cars

Bike-hatin’ DOT head Mary Peters warns of decline in gas-tax revenues

Mary Peters, President Bush’s Secretary of Transportation, is best known in green circles for blaming bike-riders and pedestrians for the decay of the nation’s roads and bridges. But green-transit-hating Peters seems to be singing a different tune, now that the Highway Trust Fund is threatened by a decrease in driving. Congress yesterday approved an $8 […]

Taxi!

Gas prices getting you down?  Take a free ride in the Solartaxi. ….adding: just don’t try it in Alaska.

Slower

Kent A. Sepkowitz doesn’t mention it in this op-ed about lowering auto speeds, but it would save a heck of a lot of gas too. I’m sure politicians will be eager to propose it!

Showcase offers electric vehicle test-drives at DNC; review of an eBox

In the midst of the mayhem that is the Democratic National Convention in Denver, 10 electric vehicles can be found zipping along the streets of Denver or idling at the corner of Speer and Champa. Boulder County, Colo. delegate Nate Vanderschaaf brought them to Denver as part of the Electric Vehicle Rolling Showcase — a […]

Umbra on hybrid myths

Dear Umbra, Could you help me clear up a rumor about cars? I’ve heard that although hybrids reduce your carbon footprint because they use less gas, the process for mining the nickel in the hybrid batteries produces far more pollution than the process for regular car batteries. So are we really making a difference by […]

Some good news about high gas prices

I’m a bit late on this, but it’s still worth mentioning. Via The New York Times: Traffic deaths in the United States declined last year, reaching the lowest level in more than a decade, the government reported Thursday. Some 41,059 people were killed in highway crashes, down by more than 1,600 from 2006. It was […]

Why electricity is the energy carrier of choice

Our already substantial 120-year investment in an electric infrastructure in industrial countries, makes the transition to a electricity based energy economy less expensive. There are sound physical reasons why the three main contenders for the energy supply for transport turn out to be the three electron economies: renewables, nuclear, and coal CCS. We have determined […]

No schadenfreude over the death of SUVs

You know your product is in trouble when the housing analogies come out: The market for sport utility vehicles is starting to look a lot like the housing market, spreading pain to consumers, automakers and dealers … I am not sure this post qualifies as schadenfreude — since that has been defined as “largely unanticipated […]

Fleet of hydrogen concept vehicles crosses U.S. as part of Hydrogen Road Tour

The BMW Hydrogen 7 “stores its hydrogen as a super-cold liquid and burns it in a V-12 piston engine; BMW claims that the exhaust from the Hydrogen 7 is actually cleaner than the ambient air,” says The New York Times’ Wheels blog. Dan Riehl. A parade of hydrogen concept vehicles is undertaking a two-week sweep […]