Electric Car Blogging

A sampling of green-tech news with quick commentary.

• Adviser: Obama will act quickly on climate change –Reuters
  A high-level Obama energy adviser says to expect fast action on climate and energy. The clean-tech industry hangs on every word.
• Bailout turns on automakers’ viability–WSJ.com
  One idea being floated: that public

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Google on Thursday joined a smart-grid trade association that promotes energy efficiency in the power grid and home-energy monitoring.

The group, called Demand Response and Smart Grid Coalition (DRSG), includes companies that manufacture networked electricity meters and software for sharing information between consumers and utilities.

Google is increasingly active in …

Filed under: Hybrids/Alternative, Green, Plants/Manufacturing, Toyota

Toyota has been scrambling to right its financial ship after cutting its profit forecast by 63% in the face of dismal US auto sales. The Japanese automaker set up an emergency committee to look at areas to cut costs, and all programs are said to be on the table. Though Toyota has announced nothing specific to this point, Japan’s Nikkei Business Daily is announcing that the first US-built Priuses may not be produced until 2011. That would mean a one year delay of the opening of Toyota’s Mississippi plant, which has already seen a product shift and cost overruns. The new 2010 Prius, which will initially only be built in Japan until the Mississippi plant comes online, is scheduled to be unveiled at the Detroit Auto Show in January.

Toyota is currently denying that Prius production at the Mississippi plant has been delayed. We’re a bit skeptical of the Nikkei report anyway considering the Prius is still in high demand despite the economic downturn.

[Source: Reuters Associated Press]

Toyota Prius production in the U.S. could be delayed until 2011… or not originally appeared on Autoblog on Fri, 14 Nov 2008 15:14:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Car Buying, Hybrids/Alternative, Green, Nissan

Remember when you were a kid and wanted that shiny new radio-controlled car from Toys ‘R Us? The fine print at the bottom of the package almost always read, “Batteries Not Included.” If Nissan’s current plans go forward, that little saying may come back to haunt you when Nissan’s electric vehicle goes on sale sometime after 2010.

Carlos Tavares, Nissan Motor Co.’s executive vice president for product planning and design, believes that in the not-so-distant future, we’ll all be driving zero-emissions cars powered by electrons. When you make your way into the dealership to sign the paperwork, you’ll be presented with two forms; one to purchase the car and one to lease the battery. Before we all get too upset about paying separately for our power packs, remember that filling up with gasoline will be a thing of the past as well — in this particular vision for the future, at least — so Tavares assures us that the overall cost to the consumer will actually be lower than it is today.

Another possibility presented by Tavares is car sharing, which is already taking place around the world on a very small scale. Instead of owning your own vehicle, you’d merely have access to one, time-share style, that would allow you entry into a garage full of vehicles from which to choose for your particular day’s needs. To which we say, yeah… we’ll see.

[Source: Automotive News - sub. req'd]

Nissan’s plan for electric cars: buy the vehicle, lease the battery originally appeared on Autoblog on Fri, 14 Nov 2008 14:02:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Hybrids/Alternative

Top Gear’s unofficial motto, “ambitious but rubbish,” has placed our favorite motoring show trio in a number of unfortunate - albeit highly entertaining - challenges, and This January Parajet will take to the skies on a 4,000-mile trip from London to Timbuktu in a flying car.

The TG crew will be piloting A Parajet Skycar will take off from London, fly over France, Spain, Morocco and the Sahara, then - God-willing - arrive in the Malian capital. The Skycar makes use of a biofuel-powered Yamaha bike engine to power either the rear wheels, when stuck on the ground, or a propeller, when taking flight. Cruising speed is an achingly slow 68 mph at 3,000 feet, but the Skycar can supposedly reach altitudes of 15,000 feet. And yes, parachutes are part of package.

UPDATE: Our bad. The trip won’t be manned by Clarkson, Hammond and May. It’s being put on by Parajet in an effort to prove that flying cars are both useful and safe. Sorry for the confusion, but we’d still like to see Top Gear take up the challenge.

[Source: Top Gear US]

Top Gear to take Parajet taking flying car from London to Timbuktu originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 13 Nov 2008 15:32:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Tuners, Convertibles, Hybrids/Alternative, Sports/GTs, Green

As we move inexorably toward the electrification of cars, companies that have made a business out of tweaking engines for more power will have to make some significant changes to their business model. BRABUS is a company known as the primary third-party alternative to AMG when it comes to enhanced cars from the house of Daimler, and today has announced its first foray into electricity. The German tuner is now offering a package of changes for the very few people who have or will soon own a Tesla Roadster. For the moment at least, changes to the all-electric powertrain are verboten. That means BRABUS has focused on other things like stylistic “enhancements” and a supremely odd “space sound generator” that emits the roar of a V8, race car engine or two futuristic sounds called “Beam” and “Warp”.

A set of LED running lamps mounted in the front air intake look kind of like they were ripped off an Audi. Perhaps BRABUS should have developed a new headlamp cluster that integrates the LEDs like real Audis do. Meanwhile, the underbody neon lighting looks like something from 1989 Miami and the rear wing is a questionable addition, as well. It’s hard to judge the matte white paint finish in the available photos, so we’ll set that aside for now. The only visual change that actually works is the new 18-inch front/ 19-inch rear wheel/tire package with Pirelli P Zero Nero tires. Given the number of Tesla Roadsters that actually exist at the moment, we probably won’t see very many examples of this package on the road, which debuts later this month at the Essen Motor Show in Germany.

[Source: BRABUS]

Continue reading BRABUS begins business of tuning the Tesla Roadster

BRABUS begins business of tuning the Tesla Roadster originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 13 Nov 2008 10:59:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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