2012 Fisker Karma proves that you can now drive a luxury laden sweet smelling supercar with a clean conscience.

When Fisker Karma first showed up in 2008, everyone was in awe, but to be honest, when hybrid technology first made its way into the automotive industry, it wasn’t very appreciated or encouraged. There were many reasons to it. On one hand, economy car buyers were not ready to pay the high initial price. On the other hand, rich and wealthy consumers were more concerned about the performance and luxury rather than the price and economy.

It didn’t take many years for the technology to prove itself for both kinds of customer base. While environmental and economic concerns have led the government to introduce encouraging policies and reforms, technological revolutions and innovations are making the green cars powerful, luxurious and competitive on every ground. Fisker Karma is a shinning new example of what the future of green cars holds for us.

2012 Fisker Karma, as it is designed to, is a perfect green competitor for the likes of BMW and Mercedes Benz. However, it is not the only one. Tesla Motors has already revealed their high priced lux’d up hybrids. What makes Karma unique is perhaps the ‘Ever’ badge which stands for Electric Vehicle, extended range.

Performance
Yes, EVer! With a turbocharged direct engine 2.0 liter GM Ecotec unit churning out 250 hp, Karma can run a good 5 0 miles as an EV. After that, it is good for 250 more miles on gas. If you choose the Stealth mode, you will be driving a pure EV powered by a 20kW-hr Lithium-ion nano-phosphate battery supplied by Watertown, Mass’s A123 Systems. The battery requires merely 6 hours to get charged. This pure EV offers pure performance delivering the power of 241 horses and accelerating your car up to 60 mph in just 7.9 seconds. Did we mention the names of its competitors already? Perhaps we should talk about the Sports Mode first.

In Sports mode, Fisker Karma is powered by the dual electric motors and the horsepower nearly doubles up to 408 with some 981 lb-ft of torque. In just 5.9 seconds, your Karma would be driving up at 60 mph. Now, these numbers can easily put Karma in competition with the Bugatti Veyron.

Look
The car’s handling is as flawless as the car’s performance, but one thing that really makes it an object of every man’s desire is the look. The design can easily beat the most impressive arrivals from Europe in 2012. While it seems like a nice combination of futuristic styling and seductive curves right where they are needed, it carries some well balanced elements from the retro American muscles.

Final Thought
With its hard hitting performance, seductive and sexy design and a combined mileage of around 67 MPG, 2012 Fisker Karma is definitely going to be a wonderful addition to the road. And with a price tag of more than $100,000, it may be a long while before most of us even see one.

First off, start with lighting.  Inefficient light sources can be a huge waste of power, especially in cars.  Consider that incandescent lights, such as the stock halogens used in most vehicles, give off much of their available energy as heat, versus as light.  The more energy spent on radiating heat results in the greater waste of energy, as this heat serves no functional purpose for the vehicle.  Instead, if you were to switch over to HIDs, your car would expend less energy on heat when operating its headlights, and these bulbs also can last nearly ten times as long as halogen bulbs on top of that.

Don’t forget about the build of your car either.  The more aerodynamic the design of the vehicle, the less wind resistance the car will face on the highway, resulting in less engine workload just to push back against the air.  You can streamline the build of your car with upgrades such as air dams, rear spoilers, and even wings, so consider any and all add-ons that will make for less wind resistance.

Also, if you can, try installing a performance chip.  Aftermarket automotive performance chips can save a car an additional four-to-seven miles per gallon, all depending on the make of your vehicle and what other components you have installed in it over the course of time.  While this may be a small gain to add on to the much larger savings you saw by purchasing a hybrid in the first place, at least you’ll know your car is wasting as little as possible, making for a greener car and greener roads overall.

To start, Honda is replacing the commonly used nickel-metal-hydride batteries with a newer generation lithium-ion battery pack. This alone will make the 2012 Civic Hybrid lighter than past year’s models.

The lighter weight alone should translate into improved fuel economy. And the newer technology batteries will extend the range the car can drive on electricity alone.

The 2011 model got 40 mpg city and 43 mpg highway. The 2012 Civic Hybrid is expected to get 45 mpg or higher. To achieve that fuel economy, the car will also use new Eco Assist technology. With Eco Assist, a driver pushes an “ECON” button to put the engine and other power-using systems (power steering, AC, etc.) into a super-efficient mode to maximize mileage.

Another powertrain change is that the car will have a bigger gasoline engine. Honda will replace the 1.3-liter engine of the 2011 model with a 1.5-liter i-VTEC 4-cylinder. According to Honda, the more powerful engine will offer improved mid-range torque, which basically means it is designed to boost acceleration when the car is traveling at a modest speed (and not from a standstill position). This will, for example, make it easier to merge from a highway entrance ramp into the flow of moving traffic.

Additionally, the 2012 Civic Hybrid will include a lighter, but larger and more powerful electric motor. The motor will deliver 23-hp. The engine and motor offer 110-hp combined. Like previous Honda hybrids, the 2012 Civic Hybrid uses Honda’s IMA (Integrated Motor Assist) technology, which is a parallel hybrid system where the motor sits between the engine and the transmission.

With IMA, there are several modes of operation. When stopped, the engine shuts off. When cruising, the engine, motor, or both are used to power the car. When accelerating, the engine’s power is complemented by the motor. And when braking, the engine shuts down and the battery pack is recharged.

The 2012 Civic Hybrid represents the ninth generation of Honda’s Civic line. Like past Honda rollouts, the company will market a variety of 2012 Civic models. For example, besides the Civic Hybrid four-door sedan, Honda is expected to sell a new version of the Civic Si two-door sports coup.

MSRP for the 2012 Civic Hybrid has not been released, but industry sources expect it to be in the $24,500 to $27,000 range.

> View a Honda photo gallery of the 2012 Civic Hybrid here.
> View an AutoGuide.com video review of the 2012 Civic hybrid here.

When looking for a hybrid car, the choice is quite simple. A driver can select a compact car with incredible fuel economy or a mid-sized car with a modest improvement over a gas-only car.

In the works since 2008, the 2011 Hyundai Sonata Hybrid offers a compromise. The mid-sized sedan offers a highway fuel economy that rivals many hybrid compacts.

To achieve this, the 2011 Sonata Hybrid uses Hyundai’s Hybrid Blue Drive technology, which marries a 169-hp 2.4-liter Theta II engine with a 40-hp electric motor. Hyundai has used this technology in prototypes; this is its first production use. With Hybrid Blue Drive, the Sonata Hybrid can run on the gasoline engine alone, the electric motor alone, or a combination of the two.

One significant differentiator with the Sonata Hybrid is that Hyundai uses an automatic transmission instead of a continuously variable transmission (CVT), which is widely used in hybrids. The choice of the automatic transmission over the more commonly used CVT for a hybrid was driven by Hyundai’s focus on improved highway fuel economy.

Most hybrid development efforts concentrate on improving city mileage. According to Popular Mechanics, Hyundai research found that U.S. drivers spend almost 60 percent of their driving time on highways. So highway fuel economy is at least as important (and perhaps more important) as city mileage. As a result of using the automatic transmission, the 2011 Sonata gets a “best-in-class” 40 mpg highway. City fuel economy is 36 mpg.

Besides the use of the automatic transmission, another factor contributes to the car’s fuel economy numbers. In particular, Hyundai took a different design path than most automakers with the Sonata Hyundai. Typically, hybrid versions of existing models have the same body and look of their gas-only counterparts. Hyundai made significant changes to the Sonata to create the hybrid version. Features unique to the hybrid include new headlights, tail lights, rocker panels, grille, wheels, and air dam. Some of the changes are simply for style, but Hyundai claims that many were carried out to improve the car’s aerodynamic properties. According to Motor Trend, the Sonata Hybrid has a drag coefficient of 0.25, which is considered quite good…the same as the Toyota Prius.

Another first for this car has to do with the battery selection. Hyundai uses a lithium polymer battery. Many reviews of the car noted that this is the first production use of these batteries, which are more compact and lighter than the more commonly used nickel-metal hydride batteries. These lighter weight batteries help keep the mid-sized Sonata Hybrid sedan at a svelte 3,457 pounds.

The 2011 Hyundai Sonata Hybrid has a MSRP starting at $25,795.

> View a Car and Driver photo gallery of the 2011 Sonata Hybrid here.
> View a CNet video review of the car here.

Volvo introduced the V60 Plug-in Hybrid at the 2011 Geneva Motor Show. The V60 is the world’s first diesel-electric production plug-in hybrid.

The station wagon combines a diesel engine with an electric motor and offers three driving modes. Based on the 2011 Volvo V60 station-wagon, the vehicle can run as an electric car with a range of 30 miles; a high-efficiency hybrid delivering about 124 mpg; and a sports car that can accelerate from 0 to 60 mph in 6.9 seconds. The car has a range of about 745 miles.

Even with those credentials, one distinguishing feature noted by several reviewers is that this car looks like a regular sporty car. As one reviewer put it, “It doesn’t scream green.” Yet, in typical Volvo style, the automaker goes the extra distance to make this car greener than many alternatives. For instance, when it comes to long-term battery issues, Volvo says that it will ensure the safe disposal of used and unserviceable batteries. This is likely to differentiate the car from others as battery recycling increasingly becomes the focus of legislatures due to the expected increased sales of hybrids and electric cars.

