Hybrid News

Filed under: EV/Plug-in, India

Having just announced the coming availability of lithium ion power to their vehicles, the REVA Electric Car Company (RECC) is sending three of the new variants on the road with the Indian Climate Solutions Road Tour. Company founder and CTO, Chetan Maini, was at the send off and spoke about the Tour being a great opportunity for the company to “showcase its advanced technology to battle environmental issues.”

These specially-prepared REVA L-ions each sport an eco-statement paint scheme as well as a solar-paneled roof which should add a few extra miles to the car’s range. Speaking of range, Mangalorean.com states that these cars can go between 93 and 124 miles on a charge, somewhat further than the 75 miles that the REVA L-ions available for sale are said to be capable of. The trip will cover 3,500 kilometers (2,175 miles) and travel through 15 cities and is meant to raise awareness and convert that awareness into action. Hit the jump for video of a news spot featuring footage of the cars at the event and Mr. Maini talking about the new batteries and new sales markets.

[Source: Mangalorean.com / Indian Climate Solutions Road Tour]

Continue reading Solar-roofed REVA L-ions go on Indian Climate Solutions Road Tour

Solar-roofed REVA L-ions go on Indian Climate Solutions Road Tour originally appeared on AutoblogGreen on Wed, 07 Jan 2009 18:12:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Original post by Domenick Yoney

Filed under: EV/Plug-in, Hybrid, Chevrolet, GM, Legislation and Policy

“Spending levels for the extended range electric Chevrolet Volt and other fuel-economy improvement initiatives to meet increasingly aggressive global fuel economy standards have been increased.” And with that statement, General Motors looks to dispel any rumors that it will be cutting the engineering staff or any funding to the Chevy Volt program. In fact, the automaker intends to increase its spending on fuel-saving initiatives, including the replacement of older utility vehicles with crossovers and rolling out new small compact cars like the upcoming Chevy Cruze.

Of course, considering that GM lost a whole heap of money last quarter (see here and the two complete press releases after the break) the investment into the Volt program and the like will come at the expense of other programs and, GM hopes, the sale of the gas-guzzling HUMMER brand along with a 30 percent reduction in salaried employment costs. GM’s CEO adds, “We remain focused on retaining our focus on product excellence and our commitment to advanced propulsion technology leadership and returning the business to profitability despite the current market conditions.”

According to the beleaguered automaker, though, all the self-help in the world won’t save its hide. In other words, General Motors has got its hand out and is looking for Federal help. Without it, GM claims, it can’t continue to exist - making the Volt, along with the rest of its future automotive operations, a no-show. Also canned, for now at least, is any merger or purchase of Chrysler, as GM has got its own problems to deal with at the moment.

[Source: GM]

Continue reading GM increases spending on Volt, fuel-saving initiatives

GM increases spending on Volt, fuel-saving initiatives originally appeared on AutoblogGreen on Fri, 07 Nov 2008 12:47:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Original post by Jeremy Korzeniewski

Filed under: EV/Plug-in, Hybrid, Chevrolet, GM

Some of you may have noticed a story posted elsewhere on the interwebs late last evening about the Chevy Volt. As the story goes, a friend of a friend of a friend, etc told the writer that the Volt program was being put on indefinite hold due to the company’s money troubles. With GM releasing its third quarter results in a couple of hours and a huge loss expected, virtually every program at GM is being cut back or delayed. The one exception to that (so far at least) remains the Volt. We checked with the primary spokesman for the Volt program at GM Rob Peterson first thing this morning on this rumor. Peterson tells us that “there’s no truth in that statement whatsoever.” So the Volt remains on track but GM is expected to announce some other big cuts this morning including lay offs among engineering staff (not related to the E-Flex program).

[Sources: General Motors, Jalopnik]

Chevy Volt program shelved? Absolutely not! originally appeared on AutoblogGreen on Fri, 07 Nov 2008 08:19:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Original post by Sam Abuelsamid

Filed under: EV/Plug-in, Green Culture, Hybrid, Chevrolet, GM, Legislation and Policy, Green Daily

The issue of the sound, or lack thereof to be specific, of hybrids, electric cars and everything in-between isn’t likely to go away any time soon. The problem, as some see it, is that electric motors do not make the same kind of noise that internal combustion engines make, and this could be a problem for blind or deaf people. Is it a real concern? That’s difficult to say until these types of vehicles really begin showing up on the roadways and people are interacting with them on a day-to-day basis. We’ve witnessed first-hand the fact that electric vehicles do indeed make noise, but is that sound enough to ensure the safety of pedestrians? We’ll see.

