|
| Headline |
Author |
Published |
Section |
Pick me! Pick me!
100 households to test out plug-in hybrid Pruises in California |
Adam Browning |
06 Nov 2007 |
Gristmill |
| UC Davis's Institute of Transportation Studies and AAA are looking for 100 households willing to drive their plug-in hybrids. I nominate myself for the sacrifice. The more batteries we have plugged into the grid, the more renewable energy we'll get on the grid. I would say I can't wait to buy one of these commercially, but if you read the sad details from Felix at CalCars, you'll see that's exactly what I am going to have to do. It appears Honda is out, Toyota is re ... |
|
| Topics: California, cars, electric vehicles, hybrids, innovation, Prius (all these topics) |
|
|
Project Better Place
CPR for the electric car |
Adam Browning |
31 Oct 2007 |
Gristmill |
| Project Better Place has a new take on jumpstarting the electrification of transportation: they've raised $200 million (about enough to buy, what, three fuel cell vehicles?) to start building infrastructure for charging and battery exchange stations. That's just a down payment. If you play Internet Nancy Drew for a sec you will quickly find out that Israel Corp, a major investor, also has a stake in oil refineries, and 45 percent of Chery, the Chinese car company t ... |
|
| Topics: cars, electric vehicles, electricity grid, energy, energy storage, renewable energy, solar voltaic power (all these topics) |
|
|
URGE2, baby
Automakers debate skipping directly to full-electric cars |
David Roberts |
26 Oct 2007 |
Gristmill |
| Ah, finally! The argument surfacing among auto-industry leaders gathering for the Tokyo Motor Show this week is over whether it is time to skip past partial electrification of cars -- represented by gasoline-electric hybrids such as the Toyota Prius -- and push instead to revive the idea of an all-electric car. On one side are Toyota Motor Corp. and General Motors Corp. Both have played down all-electric cars in favor of developing gasoline-elec ... |
|
| Topics: business, cars, electric vehicles, hybrids, Prius (all these topics) |
|
|
Chick car
Reaper on the Prius |
David Roberts |
15 Oct 2007 |
Gristmill |
| CW has a new show called Reaper, about a slacker whose parents sold his soul to the devil, who he now has to work for. It's genial enough, funny in bits. I like to keep an eye on how Priuses and hybrids are used in television, and this one was amusing: |
|
| Topics: cars, electric vehicles, hybrids, Prius, TV (all these topics) |
|
|
Hybrid owners beware
Priceless Colbert |
JMG |
07 Oct 2007 |
Gristmill |
|
|
| Topics: cars, electric vehicles, funnies, hybrids, TV (all these topics) |
|
|
Debunking Shellenberger & Nordhaus -- Part III
What Californians know that Shellenberger & Nordhaus don't |
Joseph Romm |
05 Oct 2007 |
Gristmill |
| 'The kind of technological revolution called for by energy experts typically does not occur via regulatory fiat' claim Shellenberger & Nordhaus. Actually, that is typically the only way it occurs. I defy anyone to name a country that has successfully adopted alternative fuels for vehicles without employing some kind of regulatory mandate. This is also true in the electricity sector. Consider that in terms of electricity consumption, the average Californian gen ... |
|
| Topics: California, cars, climate, electric vehicles, energy, energy efficiency, greenhouse-gas emissions, hybrids, tech (all these topics) |
|
|
Discover Brilliant Q&A: Bill Williams of Zenn Motors
A chat with Zenn about NEVs and EEstor |
David Roberts |
04 Oct 2007 |
Gristmill |
| I talked to a few people at Discover Brilliant. I'll be getting Q&As up over the coming weeks. Bill Williams is the California sales director for Zenn Motor Co., maker of neighborhood electric vehicles (NEVs). In addition to selling one of the most full-featured NEVs, Zenn has an exclusive contract with a tight-lipped and somewhat mysterious company called EEstor. EEstor claims it's making an ultracapacitor that will so far outperform previous capacitors tha ... |
|
| Topics: business, cars, electric vehicles, energy, fuel efficiency, hybrids, interview (all these topics) |
|
|
Coal-solar hybrid
It doesn't make sense -- and that's the point |
Adam Browning |
30 Sep 2007 |
Gristmill |
| More than a few people were taken in by a guy peddling a coal/solar hybrid system at Solar Power 2007. "But, smokestacks on the roof -- that just doesn't make sense," said a government bureaucrat, who shall remain unnamed pending resolution of my grant proposal. Indeed, it doesn't. As the less credulous might have predicted, it was a marketing spoof by Sharp Solar: This, fight fans, is textbook campaigning in the YouTube era. Come up with a shtick that ... |
|
| Topics: coal, electric vehicles, energy, hybrids, solar voltaic power (all these topics) |
|
|
Discover Brilliant: Plug-in hybrids
A panel discussion on how much plug-ins rule |
David Roberts |
18 Sep 2007 |
Gristmill |
| Today at lunch: 'Squeezing the Balloon -- The Opportunities and Challenges in Plug-In Hybrids,' by conference moderator P.S. Reilly. Also: Andy somebody from UC Davis, John Baker from Austin Energy Andy: Oil prices are rising, peak oil's on the way, automakers are worried they won't be able to sell their cars. Plug-ins offer redundancy -- two sources of energy. Baker: We see it as a way of addressing climate change. Third guy whose name I didn't catch: I looked a ... |
|
| Topics: cars, electric vehicles, energy, hybrids (all these topics) |
