The Future Of The Greening Of Diesel - Meet The VW XL1

The Future Of The Greening Of Diesel - Meet The VW XL1

This month saw the unveiling of a very efficient, logically useful, polymer technologies expanding, 313 mpg on a gallon of Diesel fuel, two-seater car.

Meet the Volkswagen XL1 which was debuted at the Qatar motor show. The car, which has been dubbed by VW as the world's most economical car, features an 800cc TDI two-cylinder diesel engine linked to an electric motor (emitting just 38 grams of carbon dioxide per mile).

One might think that this engine is way too small, but the performance of this torque-strong Diesel approach delivers acceleration from 0 to 60mph in 11.9 seconds ... and a top speed of 99mph which is good enough for any large metropolitan area freeway system.



The VW XL1 gets an additional advantage due to a reduction of weight (just under 1,753 pounds) based upon a newly patented approach for the manufacture of the Carbon Fiber Reinforced Polymer (CFRP) parts called the Resin Transfer Molding (RTM) process.

Further weight savings were made through the extensive use of lightweight materials that include magnesium for the wheels; ceramics for brake discs; and aluminum for dampers, steering system and brake calipers.

The Volkswagen XL1 is expected to make its commercial debut in Britain and Germany in 2013 with no present plan to introduce this ground-breaking 12 foot long (just under four meters) and 3 foot 10.46 inch (1.18m) tall (the same size as a Volkswagen Polo - and sits lower off the ground than a Lamborghini sports car) green machine to the United States/North American marketplace.

... notes from The EDJE

???FACTS OF VW XL1

.Qatar isn’t exactly short on petroleum reserves, but Volkswagen still decided to unveil its latest fuel-sipping show car — the XL1 concept — at the country’s auto show. While our first look piece has the full skinny, we’ve compiled some of the major highlights surrounding the latest evolution of VW’s 1-Liter car project.

Third Time’s The Charm

The XL1 is not Volkswagen’s first stab at crafting a small car capable of traveling 100 kilometers on a liter of fuel. After chairman Ferdinand Piech pushed the project in motion back in 1999, a rudimentary prototype, known as the 1-Liter (or 1L), was up and running by 2002.

Engineers continued evolving the idea, and an updated car (now billed as the L1) was shown at the 2009 Frankfurt Motor Show. Although that car wore styling in keeping with Volkswagen’s current design DNA, it still remained a lithe, tandem-seat four-wheeler, albeit now with a diesel-electric hybrid drivetrain.

Longer, Lower, Wider

Unlike the first two takes, however, the XL1 moves the passenger’s seat adjacent — not aft — of the driver. VW says the car is five and a half feet wide (almost two feet wider than the L1), yet at 45.5 inches tall, it’s quite short — lower, in fact, than a Lamborghini Gallardo Spyder.

These factors, combined with a small frontal area, a tapered profile, and other tricks like active louvers, allow the XL1 to excel aerodynamically. Volkswagen says its coefficient of drag is roughly 0.186 Cd, only slightly worse than that of the original 1-Liter prototype (0.159).

What’s Under The Hood?

Like the L1, the XL1 is a hybrid, although Volkswagen has configured the system to function as a plug-in hybrid, allowing the car to travel under electric power until the lithium-ion battery pack is depleted.

That electric propulsion is provided by a small 27-horsepower electric motor, which is sandwiched between an equally small 47-horsepower, 0.8-liter two-cylinder turbo-diesel and a seven-speed dual-clutch transmission. In pure EV mode, which is triggered by pushing a dash-mounted button, the XL1 can travel roughly 22 miles. Mix in the TDI, and the vehicle’s range expands to 342 miles.

The real magic, however, lies with the XL1’s fuel economy figures. Volkswagen says the car is capable of traveling 100 kilometers while sipping only 0.9 liters of diesel — better than the L1 concept (1.38 liters per 100 km), and roughly on par with the original 1-Liter tester. For the record, that’s roughly the equivalent of 261 mpg.

How’d They Do That?