In the meantime, engineers are considering all of their options when it comes to making artificial noises for their EVs and hybrids. For instance, the Volt’s designers, led by Frank Weber, intend to add a driver-activated “pedestrian-friendly alert” to the Chevy Volt. The Star Trek-like (seriously) noisemaker would be turned on and off manually it seems. Of course, the Volt will indeed have an engine, but it won’t always be running and may, in fact, hardly ever operate depending on its driver’s habits. We look forward to seeing how this plays out.

[Source: GM-Volt.com via Inside Line]

Volt will have a driver-activated “pedestrian-friendly alert” originally appeared on AutoblogGreen on Thu, 30 Oct 2008 10:54:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Original post by Jeremy Korzeniewski

Filed under: EV/Plug-in, Hybrid, Chevrolet, GM, Green Daily

Conflicting stories out today on the fate of new vehicle development at GM. AutoNews is saying that the General’s cash crunch is means it is “postponing nearly all of its spending on product development in 2009 and 2010.” AutoNews′ unnamed sources also said that “nothing has been officially canceled, but nearly everything is delayed.”

Meanwhile, over in the Detroit News, the word is that GM is “downplaying″ the negative-sounding AutoNews report. GM spokesman Tom Wilkinson told the News that “We think [AutoNews is] probably overplaying this a little bit.” The good news from both articles, though, is that the Volt seems to be safe, no matter what is happening to the rest of GM’s upcoming programs. GM’s Rob Peterson confirmed to AutoblogGreen that the cuts will have “no impact” on the Volt program at this time. Full speed ahead, apparently.

[Source: Rob Peterson, AutoNews, Detroit News]

GM slashing product development funding; “no impact” on Volt program originally appeared on AutoblogGreen on Wed, 29 Oct 2008 18:05:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Original post by Sebastian Blanco

Filed under: Etc., EV/Plug-in, Hybrid, Chrysler, GM

The Chevy Volt has drummed up an absolutely huge amount of hype for General Motors. The car isn’t expected to be sold this year or even next near. No, those eager to lower their petroleum usage for transportation in a GM bowtie will need to wait until late 2010 before the new car is expected to be available, and that’s assuming everything continues to go relatively smoothly with the car’s development. But General Motors has still gotten plenty of publicity, and most of it positive, for even starting on the extended-range electric vehicle in the first place. And now, perhaps Chrysler is trying to get in on the positive spin as well. Perhaps the automaker is ENVI-ous? Or is the automaker preparing for its rumored corporate takeover?

Those of you who use Gmail are probably very familiar with the short little advertising blurbs across the top of your inbox. Those brief ads use keywords from your emails to try and predict your interests, and advertising bits for Chrysler’s ENVI program are showing up using “Volt” as a keyword. One one hand, this should be expected, considering that anyone who’s interested in the Chevy Volt may be interested in Chrysler’s ENVI project. Not all agree with that assessment, though, as you can see here. What’s more, that ENVI site has almost nothing of real substantial interest to the green automotive crowd. We’d expect more from Detroit’s third largest automaker if its actually going to be attracting attention to the ENVI minisite.

[Source: EcoGeek]

Volt used as a keyword for Chrysler’s ENVI originally appeared on AutoblogGreen on Wed, 29 Oct 2008 11:02:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Original post by Jeremy Korzeniewski

Filed under: EV/Plug-in, Hybrid, Chevrolet, GM

According to a Reuters report, General Motors has chosen Troy, MI-based Compact Power Inc. as the supplier of battery packs for the initial production run of Chevrolet Volts. Compact Power is a subsidiary of South Korean conglomerate LG Chem and was one of two groups that were awarded development contracts for the Volt in June 2007. The other contract went to a partnership of Continental and A123 Systems. CPI has been rumored to have won the production contract for some time and GM acknowledged in late summer that a decision had been made. An official announcement is not expected until some time in November, perhaps at the Los Angeles Auto Show. While a technical decision has been made, GM and CPI still have to settle the commercial details including how the carmaker and supplier will split warranty costs. CPI has been considered to be in the lead since very early on when they delivered their first prototype battery packs almost two months before Continental/A123. When we spoke to Bob Lutz back in June he said although one supplier was in the lead, both companies were continuing to work on packs in the hope of accelerating the learning process.

