Green Options

As many car makers are coming out with electric and hybrid vehicle options that appeal to the average driver, there’s hope that more of these alternative fuel options will be seen on the streets of North America and worldwide. However, with so many service vehicles on the street still contributing to carbon emissions, the impact of regular drivers making the change to electric vehicles just might not be as beneficial to the carbon footprint if these fleet vehicles do not get on board. Stepping up to the plate and the challenge, and pledging to plug into the electric alternative are the government and other private businesses who have voiced intent to purchase electric vehicles my makers like Ford over the next few years.

Recently accusations came to light that Nissan and GM to inflate their MPG claims by combining gas and electric mileage so their green rating appeared higher, and in order to ensure that the Environmental Protection Agency  won’t follow in their alleged footsteps, The Society for Automotive Engineers and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory are recommending two different rating systems for electric vehicles that plug-in and also run on gas.

Reva, and India-based car company known for the manufacturing of small, eco-friendly commuter cars is about to release two new vehicle models that will offer the benefits of efficiency that aren’t mutually exclusive of style. The new cars will create more option for those looking for a greener alternative for making their daily commute, with small cars better suited for any lifestyle. Along with these two new efficient car models, Reva will be unveiling a new charging technology, which will address skeptical consumers’ fear of “range anxiety”; a common worry of those considering a purchase of increased efficiency vehicles.

It appears that companies are realizing that zero emission electric vehicles should not just be for the “rich”. In May, Nissan announced that it would begin electric cars in the U.S. to be available in 2010. This week, they announced they would mass produce a zero-emissions electric car by 2012 that would be affordable. However, during a Nissan shareholder’s call Chief Executive Carlos Ghosn refused to speculate on the sticker price.

According to an Associated Press article, Ghosn said, “If it’s not affordable, it’s not gonna work. We are not going to come with a very high price. We are gonna come with a reasonable price,” he said. “We are here to mass market them.”

What I want to know is what the company will consider affordable now that America’s economic turmoil continues to spiral downward.

GE’s Electric Bus (Source: GE)

The Inspired Economist (IE) recently interviewed GE’s Bob King, a 30-year veteran of the company who has driven the company’s research in the advanced electric and hybrid vehicle space.

With the energy crisis of the late ’70s, GE began to aggressively pursue the development of an electric test vehicle, creating a prototype that included nearly all the components that can be found in today’s hybrid vehicles. Bob worked on this, and also on the development of GE’s hybrid bus in 1996. The bus established the emissions requirements for NYC’s hybrid transit buses and paved the way for those that you see on the roads today.

Bob has witnessed the cyclical nature of the country’s demand for energy-efficient cars and the changes in technology that have resulted in advancing the industry. Here’s what he had to say to IE.

IE: What is GE’s hybrid vehicle?  Can you describe it?  It’s USP?

BK: GE researchers are working on hybrid systems and battery technologies for a hybrid locomotive and for heavy-duty vehicle applications, which we believe could cascade down and help accelerate key advancements for Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicles (PHEVs) in the automotive sector. In fact, we also have been performing some research in conjunction with the lithium-ion battery maker A123Systems to support their battery development for automobile applications.

Obama has prided himself on removing government waste and not allowing pork to infiltrate his controversial $787B stimulus package, but was he successful? According to many outspoken opponents such as Senator John McCain, the answer is no.

Peugeot has announced plans to debut an all-new performance hybrid concept at the Paris motor show in October. According to the French manufacturer, the car, known for now as the RC Clubs, (but whose final name will be confirmed at the show), will be a four-door, four seat GT Coupe with “highly innovative hybrid architecture.”

Peugeot claim that the car boasts 313bhp, with combined CO2 emissions of 109g/km. If true, this would make the RC Clubs easily the most powerful model in production by the French outfit, yet also one of the greenest. Moreover, when running at low speeds, the RC will be powered solely by an electric motor, meaning zero emissions at source, much the same as the Toyota Prius and the Honda Civic Hybrid.

In the world of hybrid and electric cars, the upcoming commercial release of the Chevrolet Volt must surely rank as the most widely (and wildly) anticipated event. Now GM has ramped up the expectation levels another notch by releasing two teaser pictures providing us with a sneak-peak of its much vaunted plug-in hybrid model.

The release of the pictures, showing parts of the front and rear ends, will be seen in the industry as a signal that GM is still very much on track for the forecast 2010 launch of this pioneering car.

A major new report has claimed that by 2020 all new cars sold will be hybrids of one form or another, and that battery technology will be commonplace in most cars.

The report, ‘Automotive 2020: Clarity Beyond the Chaos,’ (.pdf), written by IBM’s Institute for Business Value, is based on interviews with 125 anonymous car industry executives across 15 different countries.

The findings make it clear that the car industry is currently undergoing a period of radical and fundamental change. According to one respondent, an executive with a European car company, “In the next ten years, we will experience more change than in the 50 years before.”

Sally and I bought a car the other day. Yup, that’s it on the left — a mid-sized, four-wheel drive SUV — what every guy who writes for an environmental website should own. As much as we make of buying “green” and polluting less with our vehicles, we’re sometimes left with few options.

What I learned from this transaction, is that the process of buying a used car is changing with the infusion of hybrid-electric vehicles (HEV) into the marketplace. Let me explain.

Oh, the building in the background? I have a link at the end of the article.

As you know, we’re older. (Well, I’m much older, Sally’s just older.) We have limited income and some physical considerations, so we had to settle for something less than I would like from the standpoint of our carbon footprint. Purchasing a used HEV was out of the question, as much as I would like to have one, but I’ll cover that later.

I did all the “guy” things, you know, kick the tires, check the engine, look at fluid levels and general physical condition. Sally did her part. She looked it over inside and out, got in the passenger seat for the test ride and exclaimed, “I like it, let’s buy it,” and we did.

Later, I got to thinking, what used car will you buy in the next few years? This will undoubtedly be my last car purchase, and it was done in the traditional manner with all the traditional considerations as outlined above. You, on the other hand, may have to think about more than the tires, drive train, engine, brakes and the like.

A green-energy ocean glider has cruised back and forth between the islands of St. Thomas and St. Croix more than 20 times since its launch in December. Being tested by researchers from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and Webb Research Corporation, the robotic glider uses ocean heat to warm wax-filled tubes that then expand to generate mechanical energy that drives the [...]