Another important differentiator is driver protection. The V60 will incorporate many standard Volvo safety features.

Taking a closer look at the car, the power train behind the impressive numbers includes a five-cylinder 2.4-liter D5 turbodiesel engine that produces 215-hp and a 70-hp electric motor. The car’s front wheels are powered by the diesel engine; the rear axle features ERAD (Electric Rear Axle Drive) powered from the electric motor. The diesel engine is considered one of the more frugal engines (in terms of fuel consumption) on the market today.

These two elements are used in different combinations to offer three driving modes. There is an all-electric mode, a hybrid fuel-efficient mode that alternates propulsion between the two, and a power mode the runs both at the same time. In the hybrid mode where the engine and motor are alternatively used, the car automatically switches between the power trains to provide the most energy efficient drive possible.

One interesting feature of the V60 lets the driver key in a planned trip’s distance (short, medium or long) and a control system calculates the best balance between diesel and electric power to obtain the lowest possible CO2 emissions for the given distance.

To get a comfortable start of the journey, the car driver has the choice to preheat or cool the passenger compartment during the recharging process. This means that more battery capacity can be used for powering the car. The car has several additional features that emphasize its CO2-lean profile, such as lightweight wheels with exceptionally low air drag and Pirelli tires designed for low rolling resistance.

The V60 is expected to be available in 2012.

> View a Worldcarfans video of the V60 Hybrid’s different power modes here.
> View a Volvo gallery of the V60 Hybrid here.

Toyota used the North American International Auto Show in Detroit to roll out a family of Prius cars. The Prius line now includes the traditional 4-door hybrid, a new plug-in version, the Prius v crossover/wagon, and the Prius c Concept.

The new Prius Plug-in Hybrid will run 13 miles on charged up battery power before resorting to the gasoline engine. Industry buzz about this car is very positive. Many reviews have noted that it offers the superior fuel economy of the traditional Prius with added EV driving capability. “It represents the best of both worlds,” said ReliablePlanet.com.

The Prius plug-in reportedly can reach driving speeds of up 60 miles per hour on electricity alone. After the 13 mile range on battery power alone, the car runs like a standard Prius 3rd Generation car. It takes roughly three hours to recharge the battery with a 110 volt plug and about an hour and 45 minutes using 220 volts.

While the plug-in model was well received, the Prius v got the bulk of the attention at the show and in post-show coverage. The “v” stands for versatility in that the Prius crossover/wagon is designed to appeal to the needs of the traditional SUV and crossover crowd (namely, families with an active lifestyle), while offering the fuel economy and features of the Prius brand.

To that end, the Prius v offers 50 percent more interior room than the current Prius 3rd Generation car. It offers seating for five and has a 60/40 folding rear seat to provide more storage room. Road & Track noted that despite being larger, the Prius v “still manages to slice through the air quite efficiently…which helps when it comes to boosting fuel economy and lowering wind noise.”

The powertrain for the Prius v includes a 1.8-liter 4-cylinder engine and Toyota’s electric hybrid system. According to Toyota, the “v” has a total output (gasoline and electric combined) of 134 hp. That won’t make the Prius v the fastest crossover in town, but it delivers a very decent 42 mpg city and 38 mpg highway.
 
Not everyone was impressed by the Prius v. A Detroit Free Press article about the auto show’s hits and misses stated that “the v is basically a stretched, lower-m.p.g. minivan-like version of the 2-year-old Prius hatchback.”

Rounding out the introductions at the Detroit show was the Prius c Concept car. While the “v” stands for versatility and targets active families, the “c” is aimed at city drivers who want a smaller car and the fuel economy of a hybrid. The Prius c is expected to deliver the highest mileage of any non-plug-in hybrid when it goes on sale in the first half of 2012. And the car is expected to be smaller to make it easier to park in urban settings.

As for any hints as to the look of the new car, Motor Trend said that “if the Prius c makes it to market looking anywhere close to this concept, it will certainly be a head turner.”

> View a CNet photo gallery of the Prius line here.
> Get a close-up view of the Prius c Concept car in this Road & Track photo gallery.

The company was expected to introduce the gas powertrain 2012 A6; rolling out the A6 Hybrid was big news. “Many people didn’t expect a hybrid model to debut alongside [the new A6 sedan],” CNet reported.

