EU automaker loan may lead to fuel-sipping hybrid Jag XJ
Don’t call it a bailout. The European Union has agreed to fund a £307 million loan to the newly minted Jaguar Land Rover conglomeration, known as JLR by those on the inside — like Tata who owns it. However, unlike the US’s rather open-ended (and dire-looking) cash infusions, this offer was made specifically to help the company up its eco-cred. JLR pledges to start with a so-called “Limo Green” version of the next generation XJ luxury sedan (that’s the current, decidedly dark one pictured above). The model will use a Volt-like series hybrid drive train, in which the electric motor (or motors) powers the wheels and an onboard gasoline engine serves only to recharge on the go, a combination that should deliver 57 mpg — three times the current machine’s 19 mpg combined figure. The only question now is whether this future-Jag will still smell like leather and tweed smoking jackets, or will the whole thing reek of ozone and patchouli.
[Via GM-VOLT]
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Energizer hasn’t exactly been keeping this one much of a secret, but the battery maker has now finally gotten official with its much-vaunted Zinc Air Prismatic battery technology, which it says will allow electronics manufacturers to make devices that last longer and are smaller and lighters. The batteries themselves make use of the same zinc air technology used in hearing aid batteries, and apparently have the highest energy density of any portable consumer power solution, which translates to about three times the runtime of a similarly sized alkaline or lithium ion battery. What’s more, Energizer says that the zinc air batteries offer a “much lower cost” for OEMs compared to lithium ion batteries, which comes at least in part from the elimination of the need for charge circuitry and a charging device. Of course, the batteries are still quite a ways from finding their way into some actual products, but Energizer will apparently be trying to speed things up a bit by holding design seminars for OEMs throughout 2009.