Published on May 2nd, 2008
Like this post? Subscribe to our RSS feed and stay up to date.
Electric and hybrid electric car manufacturer Aptera has been turning heads since the first announced their space-age looking Typ1 prototype. The sub $30,000 electric version of the Typ1 has a range of 120 miles and is expected to be ready for limited release later this year.
Take a look at the latest video from Aptera, a guided tour of their factory:
You can also see pictures of the facility here.
Related Post: Aptera’s $26,000 Electric Car and 300 MPG Hybrid Coming Soon
Published on May 2nd, 2008
As has happened before, with gas prices continuing to climb, the demand for improved fuel economy will increase as well, and all manner of improvements and upgrades that promise to help get better mileage will be touted. Some offer real benefits; others are pure snake oil.
An improvement that offers both improved mileage and increased horsepower seems counterintuitive at first. After all, the tradeoff that hybrids and other economy vehicles offer seem to be one of reduced horsepower and acceleration in exchange for improved fuel economy. So how can you have both? Read the rest of this entry »
Published on May 1st, 2008
As the automakers scramble to make plans for achieving 35 MPG by 2020, it seems that our suspicions that the task is entirely possible without fancy hybrids or hydrogen cars has been confirmed. The manufacturers been achieving high mileage in Europe and Japan for years now, so I expect to see it in the US eventually. Luckily, there are six exciting new technologies that are going to make it possible in the US.
These technologies are interesting because they come without the paradigm shift that seems to accompany buying a hybrid or a small economy car. Cars equipped with this green tech will be just like any other car, just more efficient.
More on the six new engine technologies after the break.
Read the rest of this entry »
Published on April 29th, 2008
Cool replica of the Lotus 7 with plenty of horsepower and legendary performance.
Source:
Tags:
electric car,
electric lotus,
electric lotus super 7,
electric sports car,
electric vehicle,
ElectricLotus,
ElectricLotusSuper7,
evisol,
evisol thorr,
evisolthorr,
Lotus,
lotus 7,
lotus replica,
lotus seven,
Lotus7,
LotusSeven,
performance car,
sports car,
thorr,
Video
Published on April 29th, 2008
While the national average price of gasoline is now $3.60, some residents of Utah are happily filling up on compressed natural gas (CNG) at $0.63 per gallon. That’s the country’s lowest price for CNG, which has understandably caused a surge in demand for vehicles running on a fuel that one man described as “practically free.”
So far, CNG vehicles haven’t made a blip on my radar screen, even though the group Natural Gas Vehicles for America (NGVA) estimates there are 150,000 NGVs on U.S. roads today and over 5 million worldwide. It took a phone call from sunny Southern Utah to clue me in to recent developments, which include a local refueling station overflowing with CNG-hungry vehicles. Read the rest of this entry »
Published on April 29th, 2008
It had to happen, just when we were beginning to think that plug-in hybrid and electric cars were the best things since sliced bread, someone has intimated that there may be a health risk involved in driving those vehicles.
You remember, the power line scare back in the ’70’s (which really hasn’t gone away) and of course the more recent flap about cell phones emitting dangerous electromagnetic fields to the brain. In case you want to read more on these issues, a specific Google entry should suffice.Now, before you go somewhere else, hang on, there’s more to this electromagnetic field issue than you may think. That’s coming up, along with a short tip of the hat to the man who got us started on our way to the world we live in. Read the rest of this entry »
Tags:
alternative energy,
automobiles,
Cars,
electric cars,
electric energy,
electric motors,
electromagnetic fields,
electromagnetism,
health hazard,
nicholas tesla,
nikole tesla,
plug-in hybrids,
plug-ins,
renewable energy,
Tesla
Published on April 28th, 2008
As Benjamin reported on EcoGeek last week, even if all plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) were recharged by coal-based electricity, they would still be an improvement over regular cars. Take a look at this graph from Technology Review, who reported that “plug-ins always result in lower emissions than conventional cars.” They beat hybrids too, unless power is coming exclusively from coal:
Read the rest of this entry »
Published on April 23rd, 2008
While we love hearing about sweet rides like the $100K Tesla Roadster, a functional and economical electric car made for the rest of us would be even cooler.
This could be it: the Th!nk City electric car, a four-seater with 110 mile range and top speed of 65 mph, priced under $25,000, made from 95% recyclable materials, and available in the U.S. in 2009. Read the rest of this entry »
Published on April 23rd, 2008
The White House has outlined their plan to increase fuel efficiency standards to 35 MPG by 2020, a move that will save Americans an estimated $100 billion in fuel costs.
The mandate was outlined in last year’s energy bill in December, but this proposal gives a boost to the timeline by requiring the mileage of passenger vehicles to average 31.6 MPG by 2015. That’s up from today’s average of 25 MPG (which I can’t help but mentioning is identical to the mileage of the original Model T Ford). Read the rest of this entry »
Published on April 22nd, 2008
It’s not quite the same type of hybrid drive-train you’d see in street vehicles, but in an exciting announcement, Max Mosely of F1 has announced that all cars will become hybrid by 2013, along with other changes to the vehicles.
The hybrid system that will be phased in is known as KERS, which stands for Kinetic Energy Recovery System. KERS doesn’t store as much energy as a traditional hybrid system, but it only weighs 55 pounds and the limited energy storage capacity is well suited for Formula-style racing.
Read the rest of this entry »
