Thursday, March 4, 2010

Gas 2.0

Gas 2.0

GM-Volt.com Offering 10 Winners A Chance To Test Drive The Volt

Posted: 04 Mar 2010 01:12 PM PST

This November the first production Chevy Volts will begin rolling off production lines. As I’ve already noted, a lot is riding on the Volt’s success or failure. In many ways, it is a measuring stick for GM’s commitment to hybrid and electric cars in the future. While GM has made a few missteps prior to launch, they’ve done a great job of getting the word out there about the Volt.

In a bid to give a few lucky winners a chance behind the wheel of the Volt, GM has teamed up with GM-Volt.com to offer ten lucky winners a chance to test drive a pre-production model next month, right before the New York Auto Show.

(more…)

Student Invents Material With Highest Known Hydrogen Storage Capacity

Posted: 04 Mar 2010 11:40 AM PST

A Ph.D. student at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute has developed a new method for storing large amounts of hydrogen at room temperature using a version of the super-material graphene. Reportedly his material is inexpensive, easy to produce, and can store almost twice the amount of hydrogen than the U.S. Department of Energy’s ultimate target of 7.5% by weight at room temperature.

(more…)

Can Corn be Engineered to Reduce its Own Pollution?

Posted: 04 Mar 2010 10:33 AM PST

Corn ethanol is a tricky subject, but what if you could teach corn to produce its own fertilizer from the air around it? If you could, you would vastly reduce the amount of petroleum-based fertilizer needed to grow it and therefore make it much more environmentally sound.

(more…)

$7 A Gallon Gas Necessary To Cut Emissions Say Researchers

Posted: 03 Mar 2010 08:57 PM PST

It is finally starting to feel like spring around my parts. Warm weather means a lot of things; the beach, going topless in my Wrangler, and cringing every time I pull up to a gas pump. Gas has been fluctuating in recent weeks, but here in Connecticut it is only a few cents away from $3 a gallon. I wouldn’t be surprised to see it hit $3.50 in some places. Sounds expensive, but it wasn’t too long ago some of us were paying almost $4 a gallon or more. Remember that?

Now researchers at the Harvard Belfer Center for Science and International Studies report that, in order to meet the Obama Administration’s goals for cutting greenhouse gas emissions, gasoline would have to cost $7 a gallon. I’d have to sell my Jeep and buy a scooter at those prices. And I hate scooters.

(more…)

Bob Lutz Retiring… A Second Time

Posted: 03 Mar 2010 08:49 PM PST

How many times must a man retire before he is truly and totally done?

For Bob Lutz—the man most recently known for his leadership on bringing the Chevy Volt to market—the magic number may be “two.” Today he announced he was retiring. Again. A year ago he announced his places to retire as GM’s Vice Chairman of Global Product Development on April 1st, 2009, and stay on as an advisor. Then in July Lutz came back to GM again. Is it for real this time?

(more…)

Electric Tata E-Nano Heading For Europe Within Three Years

Posted: 03 Mar 2010 08:45 PM PST

The Tata Nano is a revolutionary car for its simplicity and price. The three-cylinder, small wheeled car costs just over $2,000, and has opened the car market in India to millions of people. The next cheapest car for sale in India, the Maruti 800, costs almost $4,000. It is cheap, efficient transportation. Unfortunately, it still runs on gas, and the extra cost and limited range of electric vehicles aren’t likely to catch on anytime soon in India.

But Europe is already well along the path to electric cars and Tata has chosen to take advantage of that fact. At the Geneva Auto Show, Tata unveiled an electric E-Nano concept that they say will sell in Europe within three years.

(more…)

Edmunds Offers $1 Million Prize For Toyota Acceleration Problem

Posted: 03 Mar 2010 08:40 PM PST

If you’re like me, then you still don’t know who to believe about Toyota’s “unintended acceleration” problem. Toyota says it isn’t an electrical issue. In the past they’ve also blamed, of all things, floor mats.

ABC news found a technology professor named David Gilbert who claims he can create a short that causes Toyotas to accelerate, although his results have been proven to be difficult to recreate. Unsurprisingly, Toyota says his results are suspect. Yet, some owners of “fixed” cars are still complaining about unintended acceleration. Toyota has said they’re looking into it.

Edmunds, determined to get to the bottom of all this, has decided to offer $1 million to whoever can figure out exactly what is behind all of this acceleration madness and fix it.

(more…)
Posted by at

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)