Auto Zone and News: November 2009

Monday, November 30, 2009

honda motorcycle

honda motorcycle wallpapers

honda motorcycle pictures

honda motorcycle

2010 Yamaha YZF-R1 Wallpapers

2010 Yamaha YZF-R1 Test Ride

2010 Yamaha YZF-R1 Pure Black

2010 Yamaha YZF-R1 Blue Color

2010 Yamaha YZF-R1 Motorcycle Wallpaper

2010 Yamaha YZF-R1 MotoGP Edition

harley davidson

harley davidson wallpapers

harley davidson pictures

harley davidson

Honda CBR125R

Honda CBR125R pictures

Honda CBR125R

Honda CBR125R wallpapers

Honda CBR125R

Sunday, November 29, 2009

India electric car pioneer plans biggest plug-in car plant

Chetan Maini, the engineer who pioneered India’s first electric car, had his eureka moment two decades ago when he drove a vehicle fuelled by solar power across the blazing Australian outback.

Now Maini, the man behind Reva Electric Car Co., is building in southern India what he says will be the world’s biggest factory making battery-powered city commuter cars.

“It’s the first attempt at mass production of a green car,” said Maini, who studied hybrid electric technology at California’s Stanford University and developed the no-clutch, no-gears Reva as head of a 75-member engineering team.

“With growing climate change awareness, I think we’re at the tipping point for electric cars,” Maini told AFP in an interview.

The drive in 1990 which set Maini on his career track was a General Motors-sponsored solar-powered race in which his car finished third, beating many of the global car companies.

“Driving across the continent on the sun’s energy made me think how we could use alternative energy to power cars in the Indian context,” he said.

“When I saw how our cities were getting polluted, I realised employing clean, alternative energy could make a lot of sense — we needed to develop this kind of technology,” he said.

Maini has put some 3,000 of the zero-polluting three-door Revas on the roads in India and Britain — where it is known as the G-Wiz — in the eight years since the company started selling the cars.

Reva was formed in 1994 as a joint venture between the family-owned Maini Group and AEV of the United States to manufacture environment-friendly vehicles.

But it took seven years for the first Reva to go on sale as Maini and his team worked on the design.

Afterward, “we were in a test marketing phase, trying to see how people used electric cars, what were their needs. But that’s now over and we’re ready to move to the mass-market stage,” Maini said.

In September, Reva got a big endorsement when GM announced it would team up with the tiny car company to develop a plug-in version of the best-selling GM Spark mini-car as the US giant embraces electrically powered driving.

“We think their technology is the best,” said GM India president Karl Slym.

The Reva — named after Maini’s mother — can seat two adults and two children and cover 50 miles (80 kilometres) on a single charge of electricity. New models feature sleeker looks than the Reva, which resembles a modified golf-cart, and will offer greater distance.

The company’s next generation three-door, four-seater hatchback NXR is intended to be a family car and will go into production in 2010. It will have a top speed of 65 miles per hour and travel 100 miles on a single charge.

The car will go on sale for around 10,000 euros (15,000 dollars) and can be charged in 90 minutes.

The higher-end NXG will have a 125-mile range and an 80 mile per hour top speed and sell for 23,000 euros in Europe.

The price of the new vehicles is not fixed for India but the cars are expected to sell for “much less,” said Maini.

The Reva currently retails for around 350,000 rupees (7,500 dollars) and is built at a small factory outside the southern city of Bangalore.

Maini is targeting people who want a vehicle for city jaunts or as a second automobile.

The cost of running an electric car in India is a tenth of a petrol-fuelled car, Maini said. The car has no oil filters, spark plugs or radiators so maintenance costs are also low.

“Since we started, there’s been quite a big change in consumer mind-sets,” said Maini, whose love affair with cars began when he was a child assembling remote-controlled toy vehicles.

“We are also seeing a large policy shift by governments to environmentally friendly vehicles,” he added.

Maini is eyeing annual sales of “5,000 plus” for the next three years and then 30,000 annually from cars produced at his new Bangalore factory, which is being built with venture funding.

There is a large market as the infrastructure for electricity is widespread — even in India, he said.

“All you need is the installation of a standard plug point — 15 amps — that is used for an air conditioner or an iron. Most people only need a larger car if they are going out of town.”

The tie-up with GM is part of a three-pronged strategy for Reva which wants to make its own cars under the Reva brand, franchise production in countries such as the United States and license the company’s technology for use by global companies.

GM and Reva have promised the new electrically powered Spark mini-car will be on Indian roads in a year and they see a market later abroad.

Cambodia: ‘Telepathic’ Car Symbolises Auto Industry

The gold-coloured convertible turns heads on impoverished Cambodia’s roads — not least because of creator Nhean Phaloek’s outlandish claim that it can be operated telepathically.

