| Cancelled Plug-In Hybrid Ram Pickup Caught Testing In Desert Posted: 27 Aug 2010 02:26 PM PDT  It is hard to believe that is had been over a year since Chrysler and GM went into bankruptcy filings. Both companies have shed a tremendous about of debt, obligations, and in GM’s case, four car brands. Only in America, right? So with all that taxpayer money, you’d think we’d see some genuine innovations in terms of hybrid and electric vehicles, especially when it comes to pickups. A hybrid pickup sounds great, especially for your average small business owner, where every buck counts.
Here we see proof of taxpayer money being put hard at work, as Chrysler tests out its Ram Plug-In Hybrid pickup truck in Death Valley. Guess what? You can’t buy it. Ever. It is part of a small “demonstration fleet,” with no plans to sell such a vehicle to the general public. (more…)  |
| Detroit News Gets it Wrong About the Honda CR-Z Posted: 27 Aug 2010 02:23 PM PDT 
Detroit News writers recently got the chance to test-drive one of Honda’s new, “fun to drive” CR-Z hybrid coupes. They wrote about their experiences, and (after they got done calling Americans overweight and shallow) they told us about Honda’s new CR-Z and its chances in the US market. They were wrong. (more…)  |
| Earthbound Travel Trailer Inspired By Spaceflight Posted: 27 Aug 2010 10:30 AM PDT 
So far as I know, not many people from my generation want to be astronauts. It used to be the other way around; everybody wanted to be an astronaut. While getting strapped to a giant rocket and shot into space sounds appealing, living in cramped quarters with a half-dozen other human beings for months on end doesn’t sound like much fun. NASA engineers have, however, figured out how to maximize space and efficiency, and those efforts could help us down here on earth. One NASA engineer took his expertise and built himself a funky little travel trailer called the Cricket. (more…)  |
| Electric VW Beetle Sets Off On Trans-Canada Trip Posted: 27 Aug 2010 10:26 AM PDT 
O Canada! Land of Maple trees, Maple syrup, and of course, the Toronto Maple Leafs hockey team, 13 time Stanley Cup champions. It is a vast, sparsely populated country, where the people sing show tunes with their crazy bobbing heads (at least according to South Park). The vastness certainly presents a challenge to anybody trying to cross such a huge country, and that goes doubly so for anyone with the gusto to cross it in an electric vehicle.
Yet that is what a group of students from the University of British Columbia are doing. They left Vancouver last week in their electric 1972 VW Beetle. Now that’s some moxie! (more…)  |
| Mercedes, Working With Tesla, Will Launch A-Class Electric Car This Year Posted: 27 Aug 2010 10:24 AM PDT 
According to reports, Mercedes will introduce an all-electric version of its A-Class compact car at the 2010 Paris Auto Show in October. The A-Class E-Cell, as it’s called, will be made in a limited run of 500 units, mostly aimed at testing, and will start production early next year. Initially the car won’t be sold in showrooms, but will find its way into the hands of fleet customers and other customers that have shown an interest in plug-in vehicles. As previously rumored, after significant investment by Daimler in Tesla, the two companies have developed the A-Class E-Cell in conjunction. In fact, it seems that most of the impetus behind the A-Class EV came from incessant and persistent pushing by Tesla to make it happen. (more…)  |
| New Holland Rolls Out Fuel-Cell Tractor Posted: 27 Aug 2010 09:23 AM PDT 
New Holland’s revolutionary ZEV NH2 tractor will be making its North American debut at next week’s Farm Progress Show in Boone, Iowa… but it’s much more than a static concept: it’s a fully-functional prototype of (what New Holland hopes will be) the farm tractor of tomorrow. More – including pictures and videos – after the jump. (more…)  |
