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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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Looking at the overall package - most of it (34%) is much-needed tax relief which should help stimulate the economy.   But $308B of this bill is so called “discretionary spending”, which is where pork usually hides.   $48B of this $308B goes to the Department of Transportation for overall infrastructure improvement - another necessity that was brought blatantly to the public eye by the bridge collapse in Minneapolis last year.   This leaves $260B earmarked for what some consider necessary, but others consider pork.  Some of the most heavily contested portions of this bill are:

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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.

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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.

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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.”

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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.

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Photo courtesy of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, taken by John Lund.

Now in its second year, the expo will run from 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Friday, Oct. 19, and Saturday, Oct. 20. Featuring 100 different exhibitors, a slew of seminars, guest speakers and other attractions, the expo will be held at the Barker Center at the Santa Monica Air Center in Santa Monica, California. Admission is free.

Seminars during the expo will tackle such subjects as "Driving the Future: It’s Here Today," "The Likely Effects of Federal Climate Change Policy on the Development of Alternative Vehicles," "Getting Out of the Box, Moving With Our Feet," "Biodiesel Technology," "Hydrogen/Fuel Cell Technology" and "Monorails."

Expo attendees will also get a chance to take Sustainable Works’ Ecological Footprint Quiz, be able to use a free bicycle valet parking system, participate in a fuel cell "Ride and Drive" featuring the natural gas-powered 2008 Honda Civic GX NGV, and even buy one of the alternative-fuel vehicles on display during the show.

While some of the exhibitors are names that have already generated a lot of green buzz — like Segway — others might be less familiar, including:

• EcoLimo, which aims to become "the premier provider of fuel-efficient, chauffeured ground transportation service to businesses all over the world." With offices in Los Angeles, San Francisco and Washington, D.C., EcoLimo’s fleet includes the gasl/electric Lexus 400h hybrid, the biodiesel-fueled Mercedes E320 CDI and the compressed natural gas-powered Chevy Suburban.
• Gorilla Vehicles, a California-based company that sells electric tractors, ATVs and a one-person, standup electric utility vehicle it calls the Chimp.
• Oka Cars, a Russian maker of electric mini-cars, some of which are only for patrolling private parking lots and gates communities, others of which are licensed for travel on public streets.
• SSI-Racing, the California-based developer of the 2 SSIC, which it calls "the world’s fastest extreme street electric car." Still in the development stage, the 2 SSIC is designed to be a electric-powered replica of an American muscle car. SSI’s Website says the vehicle is going to be "uber-geeked to the max and get crazy good gas mileage."
• Vectrix, a 12-year-old U.S./European company that developed the Vectrix ZEV zero-emissions, electric-powered maxi-scooter. The company bills its invention as the "greenest ride in the world": with a built-in rechargeable battery, the Vectrix ZEV can go up to 62 miles per hour and can travel around 68 miles before needing a recharge. The scooter is already available through British Motor Car dealerships in California and retails for $11,000.