Articles by kristen

While the Americal Le Mans Series has already had a green race-within-a-race for alternative-fuel vehicles, NASCAR is taking baby steps toward eco-friendliness. The final race of the season on Sunday, November 16, had the series’ first-ever hybrid pace car, a 2010 Ford Fusion.

NASCAR isn’t going all tree-hugger on anybody, but it is trying to reduce its carbon footprint, according to a report on NASCAR.com. Organizers also hope the mere presence of a hybrid on the track will help crack the alternative-fuel ice with the sport’s fans, who tend to favor high horsepower and big trucks. But in a year of volatile gas prices and growing green awareness, even die-hard speed freaks can see the advantages in a higher-mpg vehicle.

The hybrid version of the Fusion, and its nearly identical twin the Mercury Sable, will be available to consumers in spring of next year. The official unveiling of the car will happen at the L.A. Auto Show, November 21-30.

Image courtesy of NASCAR.com.

Shorepower Technologies Portland, Oregon, location is the latest in a recent line-up of companies that will convert hybrid cars like the Prius to plug-in hybrid electric vehicles, or PHEVs. The company itself isn’t new, but the conversion side of the business is. They’ve just completed and delivered their first conversion — a Prius, of course.

Shorepower uses the Plug-In Supply kit to add 20 lead-acid batteries to the stock battery pack that comes with the car. The extra batteries fit in the rear cargo compartment under the carpet, with a metal lid between batteries and cargo.

• A converted car can go up to 50 mph on EV-only power, as opposed to about 42 mph for an unconverted Prius.
• Car can go an estimated 8-12 miles in EV-only mode
• Fuel economy can be as high as 80 mpg, according to Shorepower’s tests
• $6,700 includes parts, labor, and shipping the kit to Shorepower’s HQ for the conversion

The company also does EV conversions and uses the Hybrids Plus kit to swap out the factory lead-acid batteries for lithium-ion packs in the Ford Escape. Shorepower is also responsible for the new curbside charging stations popping up in the Portland metro area.

This isn’t an endorsement, and I’ve never used a Shorepower product, but it’s good to know who the reputable businesses are as the U.S. switches from a gas-dependent model to having choices in alternative fuels.

Images of the conversion to come.

Remember when I posted about the brand-new Dodge Durango Hybrid? Of course you remember — it was only a month ago. I went to a local product launch event hosted by Chrysler and learned that the Durango Hybrid  was eligible for a $2,200 tax credit.

If people want to take advantage of this huge hybrid and its substantial tax credit, it turns out they need to act fast. Chrysler announced that it’s closing the plant that builds the Durango Hybrid and its sibling the Chrysler Aspen. A mere 400 of hybrids had been built; according to the New York Times‘ calculations, that means a total of 800 may be built before the plant closes December 31.

When exactly did Chrysler make this annoucment? October 23 — three days after I posted about the Durango Hybrid and its tax break. This could go down in history as the shortest-lived model to ever hit production.

Mercedes-Benz has gotten a lot of press recently about AdBlue, the additive that makes its new BlueTec clean diesel SUVs and wagons so clean. I called up Larkin Hill, a PR rep at Mercedes, and asked her to explain to me what this AdBlue and BlueTec stuff was all about.

“Twenty years ago, 80% of Mercedes sales were diesel,” said Hill. “But they had a reputation for being loud, slow, and sooty. The BlueTec diesels are quiet, fast, and clean. You can stand behind one in a white linen suit and not get dirty.” This, she said, is due to AdBlue, an exhaust treatment fluid used in all the BlueTec diesels to neutralize nitrous oxide emissions.

In order for the Mercedes BlueTec diesels to meet the U.S. Bin 5 emissions standard, the company had to guarantee that the customer would put AdBlue into the exhaust system. “You get many, many, many warnings,” said Hill. “The car gives you twenty chances. It counts down the number of starts you have left.” When you’re out of AdBlue and the countdown reaches zero, you can’t start the car without adding another quart.

