cars

Star is driving a converted electric car

AC Propulsion announced delivery of their first eBox to Tom Hanks. Its a Scion xB with the engine replaced by a 35 kW lithium ion battery -- delivering an impressive 150 mile range. And for $55k, they'll upgrade your Scion, too.

And I had no idea Tom Hanks was such a regular guy. From the press release:

Just before he drove off, silently, in his new eBox, Hanks observed, "There are three electric cars sitting on the moon, and now another one in my garage. The eBox makes even more sense in Los Angeles than in the Taurus-Littrow Valley of the moon. I can drive all weekend, hauling dogs and helping my friends move, and the only reason I'll need to stop at a gas station is for beef jerky and lottery tickets."

Tom Hanks: Trekkie and a fiend for beef jerky. And apparently the go-to guy in Hollywood when starlets can't find anyone to help them move apartments over the weekend.

Electric motorcycles may be bridge to electric cars

I see this pea-green electric car biffing around the neighborhood now and then. I test drove a similar car a year or so ago. Entrepreneurs just can't resist testing the electric car market. One company after another goes out of business, only to be replaced by the next guy in line. It might help if they would make them less silly looking. Adding a fourth wheel might have been worth it in this case.

The pre-Oscar buzz is green, all green

Anyone who sneaks a guilty peek at Access Hollywood or Extra after dinner knows that it is officially Party Week in Hollywood. Everybody and her over-pedigreed dog is in town, boozing and schmoozing it up before the Academy Awards on Sunday. So when I scored an invite to the Global Green pre-Oscar party, I was pretty pumped.

This is the third year the organization has thrown the blowout, complete with a plethora of hybrids and alternative energy vehicles in the parking lot, chic sustainable building materials on display inside, and a long list of big names in attendance. Among the biggest: Petra Nemcova and James Blunt, Diane Kruger and Joshua Jackson, Orlando Bloom and his new spiky haircut, and Oscar nominees and event co-chairs Leonardo DiCaprio and Penelope Cruz.

Unfortunately, I and the rest of the print media were stationed in front of the fans on the street and after a looong line of photographers. So many of the stars didn't stop to chat, either because they were suffering from sheer media fatigue or because they mistook us for a gaggle of screaming autograph seekers. (I'm sure my shrill cries of "Orlando! I want to ask you about the environment!" didn't help.)

On eco-friendly transport for the not-so-rich

Dear Brokeass, What I’m having the worst issue with is that most of the stuff we do has such a small impact. Recycle, reuse, on and on. I know the biggest place to make an impact is transportation, but the vehicle cost has me down. I’d love a hybrid car, but when you’re strapped for […]

Duh!

As if it were news, a report by Intellichoice.com found that over a five-year span, the owner of a Prius saves more than $13,000 compared to the owner of a similar non-hybrid.

In fact, the savings apply "across the board," to all 22 hybrids evaluated. What's more, the study was the most inclusive of any yet: It factored in insurance, fuel, taxes, maintenance, and the works.

Read it to believe it, but it just confirms what many of us have been saying for years.

Hybrid cars dangerously quiet for pedestrians

Turns out that it isn't just U.S. automakers that have been put in mortal danger by hybrids (it is their fault, of course): the National Federation of the Blind said this week that those at risk include (gasp) cyclists, the blind, the elderly, and distracted pedestrians. Lay on those horns, people!

Prius consumes more energy in lifetime than Cherokee

I thought this article hit a little too close for comfort. If you really want to call yourself an environmentalist, do what my sister-in-law did: Buy a small Toyota hatchback and put 5,000 miles a year on it for two decades.

Then there was this interesting article in the Economist discussing the future of diesel cars in America:

The dirty little secret about hybrids is that their batteries and extensive use of aluminium parts make them costly to build in energy terms as well as financial terms. One life-cycle assessment claims that, from factory floor to scrap heap, a Prius consumes more energy even than a Hummer III. Diesels are unlikely to consume anything like as much over their lifetime. That could change, of course, if some bright spark decides to replace a hybrid's petrol engine with a diesel--to launch a family car capable of 100mpg. Now there's a thought.

Actually not, Economist staff writer person. That assessment you refer to says that the diesel Jetta wagon will also use as much energy in its lifetime as the H3. And guess what? In all likelihood that diesel hybrid you cite will too, for the same reasons as the Prius and Jetta. But you would have known that had you bothered to actually read that lifecycle assessment. I don't blame you, actually. The damn thing is over 400 pages long. I know because I did read it. In fact, I built a spreadsheet with the data I gleaned from it to answer some burning questions I had.

Lots of stuff happening

Tom Whipple — as usual, ahead of the curve on energy issues — writes about the recent bustle of activity around electric cars. He concludes: Be it a Ford, a Chevy, or an Asian econobox, 2007 just might turn out to be the birth year for practical electric cars. URGE2, baby! (via EB)

Thanks to Jamais Cascio …

… for making my Prius dreams come true: