Gas 2.0 |
- Ford Standing Proud As US Hybrid Sales Come on Strong
- Eight GM Volts Hit Interstate Highways in Longest Test So Far
- US Navy to Cut Greenhouse Emissions 50% By As Early As 2015 (!)
- Recaptured Energy Technologies Partners with Ricardo on Green Solutions
- Kansas Students Run Retro VW Beetle on Batteries and Biodiesel
| Ford Standing Proud As US Hybrid Sales Come on Strong Posted: 16 Oct 2009 03:24 PM PDT The American hybrid landscape is shifting under our feet.
With the perceptible movement of a slow landslide, Ford hybrid sales have been dramatically increasing over the last year—sales in September were up 73% from last September. According to Automotive News (subs. req’d), this brings Ford within a few thousand units of overtaking Honda to become the second largest seller of hybrids in America. These numbers are significant because, according to Ford hybrid marketing manager David Finnegan, "More than 60 percent of Fusion Hybrid sales have been from non-Ford owners, and more than half of those are customers coming from import brands, mostly from Toyota and Honda." Confirming Finnegan’s assessment, the established hybrid juggernaut, Toyota, has seen sales of its hybrids plummet 28% in the same time period. Toyota still blows all the hybrid competition out of the water—capturing nearly 66% of all US hybrid sales—but the speed with which the changes are taking place certainly bodes well for a healthy and competitive hybrid marketplace in the future. |
| Eight GM Volts Hit Interstate Highways in Longest Test So Far Posted: 16 Oct 2009 12:00 PM PDT
Even as Detroit is felled by horrific 28% unemployment levels unseen in this nation since the Dust Bowl era, eight Government Motors’ Volts headed out for their first long distance real world test drive this month. They drove on real world Government Interstates from Milford in Michigan to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania to see if they are going to able to make the transition from being just another concept vehicle - to actual reality, now that they’re government funded. Apparently, yes they can. |
| US Navy to Cut Greenhouse Emissions 50% By As Early As 2015 (!) Posted: 16 Oct 2009 11:46 AM PDT
After the new Executive Order last week requiring every Federal Agency to accurately account for their greenhouse gas emissions—and then sharply reduce them 30% by 2020 [previous story]—the Navy has doubled down in their response. Already the Navy uses 17% renewable energy (about like Iowa and even better than California), but they plan on achieving a faster reduction and a much tougher goal that that decreed by the president: fifty percent—some of which will be achieved by 2015. Or as US Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus put it: "Our Navy and Marine Corps has never backed away from a challenge." [ed. note: THAT makes me so damn patriotic I have no words. Anybody who says greenies aren't patriotic can go suck it.] |
| Recaptured Energy Technologies Partners with Ricardo on Green Solutions Posted: 16 Oct 2009 11:34 AM PDT
RET’s basic technology is this: they have a retrofitable hydraulic propulsion system for large vehicles that stores energy in hydraulic cylinders with compressed gas. The vehicle, such as a city bus, then uses that stored energy to give it a boost when starting up. The technology is known as RPS, or Retrofitable Propulsion System, and reduces fuel use by 25 percent and emissions by 25 percent. But before you finish mumbling about how improved fuel economy doesn’t eliminate our dependence on fossil-fuel based energy, this system can improve the fuel and emissions of vehicles using all forms of fuel including ethanol, biodiesel, compressed natural gas, propane and more. “We like to say that the vehicle is indifferent and fuel agnostic,” said Sam Jones, President of Recaptured Energy Technologies. |
| Kansas Students Run Retro VW Beetle on Batteries and Biodiesel Posted: 16 Oct 2009 03:19 AM PDT
A group of University of Kansas students have rigged up a 1974 Volkswagen Super Beetle to run on a mix of biodiesel and battery power. The team, calling themselves the Ecohawks, claim the quirky hybrid is capable of getting 50 MPG from a series of 10 lead-acid batteries and a biodiesel generator. Performance-wise, although quite cool looking in a retro kind of way, the car isn’t exactly what you’d call a speedster, topping out as it does at a leisurely 30 mph. That doesn’t seem to bother team-leader Prof. Chris Depcik though, who told reporters, “We have driven it around and reached approximately 30 mph, but this was more of a proof-of-concept drive without pushing the boundaries. We are currently getting the vehicle into road-ready shape to be driven safely in order to determine these values.” (More pics after the jump). |
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