The 2012 Audi A6 Hybrid is designed for the U.S. and European markets. The car features a gas-electric hybrid powertrain that combines Audi’s 2.0-liter turbocharged, direct-injected gasoline engine with an electric motor. The combination delivers a combined 245-hp.

The A6 Hybrid has an estimated fuel economy of just under 38 mpg. The hybrid powertrain uses an 8-speed automatic transmission. The transmission sends power to the front-wheels. (Audi’s Quattro all-wheel drive system is not available in the hybrid model.)

The A6 Hybrid can operate in gas-alone mode, electricity-alone mode, or a blend of two. When running only on electric power, Audio claims the A6 has a maximum speed of 62 mph, accelerating to that speed in about 7.3 seconds. The car’s range on electrical power alone is only about two miles.

All cars in the A6 line (hybrid and gasoline versions) have a new body built of aluminum and high-strength steel. Road & Track reported that this combination “makes the car 15 percent lighter than a comparable one made entirely of steel.”

Audi claims that it made a great effort to maintain similar looks to both the gas and hybrid versions. According to Autoblog.com, “Audi officials say they have gone out of their way to keep it aesthetically true to the conventional gas-powered model.”

Maybe they shouldn’t have tried so hard. Some were not impressed with the looks of the car. When Car and Driver editors got a look at the newly designed car last year they reported “we couldn’t help but feel disappointed…the exterior underwhelms.”

The car’s interior is another story. “The interior is arguably best in class.” said the same Car and Driver editors. The Audi A6 has real wood veneers, leather seats, and many other amenities a driver (and passenger) would expect in a luxury car.

As is the case with other Audi models, the A6 features a high-end infotainment system. The Audi Multi Media Interface (MMI) system supports navigation, communication, and entertainment features. Information is presented through an MMI display in the center of the dashboard. In particular, the A6’s MMI Navigation-plus system offers HD radio reception and a color display that provides real-time traffic and 3D topography graphics that include the buildings in many cities.

The Audi A6 Hybrid is expected to go on sale in the second half of 2011. No pricing information is available at this time.

> View a WorldCarFans.com photo gallery of the Audi A6 Hybrid here.
> View a CNet video tour of the Audi A6 interior here.

Driving the car’s development is Russian billionaire Mikhail Prokhorov. U.S. readers might know Prokhorov as the new owner of the NBA basketball team, the New Jersey Nets. His idea is to create a mass-market hybrid that would cost roughly $10,000. To accomplish this, Prokhorov plans to invest $150 million Euros (about $200 million) to bring the car to market.

The car is called the ë-mobile, but is dubbed the “Yo.” Yo is the English pronunciation of the car’s name, which includes “a Cyrillic letter with no English equivalent,” according to industry sources. It will use two electric motors and a small engine that can burn either gasoline or natural gas. The small engine will run continuously. According to the New York Times, “instead of charging a battery, as in the hybrid Toyota Prius, the generator in the Yo either powers the motors directly or fills a bank of capacitors that can hold only a small charge.”

This approach has been occasionally used in city buses, but not in hybrid cars. According to the Yo’s designers, this offers an advantage in that the small engine operates at its most efficient rate all of the time. At the same time, electricity transfer to and from the capacitors kicks in to handle stop and go driving.

The team behind the car claim it will get about 67 miles per gallon. That’s better than the fuel economy of many other electric cars like the Toyota Prius. The greater mileage per gallon is likely due to the anticipated lighter weight of the Yo. It is expected to weigh less than 1,500 lbs. However, the actual fuel economy will only be known once a working model is completed.

That may be sooner than many think. Wired noted the speed at which the car is being developed.
After only about 180 days of planning, a prototype of the car was unveiled in December. The Yo’s designers claim that it will have a top speed of 74 mph. Cost estimates for the car have risen a bit above Prokhorov’s initial estimate. The current thinking is that the price will be somewhere in the $12,000 to $14,000 range. That would still make the Yo “one of the world’s cheapest hybrids,” according to the industry news site Autoblog.

The Yo has been well received in Russia. Prokhorov’s investment group has partnered with Russian truck maker Yarovit, according to Bloomberg BusinessWeek. Additionally, the project has the blessing of the Russian government. The Moscow News reported that Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has backed a proposal to build a pilot factory with a capacity of 10,000 vehicles in Togliatti.

• View a Wall Street Journal slide show of the Yo prototype here.
• See the gas electric Yo embedded news video about the Yo here.

And while production models for some may be years away, the prototypes reveal some interesting feature sets that are likely to be included in this emerging class of vehicle.

For example, one distinctive features shared by many of the E-cars is that they each have a unique shape.

