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| Headline |
Author |
Published |
Section |
Converting a Yaris into a plug-in hybrid
Toyota may have something up its sleeve |
biodiversivist |
12 Jun 2008 |
Gristmill |
| The first car I ever owned didn't have power anything. Today you will be hard pressed to find a car without power brakes and steering. But those features also consume energy. This explains how the first wave of economy cars from Japan got such notoriously high mileage (they didn't have power anything either). One reason I chose a Yaris for my next car is that it has electric power steering and power brakes. In theory, you should be able to turn the engine off without ... |
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| Topics: cars, electric vehicles, green living, hybrids, placemaking, Prius (all these topics) |
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Prius smackdown, round two
High gas prices make hybrids look even better |
Clark Williams-Derry |
07 Dec 2007 |
Gristmill |
| A couple of years ago, I ran some numbers trying to figure out which was the better buy for the planet -- a biodiesel Jetta or a hybrid Prius. And I came to the tentative, but perhaps counterintuitive, conclusion that the best buy was ... wait for it ... a Toyota Corolla. The Corolla, you see, was thousands of dollars cheaper than the Prius (the runner-up), even after I accounted for all the savings on gas from driving a fuel-miser. And if you were a gre ... |
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| Topics: cars, consumerism, electric vehicles, energy, green living, hybrids, Prius (all these topics) |
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Preorder your high-end plug-in hybrid now!
Plug-in sports car to hit showrooms in 2010 |
Joseph Romm |
11 Nov 2007 |
Gristmill |
| Fisker Automotive is taking orders for its $80,000 (only $1,000 down!) '4-door plug-in hybrid sports sedan': The specs released so far (PDF) are: Performance details for the first car are impressive achieving 50 miles (80 kilometers) on a pure electric charge [sic]. Additionally, by further utilizing a gasoline or diesel engine offered by Fisker, one can extend the total range of their Fisker to more than 620 miles (1000 kilometers). The first Fisker will a ... |
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| Topics: cars, consumerism, electric vehicles, green living, hybrids (all these topics) |
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Hybrid wars
Honda fights to regain green car company mantle |
David Roberts |
29 Aug 2007 |
Gristmill |
| Honda entered the hybrid market before Toyota, but over time it made a fateful mistake: it failed to visually distinguish its line of hybrids. The Prius' distinct shape is like peacock feathers -- it signals your identity to the world. Who wants to be virtuous if nobody knows about it? Now Honda's gotten the message and it's returning to the fight: [Honda is] working on a new high-profile hybrid -- a Prius fighter that analysts expect will have the highest mileage ... |
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| Topics: business, cars, electric vehicles, green living, hybrids, placemaking, Prius (all these topics) |
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It Only Hertz a Little
Rental and car-share companies get hip to hybrids |
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14 Aug 2007 |
Daily Grist |
| It Only Hertz a Little Rental and car-share companies get hip to hybrids Fueled by consumers' green interests, rental, car-service, and car-sharing companies are increasingly turning to hybrids. (Hear the collective sigh of relief from guilt-prone enviros who cringe with every tap on the rental accelerator.) Big renters Enterprise, Hertz, and Avis have all recently added several ... |
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| Topics: cars, consumerism, electric vehicles, green living, hybrids, news, Prius (all these topics) |
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Very well said
The green cartopia ain't likely to happen |
JMG |
06 Aug 2007 |
Gristmill |
| Kurt Cobb writes a smart and sensible review of Who Killed the Electric Car? Excerpt follows: The documentary Who Killed the Electric Car? is an excellent murder mystery filled with dislikable corporate and government villains. It also features heroic engineers, salespeople and average citizens as well as a sprinkling of good-looking actors and actresses who play, well, themselves. As I watched the film recently for the first time, I found myself doing something that I don't ... |
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| Topics: cars, electric vehicles, green living, hybrids, placemaking (all these topics) |
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Is the Chevy Volt just more GM greenwashing?
