Archive for the ‘Uncategorized’ Category

Ford’s Fabulous Fusion Hybrid

Alright, I admit it.  I have new-car envy.
As the owner of an 18 year-old two-seat roadster, I get this way when I get behind the wheel of a brand new sedan.
Such was the case last weekend when Ford handed me the keys and invited me to drive their new Fusion Hybrid from LA to San [...]

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

2,757 miles per gallon?

Sound impossible? Not if you’re an Eco Marathoner.
Congratulations go out to the student-led Alerion Supermileage team from Laval University in Quebec, Canada for achieving the fuel milestone and winning the Grand Prize during the 2009 Shell Eco-marathon Americas, a competition pitting student-built, fuel-efficient prototype vehicle achieves against each other to travel the farthest distance using [...]

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Art Car sculptor Tom Kennedy drowns at age 48

San Francisco artist Tom Kennedy, who helped popularize the fringe Art Car movement, drowned April 12 while body-surfing off San Francisco’s Ocean Beach.
Kennedy was the genius behind dozens of vehicles turned into original creations, including the “One-Eyed Wonder,” a Ford Ranger with a giant eyeball turret with a cannon that shot Twinkies and “Ripper the [...]

Tags: , , , , , , , , ,

What should the new GM look like?

Let’s face it.
All the statements of possibility, the government intervention, the announcement of dealerships closing and lately a possible buyer for Saturn means only one thing.
General Motors is already bankrupt. The dissolution has begun.
What we’re seeing in the media is just a “softening of the blow,”  while behind the scenes the government is stepping in, [...]

Tags: , , , , ,

Nissan EV review

Our good friend Paul Scott over at Plug In America sends us his writeup about his trip to Dodger Stadium to test drive the Nissan EV. This wasn’t the final car, but the finished drivetrain in a Nissan Cube. He was assured it would be very close to the actual feel of the car, though, [...]

Tags: , , , , , , ,

Could Southern California become the high-speed rail capital of the world?

As high-speed rail emerges as a  key element of President Obama’s efforts to remake the nation’s transportation infrastructure, one question emerges:  could Southern California become the high-speed rail capital of the world?
After all, Silicon Valley is the high-tech capital of the world, so why not?
The president has long favored expanding passenger rail service and his [...]

Tags: , , , , , ,

What’s Nu at Hyundai?

What has gull-wing doors, a hybrid drivetrain and Touchsense technology?  The all new Hyundai Nuvis, the eleventh signature concept car to be designed at the company’s California Design Center in Irvine, Calif.
The vehicle, unveiled at this week’s New York International Auto Show (NYIAS), can be driven in gasoline-engine-only mode or all-electric mode, courtesy of its [...]

Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,

US Gov’t fleet to get a little greener

17,600 American-made, fuel-efficient cars and hybrids will soon be entering the government fleet, thanks to President Barack Obama. Putting his money (or more aptly, your money) where his mouth is, the president plans to use $285 million in Federal stimulus funds by June 1st to buy fuel-efficient vehicles from General Motors, Ford and Chrysler, including [...]

Tags: , , , , , , , ,

Nation’s first solar-powered electric vehicle charging station unveiled in….Chicago?

Coulomb Technologies, the Silicon Valley-based developer of the Smartlet, an individually controlled charging station located in public and private parking areas, just announced the unveiling of the nation’s first solar-powered electric vehicle charging station in the city of Chicago.
The announcement is a joint statement with Carbon Day Automotive, the US midwest distributor of the Coulomb [...]

Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,

PIA Urges All to Click for Cleaner Air

This week marks the 2nd anniversary of an historic Supreme Court decision, Massachusetts vs EPA, which allowed states to regulate greenhouse gases as pollutants.
And just as the EPA reconsiders its decision denying California permission to set standards controlling greenhouse gases from motor vehicles, Plug In America, a coalition of present and former EV drivers and [...]

Tags: , , ,