UPS Goes Hybrid!

UPS has ordered 200 hybrid delivery trucks! The trucks will feature Mercedes-Benz diesel engines, a 2 kWh lithium ion battery pack, and a computer-controlled manual transmission resulting in a 40 percent fuel savings and a 90 percent reduction in carbon emissions compared to standard diesel systems. The shipping company has also ordered 200 compressed [...]

Honda FCX Clarity Zero Emission Fuel Cell Vehicle is Here Now!

Starting this summer, Honda will be leasing the FCX Clarity fuel cell vehicle in Southern California. This zero emission car is limited to Torrance, Irvine, and Santa Monica, as these places are the only ones with fueling station infrastructure. The reason for this limited initial release is that in order to drive a fuel cell vehicle, [...]

Minneapolis Stops Idling

The city council in Minneapolis MN has adopted an ordinance to prohibit automobiles from idling for more than three minutes. The measure is aimed at reducing atmospheric pollution, but should also be welcomed by anyone who wants to save money, given the currently escalating cost of fuel. Minneapolis already has ordinances on the books against [...]

Company Turns Familiar Gas Cars Into Electric Vehicles

How would you like to drive an all-electric Mini? An EV Smart Car? A PT Cruiser? With the help of Hybrid Technologies, you can. They’ve taken many familiar vehicles, ripped out their engines, and replaced them with lithium batteries and electric motors. On the surface it makes great sense and it seems there would be a [...]

Honda Begins “Production” of Hydrogen Fuel Cell Vehicle

Honda has started rolling the first US specification FCX Clarity hydrogen fuel cell sedans off a production line in Japan to be delivered to a small group of hand-picked high-profile California test customers. Leases to these customers, including Jamie Lee Curtis, are scheduled to begin in July. The combined sales plan for the US and Japan [...]

Mindset Six50 Electric Car Mixes Gas, Li-Ion and Solar Power

New car industry start-up Mindset, has announced plans to sell a gasoline-electric hybrid next year. The 2+2-seater hybrid, called the Six50, boasts an electric-only range of 100km (62 miles) via a built-in Li-Ion battery. A two-cylinder gasoline motor, which kicks in as a generator as required, boosts the range to 800km (496 miles). Battery charging [...]

The All-Electric (EV) CitiCar: Powered by the Sun

I’m eagerly awaiting the 4-door, family-sized EV sedan rumored to be in the pipeline from the Canadian-based ZENN Motor Company (they already make a great 2-door model that’s even affordable to us non-celebrity types, picture above). I’d like to avoid going to the gas station at all when going to an Energy Fair or [...]

Mazda’s New Premacy Hydrogen Hybrid Rotary Engine Car Takes to the Road

Mazda’s newest hydrogen rotary engine will take to public roads in Japan for testing this year.  The company says the vehicle is the world’s first hydrogen hybrid car with a dual-fuel system, enabling the use of either hydrogen or gasoline. The Japanese government has given Mazda Motor Corporation permission to test the Mazda Premacy Hydrogen RE [...]

Revolution in Hydrogen Cars - 650 Miles Per Tank

A team at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory have revealed a potential revolution in hydrogen cars, after driving 650 miles on one tank of liquid hydrogen. In a recent test, the scientists set a new world record after they installed a super-insulated hydrogen gas tank in a standard Prius hybrid that was able to keep [...]

Electric Cars to the Masses

Shai Agassi is a man with with a pretty big mission - to engineer a globally sustainable personal transportation system for the 21st Century. As the founder and CEO of Silicon-Valley based company Project Better Place , he aims to turn that dream into a reality. The Project works by teaming up with [...]

Toyota Building Nickel-Metal Hydride and Lithium-Ion Battery Plants for Electric and Hybrid Cars

What will $192 million buy? A nickel-metal hydride battery plant in Shizuoka prefecture, central Japan. Toyota is teaming up with Matsushita Electric Industrial Co, makers of Panasonic, to build a plant to produce the batteries currently used in the Prius. Rumors are also circulating in the Nikkei, Japan’s top business daily, that Toyota [...]