Gas 2.0

RVs are not known for their fuel efficiency. Some can need a gallon to get just 8 miles out of town. But here’s one that goes to the other extreme.

Originally envisioned as weighing just 50 pounds, and with a pullout drawer to extend its length for sleeping; inventor Paul Elkins‘ camper was designed for maximum efficiency. It had to endure winds of 60 mph, heat of 100+ degrees. And it’s not merely fuel efficient. It uses no fuel at all.
Read the rest of this entry »

Peugeot has signed an agreement with Mitsubishi to begin building and marketing a new electric car in Europe based on Mitsu’s i-MiEV platform. The agreement builds upon a previous memorandum of understanding and solidifies the two companies as partners in next generation car technology.

The car is set to begin production and sale in Europe by late in 2010. Peugeot expects to sell 25,000 of the cars to the European market per year. Citroën, Peugeot’s sister company, will also sell the i-MiEV-based electric car under the Citroën brand.

Read the rest of this entry »

What you see above (center) is one of the most well-engineered “Franken-cars” of all time: a factory-modified 1980’s era Mercedes-Benz 190 diesel, stuffed with the company’s latest BlueEFFICIENCY CDI engine, which makes more than double the horsepower and nearly three times the torque of the original 1988 D.

How far we’ve come in 20 years!

More photos, and MBUSA’s own comprehensive press release, after the jump.

Read the rest of this entry »

It’s an Audi-tastic day! Johan de Nysschen, President of Audi US, certainly took some major heat over the interwebs today for his inflammatory and derogatory statements that the Chevy Volt is a “car for idiots” and that electric cars are only for intellectual elites to “make a statement.” They were especially curious comments because they came at the same time that Audi launched a website touting the power of electricity.

So, knowing how these things usually go, after some serious damage control conference calls between the Audi communications folks and higher level management, de Nysschen was probably forced to respond with a much more diplomatic take on his positions — what he should have done in the first place. It’s so hard to backpedal once you’ve said something as concrete as “you’re an idiot if you buy this car.”

Read the rest of this entry »

Just ahead of the upcoming Frankfurt Auto Show, Audi is sending out *extremely* mixed signals on how involved it’s going to get in the development and production of electric cars. In the wake of the proclamation by Audi US President, Johan de Nysschen, that the Chevy Volt “is for idiots” and that electric cars are a mistake in general, Audi has just released a barrage of videos teasing about the power of electricity and hinting that they will be developing an electric car.

So which one is it Audi? Are you for or against EVs? Or is it that you just want to appear to be for EVs so that you can tame the “elite intellectual” crowd that you so heavily rely upon, while secretly being against? Perhaps a bit of nefarious greenwashing?

Read the rest of this entry »

Bring on the war of words. In a frank conversation with MSN writer Lawrence Ulrich, Audi of America President Johan de Nysschen has said that the Chevy Volt will fail and that anybody who buys the car is an idiot. Not only that, de Nysschen has lumped proponents of any type of electric car into a category of “intellectual elite who want to show what enlightened souls they are.”

I’m guessing that means a fair amount of the people reading this would be considered idiots and pompous intellectual elites in Mr. de Nysschen’s book. Funny that. Hearing an Audi executive mocking any other car as being for intellectual pompous elites is, err, interesting, given that Audi is known for being in exactly that category themselves. Agh.

Read the rest of this entry »

At the upcoming Frankfurt Auto Show (September 17-27, 2009) Volkswagen will be debuting updated versions of its Euro-spec Polo, Golf and Passat diesels. According to European testing methods, the Polo BlueMotion will get the equivalent of 71.3 mpg (US), the Golf BlueMotion 61.9 mpg, and the Passat BlueMotion 53.4 mpg.

Read the rest of this entry »

Ah, the Trabant. That most humble and often-maligned communist-era East German auto icon. To people who remember the car — lovingly and mockingly nicknamed the Trabi in its heyday — it conjures up all sorts of feelings. Personally the Trabi and I have a special connection: My wife grew up in East Germany and has fond, bittersweet memories of taking vacations to the Baltic Sea crowded into the back (and sometimes even the trunk) of the loud, blue-smoke-belching, death trap.

Read the rest of this entry »

Mercedes has dipped its toes into the world of hydrogen power (video below) with the launch of its first-ever production fuel-cell vehicle, the B-class F-cell.

Read the rest of this entry »

Researchers from the University of Massachusetts Amherst evolved a new strain of the Geobacter microbe that increases power output per cell by 800%.

The hairy mud-loving microbe uses its hairlike filaments–called pili–to produce an electric current from both mud and waste water. The pili are only 5 nanometers in diameter (20,000 times smaller than a human hair); they’re also a thousand times longer than they are wide. But they are strong!

Read the rest of this entry »

Setting its sights on the burgeoning US market for car batteries, cutting-edge Swiss zinc-air battery company, ReVolt, has decided to take advantage of Oregon’s generous business tax credits for development of next generation car technologies.

Read the rest of this entry »

Native Malaysian tribespeople are taking to traditional methods of battle — including the use of blowpipes — to combat the destruction of their homeland to satisfy the exploding worldwide demand for palm oil.

The rate at which virgin tropical rainforests are currently being cleared to plant palm plantations to supply the ravenous growth of worldwide palm oil demand is staggering: In Indonesia alone 4.4 million acres of rainforest disappear each year. Given that one American football field is roughly one acre, that’s just about 4.4 million football fields. Truly staggering.

Together, Malaysia and Indonesia account for 80% of worldwide palm oil production, but they also contain more than 80% of the remaining virgin rainforests in Southeast Asia. Unfortunately, the only remaining lands in Southeast Asia that are also the best for palm oil production are these vast swaths of virgin rainforest.

Read the rest of this entry »

But from an another point of view, are wild oil price fluctuations really all that bad?

In my experience, it doesn’t take a higher degree and advanced knowledge of oil economics to see that rampant speculation is behind the crazy swings in oil prices we’ve seen in recent years. Even so, it’s a topic that economists and pundits have debated ad nauseum.

In what may be one of the most exhaustive analyses of the issues surrounding the murky field to date, Rice University researchers from the Baker Institute for Public Policy have released a new policy paper — “Who is in the Oil Futures Market and How Has It Changed?” — aimed at setting the record as straight as can be.

Read the rest of this entry »

In an effort to drum up attention and support for their algae-based biofuel, Sapphire Energy has announced they will conduct a coast-to-coast journey in their “Algaeus” plug-in hybrid. Part electric hybrid, part biofuel vehicle, Sapphire claimes the Algaeus will get 150 miles per gallon from its hybrid/biofuel drivetrain.

The Algaeus will visit 10 cities, starting in San Francisco on September 8th and ending in New York City on the 18th.

Read the rest of this entry »

On Saturday, I spent four hours in the blistering August heat of Palo Alto, California exploring the world of electric cars at the 37th Annual Electric Car Rally and Show. Sponsored by the Electric Automobile Association, Silicon Valley Chapter, the event offered a wide variety of vehicles, people and philosophies. I also enjoyed a remarkably tasty spicy chicken taco and two enormous icees.

With all the excitement over the $109,000 Tesla sports car and news of the upcoming Nissan Leaf, a four-door sedan for more regular folks, you might wonder what you can do today, without breaking the bank. The answer is, folks have been thinking about electric cars for a long time and converting them to 100 percent battery power.

Read the rest of this entry »