[Source: Reuters]

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Original post by Sam Abuelsamid

Filed under: EV/Plug-in, Hybrid, GM, Opel

Here in the U.S. market, the name Electra was used on big Buick sedans for more than four decades but it hasn′t appeared in a new car showroom since 1990. It looks like the Electra could be be making a comeback soon, but not in America. It turns out that Vauxhall, the brand that GM uses to sell right-hand drive Opels in the UK, filed a trademark application back in June for the Vauxhall Electra. GM officials have acknowledged previously that both the Chevy Volt and an Opel badged E-Flex vehicle would be offered in Europe. The Opel/Vauxhall vehicle will likely be based on the Flextreme concept that was shown at last year’s Frankfurt Motor Show. The Electra (if that’s what it’s called) will likely debut sometime in 2011. Saturn is also expected to get a version of the Flextreme here in the U.S., and it will be interesting to see if it revives the Electra name here.

[Source: Greenmotor.co.uk]

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Original post by Sam Abuelsamid

Filed under: GM, Legislation and Policy

As mentioned, General Motors’ CEO Rick Wagoner has urged his dealers to oppose states which want to set their own greenhouse gas emissions regulations, which would go above and beyond what U.S. government regulations already require. “We need to work together to educate policymakers at the state and local levels on the importance of tough but national standards,” he said, adding that GM would not “be able to accomplish everything that we otherwise could,” if states set regulations which were different than the rest of the country. The response from the NADA group seems to agree with the GM corporate stance. Wagoner also suggested that car dealers and automakers should work together to help create an alternative fuel infrastructure which would allow more consumers access to ethanol and, eventually, hydrogen.

These remarks were made at the 2008 National Automobile Dealers Association (NADA) meeting in San Francisco. Dealers for huge automakers like GM are able to reach more local and state officials than GM is able to do itself, meaning that their lobbying efforts are very important. California has been setting their own regulations regarding fuel mileage for a while now, and it is true that meeting the state′s regulations, along with those in the rest of the U.S., has been difficult at times.

[Source: The Detroit News]

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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 Jeremy Korzeniewski

Filed under: AutoblogGreen Exclusive, AFVI Expo

There weren’t a lot of astoundingly cool vehicles to drive at the AFVI Expo Ride and Drive earlier this week. Still, throw a handful of alternative-fueled cars, trucks and CUVs in a Las Vegas parking lot, and I’ll check it out. As you can see in the video I made of the event, Bosch was heavily represented by a half-dozen or so clean diesel models. GEM and Miles EVs were easy to spot, and there was even a hybrid cherry-picker and a propane pickup or two. To kick off the event, Ed Begley, Jr. and Bobby Rahal cut a ribbon (see pictures below) and then took a short loop around the lot. Watch the video after the break, and thanks to Shotgun Musical Laboratories for the sounds.

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Original post by Sebastian Blanco

Filed under: Diesel, Ethanol, Flex-Fuel, Hybrid, MPG, AutoblogGreen Exclusive, Natural Gas, AFVI Expo, Green Daily

Michael Williams is a bold man. It’s not because he wears a bow tie and cowboy boots; it’s because he will publicly say he’s a good friend of the President. Not many people around who will admit to being tight with George Bush these days. Williams, who is the chairman of the Railroad Commission of Texas, revealed this and many other things during his speech to the AFVI Expo crowd during fleet day last week about the power of propane as an alternative fuel. Now, why would the Railroad Commission care about propane? Well, in Texas, the Railroad Commission doesn’t regulate railroads (anymore). Instead, it regulates the “state’s oil and gas industry, gas utilities, pipeline safety, safety in the liquefied petroleum gas industry, and the surface mining of coal and uranium.” Therefore, if you’re involved in LPG or other gases in the state, then the Railroad Commission is your agency. But, if you don’t want to hear about propane from Williams, then skip ahead to about minute 10:30 in the audio clip below and you’ll hear a little joke about the AFVI and Moses.

Listen to Williams (15 min):

As part of the Fleet Day opening session, there were many keynote speakers who discussed alternative fuels for fleets. Read about and listen to them after the break.

