing.
Annual emissions have grown 37.8 per cent since 1992 from 6.1 billions tons of carbon to 8.5 billion tons in 2007, according to data from the US Department of Energy’s Carbon Dioxide Information Analysis Centre. Admittedly global emissions in 1992 were at their lowest levels since the 1990 baseline year, but this still, on the surface, represents a steep rise at what is seemingly just the beginning of a worldwide drive to turn green.
However, the source of emissions has shifted steeply as energy use has been growing slowly in developed countries but much more quickly in developing countries.
For example, the United States was the largest emitter of CO2 in 1992 followed by China, Russia, Japan and India respectively. In 2002 however, India surpassed Japan. In 2006, China surpassed the USA into pole position. And now India is poised to pass Russia and become the third largest emitter in the world.
Admittedly these numbers are subject to debate and there is room for error.
There is also some debate about how these emissions are distributed. For example, it is estimated that a third of CO2 emissions from China in 2005 actually came from production of goods for export.
Latest estimates show that annual emissions of CO2 into the atmosphere are continuing to grow though there have been improvements in some countries. The 38 developed countries that agreed to the Kyoto Protocol were responsible for around 62 per cent of emissions prior to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change in 1992. However, by the time the protocol was drafted in 1997 that fraction was cut to 57 per cent.
