What is the future of fuel? What's new? What's next? Since 2007, Gas 2 has covered a rapidly changing world coming to terms with its oil addiction.
The art of racing a truck is not for the faint of heart. After all, trucks are about as aerodynamic as a brick, extremely heavy, and even when equipped with huge engines, far from fast. But there are exceptions, like the Hajek Motorsports F-250, which just smashed the land speed records for diesel and biodiesel trucks.
All manner of electric vehicles are in development – scooters, cars, buses, you name it. Keio University in Tokyo has been playing with electric buses. Their prototype was inspected on March 17th this year, and it’s been out on campus roads since April 20th. It still hasn’t made it to public roads though.
Yes, that is a car. As you may have guessed from its sleek and futuristic design, it’s a concept car. Actually, the Metromorph concept car—from Peugeot and designed by one Roman Mistiuk—is much more than just a car. When you’re done picking up the groceries or driving your kids to soccer practice, the car goes Spiderman all over your high-rise apartment.
I love to cover electric vehicle racing news, from grassroots projects like the Inhaler to Nissan’s efforts to bring together an electric vehicle racing series. And now here comes Toyota, swinging for the fences with an electric racecar that aims to shatter records at the famed Nurburgring track in Germany.
Britain has just announced the world’s first national EV charging network, according to the British paper The Guardian. Before we get too excited though, let’s delve into the particulars. Will they be free to use? Check. Will they be green? Check—every one of them will run on wind power. Will they be available in every part of the country? Check.
Despite the recent influx of hybrid and electric cars, there’s been virtually no news on hybridized large vehicles i.e. SUVs and trucks. Until today’s joint announcement from Ford and Toyota, that is. The two automakers have pledged to join forces and develop a rear-wheel drive hybrid system for large vehicles that will maintain their utility.
In a nation suddenly concerned about squeezing as much mileage as we can out of our everyday consumer cars—and don’t get me wrong, we are correct in that goal—who’s paying attention to the big rigs?
The Federal government finally is, it turns out. For too long the large commercial trucks and buses have not been subject to the fuel-economy standards imposed on smaller vehicles, but that’s about to end with the imposition of new fuel economy standards on the larger vehicles starting in 2014.
There’s more to pollution than the emissions that come out of a tailpipe. The process of actually building a car is energy intensive and contributes its own fair share to the world’s pollution output. However, Ford’s Dagenham Diesel Engine Assembly Line located in the United Kingdom recently erected its third wind turbine. The result—a saving of 5,000 tons of CO2 each year and an engine plant that runs 100% on wind power.
 |
 |
 |