“I just snap my fingers and the car’s door will open. Or I just think of opening the car’s door, and the door opens immediately,” says the 51-year-old as he proudly shows off the homemade car, named the Angkor 333-2010.

Onlookers gasp as he demonstrates the trick, and with the fibre-glass vehicle having cost him $5,000 and 19 months of labour he is in no mood to reveal the remote control system behind it.

But as with a handful of other Cambodians who make their own curious cars, he dreams the two-seater will help foster an automobile industry in the country, still poor after decades of conflict.

“I am very excited and proud of this car because many people admire me and keep asking me about how I can make it,” he says, adding that it reaches speeds of up to 100 kilometres (62 miles)  per hour. Kong Pharith, a 48-year-old former maths and physics teacher who has also produced his own car, says an auto industry is about to blossom in Cambodia.

“Our works will be part of a motivating force for the next generation to access new inventions and show the world that Cambodia has an ability to do what you think we cannot,” he says.

The inventor, who first came to national attention in 2005 for building a solar-powered bicycle, thinks he has now hit on a truly unique product with his orange, jeep-like vehicle with solar panels on its roof. Kong Pharith says it took him four months to design and put the final polish on his “tribrid” car which operates on solar energy, electricity and gasoline, hitting speeds of up to 40 kilometres per hour with its 2,000 watt motor.

“I’m really happy about my achievement but not very satisfied with it yet,” he says, adding that Cambodia’s lack of modern technology and materials are a minor obstacle to efficient manufacturing. The dream of building cars in Cambodia may not be far-fetched. Officials have announced plans for South Korean automaker Hyundai to open a plant in southwestern Cambodia, assembling some 3,000 vehicles per year.

Cambodia did actually assemble cars in a factory during the 1960s, before the country was caught in the maelstrom of the Vietnam War.

The Angkor 333-2010 is the third he has built, and his first to talk. When Phaloek slams the door a voice out of the dashboard moans: “Why do you close me too strongly?”

“Dozens of local and foreign guests have come and seen my car,” Nhean Phaloek says with a smile. “One British man told me that it is the Cambodian James Bond car.”

Saturday, November 28, 2009

YAMAHA GLADIATOR vs HONDA STUNNER

CBF STUNNER :

An integrated body cowl and voluminous fuel tank.
Sporty split seat.
Tube les tyre in front as well as rear.
Sporty foot steps holder.
Hydraulic 240 mm front disc.

GLDIATOR :

It comes with front disc break
Sporty alloy wheels
With all new sporty look.
Engine comes with engine cowl
YTPS technology.

SPEC	CBF STUNNER	GLADIATOR
M F C	HONDA	YAMAHA
C C	124.7 CC	124.8 CC
TORQUE	11 N-M@6000rpm	10.4 N-M@7000rpm
BHP	11 @8000rpm	11@7000rpm
GEAR	5 SPEED	4 SPEED
STARTER	ELECTRIC /KICK	ELECTRIC/KICK
WHEEL BASE	1271 MM	1300 MM
TYRE	100X80(alloy wh)	90 X 80(alloy wheel)
MILEAGE	55-60	65-70 KMPL
PRICE	54000	5300

Royal Enfield Classic 500 Specification

Specifications ::

Engine Type:
Single Cylinder, 4 stroke, air cooled OHV
Capacity:
499cc
Fuel System:
Electronic Fuel Injection
Ignition:
Digital Electronic ignition
Starting:
Electric start
Maximum Power:
20.3KW (27.2bhp) @ 5250rpm
Maximum Torque:
41.3Nm @ 4000rpm
Clutch:
Wet multiplate (7 plates)
Gear Box:
Constant mesh 5 speed
Battery:
12v, 14 AH
Headlamp:
12V, 60/55W
Suspension (front):
Telescopic, hydraulic dampers
Suspension (rear):
swingarm with gas filled shock absorbers
Brakes (front):
Disc brake single 280mm disc with 2 piston caliper
Brakes (rear):
Drum brake (152mm)
Overall Length:
2160mm
Overall Width:
800mm
Overall Height:
1050mm
Wheel Base:
1370mm
Fuel Tank Capacity:
14.5 liters
Weight:
187 kg (kerb)

New 135 cc Bajaj Pulsar

Bajaj is all set to barrage Bajaj Pulsar with 135cc agent on 9th December. With this new pulsar Bajaj contributed absolute 3 bikes in 135cc segment. Other two includes Bajaj Discover 135 DTSi and Bajaj XCD 135 DTS-Si. I anticipate the new barrage will absolutely abate the sales of Discover and XCD. 10 Days ans 22 Hrs actual for launch. Here are some features.. LED appendage lamps, Gas answerable rear suspension, Digital instrumentation, Split seats, Clip-on handlebar, Alloy wheels, Handlebar weights and Spilt grab rail.