Hybrid News

Filed under: Transportation Alternatives, GM, Legislation and Policy, Green Daily

Surprise! General Motors has announced that it’s ceasing its dedicated Corporate Aviation Operations. This means that all of its jets, leased or owned, will be sold or transferred to another operator. Additionally, the automaker had been leasing a facility and space from Detroit Metro Airport for the use of its private jets, and The General will now need to work with airport officials to find a new tenant. The entire General Motors Air Transportation Services group will see its doors officially closed on January 1, 2009.

This announcement seems right on schedule considering how much brow-beating GM and its cross-town rivals took at the hands of Congress over its use of private jets for corporate travel. Of course, even without its own dedicated Aviation Operations, GM and the other Detroit automakers could easily charter private flights when it’s deemed necessary, which we would bet will be much less often in the future than it has in the past. Read the short and sweet press release after the break.

[Source: GM]

Continue reading No more private jets for GM

No more private jets for GM originally appeared on AutoblogGreen on Tue, 02 Dec 2008 15:12:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Original post by Jeremy Korzeniewski

Filed under: Etc., Transportation Alternatives

When Top Gear presenter Jeremy Clarkson was recently photographed riding near his Oxfordshire home on a Vespa, it caused a minor uproar. That’s because Clarkson has long had a rather derisive attitude toward two-wheeled conveyances. Seeing Clarkson on a scooter caused some observers to accuse him of hypocrisy. It turns out the reason that Jezza was on a two wheeler had to do with the current situation with fuel prices and the move by many drivers to down size. Being a “responsible” motoring journalist, Clarkson felt it was his duty to investigate the ramifications of the two wheel switch.

So, off he went to take the test that would allow him to legally ride on a scooter followed by a proper on-road evaluation of the Vespa. Clarkson goes on to describe the vagaries of shifting, steering and braking on a two wheel vehicle. It turns out that by Clarkson’s calculations, riding a scooter is not inexpensive even though a Vespa only costs £3,499. By the time you add in the requisite leather, helmet, coffin, headstone, cremation, flowers, etc, it gets pretty pricey. It seems the bottom line is that no matter what you do, “you will be killed.” Maybe we should just walk.

[Source: Times of London]

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Original post by Sam Abuelsamid

Filed under: EV/Plug-in, GM

At the Plug-In 2008 conference in San Jose CA this week General Motors will be on hand to announce a partnership with the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) to promote plug-in vehicles. GM VP for Global Program Management Jon Laukner will be delivering a keynote address at the Plug-in conference on Monday, and the EPRI partnership is expected to be part of the discussion. At this point GM doesn’t have any production plug-in vehicles, but will debute two different models in the next two years. A plug-in version of the Saturn Vue Two-Mode hybrid is expected to debut in late 2009 while the Chevy Volt should appear a year later. The styling of the production car based on the Volt concept should be debuting in the next few months, possibly in September in conjunction with GM’s centenial celebration. One possible key to the ultimate success of plug-in vehicles would be the installation of public charging stations allowing drivers to top up the battery as they go through their daily routines. Doing this will require the participation of local governments, businesses and electric utilities. Another factor that would help make plug-in vehicles financially viable for consumers would be the establishment of an aftermarket for lithium ion batteries that may not be useful for cars but could be used by utilities for buffering power supplies. EPRI previously announced a similar promotional partnership with Ford.

[Source: Reuters]

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Original post by Sam Abuelsamid

Filed under: EV/Plug-in, Tesla Motors

It can be interesting to see what happens when geeks with money meet up for dinner in Santa Monica. You’re having a pleasant meal and the next thing you know you’re racing down the road in a Tesla Roadster and a Corvette, live-streaming the video from two perspectives with cell phones. Tesla chairman and financier Elon Musk, serial entrepreneur Jason Calacanis (co-founder of Weblogs Inc. of which ABG is a part) and super blogger Robert Scoble decided to go for a joy ride for dessert the other night and stream the festivities using a new service called qik. Scoble rode shotgun with Musk in production Roadster #1. Calacanis (who has a Roadster on order) was in his Corvette. Musk laid waste to the Corvette. Some guy named Ray who evidently claims to know a thing or two about cars claims this was due to Jason’s inability to drive. In fact, Musk, as is his prerogative as fundraiser-in-chief at Tesla had his production model built with one of the short-lived two-speed transmissions which contributed to its extraordinary accelerative abilities. This Ray guy apparently didn’t actually watch either of the two videos since Musk explained this to Scoble. Needless to say Scoble was duly impressed by the ability of the Roadster to increase its velocity with remarkably low levels of noise (at low speeds at least).

[Source: ValleyWag, thanks to Alex for the tip]

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BOLD MOVES: THE FUTURE OF FORD Step behind the curtain at Ford Motor. Experience the documentary first-hand.

Original post by Sam Abuelsamid

Filed under: Hybrid, Toyota, Green Daily

The A-BAT hybrid concept truck that Toyota introduced at the Detroit Auto Show in January doesn’t look like anything on the road today. But what would you think about seeing one of these in the rearviewmirror? Alternately, how would you feel about cruising to work in one of these small trucks? These are questions that Toyota would seriously like to know the answers to, as a post by Ian Cartabiano, Calty Project Chief Designer, on Toyota’s Open Road blog makes clear.

The A-BAT, which stands for Advanced-Breakthrough Aerodynamic Truck, has apparently garnered enough interest to make Toyota think a minute about possibly bringing the flexible and fuel-conscious vehicle to production. While Toyota isn’t tipping its hand on this issue, Cartabiano is asking readers for their comments on the viability of a production A-BAT. If you feel strongly one way or the other, hit the Open Road and let Toyota know.

[Source: Open Road via Green Car Advisor]

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BOLD MOVES: THE FUTURE OF FORD Step behind the curtain at Ford Motor. Experience the documentary first-hand.

Original post by Sebastian Blanco

Filed under: EV/Plug-in

Not too long ago, Mercedes announced that the Mercedes-Benz S400 BlueHybrid, pictured, would be the (likely) first production hybrid that uses lithium-ion batteries. The li-ion steak may be juicier that we expected, if this post over at Benz Insider is on target. BI is saying that a source within MB’s Stuttgart Research Center has revealed that Daimler AG is developing a mid- or large-size electric-powered luxury vehicle. While a plug will certainly charge the battery packs, a “small dynamo like device” in the vehicle can also provide energy to - but not fully recharge - the battery. Sounds like a range extender to us, but with a rumored battery-only range of 105 miles, who will need it? We’ve put in a request to Daimler for more info, because, um, I think we’re pretty interested in a car like this.

[Source: Benz Insider]

 

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Original post by Sebastian Blanco

Filed under: Diesel, Mercedes Benz, New York Auto Show

click to enlarge and see more high-res images

The news out this morning that the three Mercedes-Benz BlueTEC SUVs will be available in all fifty states in the fall (aka election time) was turned into faux political rally during the Benz press event here at the New York Auto Show. The spiel was that the diesel SUVs - the R 320 BlueTEC, the ML 320 BlueTEC and the GL 320 BlueTEC - are the “clean” candidates for your vote/dollar. Somehow Benz roped in about 80 people to wear “Vote For BlueTEC” buttons and cheer for the cars. We’ll have a video of all this hoopla later, but we wanted to bring you pictures straightaway.

 

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Original post by Sebastian Blanco