Hybrid Cars // Current TV

Nissan to Introduce Electric Car in 2010, Mass-Production in 2012

The Slow Green Conversion of Carlos Ghosn About 2 years ago, Nissan and Renault CEO... more

mundosanto
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3 years ago
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2 comments

General Motors blames its lagging hybrid tech on public.

Head of GM Rick Wagoner, speaking at an industry conference in Dallas commented,... more

palaver
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3 years ago
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22 comments

Top 10 Least Expensive Hybrids To Own

1 Honda Civic 2 Toyota Prius 3 Nissan Altima 4 Chevrolet Malibu 5 Ford... more

Kate_08
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3 years ago
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Which is Greener: New Prius or Used Car with Good MPG?

Your query is a serious toughie, as we don't really know how much energy it takes... more

aswift1
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3 years ago
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Ferrari Hybrid;

And you thought the Prius was cool. It is great to see car companies of all types... more

AROC
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3 years ago
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Tesla Will Supply Mercedes-Benz With Batteries For Electric Cars

The German car maker plans to make electric versions of its A- and B-class vehicles,... more

sforte
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3 years ago
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DIY Electric Motorcycle Kicks Butt, Gets 300 eMPG

It just takes some brain power and elbow grease!

Thomas_Morse
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3 years ago
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1 comment

Australia gives Toyota $35 million to build hybrid Camry

Australia Gives Toyota $35 Million to Build Hybrid in Melbourne. Last week, whilst... more

shroomfairy
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3 years ago
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2 comments

Turn any car into a plug-in hybrid

Soon drivers will be able to get at least double the gas mileage of a Toyota Prius... more

stone246
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3 years ago
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13 comments

This guy is great - read the entire article at the link above - it gets even worse. Bush has put his cronies in charge of every regulatory agency and this is the result.

by Tam Hunt, Community Environmental Council

I've made my punch line the title of this piece. I was never good at telling jokes. This joke, however, isn't really funny anyway because it is a boondoggle being played on the American people.

The Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards were created by Congress in 1975 as part of the Energy Policy and Conservation Act. Over the first nine years of its existence the CAFE standard — and powerful market forces — led to 62% improved vehicle fuel economy. Over the next twenty years or so, better vehicle technologies were used to increase power instead of to increase fuel economy. The end result: average fuel economy for cars in the U.S. is only about 26 miles per gallon in 2008.

In the era of skyrocketing oil, gas and diesel prices, however, Congress took bold action, passing the Energy Independence and Security Act in December of 2007. The key feature of this law was a re-vamping of the CAFE standard for the first time in a generation, setting a new standard of 35 mpg by 2020.

Or so the story goes.

Upon examination, the CAFE standard "improvements" are revealed as little more than a loophole-ridden shell game.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration issued the proposed CAFE regulations in March of this year. The regulations cover model years 2011-2015 and "require" all cars and trucks to achieve 31.8 mpg by 2015.

The major changes in the new regulations are a new tradable credit system and a new way of calculating required vehicle improvements based on the size of each vehicle model sold instead of a fleet-wide requirement.

The tradable credit system makes the CAFE "standard" a cap-and-trade system instead of an actual standard. Standards are the prototypical example of a command and control regulatory approach, which, while generally effective in achieving outcomes also generate strong resistance from the regulated businesses. Cap and trade is more market friendly because it sets a limit on the activity at issue but also gives some choices to the regulated businesses as to how they meet that limit. In this case, each size class is "limited" in terms of the gas mileage it must achieve. The "trade" part of this cap and trade allows each manufacturer to trade credits with other manufacturers who are exceeding their requirements, and to trade between size classes within each fleet — and to buy credits from the U.S. government at a set price ceiling.

It is this last part that is most disturbing. By allowing manufacturers to avoid actually improving gas mileage by simply buying credits from the government at a set price, the cap itself may be completely destroyed because there is no limit on how many credits the government may sell. So it's not really a cap and trade system either. It's just a trade system with huge potential to be gamed without any guaranteed benefits for consumers or the environment.

This guy is great - read the entire article at the link above - it gets even worse.... more

philbangs
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4 years ago
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1 comment

Good luck trying to find a hybrid car...

More and more of us are looking for hybrid vehicles... but their difficult to find in... more

xenomode
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4 years ago
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1 comment

Honda to sell cheaper Hybrid in 2009

Washington DC May 21, 2008; The AIADA newsletter reported that Honda Motor Co.... more

sapsrbbiz
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4 years ago
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39 comments

Fisker's Still Testing Its $80K Hybrid But Already Considering a Sequel

Aside from a sexy prototype and a few photos, no one's seen much of the plug-in hybrid Fisker Automotive is working on, but with powertrain testing reportedly underway and an infusion of cash just around the corner, the company already is looking ahead to its next car.

