cars

Chevy Volt not so revolutionary

For those of you who missed it, GM Vice Chairman Bob Lutz hit the talk show circuit last week to talk up the latest incarnation of the Chevy Volt (more on his boneheaded climate change comments here and here). The marketing goal is to create the public perception that the Volt is an electric car […]

GM flack jumps into Huffington Post fray to defend exec’s climate-change skepticism

We posted last week about GM Vice Chair Bob Lutz expressing a little climate-change skepticism on The Colbert Report. Josh Nelson wrote about it as well over on Huffington Post, and thus began an online conversation with GM’s director of news relations, Tom Wilkinson, who defended both Lutz and the company’s environmental policies. “There is […]

Grist and Dell hit the road in search of a sustainable future

It feels like just a year ago that I was traveling down the Mississippi in search of sustainable cities. Well, I’m on the road again — this time with a much more ambitious itinerary: 15 cities, 15 days, destination: green. I’m in San Francisco right now, but I’m headed all the way across the country, […]

Newsweek takes a look at the presidential candidates’ automobiles

After all that hubbub over houses a few weeks ago, Newsweek decided to look into the vehicle-registration records for the McCain and Obama families and find out how many cars they own. The final count? McCain: 13. Obama: 1. McCain’s fleet includes three 2000 GEM electric vehicles and the Prius that his daughter Meghan drives. […]

Tesla profile in New Scientist

For those upset about the bashing electric vehicles have taken recently, check out this glowing profile ($ub. req’d) of Tesla — and its Roadster — in New Scientist magazine today. The Roadster does 0-60 in four seconds, tops out at 130 mph, and only costs $109,000 (sigh … not in this writer’s budget this year). […]

Touting the Volt, GM exec denies anthropogenic climate change

GM Vice Chairman Bob Lutz was on the “Colbert Report” last night to talk about the new Chevy Volt, but a lot of the conversation ended up being about whether or not Lutz believes in anthropogenic climate change. Colbert, on the Volt: “This is tantamount to admitting that we have to do something about global […]

The automotive revolution: how fast?

Wall Street Journal senior editor Joseph B. White attempts to dump some cold water on the "automotive revolution" everyone’s all giddy about: This revolution will take years to pull off — and that’s assuming it isn’t derailed by a return to cheap oil. Anyone who goes to sleep today and wakes up in five years […]

Umbra on cruise control

Dear Umbra, To cruise or not to cruise? That is the question. Is it more fuel efficient to use cruise control when driving, or does it use more gas to use the cruise? Carrie Waterloo, Ontario, Canada Dearest Carrie, Whether ’tis nobler to travel at constant speed — that is indeed a question. And Edmunds.com, […]

The Economist agrees with me on hydrogen

When the world’s uber-centrist magazine of choice runs a headline almost identical to mine, you know it’s all over. Especially when one of that magazine’s leading energy columnists, Vijay Vaitheeswaran, used to sing that technology’s praises (here). Here’s the bottom line: But the promise of hydrogen-powered personal transport seems as elusive as ever. The non-emergence […]