China’s BYD to beat Toyota and GM?

General Motors and Toyota are working to launch plug-in hybrid cars by 2010.

But China’s BYD Auto has just announced that they’ll be the first automaker to commercially release a plug-in hybrid, the F6DM, and they’ll do it by mid 2008.

They’re showing their F6 Dual Model plug-in hybrid at the 2008 North American International Auto Show in Detroit.

BYD also plans to launch two more two electric cars, the F3e and F6e, in two or three years.

The F6DM will have a top speed of 62 miles per hour (100 km/h), travel 60 miles (100 kms.) on electric power alone (250 miles on five gallons of gas), will need nine hours for a full recharge by home power mains (10 minutes for a 50% recharge with a special power station), and will have a price tag of around $27,000 dollars.

Tags: automotive, auto industry, automotive industry, alternative energy, sustainable energy, electric cars, hybrids, flex-fuel, BYD Auto, BYD F6, BYD F6DM, BYD F6 Dual Model, BYD F3e, BYD F6e, BYD, Detroit Auto Show, GM, Toyota

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Chrysler green cars

Chrysler is showing off three eco-friendly concept cars at the Detroit International Auto Show:

1. ecoVoyager. A 4-seater with a single electric motor alternately powered by a lithium-ion battery pack and hydrogen fuel cell. The battery has a 40 mile (64 km) range, the fuel-cell “range extender” adds 260 miles (418 km).

2. ZEO. A a 4-seat sport wagon powered by a lithium-ion battery pack with a 250 mile (400 km) range. Its 200 kw (268 hp) motor does 0-60 mph (0-100 km/h) in under six seconds.

3. Jeep Renegade. Has two electric motors powered by a lithium-ion battery, with a range of 40 miles (64 km). Also has a 1.5 liter Bluetec diesel engine that adds 400 miles (644 km), for an overall fuel-economy rating of 110 mpg (2.13 liters per 100 km).

Tags: concept cars, automotive, auto industry, automotive industry, alternative energy, sustainable energy, electric cars, hybrids, flex-fuel, diesel, Chrysler, ecoVoyager, ZEO, Jeep Renegade

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Chinese automakers at Detroit Auto Show

Five Chinese carmakers are on hand at the 2008 International Auto Show in Detroit:

1. Zhongxing Automobile, via their U.S. venture partner Chamco Auto. These will most likely be the first Chinese cars to enter the U.S. market.

2. Geely. No major announcements.

3. Changfeng. They’re displaying five SUV and car models at the show and plan to sell in the U.S. by 2009. Are considering a U.S. assembly plant.

4. BYD Auto Co, a spinoff of a battery maker. They’re showing their F6 Dual Model plug-in hybrid, with which they want to preempt Toyota and GM on the worldwide stage.

5. Li Shi Guang Ming Auto Design, a design house.

Tags: Zhongxing Automobile, Geely, Changfeng, BYD Auto Co, Li Shi Guang Ming Auto Design, Detroit Auto Show, automotive, auto industry, automotive industry, China, Chinese auto industry, Chinese automotive industry

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GM to reduce dealerships

General Motors wants to create big superstores (they’ll call them "GM Collections") in major U.S. cities with a dual goal: collect all their brands under one roof, and reduce the number of dealerships in certain regions.

GM will announce all this at the annual NADA convention in San Francisco next February.

Failed IT Projects (Part 3): Boeing and U.S. Homeland Security

I recently came across ZDNet’s outlook on what they feel are the biggest three IT project failures in history.

Whether they are or not, the point is that even the largest, best organized companies and institutions can find insurmountable hurdles in a software project.

So, moving along, here’s the biggest IT disaster project in this ongoing series from ZDNet…

Failed IT Project #1:

Boeing and U.S. Homeland Security

Or… the $30 billion dollar high-tech fence

The widely publicized "virtual fence" project being built by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to prevent illegal immigrants from crossing the Mexican border via a high-tech network of cameras, lighting, sensors, and other technology, has hit some snags.

According to the Wall Street Journal:

Boeing Co. has changed the management of an electronic-surveillance project along the U.S.-Mexican border after falling more than two months behind schedule, marking the complications involved in setting up a new generation of border security.

The project, part of a larger Department of Homeland Security program called SBInet, is a critical link in the plan to use technology to monitor the borders for illegal immigrants, drug smugglers and possible terrorists. Towers set up along a stretch of the border near Nogales, Ariz., are supposed to use motion sensors, cameras and radar to keep track of wide areas. According to the government, Boeing has had trouble getting the different components to work together without glitches.

The government’s plans for monitoring as much as 6,000 miles of the Canadian and Mexican borders hinge on towers such as these working properly. If they prove ineffective, officials could be forced to spend billions of dollars for more traditional security measures, such as fences and more officers. The Homeland Security Department currently estimates that the virtual fence will cost about $8 billion through 2013, although the agency’s inspector general wrote last November that the cost could balloon to $30 billion.

Also see this article by Joseph Richey, of the Nation Institute, which funds investigative journalism:

In Washington, U.S. Congressional representatives are already bristling at the skyrocketing costs of SBInet. Since Boeing won the contract last year, the estimated cost of securing the southwest border has gone from $2.5 billion to an estimated $8 billion just a few months later. When Republican Congressman Duncan Hunter asked SBInet Director Giddens for the real costs at a February 2007 hearing of the House of Representatives Oversight Committee, Giddens replied: “I wish I could answer that with greater clarity.”

At the same Congressional hearings, Boeing vice president and SBInet program manager, Jerry McElwee, took heat from Congressman William Lacy Clay who demanded information about the ballooning costs and the extension of the contract period. “You bid on these contracts and then you come back and say, ‘Oh we need more time. It costs more than twice as much.’ Are you gaming the taxpayers here? Or gaming DHS?” the Missouri Democrat asked.

Related articles:

• Failed IT Project #3: Airbus and incompatible design software
• Failed IT Project #2: The UK National Health Service national e-health project

Tags: SBInet, illegal immigration, Homeland Security, IT disasters

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