Sure looks that way |
Joseph Romm |
29 Jul 2007 |
Gristmill |
| Back in May, I was seduced by GM's seeming sincerity in developing a plug-in hybrid electric vehicle, the Chevy Volt. We must always remember, however, that GM is a master greenwasher. An article in Edmunds, 'Chevrolet Volt Goes to Washington To Underline GM's Anti-CAFE-Increase Argument,' suggests GM is using the Volt the same way it used fuel cell cars to kill the electric car in California (as the movie explains): General Motors' North American operations chief, ... |
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| Topics: business, cars, electric vehicles, energy, fuel efficiency, green living, greenwashing, hybrids (all these topics) |
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Aero 101
Airliners are shaped the way they are for a reason |
biodiversivist |
29 Jul 2007 |
Gristmill |
| We took our Prius over the mountains a few weeks back. I was looking forward to testing it at the extreme end of its design envelope, with a bulky cargo carrier to boot. This gave me an opportunity to see how much highway mileage would be affected by aerodynamic drag. Yes, yes, I should have stuck to the speed limit, but by not doing so I preemptively squashed a bitching point leveled by hybrid hatas -- Prius drivers sticking to the speed limit are always getting in t ... |
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| Topics: cars, electric vehicles, green living, hybrids, placemaking, Prius, tech (all these topics) |
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Plug-in hybrids rule; PHEV Hypercars rule even more
Let's go all the way |
Gar Lipow |
26 Jul 2007 |
Gristmill |
| When David pointed out that plug-in electric hybrids (PHEVs) can reduce carbon emissions in all possible futures, two main arguments were raised in opposition -- practicality, and the possibility that they will provide too low a reduction, while blocking the path to something better. The way commercial plug-ins look to be implemented within the next five years is that normal hybrids will be built with large batteries and the ability to plug into a socket in your d ... |
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| Topics: cars, electric vehicles, energy, fuel efficiency, green living, hybrids, placemaking, tech (all these topics) |
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Toyota moves to test plug-in Prius in Japan
It's getting closer |
Joseph Romm |
23 Jul 2007 |
Gristmill |
| Green Car Congress translated a story that appeared in the Japanese press: Toyota Motor Co. will obtain permission from Japan's Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport by the end of July for the testing of a prototype plug-in Prius on public roads. Toyota will be the first car maker to obtain permission for a plug-in hybrid test in Japan. After completing the road tests, Toyota will start building a way to market the model by leasing them to pu ... |
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| Topics: cars, electric vehicles, green living, hybrids, Japan, placemaking (all these topics) |
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Go Get 'Em, Plugger
Plug-in hybrids would reduce greenhouse-gas emissions, says new study |
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23 Jul 2007 |
Daily Grist |
| Go Get 'Em, Plugger Plug-in hybrids would reduce greenhouse-gas emissions, says new study Plug-in hybrid vehicles, long extolled here at Grist HQ, seem always to elicit one question from doubters: Wouldn't running cars on electricity just mean more emissions from power plants? Answer: No! According to a ne ... |
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| Topics: cars, climate, electric vehicles, electricity grid, energy, fuel efficiency, green living, greenhouse-gas emissions, hybrids, news, placemaking (all these topics) |
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Toyota moves to corner the 'plug-in' market
Announces development plans |
Joseph Romm |
23 Jul 2007 |
Gristmill |
| Plug-ins are on the way! We've said it many times, but then we aren't the world's leading auto maker. The Christian Science Monitor reports: Toyota's revelation Tuesday that it will develop a new "plug-in hybrid" - which uses a wall socket at night to charge and relies on an electric motor to go many miles before sipping any gasoline - could presage a major shift in automotive technology, some industry analysts say. Detroit's Big Three hav ... |
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| Topics: cars, electric vehicles, green living, hybrids, placemaking (all these topics) |
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If I Could Escape
Ford, Southern California Edison partner to test plug-in hybrids |
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10 Jul 2007 |
Daily Grist |