Ed LaRocque, Toyoto Motor Sales USA, Inc’s National Manager for Advanced Technology Vehicles, spoke for a few minutes about not only his company’s shift to alternative fuels, but also the way that the overall culture has changed. To figure out how to best sell vehicles in this new consumer environment, LaRocque said that Toyota is working on “all areas of sustainable mobility” and is spending a million dollars an hour on R&D. Still, we have to wait a bit until we get that PHEV Prius. LaRocque confirmed that a new clean diesel V8 and E85 capability will be coming to the Tundra and Sequoia.

Listen to Ed here (6 min):

As far as understanding the consumer’s mind with all of these new cleaner mobility options goes, one of the best sources of information comes from J.D. Power & Associates. For the last two years, the group has been conducting an alternative powertrain study. Mike Marshall, the director of Automotive Engineering Technologies at J.D. Power, gave a detailed presentation about this study and revealed a lot of interesting details about how new car buyers think when they weigh their options on the lot - or, more correctly, during the 18 average months between the first “I need a new car” thought to when they pull the trigger. One such item: more new car buyers are adjusting their expectations downward for what an alternative-fueled car will get them, but haven’t made as reasonable a drop in the amount they’re willing to pay. In short, people still want a lot for their money, and a lot of the options today don’t deliver. Marshall gives the details in the clip below.

Listen to Marshall (25 min):

Finally, the Ethanol Promotion and Information Council brought along Bobby Rahal, head of Rahal Letterman Racing. Rahal was a big force in moving the Indy Racing League to using ethanol (first E10 and now E100). He called 2007 the year that motorsports finally went green, because aside from the shift from E10 to E100 in IRL, the American Le Mans series went to E10 as well and there were other moves away from pure petroleum fuel. Rahal called the AFVI group part of a “movement,” and said that the ingenuity and persistence of the alt-fuel proponents gathered in Vegas would go a long way to alleviating the problems we all face. After his speech, Rahal and Ed Begley, Jr. cut the ribbon for the Ride & Drive.

Listen here (17 min):

A big part of the Fleet Day session was set aside for a chat with energy billionaire T. Boone Pickens. His enlightening talk will be the subject of a post that’s coming tomorrow.

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Original post by Sebastian Blanco

Filed under: Biodiesel, Ethanol, Solar, AutoblogGreen Exclusive, Natural Gas, AFVI Expo, Green Daily, USA

Andrew Littlefair (left) and T. Boone Pickens

The majority of the attendees at the AFVI Expo’s Fleet Day breakfast keynote seemed quite pleased to listen to T. Boone Pickens (just like last year). Pickens is the founder of BP Capital Management and had a sit-down discussion with Andrew Littlefair, the president and CEO of Clean Energy. Why do AFVI folks like this guy? He’s got a lot of information (he’s made billions in the oil and energy industry) and he sees a way to power the future (he’s made a huge investment in wind power in Texas, for example. Littlefair said that without Boone, there wouldn’t be an NGV industry in the U.S.

A few choice quotes:

• “We are importing 72 percent of our oil. … We are now transferring $600 billion [a year] out of the United States to a few friends and a hell of a bunch of enemies. I can tell you, we are paying for the war against ourselves.”
• “If they [China] had the Olympics today, in this smog, and ran the 100 meter dash, it would have to be a relay.”
• “Diesel will never sell, again, below gasoline. It will always be more expensive than gasoline.”
• “We’re actually dealing with a huge shift of capital out to somewhere. We’re going to be reduced to - I promise you it’s going to happen pretty quick, too - we’ll be reduced to something less than the superpower that we are.”

Much more from Boone (including audio of his chat) after the break.

The main problem, Pickens said, is that 85 million barrels a day is as much oil as the world industry can produce. That’s it. More simply isn’t possible. The trouble is, in the next quarter, demand will be around 86.5m barrels each day. The only solution that Boone sees is to make all the alternatives - he singled out wind and solar - much (much) bigger players in America’s energy portfolio. For example, even with all of the problems with corn ethanol, he’d rather use it than foreign oil.

When it comes to natural gas vehicles, Pickens said, the U.S. seriously lags behind the rest of the world. There are 7m natural gas vehicles in the world, but only 150,000 in the U.S. It hurt him to say so, but he wishes the U.S. had followed France into the nuclear frontier. Also, Littlefair and Pickens agree that natural gas is a bridge to hydrogen.

As for politics, Boone is not pleased with the energy policies of either Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton. He’s a McCain supporter, but on the summer gas tax holiday issue, he said that, “I don’t know what he has in mind there.”