Certainly, the carefully tailored aerodynamic shape plays a significant role in the XL1’s fuel economy, but so does its weight. At 1752 pounds, the car is quite light (200 pounds less than a 2011 Lotus Elise, in fact), which only reduces how hard the diesel-electric driveline needs to work.

That svelte figure, however, didn’t happen by accident. VW engineers worked hard to incorporate lightweight materials throughout the car. Unsurprisingly, like the first two one-liter concepts, the XL1 uses a lot of carbon fiber reinforced plastics — in fact, roughly 21.3 percent of the entire vehicle is crafted from the composite material. CFRPs are used to form not only the exterior panels, but also the anti-roll bars, along with the monocoque structure itself.

Weight is further reduced through the use of polycarbonate windows, aluminum suspension components and brake calipers, magnesium wheels, and ceramic brake rotors.

Will It Reach Production ?

Volkswagen has long promised a 1-Liter car could enter production by 2013. Although previous concepts were technically interesting, this appears to be one of the first that actually has a fighting chance at series production. In fact, Volkswagen CEO Martin Winterkorn recently told Automotive News the car will launch initially in Germany, before ultimately reaching both the U.S. and Chinese markets).

We wouldn’t expect the XL1 — or something like it — to be an inexpensive proposition, but it appears Volkswagen is working hard to strip some of the costs away from the manufacturing process. In fact, the entire 1-Liter project led the company to develop advanced resin transfer molding processes, which it believes is a cost-effective way to mass-producing CFRP components.

That said, don’t expect VW to churn out XL1s in the same fashion it stamped out Type 1s in its heyday. The automaker has indicated this initial production run may be limited to 100 cars, and it’s still unknown just how many — if any — will be made available to consumers.

Volkswagen VW XL1

Volkswagen VW XL1 Cars from Front

Volkswagen VW XL1 Cars from Dashboard

Volkswagen VW XL1 Cars from Interior

Volkswagen VW XL1 Cars from Rear

Volkswagen VW XL1 Cars

Volkswagen VW XL1 Cars

Volkswagen VW XL1 Pictures

Volkswagen VW XL1 Walpapers

Volkswagen VW XL1

Volkswagen VW XL1 from Front

Volkswagen VW XL1 from Side

Volkswagen VW XL1 - Dashboard

Volkswagen VW XL1 from Rear

Senna - Dirty Champion?, You Decide!

Three-time world Formula One driving champion Ayrton Senna, as he sits in his Williams F1 racing machine. Image Credit: Working Title Productions



Senna - Dirty Champion?, You Decide!



Senna, the documentary-style movie, is a beautiful work of taking existing film footage and piecing together a seamless reflection of the passionate pursuit of a talented race car driver. It exposes us to a life pursuit where driving, and winning at the highest pinnacle of a discipline, is the only thing that mattered to a life couched in a strong spiritual connection with GOD. In Ayrton Senna's case, rightfully so.



This excerpted and edited from the producer's release notes -



For producer Eric Fellner, co-chairman of Working Title, SENNA proved a true labor of love and added a new dimension to the company by being the first documentary it would make.



"I used to be a fan like a lot of people and then lapsed, but from this period in the mid-1980s to mid-1990s, I was absolutely fascinated and intrigued by Formula One," he says. "I just really wanted to make a film about that world and had met with Bernie Ecclestone to try to find to find a way in and couldn’t. We have never done a documentary before but this seemed the best medium to make a film about Formula One."



When the producers brought director Asif Kapadia on board, they knew they were hiring a talented filmmaker. The director of BAFTA winning feature ‘The Warrior’ and the thriller ‘Far North’, Kapadia is a graduate of the Royal College of Art, and has an eye for exquisite composition. Pandey says, "We interviewed a lot of directors for this. There was a lot of interest to do this project, but Asif got it right away."



Kapadia, while a sports fan, was not an F1 enthusiast and proved to have a completely unbiased approach to the producers’ subject matter. "Before the film, I had never read a book on Senna, never looked at one motor sports web site and never read a book on Formula One," begins the director. "I had never been to a race. So that’s where I came in to it – having a fresh set of eyes on the material."



