Technology

The waiting time to convert cars to run on liquid petroleum gas has dropped to three months for the first time since Federal Government announced its subsidy for LPG in October 2006.Owners of petrol cars have had to wait up to six months to have their vehicles modified after a flood of requests by drivers to change to the cheaper, cleaner fuel.But an increase in the number and efficiency of LPG installers, plus a dip in petrol prices, has allowed the industry to catch up with demand.LPG Australia development manager Phil Westlake says the industry was not fully geared up to cope with the increased demand for LPG, but has since doubled its conversion capacity."In August and September we were getting a lot of complaints about the delays," Westlake says. "We are not getting them any more."When the government scheme started, waiting times rose to an estimated 12 months. As of last December, that has dropped to a few months."The price differential with petrol has changed again, and there is a link between the price of petrol and interest in LPG. Demand has dropped slightly and that is allowing the industry to catch up."Many owners of small businesses would not take the risk of tooling up for gas conversion until the government scheme was announced, so once the scheme became official they needed time to set up, which led to a certain period of catch-up."Under the scheme, motorists get a $2000 grant to convert a petrol car to run on LPG, or $1000 to help buy a new LPG car.Since its introduction the number of LPG conversions has risen from about 4000 to 10,000 a month. More than 25,000 motorists have received grants totalling $50 million.Westlake predicts 105,000 cars will be converted this year.Warranties still validThe LPG industry has hit out at claims gas conversion voids new-car warranties.Westlake says that though LPG conversion can affect warranty conditions that relate to its installation, the rest of the car should still be covered.He says good installers cover any damage conversion causes."There are a few wives' tales out there about this," he says."The reality is LPG conversion can't simply void a warranty."The carmaker won't cover the LPG system, of course. It won't cover damage caused during fitment or damage that's proved to be caused by the system, but other things such as brakes are still covered by the warranty."However, it's still up to the buyer to check warranty conditions."

While three-wheeler machines are not uncommon, the Piaggio MP3, pictured, features two front wheels that tilt, which is uncommon.Piaggio claims the MP3 provides safety, road grip and stability levels that no two-wheeler can match.It features an electro-hydraulic suspension locking system which means it stays upright when parked without the need for any stand.The MP3 also requires less braking distance than other scooters thanks to the stopping power of three disc brakes.While full-size motorcycles will not be appearing at the motor show this year, the scooter section will feature an Italian-themed display where you can get a gelato and a cappuccino.The show runs until February 11 at Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre, South Bank.Patrons can travel free by train to the show when they buy their tickets at a QR CityTrain station.Ticket prices are $16 for adults, $10 for children and $24 for a family.Children under five are admitted to the motor show free.

