Grist | Topics | 16 Results

RESULTS		Results 1 – 16 of 16
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 ...
Topics: cars, electric vehicles, green living, hybrids, placemaking, Prius (all these topics)

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 ...
Topics: business, cars, electric vehicles, green living, hybrids, placemaking, Prius (all these topics)

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 ...
Topics: cars, electric vehicles, green living, hybrids, placemaking (all these topics)

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 ...
Topics: cars, electric vehicles, green living, hybrids, placemaking, Prius, tech (all these topics)

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 ...
Topics: cars, electric vehicles, energy, fuel efficiency, green living, hybrids, placemaking, tech (all these topics)

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 ...
Topics: cars, electric vehicles, green living, hybrids, Japan, placemaking (all these topics)

Go Get 'Em, Plugger Plug-in hybrids would reduce greenhouse-gas emissions, says new study		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 ...
Topics: cars, climate, electric vehicles, electricity grid, energy, fuel efficiency, green living, greenhouse-gas emissions, hybrids, news, placemaking (all these topics)

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 ...
Topics: cars, electric vehicles, green living, hybrids, placemaking (all these topics)

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 ...
Topics: cars, electric vehicles, fuel efficiency, green living, hybrids, placemaking (all these topics)

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 ...
Topics: business, cars, electric vehicles, electricity grid, green living, hybrids, placemaking, Prius (all these topics)

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 ...
Topics: cars, electric vehicles, energy, green living, greening biz operations, hybrids, New York City, placemaking (all these topics)

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 ...
Topics: bikes, cars, electric vehicles, green living, hybrids, placemaking, Prius, religion and spirituality (all these topics)

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 ...
Topics: advice, Ask Umbra, cars, electric vehicles, green living, hybrids, placemaking, Prius (all these topics)

Plug-in Play Enterprising hybrid owners tinker to get better mileage		28 Jan 2005	Daily Grist
Plug-in Play Enterprising hybrid owners tinker to get better mileage Hybrid vehicles have been touted as the Next Big Thing in efficient transportation. So what's the Next Next Big Thing? Maybe hybrids with a twist. A handful of engineering students at the University of California at Davis and other mechanically inclined greens have been tinkering with existing hybrids to boo ...
Topics: cars, electric vehicles, green living, hybrids, placemaking, United States (all these topics)

Hy Jinx Hybrids Gaining Ground Among Celebs, But Still Pricey for the Rest of Us		08 Mar 2004	Daily Grist
Hy Jinx Hybrids Gaining Ground Among Celebs, But Still Pricey for the Rest of Us Thanks to lobbying by intrepid enviro group Global Green USA, several high-profile celebrities arrived at the Academy Awards this year not in stretch limos, but in diminutive hybrid Toyota Priuses. Tim Robbins and Susan Sarandon, Charlize Theron, Robin Willi ...
Topics: cars, celebrity, consumerism, electric vehicles, environmental justice, green living, hybrids, placemaking, Prius (all these topics)

Reinventing the Wheels How far can clean cars take us?	Jim Motavalli	19 May 2000	Arts and Minds
This essay is adapted from Forward Drive: The Race to Build "Clean" Cars for the Future. Forward Drive By Jim Motavalli Sierra Club Books, 272 pages, 2000 I loved cars long before I knew there was any reason to worry about their effect on the environment or be concerned about the smoke that poured from their tailpipes. In the 1960s, ignorance like mine was widespread in the United States, maintained b ...
Topics: air pollution, books, cars, electric vehicles, energy efficiency, green living, hybrids, oil, placemaking (all these topics)

Stories About: cars AND electric vehicles AND green living AND hybrids AND placemaking