Company founder Henrik Fisker says it will be a smaller, less expensive version of the $80,000 plug-in hybrid sedan he unveiled in January. That car is still a long way from the showroom, but today the company said it's built three prototypes and is track-testing battery software management system and the plug-in hybrid drivetrain developed by Quantum Technologies.

"We are very excited about the initial test results of the Fisker Karma prototype," company founder Henrik Fisker said in a statement. "The vehicle dynamics and fuel economy have performed better than expected and we remain on target for our fourth quarter 2009 initial delivery."

That's an incredibly tight - some say unrealistic, if not impossible - deadline to meet, but that isn't keeping Fisker from planning his next car.

Fisker says he believes advancements in battery technology will cut costs enough to allow him to offer a sedan at half the cost of the Karma within five years. According to CNET, which says the company expects to secure another $65 million in funding next month, Fisker sees the Karma competing with the BMW 7-series and the smaller sedan competing with the 3-Series.

Of course, he's got to build the Karma first. Fisker is using the Q-Drive hybrid drivetrain developed by Quantum Technologies and a lithium ion battery, which will be charged by a small internal combustion engine. The company says it is "fine tuning" the battery software, performing "initial vehicle testing" and starting crash test simulations.

Fisker hasn't offered any specifics about the drivetrain - where it's getting the battery, how big the motor is, what sort of internal combustion engine it'll use to drive the generator - and so far hasn't provided any photos of the hybrid drivetrain in the car. We also don't know just what's happening in those "spy shots" the company sent out last week, or what's under the hood of the car. The company wouldn't tell us, citing "competitive reasons." But a Fisker spokeswoman says we'll see a prototype with the plug-in hybrid drivetrain at the Los Angeles auto show in November.

Fisker says it's received more than 500 orders for the car since unveiling it at the Detroit auto show, and the company is holding fast to its claim that it will deliver the first car by the end of next year. What's more, it plans to turn out 1,250 cars a month by the end of 2010. Where those cars will be built remains an open question; a Fisker spokeswoman says there will be an announcement within a few weeks. There's been some speculation that Fisker will build the cars in Detroit.

Fisker's set some audacious goals given he and Quantum Technologies started working together just 18 months ago. As a rule of thumb, it takes three to five years to develop a car. It took Tesla Motors 3 1/2 years to get the Tesla Roadster out the door, and General Motors is scrambling to get the Chevrolet Volt done in three.

That's not to say Fisker can't do it. But the industry experts we've talked to give him pretty long odds of putting cars in driveways by 2010. Aside from a sexy prototype and a few photos, no one's seen much of the plug-in... more

kushan
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4 years ago
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SUVs Go Hybrid

Chrysler's first foray into the hybrid market affects its two full-size SUV... more

hynese
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4 years ago
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2 comments

Tired of financing the Arabs? Don't buy their oil!

These companies do not import Middle Eastern oil: Sunoco................0 barrels... more

philbangs
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4 years ago
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3 comments

The Food And Climate Crises: Getting Population On The Agenda

This animated video states what should now be the obvious as far as global warming is concerned, albeit in a very entertaining way. However one Australian physicist, Phil Chapman, thinks we should be worrying about climate change in the other direction, as he touts the possibility of a return to an Ice Age.

Chapman cites an 11-year low in sunspot activity, and says that our plant actually cooled by 0.7 degrees Centigrade between January 2006 and 2007. "This is the fastest temperature change in the instrumental record," notes Chapman in an article that appears in today's Australian.

As the ice caps melt before our Googled eyes, critics have accused Chapman of cherry picking data, but regardless of whether we should be reaching for the sun tan lotion or for another layer of warm clothes to prepare for the future, living a green life still makes sense. There are so many reasons beyond global warming for ending our reliance on fossil fuels.

A recent study has concluded that even short-term exposure to smog can be linked to premature death. Our ever increasing appetite for oil funds wars and corrupt regimes, and is contributing massively to the food crisis we now face. The latter, which is caused, in the most part, by the fact that rising fuel prices are raising the cost of food production and transportation beyond what many consumers can afford, is ALREADY pushing many here at home over the poverty line into privation.

