Author: Christopher DeMorro

The Chevy Volt is still months away from hitting showrooms, but that hasn’t stopped people from speculating on the next generation of Chevy’s plug-in hybrid. Will it make the jump to a fully electric vehicle? Will they make a sportier SS version? Will anybody actually buy the Volt? These are just some of the questions people are asking.

Some of the focus has been on the range-extending engine, which as it stands is a smallish, 4 cylinder, 1.4 L Ecotec powerplant which can recharge the batteries on the fly. But will they stick with the conventional engine, or go with something… different. Like a rotary engine, or perhaps even a diesel?

(more…)

Tractor trailers use a lot of gas. The trucking industry and related professions also employ a lot of people, and are a vital link in our supply chain that gets us food, electronics… just about everything from production to the store. We need trucks, and we need truckers… but we need those trucks to be a lot more fuel efficient. Why truckers haven’t already pursued green technology to pad their profit margin, I don’t know, but a new report from Calstart might change some minds.

Called “Delivering Jobs”, the report suggests that over eight years, trucking companies could save $120,000 per truck. This money could then be used to create 120,000 jobs by 2030. But is it really that simple?

(more…)

The Honda CR-Z is, to me at least, a bit of a confusing car. Honda absolutely nailed the sporty hatchback look, and this car can certainly pass for a contemporary cousin of the now-classic CRX. But while it looks sporty, and it even has a six-speed transmission, the engine output is, well… about the same as a 20 year old CRX. So they went and made it a hybrid. But for a hybrid, it gets sub-par gas mileage. So it kinda fails, for me at least, on both fronts, and I feel like I’m not alone on this.

Apparently though, across the Atlantic, British car reviewers are raving about the CR-Z. Did I miss something?

(more…)

At our peak auto purchasing capacity, Americans bought an average of 17 million cars almost every year from 1997 to 2007. That means in just ten years, 170 million cars were added to the road, and far fewer were scrapped. In fact, 2009 was the first year in four decades where Americans scrapped significantly more cars than they bought. 14 million autos were sent to the scrapyard (helped in no small part by Cash for Clunkers), while Americans bought just 10 million new vehicles.

Over in China though, the auto industry is going through unprecedented growth. After outpacing U.S. sales in 2009, analysts are estimating Chinese consumers could buy between 15 and 17 million new cars in 2010. And that number is only going to grow.

(more…)

Despite some serious efforts by nearly every major automaker to get an electric car on the roads within the next five years, EVS are still being met with a lot of skepticism. Some say the limited range will lock it into city driving, and others are say the driving public isn’t ready to jump behind the wheel of something so similar to a gas-car, and yet so different.

Don’t tell that to Nissan though. The Japanese company’s LEAF electric car has been met with thunderous applause. Now, just a little over a month after Nissan sent out the first pre-order emails, CEO Carlos Ghosn has announced that the first 3 months of LEAF supply is officially “sold out” with 13,000 $99 reservations on the books.

(more…)

It is really such a shame that it has taken so long for city and state governments to catch on to the whole electric vehicle craze. We should have had electric buses and taxis in droves by now, mostly because it makes economic sense. Less upkeep and lower fuel costs will eventually offset the higher upfront cost, especially since many municipalities put hundreds of thousands of miles on their vehicles.

Looking to take a lead in clean public transportation, the Société de transport de Montréal, Montreals public transportation department, says it intends to replace its fleet of 1,300 buses with all-electric models by 2025.

(more…)

Trains used to be the primary mode of transportation in America. That all changed after World War II, with the rise of the automobile. When once America was home to the ten fastest trains in the world, now it has just a single train that could be called “high speed.” But while our passenger trains have long been neglected, freight trains have improved by leaps and bounds.