That’s certainly the case with the Mitsubishi i-MiEV. As one Wired reviewer said to another in a test drive of a prototype: “You’re driving an electric egg.” Vanity aside, this car is expected to be on sale this year in Europe.

The i-MiEV has a Mitsubishi stated range of as much as 100 miles. Car and Driver pegged its 0-to-60 mph accelerate time at 13.5 seconds.

With regard to availability, there is a reason this E-car is so far ahead of other E-cars. Car and Driver noted that the i-MiEV is an electric version of a gasoline car already on sale in Japan. Many of the other E-cars are being built from scratch.

One example of a built from scratch E-car is the Kia Pop. It shares a somewhat similar overall egg shape with the iMiEV. But pretty much everything else is different.

The Kia Pop, like most of the concept E-cars, is designed to meet the commuting needs of urban drivers in densely populated cities. In its current inception, it is about two feet shorter than a Mini Cooper, will seat three, and will rely on an all-electric powertrain.

However, the all-electric Pop concept car is according to the company a “convention-challenging, design-led concept.” Translated, that means the car is not likely to ever go into production. To that end, a Car and Driver blog noted: “perhaps bits of the all-electric powertrain will eventually make its way into a future Kia.”

Its purpose, like that of many of the concept cars introduced at the Paris show, is to introduce design ideas, try out technologies, and gauge driver interests.

A bit closer to availability is the Mercedes-Benz A-class E-cell, which was also introduced at the Paris show. Even with its small size, this car offers a number of impressive features. It has five doors (it’s a hatch back) and a battery pack that supports a maximum range of at least 124 miles.

Another notable concept E-car introduced at the Paris show is the Nissan Townpod all-electric concept vehicle. This vehicle is very different looking (and that’s saying something given the shape of these E-cars). It is very boxy, looking a bit like a very small panel truck. Nissan says it is “more than just a car” and “more than just a van.”

These models are just the tip of the E-car iceberg market – a market that is expected to grow rapidly. Most of these small, all-electric cars would be ideally suited for city driving in Europe and Asia. Demand is expected to grow in Europe as stronger greenhouse gas emission laws are phased in and in Asia simply due to the populations of China and India adopting cars.

Reports about the car note that Jaguar believes the C-X75 will be able to go from 0 to 60 mph in 3.4 seconds, accelerate from 50 to 90 mph in 2.3 seconds, do a quarter mile in 10.2 seconds, and reach a top speed above 200 mph.

This is definitely not your father’s hybrid or EV.

So how does Jaguar plan to deliver this performance?  To start, like many other auto manufacturers who developed a hybrid version of their cars, Jaguar reduced the car’s weight. According to the Wall Street Journal, the car’s skin is made from a very thin (about 0.88 millimeter) aluminum. In fact, designers shaved off about a quarter of the thickness compared to current European production cars, which have skins that are typically 1 to 1.2 mm thick. 

Lower weight certainly helps. But there’s more. Primarily, the car will be an electric vehicle. It will be powered by four electric motors, one for each wheel. The motors will run off of a lithium-ion battery pack and each will deliver 195 hp of power. The car is expected to have a range of 68 miles if only the batteries are used.

What sets the Jaguar C-X75 apart from other hybrids and EVs is the inclusion of an unusual additional power source. The car will have two gas turbines rated at 94 hp apiece. According to CNet, the turbines “get their power from a flow of combustion gas — diesel, biofuels, compressed natural gas, or liquefied petroleum gas (the C-X75 has a 60-litre tank that accommodates all four).”

If the battery power runs low and a driver wants to extend the car’s range, the turbines can be used to generate electricity to complement the battery pack. Some industry sources have noted that the range can be extended up to 560 miles if the tank is full and if the power sources are used in an optimal manner.

If performance is more of an issue than driving range, the turbines can also be used to boost the car’s performance. Essentially, the turbines would work in conjunction with the battery-powered motors to deliver the anticipated acceleration, speedy quarter mile times, and top speed.

While the idea of using gas turbine technology in a car might seem like something new, this is not the first application by a long shot. According to Wired, “U.K. Rover built the first gas turbine-powered car, the Jet-1 in 1950.” And others have worked on the idea throughout the intermediate years.

Given its preference for performance over efficiency, and the use of the alternative fuel supply, the C-X75 will not be the hybrid choice for all drivers. Not to worry, Jaguar is not putting all of its hybrid eggs into this one basket. The company is examining the use of other technologies including a hybrid diesel possibly for the Jaguar XJ. And there is development work underway on a Jaguar an XF with a prototype flywheel hybrid system.
 

View a photo gallery of the Jaguar C-X75 here.
See how the car will look on the open road here.