Can a small device double or triple your car's gas mileage? ABC News/Good Morning America did a report (see video below the fold) on high gas prices and they found an inventor who claims his Mileage Master can perform that feat. As I detailed in the Mythbusters article on fuel economy devices, some of those amazing
Daimler chairman Dieter Zetsche is bullish on the adoption of diesel in the United States. At the ECO:nomics conference, Zetsche told the Wall Street Journal that Daimler is very happy with its diesel accomplishments over the last two years (see video below the fold). According to Zetsche, in the states where they are currently available, Daimler's diesel SUVs are showing twenty percent take rates and diesel cars are showing twelve percent take rates. Zetsche is confident Daimler will see the sa
At the New York Auto Show, Toyota U.S. General Manager Bob Carter spoke with Bloomberg about high fuel prices and the full-size truck market (see video below the fold). Carter said "we are not immune to what the current market conditions are and many full-size truck owners are delaying their purchases, waiting to see exactly where the market is going to go in fuel prices." Not to worry, Carter said, because "we may sell a few l
One thing we are really looking forward to at the New York Auto Show is the official start of the Auto X-Prize, a contest to build a 100 MPGe car with a multi-million dollar prize. At the Detroit Auto Show, the X-Prize people and some of the teams had car models on display (see video below the
What will you be driving in 2015? If you only drive GM vehicles, there's a one in three chance it'll be a hybrid, according to a report from Bloomberg. GM Vice Chairman Bob Lutz said, "around 2015 we're going to have to sell a ton of hybrids whether people want them or not." Lutz added, "it's basically going to result in the quasi-disappearance of V-8 engines." Lutz explained that the increase in sales of hybri
Shai Agassi, founder and CEO of Project Better Place, gave an amazing speech at a New Democrat Network meeting recently. Want to know how Agassi's idea for electric cars got $200 million -- the "largest seed round of any venture in history?" Then you have to check out his speech below the fold which tells the history of the company, makes a case for electric cars and details his company's future plans.
Green concepts car and announcements have dominated every single major car show - except for Chicago - for the last year or more. Autoweek thinks that's about to change in New York. "The New York auto show will have an old-fashioned flavor. Instead of a long list of world debuts for hybrids and other gasoline-saving tech
America's super car company Saleen is showing a little green. Autoblog reports Saleen's S5S Raptor, which debuts at the New York Auto Show this week, will run on ethanol and have a lightweight aluminum body. We only have an air brushed picture (above) to show you for now but will post pictures and more info on this 200 MPH beauty whe
Zap's CEO Steve Schneider did a very interesting audio interview with CEONEWS.Tv recently where he talked about the Zap-X, the Zap-Coke deal and the future of the company. On Zap-X, Schneider says Chinese automaker Youngman owns 51 percent stake in the Detroit Electric joint venture, while Zap owns 49 percent in the company. Schneider explains Detroit Electric will sell higher speed electric vehicles
At the ECO:nomics conference (March 12-14), GM chairman Bob Lutz was asked about his global warming is a "crock of sh*t" statement. In the video (which you can watch below the fold), Lutz was asked why he said it and if GM investors and customers should care that he said it. Lutz did not answer the why but he explained there are a "whole bunch of motivations for doing what we are doing." Thes
When I (an American) think about the Lexus brand, the first thing that comes to mind is not its hybrid option. In Europe, it seems Lexus and hybrid are synonymous because a Lexus official told the BBC, "Hybrid is Lexus brand defining technology." We have written about the increasing Lascelles Linton
Leading presidential candidate Barack Obama earmarked $1 million for research on turning Hummers into hybrids. The earmark money will go to the Illinois Institute of Technology (Obama just happens to be the senator from Illinois) for the development of a cost-effective hybrid conversion kit. These kits could turn the army's gas guzzling Humvees into fuel efficient hybrids and would be a real endorsement for hybri
The unexpected stars of this year's Geneva Motor Show were small cars. I expected hybrids or electrics to really make news but small cars stole the show. One of those small car stars was Lascelles Linton
BergToys has a great idea for a human-powered children's toy: Moov. The concept is your basic kid's big-wheel or push scooter but the parts of the toy are interchangeable and they allow a child to make several different kinds of vehicles. The creativity of the child is also opened up because they can create vehicles not in the manual. How about a unicycle? Hey BergToys, make one for us bigger kids because I wouldn't mind transforming my mount
Late 2008, Mercedes Benz will clean up its diesel GL, ML, R class SUVs with Bluetec, making them 50-state legal. MotorWeek kicked the tires on the GL320 CDI (see video below the fold) and they seemed to like it. The diesel version of the GL ($54,225) will be $2,500 cheaper (yes, cheaper) than the gas version of the GL450 and will get thirty percent better mileage (18 city, 24 highway). T
A culture's fears always finds its way into that culture's media. The best example is probably the allegories of McCarthyism in the film Invasion of the Body Snatchers. Peak Oil and climate change have seen their share of movie dramatizations, but Mad Max and The Day After Tomorrow were more cartoon-ish than terrifying.
Ben on MySpace has video of the first human powered tractor trailer. According to the video (which you can watch below the fold), the trailer was taken on route 130 in New Jersey .... and the cops pulled them over. What possible reason could the police have had to pull them over? Anyway, the video says the police did not understand how a "bike" could pull a 6,000 pound trailer but I think it has something to do with the "Ground Surface Magnetic Levitation" mentioned at the website. Auto
If the unique style of the Apter Type 1 (above) isn't your thing, there still might be a high-mpg Apters for you. Aptera CEO Steve Fambro told Alternative Energy dot com that his company has other projects in the works (see three minutes into the video below the fold). Fambro said, "we have other designs on the drawing board. Other projects that are certainly more mainstream. We aren't really talking about those yet" (um, you just did). Fambro also said the company is finishing the last bit of e
How bad is the National Research Council's report about climate change's potential impact on America's transportation system? NPR says it has warnings of "Biblical proportions." 60,000 miles of highways, major airports, railroads, low-lying tunnels and ports are at risk of damage from changes in the climate. Climate change will cause roads to buckle, bridge joints to be stressed, railroad tracks to be deformed and will keep planes grounded because of the heat. In the Arctic, permafrost, the soli
Lumeneo's titling electric car, the Smera, will be released early 2009 according to CNET TV. The official announcement will be made at the Paris Motor Show in October but CNET says Lumeneo will be "taking deliveries early 09." The CNET video also has a close up look at the Smera's electric motors and CNET TV's host, who is six feet two inches tall, gets in the car even though the fit is a little sn