The Association of American Railroads issued a press release stating that in 2009, freight trains across the country average 480 ton-miles per gallon. Since 1980, freight train fuel efficiency has increased by 104%. (more…)

The future used to hold so much promise. Flying cars. Atomic robots. Space travel to distant galaxies. These days though, the future still holds promise, but many problems too, like the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico that will affect the environment for decades even after it is eventually capped. Just the tip of the iceberg, really. And while 15 years may not seem that far away… think about how much different the world is today than is was in 1995.

President Obama is looking ahead though. Whatever your opinion of the guy, he is undeniably trying to shape the country not just for today, but for the future. After securing a 35 mpg standard for cars by 2016, Obama is pushing for even higher standards through 2025.

It doesn’t look like I’ll get flying cars or atomic robots anytime soon, but the 35 mpg standard is an important first step towards getting more fuel efficient cars and new technologies on the road. Some have criticized the 35 mpg standard as not high enough, or with too many loopholes and tax credits. Yet if we didn’t give automakers sufficient time to create and test new technologies, like plug-in hybrids and hydrogen vehicles, we might end up with a bunch of half-baked solutions that would be nothing but headaches.

(more…)

Having worked for several different landscaping and construction companies, I got used to driving gas guzzling commercial vehicles. Though it shames me a bit to admit it (not really) I used to drive those vehicles with little regard to fuel economy or the fact that they were somebody else’s property. Often enough I broke the speed limit, stomped the gas just to hear the engine rumble, and frequently chirped the tires going around corners. I remember one particular day where I calculated getting just 6 mpg in my boss’s Chevy Silverado.

I’ve since grown up, and out, of acting like an inconsiderate bum, but even so, there are plenty of heavy duty, gas guzzling commercial vehicles out there. Weening fleet customers off of oil and onto a cleaner burning fuel would go a long way towards cutting our dependence on oil. Today, GM announced that for the first time, fleet customers will be able to buy commercial vehicles that run on either Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) or Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG).

(more…)

At first glance, Toyota and Tesla don’t have a whole lot in common. The former is the world’s largest automaker, while the latter is a small, electric car-only company that only recently surpassed delivering its 1,000th car. But both companies have a lot of green cred; Toyota for its best-selling Prius, Tesla for being the first company to successfully build and globally market a modern electric car. Soon, the two may have even more in common.

California Governor Arnold “The Governator” Schwarzenegger was speaking this morning at a Google event, when he let slip that Tesla and Toyota will be building electric cars. Together. Whaaa?

(more…)

When I visited England a few years ago, it was a strange juxtaposition of contemporary American culture with a classic British twist. As a car guy though, I naturally paid the most attention to all the interesting and foreign (literally) vehicles around me. While the black cabs nearly clipped me and I saw a runaway Renault crash into a streetlamp, the legendary vehicles that captivated me the most were the red, double decker buses.

Of course, these old, mobile landmarks are pretty much the picture of a bygone gas guzzling era. In an effort to improve the green cred of London, Mayor Boris Johnson unveiled the official new hybrid double decker bus, which will hit the streets sometime in 2012.

(more…)

Air travel is often hailed as the safest form of travel, and there is something to be said for getting where you need to go in a hurry. Of course, to cruise six miles or more above the Earth going hundreds of miles per hour requires high octane jet fuel. Lots and lots of it. A Boeing 747-8 can carry up to 64,000 gallons of jet fuel and, depending on how fast it flies, can burn through over three-thousand gallons of fuel per hour.

No matter what you say about efficiency-per-passenger, that is a whole lotta jet fuel. Everybody knows it, including NASA, which enlisted six research teams to design a more efficient aircraft. A team led by researchers at MIT came up with a plane they call the “double bubble” that is supposed to reduce fuel consumption by 70%.

(more…)

Chrysler is in a sad state these days, but it is not beyond saving. Much has already been said about the unlikely alliance between Chrysler and Fiat, though little in the way of new products have been announced. We know Fiat plans on bringing the 500 to America, and there was the Chyrsler/Lancia Delta concept car. But nothing else we can wrap our eyes around.

