Anderson firm unveils 100-mpg hybrid

[AwakeAtLast]

Source: Indinapolis Star

By MAUREEN GROPPE / Star Washington Bureau
Posted: April 21, 2009

WASHINGTON – Anderson-based Bright Automotive got attention from the media, members of Congress and the administration when it unveiled today a hybrid electric vehicle capable of achieving 100 miles per gallon.

"This is the IDEA that we believe will change the world," CEO John Waters said as the cloth was pulled off the silver-grey, mini-van-sized vehicle sitting one block from the Capitol.

The start-up hopes the attention will translate into government help to begin producing the vehicles for sale for government and commercial fleets.

The company, founded about a year ago, has applied for $450 million in loans from a new federal program for advanced technology vehicles.



Read more: http://www.indystar.com/article/20090421/BUSINESS/90421049

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I'm hoping this company does not get bought out by a larger company and then "disappears" or is found to have "design flaws".

[ejpoeta]

1. there's no picture :( a mini van that gets 100 mpg would be great!!

[AwakeAtLast]

12. There is in this link

http://www.wthr.com/Global/story.asp?S=10223363

Small, but pictures nontheless. :D

[ejpoeta]

19. thanks!! looks nice. just needs windows. lol

[Xithras]

2. That's not hard to do. Building an [i]affordable[/i] 100MPG hybrid is the challenge.

Heck, the Avion hit 100+ MPG back in the early 80's.

Using modern materials, it might be possible to hit double or triple that cost.

Of course, a car with a lightweight all-carbon fiber body and lightweight titanium parts is going to have a pricetag close to the GDP of some small nations.

And there's the catch. Building ultra-efficient cars isn't difficult. Building ultra-efficient cars that actually have the features people want in a price range they can afford IS difficult.

[WriteDown]

22. The other problem is not turning into a pile of dust..

when you are in a head-on 55mph collision.

[tabasco]

31. How often have you been in 55 mph head on collisions?

It must suck to live in fear.

Tell me which vehicles allow a high survival rate in 55mph head-on crashes.

[WriteDown]

34. 30 mph....even better

http://www.cars.com/go/advice/Story.jsp?section=safe&story=crashKnow&subject=crash&referer=&aff=national

[orwell]

3. Cool...

...thanks!

[TexasEditor]

4. Link to company site with photos...

http://www.brightautomotive.com/vehicles

[drm604]

6. The site says that it's a plug-in hybrid.

So is it really 100 mpg? Is that 100 miles what you can get strictly from gasoline or are they adding in the extra miles you get by plugging it in?

[w4rma]

38. First 30mpg are from plugging it in, but the other 70mpg are all Prius-like hybrid. With a van! (nt)

[drm604]

40. If that's the case then it's kind of dishonest for them to claim 100mpg.

If thirty of those miles don't come from gasoline then it can't really be said that it gets 100 miles from a gallon of gasoline. If you run it strictly from electricity and never use the gas engine, could you claim that you got infinite miles per gallon?

Don't get me wrong, 70mpg is impressive, but saying 100mpg strikes me as false advertising.

[Prisoner_Number_Six]

5. Only one way I'll ever trust this company.

They need to declare bankruptcy and apply for a government bailout package. That'll qualify 'em as a "real" auto manufacturer in MY book!

(Seriously, best of luck to 'em!)

[RedCloud]

7. In your face dumb ass major auto makers, in your face!

What the hell took the big giants so long and is still taking them. Jerks!

[McCamy Taylor]

8. This is an industry that deserves jobs help---as in we help them create jobs.

I know nothing about the company, so I can not say that they are more deserving than the next group that shows up in DC with a plan for a miracle hybrid. However, if the federal government subsidized the wages of employees to jump start this industry (in defiance of the oil industry) it would improve the morale of those who work for the manufacturing sector. Everyone would prefer to make a good product rather than a crap product.

[ddss75]

9. Here is the link

http://www.brightautomotive.com/vehicles

I went to their website and the vehicle looks like a Dodge cargo van. The problem is that all of these companies are moving towards plug in hybrid technology, and the federal government still is not putting any type of emphasis on firming up the power grid. The system we have now is not designed for the loads we have now. Everybody is going to start plugging in their cars at night and the power lines are going to burn down because they were circa 1970's design.

[tkmorris]

15. There is a lot of excess capacity available at night

I don't think that is really a problem. We DO need to produce more electricity and we need green ways to do that, but I don't think this will tax the power delivery infrastructure too severely.