Demonstration vehicles with UK specification were on hand for the press this week at the appropriate sugarcane region in Queensland.The Saab 9-5 BioPower is flex-fuel capable, which means it can run on E85 ethanol or petrol or any combination.Saab Australia and New Zealand director Parveen Batish says 9-5 BioPower vehicles are available to order. He anticipates their arrival about late March. They are expected to have a $1000 to $1500 price increase over the current 9-5 range and will be available in sedan and wagon form.But as E85 is not yet publicly available at the pump and doesn't seem to be part of the plan for the near future, the cars will have to rely on E10 or unleaded petrol.Saab says there is no indication of when we will see E85, but hopes its BioPower 9-5 will help speed up the process.The bioethanol used by Saab, which is produced from biomass, reduces emissions in the environment as the CO2 released during driving on E85 is removed from the atmosphere through photosynthesis."Ethanol is the fastest-growing alternative fuel in the world, because it's renewable," Batish says. "It doesn't add to carbon dioxide. We at Saab believe ethanol is a key part to the environment's future."And Saab has proven that ethanol doesn't mean you have to sacrifice performance. Indeed, the BioPower 9-5 produces better figures on ethanol than on petrol.The 9-5 vehicles used for the launch had the 2.0-litre, four-cylinder turbo engine, generating 132kW, up from the 110kW on petrol and 280Nm, an increase of 40Nm.But the models expected to arrive in Australia this year will be powered by the 2.3-litre, four-cylinder turbo engine, with 154kW, up from 136kW on petrol and 310Nm or torque, compared to the petrol's 280Nm.Driving the BioPower 2.0-litre doesn't feel different to a normal petrol-powered car, although it takes away some of the guilt, knowing you're helping the environment. It's like eating low-fat chocolate and knowing you won't put on the kilos.On the road, our test model made an unusually loud, jet-like sound, which apparently wasn't supposed to happen.There was ample power on hand and it gave off an adequate performance on the track and real-road conditions, but still seemed to lack pizazz. The cars driven will spend a few months getting a workout by the media, government, industry and fleets for long-term testing, with E85 provided for the period by ethanol producers from NSW, the Manildra Group."We are using the by-products of crops that are actually waste," Batish says.In order to run on bioethanol, Batish says no new technology is needed, rather the car just has to undergo minor engineering changes. By running on E85, the BioPower 9-5 is believed to reduce emissions by about 80 per cent.While E85 consists of 85 per cent ethanol and 15 per cent petrol and is already used to start vehicles in cold climates, Saab says it has also developed the ability to run vehicles on 100 per cent ethanol.BioPower 9-5 Saabs are already on the road in overseas markets, with more than 12,000 BioPower cars delivered in Sweden since July 2005. They are also available in Britain, Germany, Ireland and France, countries equipped with some E85 filling stations and where the governments offer tax breaks, reduced fees and cheaper parking to those driving the vehicles.But Batish says there is a whole industry of ethanol already under way in Australia.Renewable Fuels Australia executive director Bob Gordon agrees that ethanol is a good option for the present."Ethanol isn't going to solve our problems in decades to come, but until hydrogen-cell technology comes on line, we need a process to get there," Gordon says. "It's a stepping stone."Batish adds: "We think biopower leaves a cleaner footprint on the environment."Saab also released its 2007 9-3 diesel range this week. The company proudly boasts the title of the most fuel-efficient premium sedan and wagon on the market. It even has the first diesel-powered convertible in Australia, also making it the most fuel efficient of its type.The 9-3 diesel sports sedan has a 5.8-litre per 100km fuel consumption combined claim, 6.3-litres per 100km for the convertible and 5.9-litres per 100km for the SportCombi.Prices start at $44,900 for the manual sedan, $67,400 for the manual Convertible and the SportCombi starts at $47,400, all available with the Linear specification level.The 1.9-litre turbo diesel engine produces 110kW and 320Nm and all the models have a six-speed manual as standard, with a six-speed auto optional.Batish says there is now a greater acceptance of diesel engines and their positives, such as high-torque engines and better fuel efficiency.

The Willwarn system, which stands for Wireless Local Danger Warning, was developed from European research. The five cars involved in the testing used a WLAN-based radio technology using the Car-2-X Communication system to transmit information on fog, black ice or obstacles on the road to cars approaching the problem .It gives drivers time to slow down and prevent further accidents, or find an alternate route."It is essentially a warning system for hazardous and potential danger ahead," says DaimlerChrysler spokesman Peter Fadeyev. The cars act as transmitters and receivers andcan send warnings to vehicles in a 500-metre radius. Once outside the car's range, other cars pass on the warnings.The information is provided through ABS, ESP steer angle sensors or the navigation system, so no extra sensors are needed.The technology was already developed in research six years ago, sending the first inter-communicating vehicle fleet out on the road.DaimlerChrysler says it is important to expand its technology to other companies."The system needs to work in a community of traffic," Fadeyev says. "Other manufacturers need to integrate it in their cars."He says it is not known at this time when the technology will be included in production models.ASHLEE PLEFFER

More recently they have begun taking over from conventional TVs and computer monitors. Car instruments are likely to be their next application.Viewing in bright light has been a problem for current technology grey-face LCDs, but Japanese electronics maker Sharp recently launched an LCD display that it says is indistinguishable at a glance from a mechanical needle on a dial. Sharp says its new LCD has the highest contrast ratio of any LCD panel — at 1500:1 it's triple that of previous versions — and can reproduce a deep black colour that would allow it to be used as a multi-function replacement for a conventional speedometer.When the car was driving forward the LCD would appear as a speedometer but in reverse it could just as easily act as the screen for a reversing camera.Sharp has also developed double and triple-view LCDs which show different images when viewed from different angles. In a car, a double-view LCD could allow the driver to view an instrument panel while a front-seat passenger could watch a movie on the same display. The system works by showing left and right images on adjoining image cells in the display behind a parallax screen full of tiny holes. The screen blocks either the left or right images, depending on from which side it is viewed.

There is no conventional internal-combustion engine in the vehicle and gasoline fuel is redundant."A fuel cell car is an electric vehicle. The electricity is produced by a fuel cell stack," Honda's fuel cell US spokesman Steve Ellis says."A fuel cell stack makes that electricity by combining hydrogen fuel and oxygen from the air, with the only emission being harmless water."Honda is into its third generation of fuel cell stack development, with more power, less weight and less mass than just seven years ago.The current stack is 52 litres in volume, weighs 67kg and produces 100kW, compared to the original's 134 litres and 202kg for 60kW.

The unique fleet of 100 hydrogen-fuelled BMWs, produced near Munich and now hitting the roads around Berlin, will at first have a special breed of customers - celebrities, politicians, sports stars and industry leaders. Whether any Australians make the grade is yet to be answered.It is the German carmaker's plan to lease the vehicles to high-profile people around the world to act as "pioneers" in the clean energy journey.Celebrity names already suggested include Madonna, Al Gore, Dr David Suzuki and Arnold Schwarzenegger.BMW identified hydrogen - the most common element in the universe - as the fuel of the future because of ease of supply and its environmental benefits.Cars fuelled by hydrogen emit little more than water vapour, taking harmful carbon dioxide out of the emissions equation."We have now achieved an important milestone on our way to sustainable mobility," BMW's Traffic and Environment Board's Dr Klaus Schearer said at the Berlin launch of the Hydrogen 7 last week."It is no secret in saying that the world's fossil energy supply is coming to an end."The future of mobility concerns us all if we are to sustain our standard of living in the future."At the Hydrogen 7 launch, BMW heads would not put a price on the fleet of 100 cars, which have a material value of $500,000 but have a speculative worth of up to $2 million because of the research done.They did reveal, however, that under the lease arrangements of up to six months, the celebrity pioneers would be assigned a "personal assistant" for the car and, at times where hydrogen fuelling stations and appropriate technicians are not in the area of use, mobile fuelling stations and a team of technicians will be assigned to the car and its "customer"."We have no price on the car. We regard this as an offer to society to show society where we stand on clean energy," said Dr Frank Ochmann, one of the fathers of the BMW hydrogen program.The BMW Hydrogen 7 is powered by a monofuel combustion engine – it can run on both hydrogen and petrol. BMW has been developing hydrogen technology for the past 20 years, stepping up this latest project over the past 5 years.The six-litre V12 Hydrogen 7 can cover a range of about 200km on its 8kg tank of liquid hydrogen. Running the car on petrol gives the vehicle an additional 500km of driving.BMW HYDROGEN 7* The luxury saloon is kitted out with everything you would expect from a top of the range BMW vehicle and would be worth in excess of $400,000 without the hydrogen technology.* 6-litre V12 monofuel (hydrogen/petrol) combustion engine.* The 220kg double skinned hydrogen fuel tank stores 8kg of liquid hydrogen (10kg of H2 = 38l of petrol) which can carry the car about 200km under average driving conditions. For the next generation of hydrogen vehicle, BMW believes it will get the weight of the complex storage tank to as low as 80kg.* There is no fuel cell technology in the Hydrogen 7 - as has been the push of other carmakers. BMW suggests a small fuel cell could be incorporated into future generations of clean energy cars to power accessories such as air conditioning.* Switching the car from hydrogen to petrol (which gives 500km of extra range) is done with the push of a button without interrupting travel.* Refuelling the hydrogen car at specialised stations is not greatly different to topping up the petrol at your local servo, however, the hydrogen cars will initially only go to areas in and around Los Angeles, Washington, London, Beijing, Shanghai, Tokyo, Brussels, Frankfurt, Munich, Berlin and Milan because of a lack of hydrogen infrastructure.FAST FACTSPower: 191kW @ 5100rpmTorque: 390Nm@ 4300rpmTop speed: 230km/hAcceleration: 0-100km/h in 9.5 seconds.Fuel consumption: Hydrogen 13.3 litres per 100km. Petrol 13.9 litres per 100kmIs hydrogen safe?* The hydrogen in the BMW is stored in a double skinned steel tank as liquid at a temperature of -253C* Hydrogen will "boil off" after time, particularly when stored in lower volumes - meaning some fuel loss. BMW has established that boil off of H2 in its car is minimal and does not start until 17 hours after the tank has been filled. There are management systems in place for this process.* In testing, the hydrogen tank was put the the wringer to prove that hydrogen is a safe option for motorvehicle transportation. It was subjected to numerous crash tests, shot at, hit with iron bars and subjected to fire without incident.* The car has been road tested over more than 1 million km in Africa, throughout the Nordic countries and in heavy city traffic.