"I could see that Senna was an amazing driver and had this deep spiritual side, which was really fascinating, and it became all about paring the film down to the bare minimum so that somebody who has never heard of Senna will get the film, understand the character and actually be moved by his story." He smiles. "It’s all about character."



"His story is amazing, and we have this great three-act structure to work with," says Kapadia. "You have his rise, his success, and then the challenges he faces when he gets to the top. There is the ‘bad guy’ Jean-Marie Balestre (France’s head of F1 racing), and the rival with four World Champion titles Alain Prost. Then there’s Senna’s personal side – his family, his girlfriends, the relationship he has with Brazil. There’s tension, drama, tragedy. It is absolutely what films should be, and it is all real."



"If you had written this story as fiction, you would say that it is a clever piece of writing," smiles the director. "One year Prost crashes into Senna at the slowest point of the track, in such a way that his own car was not even damaged. The following year, Senna crashes into Prost at one of the fastest points of the track, saying, ‘I don’t care what happens, I am going for it.’ It is very interesting how you are what you do and Senna and Prost’s characters are revealed by these two accidents."

END



A re-creation of a Senna helmet design sighted at the pre-premiere pizza party put on by MAZDASPEED Motorsports. The helmet was the work of Scott A. Crawford - SAC Design. Image Credit: Edmund Jenks (2011)



Before going into last night's pre-release screening of Senna at the EDWARDS WESTPARK8 in Irvine (arranged by Dean Case and the folks at MAZDASPEED Motorsports), one conversation that was overheard stated that it was too bad that Ayrton Senna needed to intentionally take out Alain Prost in order to achieve a world championship in the last race of the season at the Japan GP ... it was a dirty move. This was a remarkable statement to overhear going in ... because it expressed the passion of someone who had decided exactly what had happened on the track during the second contact accident the two rivals shared.



The surprise and artful twist in this presentation brings this perception into question - Was Senna a dirty champion, or not?



There is an sage and age old adage in Hollywood that states ... "the camera never lies!" This adage, of course, is based on non-CGI (computer generated images) and relates to the truth that film images can, and will deliver.



Senna is a very wonderful movie and story well told, especially when one considers all of the film images that were gleaned from archives (the on-board shots were gold) in order to make this 104 minute PG-13 movie. Go see Senna for yourself and at the end, after seeing the film images, development, and exposure of the three time Formula One world champion, ask yourself ... Was Ayrton Senna a dirty champion? ... then decide!



You will never regret the experience.



Set for release in specific theaters on the following schedule:



August 12 - Los Angeles, CA - The Landmark



August 12 - New York, NY - Landmark Sunshine Cinema



August 19 - Austin, TX - Violet Crown Cinema



August 19 - Berkeley, CA - Landmark Shattuck Cinemas



August 19 - Cambridge, MA - Landmark Kendall Square Cinema



August 19 - Chicago, IL - Landmark Century Centre Cinema



August 19 - Detroit, MI - Landmark Main Art Theater



August 19 - Irvine, CA - Edwards Westpark 8



August 19 - Miami, FL - AMC Sunset Place 24



August 19 - Nashville, TN - Belcourt Theater



August 19 - Philadelphia, PA - Landmark Ritz at the Bourse



August 19 - San Francisco, CA - Landmark Embarcadero CTR



August 19 - San Rafael, CA - Rafael Film Center



August 19 - Washington, DC - Landmark E Street Cinema



August 26 - Atlanta, GA - Landmark Midtown Art Cinema



August 26 - Dallas, TX - Angelika Film Center



August 26 - Denver, CO - Landmark Chez Artistes



August 26 - Indianapolis, IN - Landmark Keystone Art Cinema



August 26 - Minneapolis, MN - Landmark Uptown Cinema



August 26 - Palm Springs, CA - Cinémas Palme d'Or



August 26 - Palo Alto, CA - Aquarius Theater



August 26 - Portland, OR - Regal Fox Tower Stadium



August 26 - San Diego, CA - Landmark Hillcrest Cinema



August 26 - Scottsdale, AZ - Harkin's Camelview 5



August 26 - Seattle, WA - Landmark Varsity Theater



September 2 - Charlotte, NC - Park Terrace



September 2 - Knoxville, TN - Regal Downtown West Cinema



September 2 - St Louis, MO - Landmark Tivoli Theater



September 16 - Kansas City, MO - Tivoli Theater



September 16 - Las Vegas, NV - Regal Cinemas Village Square



September 16 - Milwaukee, WI - Landmark Downer Theatre



September 23 - Santa Fe, NM UA - DeVargas Mall



For more information, go to - http://sennamovie.com



Universal Pictures and Producers Distribution Agency Present

in association with ESPN Films

a Working Title Production

in association with Midfield Films



SENNA



Directed by Asif Kapadia

Written by Manish Pandey



WINNER

Audience Award World Cinema Documentary

2011 Sundance Film Festival



WINNER

Audience Award for Best International Feature

2011 Los Angeles Film Festival



Trailer: www.youtube.com/sennamovie



... notes from The EDJE





[Article first published as Senna - Dirty Champion? You Decide! on Technorati]

Bruce Willis Enters Negotiations to Play Original Joe in 'G.I. Joe' Sequel

Back when "Friday Night Lights" star Adrianne Palicki bagged the role of Lady Jaye in next summer's sequel G.I. Joe: Retaliation, it was mentioned that Bruce Willis was one of several names in the running to play the original G.I. Joe, General Joseph B. Colton, but it was far from a done deal. Now Heat Vision reports Willis has officially entered negotiations to take the role of the character who, in the 1980's comics, is responsible for starting the G.I. Joe strike team, called the ultimate freedom force, and was given the now infamous handle of G.I. Joe. You'd think this would've been included in the first film, but apparently not.
Willis now seems to be the biggest name in the film edging out The Rock and Channing Tatum who were previously the most recognizable talents on the project. I have to admit, this perfect bit of casting almost has me excited about a G.I. Joe sequel, but I still have a terrible taste in my mouth after the first film. Perhaps a fresh director, Jon M. Chu, and a script from Zombieland writers Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick make this a superior sequel. G.I. Joe: Retaliation begins shooting in New Orleans next month and Paramount will send the film to theaters on June 29th, 2012. As always, we'll continue to keep you updated.

Get Smurfed in the Face Again with 'Smurfs 2' in 2013

If you just didn't get enough of the little blue woodland creatures this summer, then Sony Pictures has good news as the studio has announced a sequel to their big screen adaptation of The Smurfs which is now slated to hit theaters on August 2nd, 2013. It's the first film to be schedule in that month for the 2013 year in cinema, and since it's so early on, there are absolutely no story, cast, writing or directing details to be announced at this time. Honestly, it's not as if any of those details are important right now since the studio is probably just glad to have another property spawning a lucrative franchise at the box office.
Apparently the adaptation of the popular cartoon from decades past has exceeded all of the studios expectations within the first few days of the release. Not only has the film raked in over $78 million in the United States, but this past weekend, the film opened up at #1 in 23 overseas markets and has a current worldwide box office count of $135 million. Honestly, I could care less about this sequel, but obviously there's a decent amount of people who were interested in the first film to garner another adventure with The Smurfs. For my money, this is just a big load of Smurf, but for others it could be a fun family flick.

World War Z Adaptation for Release December 2012

Briefly: It's coming. World War Z. The long-awaited adaptation of the zombie cult classic is shooting, and will be in theaters late next year. Paramount announced a December 21, 2012 holiday release for World War Z, director Marc Forster's adaptation of Max Brooks' novel about a global zombie takeover. This stars Brad Pitt, Mireille Enos, James Badge Dale and Bryan Cranston; Pitt is also producing with Plan B partner Dede Gardner, financed by Skydance Productions. This puts the zombie epic up against Disney's The Lone Ranger and Ang Lee's Life of Pi that very weekend, plus Tarantino's Django Unchained on Christmas Day.
The screenplay is by Matthew Michael Carnahan (The Kingdom, State of Play) and J. Michael Straczynski ("Babylon 5", Changeling, Ninja Assassin). As a final bit of hype, take another look at some of the kick ass concept art for World War Z, originally released way back in 2009. This is going to be awesome, can't wait!