cars

Is a 40-mile all-electric range too much?

I have an article in today’s Guardian online, “Is the Chevy Volt just hype?” I argue that the key to the near-term success for plug-ins in this country is government incentives and mandates, which in turn will critically depend on the outcome of the presidential election. But that should not be a surprise, since no […]

Why the party that wrecked America can’t fix it

The Republican party has a problem. They have based much of their power, over the last several decades, on the idea of ever-expanding (almost exclusively white) suburbs. The thinking was, as those suburbs become less and less dense — as one wag put it, the further away the houses are from each other — the […]

Electric vehicles crowd out hydrogen brethren at sustainable driving conference

The following post is by Earl Killian, guest blogger at Climate Progress. —– Iceland has long been touted as a hydrogen economy pioneer. So it is quite shocking that electric vehicles — both plug-in hybrids and pure battery electric cars — crowded out hydrogen at a recent Reykjavík conference. Iceland is blessed with abudant hydro-electric […]

Pickens’ natural gas plan makes no sense and will never happen

The following post is by Earl Killian, guest blogger at Climate Progress. —– Thomas Boone Pickens is a billionaire who made his money in oil and corporate takeovers. He began investing in natural gas in 1997, and in wind power in 2007. In 2008, he went public with the Pickens Plan via a website and […]

Gas shortages plague the Southeast

Gas lines snake through parking lots, independent gas retailers ration supplies, and fights break-out at gasoline-starved filling stations across the Southeast … Gas shortages throughout the Southeast continue after several oil refineries in the Gulf Coast region were knocked off line after the double whammy of Hurricanes Gustav and Ike. Though two refineries have plans […]

House approves $25 billion in direct loans for auto industry

The House of Representatives yesterday approved  $25 billion in direct loans to help the auto industry comply with stricter gas mileage standards.   The loans will assist automakers in meeting fuel-efficiency standards set in last year’s energy bill that push fleet standards up to at least 35 miles per gallon by 2020. The funds can […]

A car in every garage

Everyone in the world has already linked to this story about McCain’s 13 cars (Obama has one — a hybrid Ford Escape), but I just can’t get over the humor of this sentence: "The McCains also own three 2000 NEV Gem electric vehicles, which are bubble-shaped cars popular in retirement communities." I think the hypocrisy […]

Tesla’s motoring toward sustainability one sports car at a time

If you wanna talk about moving toward a greener future, surely the sexiest way to do that is in a Tesla Roadster. This car goes 0-60 mph in 3.9 seconds — faster than a Ferrari — without guzzling a single drop of oil. All you need is about three hours plugged into the wall, and […]

Chrysler, Mazda, Hyundai, and Nissan announce plug-in hybrids — but not Honda

The number of companies planning plug-in hybrids is growing steadily. Some recent announcements can be found here. Calcars maintains an excellent update on “How carmakers are responding to the plug-in hybrid opportunity.” As for Honda, last year, The Wall Street Journal reported: Honda Motor Co. Chief Executive Takeo Fukui said so-called plug-in hybrid gasoline-electric vehicles […]