cars

Who Killed the Electric Car? launch date set

In addition to An Inconvenient Truth, we've been also tracking the film Who Killed the Electric Car? This morning Grist received an email concerning the official launch date, which is scheduled for June 28th of this year.

The movie was screened at Sundance and will also be appearing at the following festivals:

San Francisco Film Festival (April 21-22)
USA Film Festival, Dallas (April 29)
Tribeca Film Festival, New York City (May 2, 4-6)
Mountain Film Festival, Telluride, Co (tentative: May 28)
Seattle Film Festival (tentative: June 9)
Atlanta Film Festival (tentative: June 11)

Rage against the (hybrid) machine

Some California drivers are getting all steamed up that they have to share the carpool lanes with single-occupant hybrids, like the Toyota Prius and Honda Civic, under a new state program. Some of the complaints, of course, should be taken with a grain of salt. Said one fumer in an online discussion group: "These [drivers] barely go 65 mph and allow no one to pass them on the right... Talk about road rage!" Uh, dude, that's not road rage -- that's whining.

Current TV: Make your own Yaris TV ad, and more

So you think you've got the chops to produce a television commercial after making your own Chevy Tahoe ad? Well, let's see how well you do when you have to shoot and edit it yourself! Still up to the challenge? If so, head on over to Current TV where they're seeking submissions for viewer-created ads for the Toyota Yaris.

What would you do with your Yaris? Now, you don't have to own a Yaris to take on this project. Just make a V-Cam commercial about what you would do with your Toyota Yaris. The operative word here is "you." Make it personal, engaging and compelling. Where would you go? Who would you take? What would you take with you? Whatever you do, have fun and let your freak-flag-fly. There. Now go make something.

Now, before you get all subversive, check this out: the Yaris supposedly gets up to 40 mpg on the highway, according to the Toyota website. Oh yeah, if your piece airs, you earn $1,000.

If you'd rather watch than create, Current has added several new enviro pieces to their Earth pod:

Increase fuel efficiency with magnets!

As the developed world scratches its collective head over the puzzle of fuel efficiency -- "Why would we want something that's good for us in the short term and the long term?" -- a Los-Angeles-based company has patented technology to reduce emissions and increase fuel efficiency, all with the humble holder-of-plastic-letters-onto-the-refrigerator: the magnet. Save the World Air, Inc., do-gooders and lovers of acronyms, own the manufacturing and marketing rights to ZEFS and CAT-MATE devices, which are ...

... specifically engineered to minimize environmental pollution, to enhance fuel system performance and to increase engine efficiency. Variations of these devices can be attached to the internal combustion engines or exhaust systems in most automobiles, motorcycles, off-road vehicles, generators and other stationary implements.

Plug-in hybrids go viral

I'm not a big fan of flash animation. I am, however, a huge fan of plug-in hybrids. Love trumps hate in this instance, so I urge you to check out Calcar.org's efforts to spread the word on the benefits of plug-in hybrids with this piece of viral marketing.

If you make it to the end of the animation, there's a chance to sign a petition to automakers urging them to manufacture plug-ins.

Make your own Chevy Tahoe commercial

Check this out: Chevrolet has a site up where you can design your own commercial for the Chevy Tahoe. As Kevin Drum says, this one is probably not long for this world, so watch it while you can.

Here's my commercial:

Hey, 2,325 U.S. kids have died, 16,653 have been injured, and up to $2 trillion will be spent to keep our oil supply safe. If you support the troops you'll get out there and use some of it! Chevy Tahoe: Don't let all that blood go to waste.^™

Car news: fast and furious

So much car news, so little time! Yes, this post is long, but it's highly informational and a kick in the pants (if I do say so myself). And at the end you get to read the Worst Ethanol Metaphor Ever! Trust me, it's worth it.

Let us begin. From Uganda comes this highly punctuated bit of car news:

A local school has rewarded its best performing students with vehicles. St. Lawrence London College lavished their top three students in last year's A-Level exams with a car each, and cash awards. Incredible!

The principal said the annual award would encourage other students to work hard. Preposterous!

Meanwhile, Lexus is unveiling the priciest hybrid on the market: the $54,900 GS 450h. Ridiculous!

And in more hybrid news: Volvo plans to launch a hybrid truck engine. The new engine would cut fuel consumption by 35 percent, say the Volvans. Says prototypically-Swedishly-named Volvo bigwig Leif Johansson:

We are talking about half of the overall heavy truck market and perhaps as much as 75 percent of the bus market and 100 percent of construction equipment.

In a separate article, he added that the prospect of this hybrid engine "makes us weep with pleasure." Hilarious!

Smaller cars make a comeback … kind of.

Great news! According to at least one analyst, sales of subcompact cars in the U.S. are supposed to double in the next five years!

If this gives you visions of nation-wide FUH2 dancing in your head, you may also be one of those folks who believed your friends when they said the word "gullible" wasn't in the dictionary. (Hint: it is.) A doubling of the U.S. subcompact car market would bring small cars' share of the new-vehicle market to a whopping 3 percent. Actually less than 3 percent. Sigh. Why, why would this be? Says another analyst:

I don't think [the subcompact is] a car for the U.S. market ... Those cars look great in Europe, but put them on road here next to a big SUV and they don't look so good anymore.

I'm assuming by "good" he means "pridefully wasteful to compensate for small-manhood syndrome." That being the case, I suppose he has a point.

Consumer Reports backtracks

Odograph will be happy to hear that Consumer Reports has admitted error: some hybrids save money after all.

Including fuel savings and tax credits, Consumer Reports said, the Toyota Prius hybrid would save about $400 over five years and the Honda Civic hybrid would save about $300 compared with conventionally powered models.

The magazine said it overestimated depreciation of the cars in arriving at its initial conclusion.

I guess the millions thousands tens zero people who were staying away from hybrids for this reason can now put them back on the shopping list.

(See original thread on CR report here.)