| If I Could Escape Ford, Southern California Edison partner to test plug-in hybrids Two No. 2 businesses have unveiled a first-of-its-kind alliance: Ford Motor Co., the No. 2 automaker in the U.S., and Southern California Edison, the country's second-largest utility, will partner for "real-world" testing of plug-in hybrid vehicles. Starting late this year, F ... |
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| Topics: Big Auto, business, cars, electric vehicles, green living, hybrids, innovation, news (all these topics) |
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Toyotaing with our hearts
Car company on national tour to pimp hybrids |
Kate Sheppard |
06 Jul 2007 |
Gristmill |
| If you want to learn more about hybrids, or uh, at least Toyota's take on hybrids, the company is on a 'Highway to the Future' national tour to hook some more folks on their line of hybrid cars, talk about alternative fuels, and offer some ideas about reducing your carbon footprint. And as we learned this week, you can get them up to 100 miles per hour, if you're into that sort of thing. Also, they're quickly becoming the biggest status symbol on the block, for whateve ... |
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| Topics: cars, electric vehicles, energy, green living, hybrids (all these topics) |
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Report: Diesels will outsell hybrids in the U.S. by 2012
What next? Socialized medicine? |
Erik Hoffner |
29 Jun 2007 |
Gristmill |
| A new report (PDF) claims that more Americans are likely to opt for diesel vehicles over hybrids in the near future in the quest for fuel economy: total sales of hybrids and diesels will hit 2.7 million annually by 2012, and diesels will account for more than half (1.5 million) of those sales. 'A new diesel's cost burden is lower than hybrid's for similar fuel economy -- even with the 'clean' technologies needed to meet tough U.S. emissions regulations (including ... |
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| Topics: cars, electric vehicles, fuel efficiency, green living, hybrids, placemaking (all these topics) |
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Google tries to kickstart an energy revolution
Google.org funds V2G demonstration projects |
David Roberts |
18 Jun 2007 |
Gristmill |
| Sweet mama! Google.org is going to give vehicle-to-grid technology a much-needed boost, to the tune of $10 million. The company is going to modify six cars, a mix of Toyota Priuses and Ford Escape hybrids, with batteries that can draw juice from the grid and feed juice back in. The promise of this technology is that if it spreads, it will enable distributed electricity storage that can smooth spikes in electricity demand without expensive new generation plants. That ... |
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| Topics: business, cars, electric vehicles, electricity grid, green living, hybrids, placemaking, Prius (all these topics) |
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GM Volts into the lead
Looks like the plug-in might actually happen |
Joseph Romm |
30 May 2007 |
Gristmill |
| General Motors is apparently serious about introducing a plug-in hybrid electric vehicle, which I have repeatedly argued is the car of the future (PDF). The race is now on between Toyota and GM as to who will be the first to introduce this game-changing vehicle. The Chevy Volt is to be the "legacy" of Robert Lutz, GM's vice chair of product development, according to Business Week's "Auto Beat" column. The Volt will go about 40 miles on an electr ... |
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| Topics: Big Auto, cars, electric vehicles, energy, green living, hybrids, innovation (all these topics) |
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NYC's yellow cabs go green
Big Applers breathe easy |
Maywa Montenegro |
23 May 2007 |
Gristmill |
| Starting in 2008, every new yellow taxi purchased by the city of New York will be a hybrid vehicle, according to an announcement yesterday by Mayor Bloomberg. By 2012, the entire fleet -- some 13,000 cabs -- will have been replaced with a mixture of Toyota Priuses, Highlander Hybrids, Lexus RX 400h's, and Ford Escapes.Thirteen thousand may sound like a drop in the ocean, given that 232 million cars are currently registered in the U.S. alone. Still, cabs are a grea ... |
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| Topics: cars, electric vehicles, energy, green living, greening biz operations, hybrids, New York City, placemaking (all these topics) |
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A123 assimilates Hymotion
Plug-in aftermarket kits just around the corner? |
biodiversivist |
07 May 2007 |
Gristmill |
| Business Wire tells us that A123 (what a catchy name) just bought out Hymotion, the company it had been working with to develop a plug-in kit for the Prius. The kits may be available next year for about $10,000, allowing you to go about 30 miles on a four-hour charge. Don't get too excited just yet. Putting one on your car will void the manufacturer's warranty and Hymotion presently plans to guarantee the kit for only two years, until they are confident it will las ... |