[ddss75]

18. it will

I work for the power company writing the computer codes that dictates how the power goes through the lines. we use those down times to do a lot of scheduled maintenance and equipment replacement. if the loads do not go down, it will be lot harder to get the work done. i am excited by this technology, and think we should fund it. i just wish someone in congress thinks about its consequences before we have to have congressional meetings on why the power system collapsed.

[tkmorris]

35. I see

I didn't realize you all relied so heavily on those low load periods in order to do preventive maintenance. Thanks for the insight.

[w4rma]

39. Thanks, ddss75. I remember being some funding for an Al Gore power grid upgrade in the stimulus.

Not a whole lot, but some.

[DCKit]

25. If we plug in at night, when electric demand is lowest, what's going to burn down again?

You didn't really think you'd get away with that, did you?

[CAcyclist]

26. Hardly.

The power being sent over the lines at night for the most part goes wasted.

[floridablue]

10. Fantastic Engineering, but damn that car is ugly

[ddss75]

11. so were the original hondas

but now they are the best in the world

[AwakeAtLast]

13. I think they are going after small truck business

I watched WTHR-13 (link in reply to #1) today and they mentioned Frito-Lay as a potential customer.

[AwakeAtLast]

16. After perusing the website link they state they are "fleet focused".

Let's hope they become pasenger focused soon! :D

[Toucano]

14. Looks roomy!

Good for them!

[jmowreader]

17. It's a fleet vehicle with a VERY good idea

Most hybrids are purely front wheel drive. In order to pull this off, you need to use a really expensive continuously-variable transmission that can handle two power inputs--the internal combustion engine as well as the electric motor. The IDEA drives the front wheels with the ICE and the back wheels with the electric motor. If you're running purely on battery power, it shifts the ICE's transmission into neutral. Cheap, simple and probably more effective than what Toyota's doing. Right now, the companies who are building CVT-based hybrids are scratching their heads thinking, "damn! why didn't WE think of that!"

The sick thing is, if they can get an unused factory up and running, they could be in full series production of this vehicle in less than a year. There's certainly no shortage of unemployed people in the Midwest who know how to make cars.

[Tyler Generation]

20. Well, it's as cool as it is ugly

100 MPG sounds pretty amazing.

[truthisfreedom]

24. Looks like a beached whale.

[pleah]

21. It looks nice, but how much does it cost?

I found some pics, but no price.
http://www2.indystar.com/autofocus/galleries/show/6120/2

[droidamus2]

23. Pricing

The thing with new technologies is that they always start off at a high price (think cost of PCs back in the 90s). Once enough people start buying them then they come down in price. Predicting what level the pricing will settle at is probably not easy. With the auto industry I always wonder if the price is set by supply and demand or just by what the company wants to make off each vehicle. One question I have is that there seems to be a lot of emphasis on 'hybrids' is it possible that if the hybrids get to a reasonable level that people will quit looking at all-electrical (hydrogen driven or whatever) vehicles? In other words is the 'hybrid' a stop gap on the way to non-carbon based vehicles or a roadblock?

[ohio2007]

29. If you have to ask......

the proto type seems to be a two person fleet vehicle so they are going after some gobmit earmark contracts.

The government can be the test bench

[Romulox]

27. 100 mpg and no private investor will touch it? Hmmm... nt

[pepperbear]

28. OK, "Bright Idea" is too precious! n/t

[Mopar151]

30. If the vans are good, and hold up in service

This will work! Because the money works, and they are designed to fit the application. Service and delivery are excellent applications for hybrids, due to the high percentage of idling and number of stops.
One of my friends was day-jobbing as the IT wiz for extra-crunchy VT architechts. Their Honda Insight "Company Car" had a total payload capacity of 400#, or, as she put it: "2 senior partners and a set of drawings is a serious overload!"

Several of my family are in the HD truck business - Bright is already talking about the numbers they would need to sell their customers on these, and their customers are who these are being designed for.
If the composite construction and chassis engineering is rugged enough to support a 10-year/million mile trade cycle, this little dog will hunt!

[tabasco]

32. How is a PLUG-IN supposed to help anything?

Besides the coal industry, that is.

I bet the coal companies fund this crap.

[harun]

41. Diversifying the sources is the first step.

[Angleae]

33. How many mpg does it get without calculating in the 30 mile electric range?

There are people (like me) that have no where to plug the thing in.

[AwakeAtLast]

37. They are trying to attract the fleet market

Their website is posted upthread.

[ProgressiveProfessor]

36. Newsflash: The laws of thermodynamics are repealed

Just kidding, as is this article...