And he's not joking.Leno helped bankroll the ultra-light two-seater EcoJet which was built and developed in collaboration with motoring giant General Motors at Leno's garage in LA where he houses his 100-odd collection of cars.It began with a sketch Leno drew on the back of a napkin. He showed the drawing to GM global design director Ed Welburn who authorised a model.Eight months later the partially-completed EcoJet was unveiled last week at the Special Equipment Marketers Association show in Las Vegas.Leno's main design principles were that it had to be "green", modern, but not drive like a hybrid Toyota Prius.The car runs on biodiesel made from vegetable oil and Leno joked that he would probably only drive it "during harvest season".Biodiesel is a popular fuel source in Europe, becoming increasingly common in the US and now available in Australia with two production plants at Narangba north of Brisbane.EcoJet is powered by a Honeywell LT101 gas turbine engine expected to produce 650 horsepower (484kW) and 786Nm of torque which compares with a VE Commodore Omega's 180kW and 330Nm.However, while the Commodore sips about 10.9 litres of unleaded petrol every 100km, the Ecojet will drink 39 litres of biodiesel over the same distance.Leno, Alcoa and GM bankrolled the project but no one is divulging the cost."I'm not sure. I'm afraid my wife would find out," Leno said. "I am president of the more-money-than-brains club."The final version of the EcoJet will have a skin of carbon fibre and Lexan, a strong and lightweight glass alternative.It sits on an aluminium chassis and aluminium wheels developed specially by Alcoa, and features suspension, brakes, and transmission from the Chevrolet Corvette C6 sportscar.Even the duco is "green" using eco-friendly waterbased paint from German chemical and manufacturing company BASF.

The hydrogen-powered Sequel resembles a minivan and currently has a range of 480km before needing a recharge.The Sequel is GM’s push to appeal to China’s willingness to embrace new technologies as the country aggressively builds an auto sector."We believe fuel cell vehicles offer the best long-term solution for meeting the world's growing demand for automobiles in an economically and environmentally sustainable manner," Wagoner said."Sequel represents the most production-ready fuel cell vehicle available today," he said.But the Sequel is far from being commercially produced, Wagoner said.Most car makers around the world are testing hydrogen-powered vehicles, with some in use by government workers.The eco-friendly cars hold the potential of zero emissions and a sustainable source of energy produced when hydrogen and oxygen are mixed.Industry watchers expect the first of these cars to hit showrooms by around 2020.But many obstacles exist, including the high cost, relatively short range and a lack of fuelling stations.GM has managed to reduce costs for making the Sequel by 12 times, but still needs to reduce them by seven times more to make it competitive, Wagoner said.Car makers claim they need help from governments in developing the infrastructure for hydrogen fuelling, he said."Developing new technologies is really a team sport that requires business and governments to work together," he said. "It's doable, it's not that expensive, but it's going to require some work."Meanwhile, GM plans to launch production of a hybrid vehicle, which uses petrol and electricity, in Shanghai in 2008.The car will be produced by Shanghai GM, General Motor Corp.'s joint venture with Shanghai Automotive Industrial Corp.

In response today to a question on notice, Industry Minister Ian Macfarlane said that, as of September 19, the government had spent just over $2.6 million advertising its LPG conversion program in newspapers and on radio.There had been no television ads promoting the scheme, he said.Beneficiaries of the advertising splurge included the Eden Imlay Magnet, the Wee Waa News, the Mortlake Dispatch, the Dimboola Banner and the Pittsworth Sentinel, along with the major metropolitan newspapers.The government also took its message to the airwaves, advertising on radio stations in capital cities and regional centres.The scheme gives motorists a $2,000 subsidy to convert petrol vehicles to LPG, in an effort to ease the impact of high oil prices and encourage alternative fuels.AAP