|
|
Send Google.org your cool plug-in idea
Cutting edge investment philanthropy from the search engine's .org arm |
David Roberts |
13 Sep 2007 |
Gristmill |
| Joel Makower brings news of an interesting and innovative initiative (an III, if you will) from Google.org, the search company's non-nonprofit philanthropy arm. They're sending out an open call asking inventors and entrepreneurs to pitch them on products and services that would speed the commercialization of plug-in hybrids. There's $10 million in investment capital waiting to be divided among the winners. Says Google: We welcome and expect to receive submissions f ... |
|
| Topics: cars, electric vehicles, hybrids, innovation (all these topics) |
|
|
Greentech and EEStor
Ultracapacitor company claims it will revolutionize electric cars |
David Roberts |
09 Sep 2007 |
Gristmill |
| The AlwaysOn Network has selected its GoingGreen 100 -- the 100 top companies in greentech, based on "innovation, market potential, commercialization, stakeholder value creation, and media attention or 'buzz.'" Here's the category I'm watching: Energy Storage A123 Systems Bloom Energy Cobasys Deeya Energy EEStor GridPoint Jadoo Power Lilliputian Systems ZPower (Gridpoint was the top company in AlwaysOn's overall ranking ... |
|
| Topics: business, cars, electric vehicles, energy, innovation, tech (all these topics) |
|
|
Nerd on nerd communiqué
The real deal on hybrid bike technology |
biodiversivist |
05 Sep 2007 |
Gristmill |
| Got an email yesterday from fellow hybrid bike enthusiast, Larry Blakely. He built a front-wheel drive version of my bike -- and just for kicks, a solar charger to go with it: Things have come together. A Crystalyte 408 front hub motor, a 36-72 volt 40 amp controller, and 6 intact DeWalt batteries (2S3P) get me to town to do errands and return home on about 60% of the battery capacity. A big tip of my helmet to biodiversivist for showing how well this combo works! ... |
|
| Topics: bikes, electric vehicles, hybrids, innovation, placemaking, tech (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) |
|
|
Classy Consciousness
Honda to release unique-looking hybrid for conspicuous greens |
|
28 Aug 2007 |
Daily Grist |
| Classy Consciousness Honda to release unique-looking hybrid for conspicuous greens Honda plans to make its hybrid cars more visible by 2009 by redesigning their exterior to stand out from the rest of its models. One of the reasons Honda has been trailing hybrid-market leader Toyota by such a large margin, according to industry analysts, is the Toyota Prius' unique shape that helps the public id ... |
|
| Topics: Big Auto, business, cars, electric vehicles, hybrids, news (all these topics) |
|
|
Dust to dumb
Prius easily beats Hummer in lifecycle energy use; 'Dust to Dust' report has no basis in fact |
Joseph Romm |
27 Aug 2007 |
Gristmill |
| A study came out recently claiming to prove a Hummer has lower lifecycle energy use than a Prius. Because the result was so obviously bogus -- and in sharp contradiction with every other major lifecycle analysis ever done -- I didn't spend time debunking it. But it made it into the comments of my blog and continues to echo around the internet, and the authors keep updating and defending it. A couple of good debunking studies -- by the Pacific Institute (PDF) and ... |
|
| Topics: cars, ecological footprint, electric vehicles, energy, insanity, Prius (all these topics) |
|
|
It Only Hertz a Little
Rental and car-share companies get hip to hybrids |
|
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 ... |
|
| Topics: cars, consumerism, electric vehicles, green living, hybrids, news, Prius (all these topics) |
|
|
Electric cars a-comin'
Comin' 'round the bend |
David Roberts |
14 Aug 2007 |
Gristmill |
| Coming to a showroom near you: a $30,000 all-electric sedan with a top speed of 80mph and a range of 120 miles per charge. Why the low price? It's made in China, with cheap labor and advanced lithium ion batteries that came out of government-funded research. There's competition: Phoenix Motors has a four-door utility truck with similar performance capabilities that it's planning on selling to the public around the same time. And Tesla Motors, makers of the $100, ... |
|
| Topics: cars, electric vehicles, green living, placemaking (all these topics) |
|
|
15 Green Cars
|
|
13 Aug 2007 |
Grist Feature |
| The greenest way to get around? On your own two feet, of course, or on a bicycle, unicycle, skateboard, or public transit. But if you still find yourself in need of a car, these are some of the best green options on the market. If we zoomed right past your favorite eco-friendly auto, tell us in the comments section at the bottom of the page. Courtesy of Toyota via Wieck Toyota Prius The best-selling Prius is synonymous with "hybrid" in many minds, and with ... |
|
| Topics: biofuels, cars, electric vehicles, energy, hybrids, innovation, lists, 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) |
|
|
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, ... |
|
| Topics: business, cars, electric vehicles, energy, fuel efficiency, green living, greenwashing, hybrids (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: energy, placemaking, fuel efficiency, hybrids, cars, electric vehicles, green living, 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) |
|
|
|
©2008. Grist Magazine, Inc. All rights reserved. Gloom and doom with a sense of humor®.