Fiat has more than just small cars though. They have their own version of variable valve timing, called MultiAir. This system can increase power by 10% while decreasing fuel consumption by up to 30%. It was recently revealed that the MultiAir technology will be making its way into Chrysler cars.

(more…)

I have a love/hate relationship with officers of the law. I was a bit of a wild child in my youth and ran afoul of the law more than once. On the flip side, I’ve been helped out by the police a number of occasions too, and I have several friends who have joined their ranks. Even with my checkered past, I always thought the police deserved better vehicles though. As good as the Crown Victoria was, it was basically the same car for the better part of three decades.

New York City, that perpetual metropolis, has recently decided to double its fleet of hybrid police vehicles by placing an order for 200 Ford Fusion and Escape Hybrids. This will add to their already sizable fleet of Altima Hybrids and Prius patrol vehicles.

(more…)

Electric cars are coming; this much we know. After decades of promises, it seems like electric cars will finally be a reality. But it isn’t happening organically, or rather, due to consumer demand. Instead governments around the world are dolling out billions of dollars in low-interest loans and tax incentives to get people to buy electric cars. It is sort of like encouraging a kid to be nice by giving him candy.

However, a recent study by a collection of German environmental groups says that not only are the benefits of electric cars to the enviroment minimal, but the billions in incentives will “plunder treasuries” of governments worldwide. I wonder if pirates conducted the study?

(more…)

In my opinion, it makes the most sense to start out by electrifying government and public transit vehicles prior to private corporations entering the electric car market. First off, the government should at least try to be efficient. Also, the way bus routes are set up, the limited range of electric vehicles wouldn’t be much of a problem as charging points could be set up along the way.

In this vein, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, the parent company of Mitsubishi Motors, is in the planning stages of an experiment with swappable battery electric buses in Japan. Makes sense to me!

(more…)

I remain defiantly optimistic about the future of trains in America. We used to have the fastest, smoothest, most comfortable trains in the world. Then, seemingly overnight, streamliners and thousands of miles of tracks just disappeared. America seems ready to rekindle its love affair with the train, but we need to do so in a way that promotes alternative fuels as a way of motivating massive trains.

Amtrak, which has not turned a profit in, uh, forever, is moving forward with plans to test out a new biodiesel blend in one of its trains. The extended one-year experiment will try to prove the viability and lower emissions of a biodiesel train. But will it stick?

(more…)

Weight is without a doubt the enemy of efficiency. Once, all that extra heft was considered a safety feature, but with new technologies that make cars safer even at lighter weights, now it is considered more of a hindrance than anything. Yet, despite space age materials and new construction methods, most cars still weigh well over 3000 pounds. This has put automakers in an uphill battle, where they have to move increasingly heavier cars with smaller engines, while still maintaining some sort of “fun” factor while driving.

But a recent study by Lotus suggests that mainstream automakers could achieve a 38% reduction in the mass of the car (not including the drivetrain) — and thereby increase fuel efficiency 23% — yet only increase costs associated with the extra manufacturing by a scant 3%.

(more…)

The argument on when the world’s oil supply will start dwindling is a running battle that has been going on for the better part of forty years. Pretty much everyone at this point though has figured out that at the rate we are sucking up oil (85 million barrels per day) that it won’t last for much longer. That means we need alternatives, and fast.

While one of the main arguments in favor of alternative fuels and electric vehicles is environmental concerns, I think the U.S. needs to take a look at China’s playbook. They make no bones about it; their green initiatives are about energy security and ensuring they don’t get stuck with unfavorable allies who supply the dino juice.

(more…)

I was under the impression that GM was developing the Volt, and Voltec technology, for use in other vehicles. We saw a hint of that when GM unveiled a Volt MPV5 at the Beijing Auto Show. To be honest, I’ve had daydreams of a Voltec-powered Camaro that gets 40 mpg and does 0-60 in five seconds.

But Alan Taub, director of GM’s Research & Development, has shattered those dreams. He says that the Voltec technology that underpins the Volt won’t work in cars much larger — or smaller — than the Volt.

(more…)