2011 Michelin Challenge Bibendum: The world’s only “green” auto show
By John LeBlanc
BERLIN, Germany — Michelin's Challenge Bibendum might be the ‘greenest' auto event of the year. This year's event, held for the first time in Berlin, marks the eleventh time Michelin has put on its “green” — or what it calls its “sustainable mobility” — auto show. Back in the late-1990s, the higher-ups at France's Michelin tire company decided to sponsor and host an event to showcase technological research into “clean vehicles.” The first Challenge Bibendum — named after “the Michelin Man,” the tire company's mascot — was held in France in 1998, and has been held most years around the world in Germany, the U.S., China, Japan and Brazil.
In addition to the requisite workshops, conferences and media and public days, rallies for the various types of vehicles (i.e. “inter-city”, “urban cars”, and “electric vehicles) were held this year to evaluate the vehicles' real-world applications. And unlike the typical auto show, the attending media and public were able to drive or ride along in most of the exhibitors' cars, often with the company engineers riding alongside. While exhibitors at this year's Challenge ranged from electric bicycles to city buses and tractor-trailer truck makers, the event has also become popular with major automakers, which trot out their wares to a decidedly environmentally-friendly crowd.
Admittedly, many of the hybrid, electric and fuel-cell vehicles on display at this year's event have already been seen on the “regular” auto show circuit. Cars like Mercedes-Benz's E-Cell fuel cell, Nissan's electric Leaf, General Motors' Opel version of the Volt extended-range hybrid (called Ampera), and Porsche's electric E Boxster (seen above) have all made their debuts. Of the automakers on hand, Germany's Audi and China's Volvo, however, stood out for their more comprehensive efforts.
In addition to its A1 and A3 E-Tron electric vehicles, Q5 hydrogen fuel-cell prototype, and Q5 gasoline-electric production cars on display, Audi also showed off its new A3 TCNG E-Gas concept (below), a unique continuous “green” loop of energy creation and use. E-Gas starts with Audi participating in the construction of offshore North Sea wind turbines, which creates “clean” electricity to manufacture hydrogen. This can either be used in the future as a source of energy for fuel-cell vehicles or, in an additional step, can be employed to manufacture methane. Starting in 2013, Audi will begin series production of TCNG (Turbocharged Compressed Natural Gas) models whose engines — derived from existing gasoline units — will be powered by the E-Gas methodology.
While Volvo only sells gasoline-engine cars in Canada, it's been quietly working away here in Europe on a variety of low- and zero-emissions vehicles, some already in production and on sale in other markets. Falling under the umbrella of its DRIVe badge, in Europe, Volvo offers seven models with CO2 emissions below 120 grams per kilometre. All feature a 1.6-litre diesel engine that meets the tough Euro 5 emission standards. With a six-speed manual gearbox and start/stop function, Volvo says the CO2 emissions of the DRIVe versions of its C30, S40 and V50 compacts are down to 99 g/km.
As well, available for sale in 2012, Volvo will be offering the world's first diesel plug-in hybrid. The V60 Plug-in Hybrid can either be driven up to 50 km using electricity alone, or as a hybrid with CO2 averaging just 49 g/km, or deliver zero-to-100 km/h times of just 6.9 seconds with a combined 265 hp.
The third Volvo Challenge car was the C 30 Electric (above), of which 250 examples of the three-door compact coupe will be delivered to selected customers later this year in Europe, then eventually in the U.S. and China. “It is estimated that by 2020, between 5 and 10 per cent of cars in Sweden will be powered by electricity,” said Lennart Stegland, director of Volvo Cars' Special Vehicles.