Listen here (40 min):

 

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Original post by Sebastian Blanco

Filed under: Biodiesel, Diesel, EV/Plug-in, Transportation Alternatives, Podcasts, AFVI Expo

For Episode #22 of the AutoblogGreen podcast, Sam and Sebastian recap the AVFI show in Las Vegas, and enter into a discussion focusing on diesel. Still on the diesel tip, Sam talks excitedly about the Volkswagen TDI Cup racing series before moving on to the much more charged topic of EV infrastructure. Our interview this week isn′t so much a one on one as it is a speech from T. Boone Pickens, he of oil magnate status, about how oil is not going to last forever. Thanks for listening, see you again soon!

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Original post by Dan Roth

Filed under: Etc., Green Culture, AutoblogGreen Exclusive, AFVI Expo, Green Daily

I covered the AFVI Expo last week and that trip was my first visit to Las Vegas. I’ve heard the stories, the advertising campaign that tries to sell Sin City as, well, Sin City that takes your credit card. What interested me the most, though, was how my environmentalist mind would react to being in a city that, quite honestly, celebrates excess and waste. I didn’t expect to feel comfortable in an oasis of VIP come-ons and bright lights surrounded by a harsh desert. I arrived in town around noon and, during my lunch at a quite reasonable buffet (Indian food, not one of those with endless tables featuring every food ever), I happened to read Wendel Berry’s essay Faustian Economics from the latest issue of Harper’s. Whoops.

Berry, who wrote an astounding collection of essays called The Long-Legged House back in 1969, takes on biofuels in the Harper’s essay. Well, he starts with biofuels and smoothly segues into a discussion of limits, reductions and how it will ever be possible to really come to terms with the way we’re consuming the world’s resources. More thoughts on this after the break.

It was odd to read an essay about learning to live withing our limits in a city that tries so to make you forget that there is any such thing. Whether we′re talking about food, money, drinks, sex, fun or whatever else you want, Las Vegas is where limits go to die. And to think, this is where the Alternative Fuel Vehicle Institute has found a home. Of course, Vegas is much more than the Strip and the casinos, but that’s what is shoved in a visitor’s face from second one. Just like there’s more to Vegas than meets the eye, there is much more to the idea of limits, and limiting our consumption of all sorts of items, than gets shoved upon us in our daily life. Berry writes:

[There is a] dogged belief that what we call the American Way of Life will prove somehow indestructible. We will keep on consuming, spending, wasting, and driving, as before, at any cost to anything and everybody but ourselves. This belief was always indefensible - the real names of global warming are Waste and Greed - and by now it is manifestly foolish.

While I leave it to you to search out the full article (Harper’s doesn′t make its contents available online unless you are a subscriber, so you’ll have to do so or head over to your local library or newstand and find the May 2008 issue) and read the elegant way that Berry begins (and ends) his article speaking about biofuels but then spends the bulk of the article arguing that the best way to live a fuller life now is to better understand our limits. In the same way that every painting has a limit (be it the canvas or the size of a wall) but not every painting has yet been created, Berry argues (and I agree) that human life can be improved by turning down the snake oil of a limitless future with a rediscovery of living within our means, both economic and environmental. In Berry’s words:

We will have to start over, with a different and much older premise: the naturalness and, for creatures of limited intelligence, the necessity, of limits. We must learn again to ask how we can make the most of what we are, what we have, what we have been given. If we always have a theoretically better substitute available from somebody or someplace else, we will never make the most of everything.

I don′t want to misrepresent what Berry says. He is in favor of “green″ alternatives like biofuels and other alternative energy sources, but only “provided they make sense.” As much as we like to cover the latest petroleum alternatives here on AutoblogGreen, we can′t deny the fact that the biggest improvement you can make to your transportation carbon footprint is to simply drive less. What Berry argues so well - and the whole reason I bring this to your attention - is that driving (and consuming) less does not mean our lives are somehow less full, less brilliant, less worthwhile. In fact, getting used to living with limits now is really the smartest thing we can do. Berry writes:

And so, in confronting the phenomenon of “peak oil,” we are really confronting the end of our customary delusion of “more.” Whichever way we turn, from now on, we are going to find a limit beyond which there will be no more. To hit these limits at top speed is not a rational choice.

Well said. So well said, in fact, that I couldn’t let what I read in Vegas stay in Vegas.

 

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Original post by Sebastian Blanco