While experts can't agree on the extent and exact direction of climate change (two recently released reports claim that global warming may be far worse than the U.N. had previously predicted), there is a general consensus that the food crisis will bite before global warming does. And since the causes of both global warming and the food crisis are the same, namely over use of fossil fuels and over population, working towards a comprehensive solution should be a no-brainer.

In the scheme of things the dire problems we now face are so easily fixed. We already have the know-how to replace oil power with renewable, clean energy. We also know that cutting down rainforest and turning away from food crops in order to produce biofuel is "profoundly stupid," to recycle the words of Professor John Beddington, the UK Government’s Chief Scientific Advisor (who, unlike our scientific advisers, at least has the benefit of talking real, unabridged science with his boss).

The issue of the planet’s burgeoning population is a little trickier. While environment and sustainability issues are now firmly on the agenda, population control is the other side of the coin, and the elephant in the room that few in the West like to talk about (unless it’s in terms of “pro-life,” a policy that ironically, in global terms, results in more death). Again, it's not like we don't have the methods, but motivation is a problem, which is compounded by religious beliefs and our delicate sensibilities. How ironic that China, with their birth control already in place, may ultimately look enlightened where this issue is concerned.

Their one kid per couple policy may seem harsh by our standards, but five kids, with two more mechanical gas-guzzlers in the garage, is not a sustainable existence. We really have to learn one very simple lesson: we can't have it all. But next to the possible oblivion of our planet and/or our race, a little compromise and a lot of enlightenment, and action, seems like a small price to pay. For now, let’s at least get population control on our “to do” list alongside ending war, hunger, poverty, pollution and oil reliance, since these issues cannot be dealt with in isolation, and require a holistic approach.This animated video states what should now be the obvious as far as global warming is... more

AndreaKnoll
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4 years ago
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1 comment

Think: Norwegian Car Company Announce Plans For Affordable E.V. In U.S.

Norwegian electric carmakers Think have announced plans to manufacture and sell their reasonably priced, eco-friendly cars here in the U.S.

The company has partnered with two leading clean-tech venture capital firms, RockPort Capital Partners and Kleiner Perkins, Caulfield and Byers, to form Think North America. The new venture was announced at the 2008 Fortune Brainstorm Green Conference held in Pasadena, California (April 21-22, 2008). The aim of the invitation-only event is to bring industry leaders together to discuss the impact and opportunities presented by the green-movement.

Think North America hope to have their first vehicle, the Think City, in production in the U.S. sometime in 2009. It is likely that the company will be based in Southern California, and that cars will be assembled locally. The electric car, which is currently only available in Norway, is a 100% emission free, battery-powered vehicle. Made of 95% recycled material, it has a top speed of 100 km (65 miles) per hour and can drive up to 180 km (110 miles) on a single charge.

The Think City "is a mass-market vehicle," said Kleiner managing partner, Ray Lane . "Our desire is to be selling 30-40-50,000 of these cars in a couple of years." The two-seater cars, which can be fitted with additional rear seats intended for children, will retail for under $25,000.

Think was founded under the name Pivco (Personal Independent Vehicle Company) in Oslo in 1991. Ford acquired the company in 1999, but sold its stake in 2003 around the same time that General Motors dropped the now mythical EV1, after California passed legislation significantly backtracking on its ZEV (zero-emissions vehicle) mandate. In March of this year General Electric announced an alliance with Think at the Geneva Motor Show, investing $4 million in the EV company, and a further $20 million in A123 Systems, who will manufacture the car's batteries.

Interestingly, in Norway, Think offer a "Mobility Pack" lease program for the car's batteries. Under this business model, Think own the batteries and charge a monthly fee in exchange for a full maintenance, service and replacement plan. They promise to "take responsibility for battery performance throughout the cars life span" for a fee of around 200 EUR (approx $290), which also covers insurance and electricity costs. The move is intended to give customers peace of mind, and maintain the car's re-sale value. It has yet to be announced if a similar program will be available for North American customers. Norwegian electric carmakers Think have announced plans to manufacture and sell their... more

AndreaKnoll
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4 years ago
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1 comment

Alternative fuel - Salt water

I saw a report a few years ago on my local TV news about John Kanzius, a former radio... more

TheRedOne
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4 years ago
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21 comments

Car of the future - what Rocky Mountian Inst. has to say to GM

The Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI) has been working for over 25 years to improve the... more

TheRedOne
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4 years ago
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0 comments

Fast Karma: A Vehicle For Eco Chic

This is one beautiful (and expensive) way to improve your karma. Fisker Automotive... more

AndreaKnoll
added this
4 years ago
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2 comments

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