Green Options

In recent years, GM stuck the SS badge on more cars than it didn’t. For a long time the Super Sport moniker meant something, but sticking it on a turbocharged HHR delivery wagon did nothing to improve the General’s image. In a bit of an acknowledgment that maybe they went too far with the SS badge, GM has dumped many of these mistakes recently; currently the only vehicle with an SS badge is the Camaro.

So what does any of this have to do with Gas 2.0? GM’s vice-chairman, Bob Lutz, did not rule out the possibility of a Volt SS. Furthermore, the rumor mill is reporting that GM has given the green light to the Volt-based Cadillac Converj, a concept car that debuted earlier this year.

While Chrysler’s alt-fuel plans for the future—and its integrity—seem uncertain at best, its cross-town rival General Motors is trying to make good on its fuel efficient pledges in a different way. This includes (finally) offering a Hummer with E85 flex-fuel capabilities, as promised in 2007.

Oh, and for those who are wishing for a Volt sub-brand, keep wishing. GM has no plans of spinning off the Volt as a brand of its own (as Toyota might do with the Prius). That won’t stop the General from spreading its hybrid drivetrain across other models, however.

Leo Motors, a parts supply company with its roots in Korea, has an outspoken CEO with an interesting eye for the future and a grasp of where we’ve come from. For instance, after speaking with him it became apparent that Dr. Robert Kang has come to the conclusion that most of the electric vehicle technology we see today is based on technology developed for electric toys combining a simple motor, battery and ampere controller.

I don’t know if this is a fully accurate representation of electric car design, but it’s certainly true that electric cars are relatively simple systems.

Canadian province Ontario is to introduce green-coloured licence plates, available only to drivers of plug-in hybrids and battery-powered electric vehicles.

Sounds like another gimmick? Well, here’s the deal - vehicles sporting the new green plates will be able to drive in the province’s dedicated carpool lanes until 2015, even if only one person is in the vehicle.

Speaking about the initiative, Transportation Minister Jim Bradley said, “The McGuinty government’s plan is to have one out of every 20 passenger vehicles on Ontario’s roads an electric vehicle by 2020.”

They say that nothing is free, but I may have come across the exception. In West Texas and Illinois, electric customers are being paid to use electricity. With the growth of wind energy in areas like Texas, Iowa and Minnesota, electric companies are occasionally producing more energy—especially during off-peak hours—than they can use. Why not store it you ask? Because there are not yet any good ways to store energy; a quest since electricity was created.

According to expert Terry Boston, who is the CEO of PJM, a company that manages the electricity grid in 13 mid-Atlantic states and Washington, the oversupply of electricity has forced prices into the negative range. The result: some customers are paid to use electricity.

UK-based Axon Automotive made its debut at the Sexy Green Car Show in Cornwall last year and they are making headlines again. They have officially debuted their upcoming Axon plug-in hybrid electric city car at the Milton Keynes Science Festival.

The element that makes this PHEV stand out is its light weight. The car is made from carbon fiber and it is paired with existing engine technology. According to test data from the company, it gets about 83.3 mpg US/100mpg UK. Tthe company’s website states that the Axon will be available to consumers in 2010 and has room for two adults and luggage. Other sources cite limited availability in 2011 with full production in 2012.

Swine Flu’s got nothing on our Vice President’s case of Foot-in-Mouth disease.

If only there was a vaccine.

Joe Biden is well-known for his goofball status of saying exactly the wrong thing at exactly the wrong time in, what we have to assume, is a genetic predisposition to unwittedness.

Take, for instance, yesterday’s announcement that Fisker Automotive would be purchasing a shuttered Delaware GM plant for the future production of Fisker’s upcoming Project Nina plug-in hybrid—the more reasonably priced sister car of Fisker’s flagship $80,000 Karma.

During that announcement Biden—who’s home state is Delaware—waxed on about how the plant will bring jobs back to the area and is exactly what we need to get our manufacturing sector back on line. But he just couldn’t hold himself back at the end of his speech, saying “imagine when this factory, when the floor we’re standing on right now is making 100,000 plug-in hybrid sedans, coupes and crossovers every single year.”

Last week, Fisker Automotive co-founder and CEO, Henrik Fisker, said that his company would very shortly be announcing where project Nina—the company’s upcoming $48,000 plug-in hybrid—would be built. The statement led to all sorts of rumors, but speculation had been growing that the chosen manufacturing spot was a closed GM plant in Delaware.

If I could sum up last week’s conference on electric vehicles in a single sentence, it would be this: I’m now certain that my kids will grow up driving electric cars.

Advocates have been saying it for a while, but now all sides of the debate—including automakers, utilities, venture capitalists, and policymakers—are saying it too: electric-powered automobiles are the real deal, and we’re on the cusp of the biggest transformation in automotive history since the invention of the internal combustion engine.

Indiana-based Bright Automotive has released some pretty impressive performance figures for its technically (and aerodynamically!) slick new IDEA cargo van. Aimed primarily at delivery fleets and in-town rental companies, the freshly-upgraded guppy promises to shave operating costs by thousands of dollars per year, per van.

More pictures, an official company press release, and my own opinions (that nobody asked for) after the jump.

Last night kicked off a three-day conference in Detroit on plug-in electric vehicles (which Gas 2.0 is attending). Today we’ll be hosting a live chat from the event with Britta Gross, GM director of Global Energy Systems, Infrastructure and Commercialization, and Mark Duvall, executive director of the Electric Propulsion Research Institute (EPRI).