Hybrid News

A leading consumer group is opposing an expansion of domestic oil production, saying conservation and production of alternative energy would have much greater impact on the price of gasoline.

Consumer Federation of America analysis finds that fuel economy, conservation, and alternative fuels deliver over 50 times as much oil savings as expanded drilling can produce with far greater impact on the price of gasoline.

The environmental and chemical engineering department at Mississippi State University is involved in an ongoing project to develop alternative fuel from products that can be found in Mississippi.
About 80 faculty members, 50 graduate students and 10 postdoctoral research associates at MSU are applying their collective brainpower to the task.
The goal is to create fuel from wood, crop residue, cotton gin trash, nuisance plants, animal waste, human waste and other organic, non-food products found in Mississippi.

As General Motors celebrates its first century in the car business and steps into the next, it has taken the covers off what could potentially be the model that saves the company and maintains its position as one of the world’s biggest carmakers. The production version of the 2011 Chevrolet Volt, expected to yield up to 40mpg (5.88L/100km) fuel economy plus 40mi (64km) of emissions-free electric driving, was unveiled today in Detroit.

“Revealing the production version of the Chevy Volt is a great way to open our second century,” said Rick Wagoner, GM Chairman and CEO. “The Volt is symbolic of GM’s strong commitment to the future … just the kind of technology innovation that our industry needs to respond to today’s and tomorrow’s energy and environmental challenges.”

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Stephen L. Johnson today showcased the fourth generation of Chevrolet’s Equinox Fuel Cell Car, the newest addition to the agency’s vehicle fleet. The new car underscores EPA’s support for national efforts to develop clean energy technologies and help move the United States toward energy independence.

&quotEPA is turning the key on an engine of change, by turning fleet emissions from CO2 to H2O,&quot said EPA Administrator Stephen L. Johnson. &quotEPA supports new technologies such as hydrogen fuel cells that are good for our environment and good for our economy.&quot

A new sales tax exemption that encourages Washington car shoppers to choose hybrids and alternative-fuel vehicles will save them an estimated $18.6 million over the next two years.

The savings provide an extra incentive for consumers to trade in gas guzzlers, a trend that’s already in full bloom.

"It’s probably not going to make that big of an impact on hybrid sales in Washington," said Bill Soholt, general sales manager of Toyota and Honda of Seattle.

German automakers pride themselves on being at the leading edge of new technology, so it has been a bit of an embarrassment that—a decade after Toyota (TM) launched the Prius—none of them has a hybrid electric model on the market. But, with fuel economy and environmental impact suddenly a key concern for well-heeled buyers, Daimler’s (DAI) Mercedes unit is finally poised to get into the hybrid game.

In June 2009 the company will begin European sales of a hybrid version of its luxury S-Class that, its engineers say, will use 7.9 liters of gasoline per 100 km (or get 29.8 miles per gallon). Launches in the U.S. and China will follow in September, Mercedes said on Sept. 11.

US automakers have reached the start of a new era in which they can compete with foreign brands, Chrysler LLC vice chairman Jim Press said. He also called for government support for clean-fuel vehicles.

For this, the government should make available billions of dollars of funds to US automakers to help them come to the market quicker with electric cars, Press said.

”I think it will allow everybody to bring electric cars, plug-in hybrids, hybrid cars, even range-extended hybrids. All of those vehicles will be accelerated,” he said.

From hybrids to big pickups, from luxury cars to thrifty compacts, a handful of new vehicles that debut over the next 12 months may shape the future of automakers around the world.

They come in all shapes and sizes. Some break new ground for their manufacturers. Others aim to reassert companies’ dominance in market segments they created.

From icons like the Ford F-150 and Toyota Prius to newcomers like the Lincoln MKT and Chevrolet Traverse, they are the most interesting and important new cars to watch as the 2009 model year kicks into high gear and model year 2010 begins.

Peugeot has unveiled a hybrid concept car, previewing a new design language that will replace the French car maker’s polarising ‘big mouth’ styling.
The RC concept car is the first vehicle designed by Peugeot’s new design boss Jerome Gallix and will debut at October’s Paris motor show with design cues that will first feature on the all-new 408 large car due in 2010.
Peugeot’s Lion badge has been supersized for the sleek-looking RC concept, a four-door GT coupe that joins the likes of the VW Passat CC and forthcoming Porsche Panamera and Aston Martin Rapide in mimicking the Mercedes-Benz CLS.

Spy photographers have caught the next-generation Toyota Prius hybrid car undergoing testing ahead of its official unveiling at the 2009 Detroit Motor Show.
Although the new car is heavily disguised, the photos show that Toyota designers haven’t made major changes to the petrol-electric hybrid vehicle’s distinctive look. That’s backed up with our exclusive computer generated images

Official photos of the Chevrolet Volt have been revealed but somehow the team behind it have gone all narcissistic with the product photography, at least for these initial set of images that have found its way onto the internet.

The production version of the Chevrolet Volt looks like a more futuristic and aerodynamic version of the Chevrolet Cruze and although you can see many design cues carried over from the Chevrolet Volt Concept, the final version looks curiously more like a muscular buffed up version of the Kia Forte.

In advance of the Paris International Auto Show in early October, Honda has released photos of its new entry-level hybrid car, which the press has (naturally) labeled the “Prius-fighter.” Reports indicate the Insight, a five-door family hatchback that is scheduled to hit dealership floors worldwide next year, is to be priced around $18,000, some $3,000 less than Toyota’s vaunted Prius gasoline-electric hybrid.

The new Insight will be powered by the latest iteration of Honda’s Integrated Motor Assist (IMA) hybrid technology, which will be significantly cheaper than its current systems, according to press reports. The IMA is a parallel hybrid system with an electric motor mounted between the engine and transmission to act as a starter motor, engine balancer and traction motor assist. The new, more cost-efficient powertrain accounts for the low price tag, making it potentially the most affordable hybrid model on the 2009 market.

“There’s been a movement to make vehicles quieter, but we can be victims of our own virtue,” Carrie Cornwell, chief consultant to the Senate House and Transportation Committee. “That could be the case with automobiles if they get too quiet.”

Suggestions to “bell the hybrid” have been met with derision by some (though by no means all) hybrid owners. As one poster at website GreenHybrid put it recently: “Asking tens of thousands of hybrid owners to add noisemakers is burdensome.”

Peugeot seems to be channeling its aggressive side, if the photos released on Wednesday of its new hybrid concept car are any indication. The new concept, dubbed &quotRC&quot for the time being, will be formally unveiled at the 2008 Paris Auto Show.

Peugeot said the full name of the car will be disclosed later. The French automaker says the GT coupe is &quotthe missing link between the RC and concept cars revealed in 2002 and the 908 RC.&quot The RC concept cars, introduced at the 2002 Geneva Auto Show, were low, lean 2+2 coupes with steeply raked windshields and a catlike look. They were shown in gasoline and diesel variants.

Toyota, the world’s largest automaker, knows a thing or two about predicting the future of the automotive industry. They invested in hybrid technology at a time when gas cost just over $1 a gallon and America’s Big Three were focused only on high-profit SUVS. The Japanese automaker was prepared with a fleet of attractive and functional small cars when gas hit $4, and has weathered a difficult 2008 far better than most of its competition. So how is Toyota preparing for the future?

By building hybrid powertrains for its entire lineup.

The Wall Street Journal reports, &quotToyota Motor Co. announced Friday that it would make hybrid-engine systems available on all of its models by 2020.&quot