While offerings from the major automakers are the most likely to see production and make their way to a showroom to you, one of the appeals of the Challenge Bibendum is the “run-what-you-brung” nature of the rally competitions. Taking a stab at the Tesla Roadster (which uses a Lotus chassis), Switzerland's Protoscar brought its very orange Lampo3 (below), which it claims is the world's first pure-electric 2+2 sports car with a bespoke chassis. The futuristic-looking orange Lampo3 isn't short of high-tech features.A pair of electric motors on the rear axle and one on the front axle allows for four-wheel-drive with torque vectoring, a claimed range of 200 km between recharges and a 0-100 km/h time of 4.5 seconds.
Of more practical use may be the Micro Bus from Germany's Mia Electric.The Mia (below) is a 1+2-seat box-on-wheels that looks like a taxicab from Bladerunner. With a central driver's seat and sliding doors, the Mia offers an electric range of either 80-to-90 km, or 120-to-130 km (depending on battery pack), plus up to 1,500 litres in cargo volume — seemingly ideal for an urban taxi or a courier delivery service.
The variety of technologies and vehicles at this year's Bibendum was a green car lover's smorgasbord. Here are a few samplings:
• To showcase future “sustainable mobility” solutions, organizers of this year’s Challenge and hydrogen fuel cell stations available for prototype vehicles, like this Audi Q5 Hydrogen Fuel Cell concept.
• While Chevrolet’s extended-range gasoline-electric Volt will go on sale in Canada later this summer, a version of the Volt, called Ampera, will be sold in Europe under the General Motors’ Opel banner.
• Prototypes and concepts dominated this year’s Challenge, but the Nissan Leaf, the world’s first mass produced electric-vehicle, will be available at Canadian dealers later this year.
• Like Nissan’s Leaf, Mercedes-Benz’s Smart ForTwo Electric Drive runs purely on electricity. Smart claims, fully charged, the ForTwo ED has a range of 135 km. As a prelude to offering it to retail customers by 2012, Mercedes-Benz of Canada has confirmed that as part of a 1,500-unit world-wide launch, a fleet of 45 ForTwo EDs will be tested in Canada.
• Some industry experts think the future of electric vehicles will be primarily limited to short-distance use. And here at this year’s challenge, there were a variety of small, utility EVs exhibited.
• As a pioneer in modern hybrids, it was only natural that Japan’s Toyota would also be exhibiting here in Berlin. Pictured are the new Toyota Prius Plug-in Hybrid (that is scheduled to become available in Canada in the future) and the Lexus CT200h Hybrid, which is on-sale on our shores today.
• Sorry—here’s another European-only green car: Mercedes-Benz has already sold a limited production run of 500 of its electric A-Class E-Cell hatchbacks. The car’s two lithium-ion batteries provide a range of over 200 km between charges. The vehicles are being leased to selected customers in several European countries, including Germany, France and the Netherlands.
• In addition to passenger vehicles, the Challenge also saw new solutions with larger vehicles like this Iveco Glider tractor-trailer. With fuel consumption estimated up to 40 per cent lower than a conventional diesel truck, the Glider incorporates a number of technologies for boosting efficiency, like regenerated energy via photovoltaic panels, kinetic energy recovery, exhaust gas heat recovery and the latest generation of thermal and auxiliary systems.
• Still fresh from setting the electric car lap record at Germany’s famous Nürburgring track, the Peugeot EX1 roadster concept is powered by a pair of electric motors that make a total of 340 hp.
• Two-, three- and four-wheeled vehicles, whether powered by gas, diesel, hydrogen, electricity or human power, could be found at this year’s event.
• Unlike the typical auto show, the attending media and public were able to drive or ride along in most of the exhibitor’s cars, often with the company engineers riding alongside.
• It says a lot about how fast the green car market is evolving when an electric Tesla roadster looked rather dated and mundane in such exotic and state-of-the-art company.
• Along with the modern, state-of-the-art concepts and production cars on hand, the Challenge also featured a display of historic cars inside the Tempelhof airport’s former arrivals and departures terminal. This is the 1895 L’Éclair, the first car with pneumatic tires. It was built and raced by the original Michelin brothers in the 1,200 km Paris-Bordeaux-Paris road race.