By Lisa Wojnovich •
June 24, 2009
Three more car companies received sizeable loans from the federal government yesterday, but don’t worry; it’s not another bailout. In fact, the$8 billion is just the start of a larger $25 billion project called the Advanced Technology Vehicles Manufacturing Loan Program (ATVM for short) that was thought up back in 2007 and funded by Congress in late 2008 during the Bush administration. The project, overseen by the Department of Energy, is a federal grant and loan initiative bent on providing [...]
By Timothy B. Hurst •
March 15, 2009
Faulty fuel tank support straps in new H3T latest setback for GM
Just when you thought things couldn’t get any worse for General Motors, they did. The financially beleaguered automaker announced a recall of 1,738 of its new Hummer H3Ts on Friday, after the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said a weak support strap could cause the H3T’s gas tank to fall off, “Increasing the risk of crash.”
By Tetsuya Yokoyama •
January 12, 2009
The Nikkei Newspaper has reported that Hino Motors, Ltd., a subsidiary of Toyota Motor Corporation will introduce a significantly improved fuel efficient hybrid truck in Japan, the U.S. and Australia around 2010.
The new hybrid truck, using a high-capacity battery and improved motor, will be 2.5 times more fuel efficient than conventional models. In fact, the new hybrid truck even doubles the fuel economy compared to Hino’s current hybrid truck models (pictured above). Hino introduced its first light-duty hybrid trucks in 2003 and medium-duty hybrid trucks in 2004.
By Becky Striepe •
January 5, 2009
Friends of the Earth’s “New Roads = New Pollution” campaign is calling for President-elect Obama to focus his infrastructure plan on clean endeavors instead of new road construction
[Creative Commons photo by Tobias Pro User]
Pollution from motor vehicles is responsible for 72% of nitrogen oxides and 52% of reactive hydrocarbons (principal components of smog). Cars and trucks are not the only culprits - road construction causes greenhouse gas emissions both during and after the work is done. A Sightline Institute analysis (pdf) found that building 10 miles of new four-lane highway construction is the equivalent of putting 46,700 Hummers on the road, once you account for factors like materials, maintenance, congestion, and new traffic.
By Nick Chambers •
December 12, 2008
Adding to its green fleet of more than 170 hybrid electric delivery vans worldwide, FedEx has decided to try out fully electric vehicles as well with a small group of 10 London-based test trucks.
FedEx has ordered 10 purpose-built zero tailpipe emissions cargo vans from UK-based electric vehicle manufacturer Modec. The new electric trucks are specifically built for the duty cycles required in stop-start city driving, can go 70 miles on one charge, and can haul up to 2 tonnes (2.2 US tons) of cargo.
By Becky Striepe •
December 11, 2008
[Creative Commons photo by Ahmed Rabea]
University of Nevada, Reno researchers discovered that used coffee grounds can be successfully converted into biodiesel for powering cars and trucks. The fuel even smells like coffee! Not only does this new process have the potential to keep all of those coffee grounds out of the trash, researchers Mano Misra, Susanta Mohapatra, and Narasimharao Kondamudi say that coffee-based biofuel is more stable, due to coffee’s high antioxidant content.
By Nick Chambers •
October 29, 2008
The US auto industry’s woes are well known — we’ve covered them here at Gas 2.0 many times — but are these companies deserving of taxpayer money for a government bailout, or should they be left to deal with a mess that they mostly created?
This is the question that will be debated live on NPR.org today at 3 PM EDT (19:00 Greenwich Mean Time).
By Nick Chambers •
October 28, 2008
UPS will field two hydraulic hybrids in Minneapolis, MN, in early 2009 and an additional five hydraulic hybrid trucks will be deployed later in 2009 and early 2010. Although this sounds like a tiny fleet, keep in mind that this is the largest scale commercial test of hydraulic hybrids ever conducted.
The UPS hybrid hydraulic truck is a standard-looking 24,000 pound package car, with an EPA-patented diesel series hydraulic hybrid drive attached to the rear axle.
By Nick Chambers •
September 19, 2008
According to a sweeping report released by the Center for American Progress and authored by researchers from the UMass Department of Economics, if the US government were to invest $100 billion dollars over two years in six key areas of green and sustainable development — including advanced biofuels — the result would be the creation of 2 million high-paying jobs across nearly all sectors of employment.
This represents four times the amount of jobs that would be created if that same $100 billion were invested in the oil industry for things like more offshore drilling. It also represents significantly more jobs of much higher diversity, pay, and longevity than were created by the $100 billion spent last April so that all us ‘mericans could all get our $600 tax rebates.
By Nick Chambers •
July 31, 2008
Okay. Let me get this one out of the way: gas hasn’t been all bad. In fact, gas has allowed us to accomplish some pretty amazing things. To be clear, when I say “gas,” I’m using the term as an easy way to loosely refer to all liquid fuel products made from buried and fossilized hydrocarbon deposits.
Ooooh… I can hear the flamers’ keys clicking away furiously already. But, before you type that horribly thought out gunslinging response, hear me out.
By Nick Chambers •
July 30, 2008
Enova Systems and IC Corporation have delivered a plug-in hybrid diesel electric bus to Denali National Park for use in carting visitors around the pristine wilderness.
The bus (similar to the one pictured above) has a GVWR of 27,500 pounds, carries up to 38 passengers and uses up to 70% less fuel than a similarly equipped conventional bus — so if the bus got 10 mpg with a conventional engine, it could get 30 mpg using Enova’s hybrid system.
