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2014纽约车展电动车成为焦点

Plug in your car, then unplug, and drive away.  More and more consumers are doing just that. At the 2014 New York Auto¹ Show many automakers unveiled electric or hybrid² vehicle to address the growing global appetite for environment-friendly cars. While some technological³ challenges remain, the market is heating up.

插上电源，充好电之后拔掉充电器，就可以上路了。越来越多的消费者这样做，2014年的纽约车展上有许多车商推出纯电动车或是油电混合车，反映全球消费者对环保车辆的喜爱日益增长，虽然有些科技挑战仍然存在，但是环保车辆的市场魅力依然有增无减。

A hydrogen fuel cell vehicle from Toyota converts hydrogen into electricity, has a smooth ride, strong accelertion, and leaves no carbon monoxide behind.

丰田公司的霍伊特说，丰田汽车推出的氢燃料电池车，可以将氢转化为电，驾驶顺畅，加速快，不残留一氧化碳。

“We think that hydrogen is the future of electric vehicles because they’re so much more convenient," said Toyota's Wade⁴ Hoyt.  "And the way it works is that the hydrogen wants to combine with the oxygen in the air. It forms H2O, which is water vapor⁵, is the only exhaust, so it’s a true zero emissions⁶ vehicle.   And you get electricity out of that combination."

他说：“我认为氢燃料是电动车卫来的趋势，因为更加方便，氢燃料电池发电的原理是氢氧结合，形成水蒸汽，所以唯一的排放物就是水，氢氧结合转化为电力的过程完全零污染。”

Many manufacturers are now producing hybrids⁷ and electric vehicles.  Ford⁸ has unveiled an all-electric Ford Focus and Chevy is touting⁹ its environment-friendly Volt¹⁰. While electric cars are easy on the environment, they can also offer strong preformance.  Tesla's has ferocious¹¹ acceleration¹², pushing the car from zero to about 100 kilometers per hour in three-point-seven seconds, with a top speed just over 200 kilometers per hour.  Electric motors deliver strong acceleration because they offer more torque than equivalent gasoline engines. That is why luxury brands, like BMW, are experimenting with this new technology.

许多车厂现在制造油电混合车，通用汽车公司正大力促销其环保节能的油电混合车Volt。电动车更注重环保节能的同时，也提供更强的性能。特斯拉的电动车加速快，3.7秒内就可以从零加速到每小时100公里，最高时速可超过200公里，电动马达加速力强是因为比耗油引擎提供更多的扭力，这就是为什么宝马等高档车正在实验这种技术。

But the switchover from gasoline is an evolutionary¹³ process, says James Bell of General Motors.

但通用汽车的詹姆士贝尔认为，从传统的耗油车转换到电动车是一个渐进过程。

"I think the mistake that many people in the industry and in the media maybe thought was that -- when the Nissan Leaf came out or the Chevrolet Volt -- was that suddenly people would drop their gasoline cars and rush for them.  No, it’s not that way," he said. "This is going to be a slow evolution, but it’s also a Pandora’s box moment.  It’s not going to go back in.  Electrified vehicles are the way to meet those emissions in the future.”

他说：“我认为业内许多人士和媒体可能都错误地以为，当日产推出了LEAF或是雪佛兰推出了VOLT，人们就不再去买汽油动力的车，会一窝蜂地去买油电混合车，不是这样的，这将会是一个慢速演进的过程，但是也打开了潘朵拉的盒子，不会再倒退，因为电动车符合未来的排放标准。

Alternative fuel vehicles account for just one million of the than 60 million cars produced worldwide annually¹⁴.  But in 2013 the number of hybrid and electric cars doubled. Automakers still don’t make money on electric cars because of the high cost of battery technology. Tesla's battery, for example, costs $50,000, about half of the vehicle’s total selling price.  But manufacturers pay the costs because they believe electric vehicles are an important part of the industry's future.

全球汽车的年销量大约是6000多万辆，其中电动车约100万辆，但是2013年油电混合车和纯电动车的数量翻了一番。汽车厂商卖电动车仍然不赚钱，因为研发电池科技的花费极高，例如特斯拉的电池价格高达5万美金，大约是总车价的一半，但是汽车厂商愿意付出这样的代价，因为他们相信电动车是汽车企业未来重要的一部分。

Matt Miller¹⁵, auto industry reporter for Bloomberg News, says a mixture of old and new technology is the winning strategy.

美国彭博通讯社的汽车记者麦特米勒表示，融合新旧科技是必胜策略。

“Really the key for the future, I think, is hybrid technology, so rather than having a car like a Tesla, completely electric-powered, you have a car like the BMW I-3 or I-8, which has a small gasoline motor to help charge the battery when it’s needed and electric motors to drive," he said. "That’s got to be the future.  Then you get something like 90 or 100 miles per gallon, [19 to 21 kilometers per liter] which is decent and you still get the torque when you need it.”

他说：“我认为未来的关键是混合技术，比起特斯拉这样的纯电动车，消费者更喜欢宝马的I-3或是I-8，配备小型的耗油引擎，在需要使用电动马达驾驶的时候协助充电，这是未来的趋势，这样消费者每加仑汽油可以开90到100英哩，当需要加速的时后，提供的扭力也符合需求。”

The challenge is to produce a car with long, inexpensive battery life that allows the driver to travel a long way between charges.   Automakers expect many millions will then decide to switch from gas to alternative fuel.

现在最大的挑战是制造出便宜而且寿命长的电池，让驾驶人在充电之间可以长途驾驶，如此一来，汽车厂商期待将有数百万消费者会选择从传统的耗油车转换到替代性能源车辆。