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| Topics: cars, electric vehicles, energy, green living, hybrids, Prius (all these topics) |
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From Esquire
Are hybrids for men? |
biodiversivist |
22 Apr 2007 |
Gristmill |
| You could not pay me to write drivel like this. Conspicuous in its absence is the Prius. Chickenshit editor took it out fearing a backlash from the many subscribers who drive them. This article is so bad I'm embarrassed for the author. Don't bust your gut laughing:YOUR ENVIRONMENTAL QUOTIENT: You're still losing sleep over the Kyoto treaty. You obey the speed limit because you think it saves gas. Your wife left you. YOUR HYBRID: The Honda Civic. About as boring as it ... |
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| Topics: cars, dumbassery, electric vehicles, green living, hybrids (all these topics) |
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Meeting notes
The lost art of conversation |
biodiversivist |
21 Apr 2007 |
Gristmill |
| I passed a big rabble of bikers on my way to downtown Seattle yesterday evening. Several complimented my bike as I passed. There were a couple of talls in the mix. I assumed it was another Critical Mass ride, but maybe not. Sure looked like fun. I need to participate in one of those someday. I periodically attend a monthly gathering of Seattle atheists. There are always new faces, and they pick a different restaurant every month for variety's sake. We chatted about t ... |
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| Topics: bikes, cars, electric vehicles, green living, hybrids, placemaking, Prius, religion and spirituality (all these topics) |
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Plugging plug-ins
A cool video |
Adam Browning |
05 Apr 2007 |
Gristmill |
| More plug-in hybrid goodness: Let me again make the case for why electrifying transportation is one of the most important things happening. We don't have an energy problem. Plenty of it all around: Sun comes up every day. Wind. Tides. Waves. Energy everywhere you look. What we have is an energy storage problem. And electrifying transportation is the quickest way to perfect battery technology -- and distribute millions of them in houses throughout the coun ... |
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| Topics: cars, electric vehicles, green living, hybrids (all these topics) |
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Bob Lutz needs a vacation
Read his cranky email to a consumer |
David Roberts |
30 Mar 2007 |
Gristmill |
| A reader wrote in to share this email exchange. This is the email she sent to GM -- as I understand, it's a form letter you can sign and send from the Plugin America website. Dear Sir, I am tired of being held by the throat by oil companies and I want to buy a car that uses cleaner, cheaper, domestic electricity for even a part of its overall range. Saturn used to lease the most efficient vehicle ever built. Since GM destroyed all EV1s, GM has not shown ... |
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| Topics: Big Auto, cars, electric vehicles, green living, hybrids, jackassery (all these topics) |
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Engine Block
On owning multiple cars |
Umbra Fisk |
27 Sep 2006 |
Ask Umbra |
| Dear Umbra, Your recent column suggested that the questioners sell one of their two cars, but I can't help wondering how much good that does for the environment, especially weighed against the annoyance cost of not having a second car when two people have to be going in opposite directions at the same time. I have a personal interest in this, as we have three cars: mine (a Prius, used for all errands and most weekend driving), his (f ... |
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| Topics: advice, Ask Umbra, cars, electric vehicles, green living, hybrids, placemaking, Prius (all these topics) |
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Pimp My Prius
Customizations and hacks jazz up a hybrid |
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26 Sep 2005 |
Daily Grist |
| Pimp My Prius Customizations and hacks jazz up a hybrid Sure, your Prius saves gas and helps you reduce your personal carbon dioxide emissions ... but does it have mad bling? We didn't think so. Luckily, The New York Times commissioned George Barris, car customizer extraordinaire, to modify a Prius without altering the car's mechanics or electronics for a price the Gray Lady termed "withi ... |
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| Topics: cars, electric vehicles, green living, hybrids, news, Prius (all these topics) |
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