The reservoir is easy to find and easy to fill, though, as it’s located in the spare tire well in the back. And you can go 10,000 miles of normal driving without worry. Most people will have their M-B dealer top off the AdBlue tank during regular maintenance. For those who do a lot of towing or want peace of mind, BlueTec owners can buy and carry extra quarts. It’s available at 1500 outlets, like Pep Boys.

Right now, there are three 2009 vehicles with BlueTec clean diesel: the ML320, the GL320, and the R320. Hill said the company plans to release an E320 sedan with BlueTec and AdBlue later this year. And yes, she said, AdBlue is indeed blue.

Though motor vehicles had been around for some 20 years, the White House didn’t make the switch from horse-drawn carriages to horseless carriages until William Taft took office in 1909. According to the L.A. Times, Taft chose an electric vehicle built by the now-defunct Baker company for the first Presidential conveyance.

Fast forward 100 years to president-elect Barack Obama, who made the following promises in his “New Energy for America” speech in August:

Put 1 million Plug-In Hybrid cars — cars that can get up to 150 miles per gallon — on the road by 2015, cars that we will work to make sure are built here in America

Within one year of becoming President, the entire White House fleet will be converted to
plug‐ins as security permits

Half of all cars purchased by the federal government will be plug‐in hybrids or all‐electric
by 2012

Obama also wants to provide a $7,000 tax credit for consumers who purchase advanced-technology vehicles and unspecified tax credits for folks who go the DIY route (or hire a firm to do it for them) and convert their car to a PHEV or EV.

Image by Jim O’Clair, Hemmings.com.

If you’ve been considering an alternative-fuel vehicle for your next car but were wondering where on earth to fill up, look no further than the U.S. Department of Energy. That’s right — the DoE has put together a handy web site where you can search for refueling stations for just about any kind of fuel except regular, ol’ gasoline:

• Biodiesel (B20 and above)
• Compressed Natural Gas
• Electric
• Ethanol (E85)
• Hydrogen
• Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG)
• Liquefied Petroleum Gas (Propane)

It should surprise no one that California leads the way in most types of alternative fuel stations. E85 is huge in the Midwest, which is another no-brainer, but biodiesel is big in Georgia and the Carolinas, which I did not know. Texas has hundreds of propane filling stations, as anyone who watches “King of the Hill” would probably guess.

There is a ton of information on the Alternative Fuels and Advanced Vehicles Data Center, and it will be a valuable resource as more alternative-fueled cars come to market in the next four years or so. Bookmark it now, folks, and tell all your friends who love green cars.

Like a lot of people interested in green cars, I recently saw a press release from a company called L.A. Electric Motors. They announced that they had a “total electric SUV.” The 5-seat Testament has, according to the release, lithium-ion batteries, and can go 70 mph with a range of 350 miles per charge. The company claims to have a web showroom with physical locations on the way, but the link to the site didn’t work.

With claims like that, I was a bit suspicious. Now that green cars and alternative fuels are in the public eye, we have to watch out for outrageous claims from companies that seem unlikely to deliver. I mean, the Tesla Roadster gets 244 miles per charge from its Li-ion batteries, more than almost any EV out there right now, and look how long its taken to get those cars on the road–with a placeholder transmission, no less.

My radar really went up when I noticed that the company wanted to save consumers from “ever flocculating gas prices.” Further investigation turned up a web site URL that didn’t go anywhere and an email address that bounced back when I asked for more information.

So keep your skeptic hats on, readers. Many fantastic-sounding breakthroughs are real (remember when veggie diesel was funny? Now it’s a booming business), but if it sounds downright miraculous, do a little research before you repeat it as gospel. And if you see anything that makes you cock an eyebrow and say, “Really?” pass it on to me in the comments. I’d be happy to look into it and share what I find.

Good gas mileage, good cause–yup, it’s a good green car! The Green Car Company, which is based in Seattle, is auctioning off a 2009 Prius they’ve converted to be a plug-in using A123’s Hymotion plug-in kit. Proceeds from the eBay sale, which ends November 9, 2008, benefit Plug In America, a group working to shift consumers from gasoline- to electric-powered cars.

The Hymotion kit used in this particular Prius includes state-of-the-tech lithium-ion batteries and has been installed by certified technicians, so Toyota’s warranty is still in effect, according to Plug In America. The new battery pack has its own three-year warranty.

The dark blue car is on display all this week at the Seattle Auto Show for those who want to see it for themselves. The auction site says the new owner will be able to get 100-150 mpg and run on solely on electricity for up to 40 miles. The Prius is fully loaded, and the Green Car Company is throwing in a bunch of extras on top, including classes, shock upgrades, and heavy-duty extension cords for recharges.

LiveEarth and Zimride have teamed up over on Facebook to make it easy for the carless to find a ride to the voting booth. Cleverly called Carpool to the Polls, Facebook users just need to push the big green button at the bottom of the screen that says, um, “Carpool to the Polls.” They’ve really make it simple, folks.

Just under that big green button is a gray button that will help you find your polling station. Next to the green button is another green button for arranging a carpool anywhere else for any old errand that needs to be run.

This election is important for a lot of reasons, but one of the biggies this cycle involves sustainable energy sources and alternative fuels. I’m not going to tell you who to vote for, but it wasn’t the Barack Obama crowds shouting, “Drill, baby, drill.” I’m just saying.

So if you need an extra kick in the pants to get to the polls, sign up for a carpool. It’s greener than driving yourself, and you’re more likely to fulfill your commitment as a voter if you know someone is waiting for you at the curb, honking her horn, to take you to the voting booth.

Portland, Oregon, gets a lot of credit for sustainability and forward thinking, but it’s not the only place looking to an EV-powered future. Oregon City, a suburb south of Portland, unveiled its new curbside charging station October 28 by plugging in a converted electric Fiat owned by resident Mark Mongillo. The idea is to get a jump start, if you will, on the infrastructure required for the EVs and plug-in hybrids that manufacturers are promising for the near-ish future.

The charging station, which was built by Shorepower Technologies of Portland, is one of four that have been installed in the region by Portland General Electric. It can charge up to four electric cars at once using 120-volt plugs, like what we have in our homes. At that rate, it would take about four hours for a full battery charge. Most people parking curbside would likely “top off” their batteries while shopping or sipping coffee.

After the unveiling of the seven-foot-tall station, Mongillo plugged in his Fiamp to charge. Nothing happened. Nothing noticeable, anyway. The crowd seemed to expect noise or a light to turn on or something, but plugging in an EV isn’t that showy. Mongillo said, “That’s it. It’s working,” and the small crowd applauded.

Details on the Shorepower stations:

• 7 feet, 8 inches tall; stainless steel
• Powered by 100% renewable energy from PGE
• $2,500 for the four-outlet unit, not including installation
• Four 120-volt outlets; full charge in about 4 hours
• Charging is free (so far)

The Environmental Protection Agency recently finalized its list of the top low-mpg cars for the upcoming model year. It doesn’t restrict itself to merely small cars or green cars with hybrid systems or alternative fuels, oh no. The EPA lists the most fuel-efficient cars, from minicompacts, like the Mini Cooper, to midsized station wagons, like the Kia Rondo.

The overall winner in the mpg race was–hold on to your hats–the Toyota Prius, with a rating of 48 mpg city and 45 mpg highway. Here’s the top ten, in case you’re in the market for a brand-new car. The kicker is that these cars, with their low fuel usage and emissions, are the hottest cars on the lot these days. Finding one at a reasonable price may be tricky.

To see the full list, visit FuelEconomy.gov.

1. Toyota Prius, 48/45
2. Honda Civic Hybrid, 40/45
3. Smart ForTwo convertible and coupe, 33/41
4. Volkswagen Jetta and Jetta Sportwagen diesels, 30/41
5. Toyota Yaris, 29/35
6. Mini Cooper manual, 28/37
7. Nissan Versa, 26/31
8. Mini Cooper automatic, 25/34
9. Hyundai Sonata, 22/32
10. Honda Accord, 22/31

And for you glass-half-empty, hell-in-a-handbasket types, the EPA lists the cars with the worst mpg as well. That list tends more toward the Lamborghini/Ferrari/Bentley end of the spectrum, though I was suprised to see the Saab 9-3 on the worst list.

This month Interstate 65, which runs from Gary, Indiana, to Mobile, Alabama, become America’s first biofuels corridor, with help from the U.S. Energy Department, General Motors, and the Ethanol Promotion and Information Council. What does a biofuels corridor mean for drivers? It means that there are dozens of stations along I-65 offering E85 (85% ethanol, 15% gasoline) or B20 (20% biodiesel, 80% regular diesel), each spaced no more than a quarter tank apart.

The idea is less romantic than Route 66, but far more practical and forward-thinking. The route covers four states: Indiana, Kentucky, Tennessee, and Alabama. Seems like the perfect place to try out your new $2.4-million Koenigsegg CCXR supercar, which runs on E85. It could do this route from stem to stern in a cool three and a half hours.

Photo by peggydavis66.

In my capacity as an automotive journalist, I have driven the Mini Cooper before. Several times, as a matter of fact. But when the red 2008 Mini with black stripes was delivered on Friday, I had a mission in mind. I was going to put its EPA fuel economy estimates to the test.

The Mini Cooper in my possession for a few days had a standard 1.6-liter, 16-valve, 4-cylinder engine that could turn out 118 hp. It may not sound like much, but in a car this small, it’s enough. It also had a six-speed manual transmission, which would help in the mpg department. The test car did have sport suspension and 16-inch wheels, rather than the regular 15-inchers, but I didn’t think that would affect the fuel economy much. The EPA estimated 28 mpg in the city and 37 mpg on the highway.

The morning the Mini Cooper appeared in my driveway, I was already late for lunch. I grabbed the keys, reset the mpg counter, threw the car in reverse, and tore off in the direction of the restaurant where I would meet a few friends. I did not drive responsibly. Safety was, as always, my priority, but speed came in a close second. I was surprised, on reaching the restaurant a few miles away, that I had still averaged over 32 mpg, even driving like a jerk.

Over the next few days, I drove in a much more sane way around Portland. Lots of in-town driving, some freeway, some stop-and-go traffic at 5:30. It never dipped below 30 mpg. As you can see, after five days of normal driving, I averaged 33.7 mpg. This is above the EPA’s combined rating for the Mini Cooper of 32 mpg.

I have to give the car back, and it’ll be a while before I get another. BMW, which owns the Mini brand, is pulling back on its press loaners for now. In the meantime, we can all look forward to those precious few electric Mini E models coming to the States for real-world testing.

I’ve been at two auto events recently where the new Dodge Durango hybrid was made available for journalists to drive and evaluate. The first was Mudfest earlier this month, where the Durango hybrid topped the Best Family SUV category, where it competed with non-hybrid vehicles.

The second event was just a few days ago, when Chrysler/Dodge brought a handful of new models to Portland, Oregon, for the press to peruse. The 2009 Dodge Durango hybrid had just that day earned its official EPA fuel economy rating of 20 mpg city, 22 highway, and the company learned that the SUV was eligible for a $2,200 tax credit. The new rating marks an improvement in the hybrid Durango’s mileage over its conventional, petrol-burning Durango sibling by 50% in the city and 40% overall.

The phrase we keep hearing from SUV manufacturers is “no compromises.” Apparently, Joe Buyer is afraid that his new hybrid SUV will be wussy, and the PR folks are working to counter that. The Dodge Durango hybrid still has a V8 engine, though four cylinders will cut out when the engine isn’t under load. It still has 4-wheel drive and eight seats, and it can still tow 6,000 pounds. (The conventional Durango pulls 8,800 pounds; it’s up to you to decide if that’s a compromise.) But it also has stop-start technology and the two-mode hybrid system. The Dodge Durango hybrid and its cousin, the Chrysler Aspen hybrid, will be at dealerships by the end of 2008 with a price tag starting at $45,340.

The curious thing was that despite the tax credit and the clamor for gas-sipping, emissions-lite vehicles, Chrysler still isn’t wholeheartedly embracing the hybrid platform. While the GM rep I spoke with a couple weeks ago said he didn’t see why all of GM’s large vehicles couldn’t be based on a hybrid system like the Yukon has, the Chrysler rep at the more recent event said his company was going to wait and see. There are plenty of reasons for auto companies to take baby steps these days, but hybrid technology shouldn’t be one of the things they hold back on. Especially if there really are “no compromises.”

New web site VroomVroomVroom.com (I’ll just call it Vroom from here on out) aggregates car rentals into one-stop online renting. Enter your travel dates and destination, and Vroom will find you the best rental deal. The difference is, the company will pay to neutralize the carbon spewed into the air by your rental car.

Vroom has teamed with CarbonNeutral to accomplish its green goals. They figure one gallon of gas puts out about 20 pounds of CO2. They calculate distance driven and the fuel efficiency of the rental car to determine how much they need to pay for offsets.

Vroom doesn’t specialize in finding hybrids to rent or low-mpg cars. It’s just a portal for comparison shopping with Avis, Hertz, Alamo, Budget, and the rest of the big rental guys. Tracking down a rentable Prius is up to you, but this site could help you find a good price or ease the guilt if all you can find to rent is a gas-guzzling, full-sized sedan or smiliar.

If you love the safe feeling of driving a Volvo but not the around-town gas mileage (16 mpg in an S80!), do the Swedes have good news for you. Volvo announced at the Paris auto show, where green was king, that it would introduce start-stop technology in some of its 2009 models, with diesel hybrids to appear in 2012 and plug-in hybrids to come sometime soon after that.

The smaller C30, S40, and V50 will get the start-stop treatment first. This relatively uncomplicated technology shuts off the engine when it’s not under load, at stop lights, say, and starts it back up when you’re ready to get moving. Start-stop will make its way into the rest of Volvo’s lineup in the future.

Diesel hybrid systems will be used in the company’s larger vehicles, like SUVs, wagons, and the big sedans. The Volvo setup will have a 5-cylinder turbodiesel engine to drive the front wheels and an electric motor to power the rear wheels. At low speeds, the electric motor will be able to do all the necessary work.

Automotive News mentioned that electric motors and diesel engines have the same shortcoming, namely a lack of horsepower at high rpm. Volvo execs say that they’re more interested in reducing CO2 emissions, and this is the best way for them to do that. I doubt many people were buying Volvo wagons for their sportiness, anyway.

The Honda Insight, called “the Prius fighter” all over the blogosphere, was officially unveiled at the Paris auto show in early October. Honda president Takeo Fukui took the opportunity to run down a few details of the car, like power and price, at the event.

Here’s a quick comparison of the two mass-market hybrids, one already popular in the U.S. and one prepping for the fight. Keep in mind that Toyota’s got a redesigned Prius up its sleeve for 2010, and it’s predicted to have better mileage and a bigger gasoline engine.

2009 Honda Insight

• Under $20,000 (2 million yen is the target)
• 1.3-liter, 4-cylinder engine
• battery type not available
• 40 mpg city, 45 mpg highway
• five-door, five-passenger hatchback

2009 Toyota Prius

• $22,000 base MSRP
• 1.5-liter inline 4-cylinder engine
• NiMH battery pack
• 48 mpg city, 45 mpg highway
• five-door, five passenger hatchback

[Sources: Automotive News (subscription required), Edmunds.com, FuelEconomy.gov, Toyota.com]

Image courtesy of Honda.

One of the most talked-about unveilings at the Paris auto show this month was the all-electric version of the Smart car, called the Smart ED. (That stands for Electric Drive, not the subject of those old Bob Dole commercials.) Parent company Daimler says the cars will go into production in late 2009 for delivery to “selected customers.”

Daimler leased 100 early versions of an electric Smart to Londoners earlier this year to get real-world experience with plug-in vehicles. The second phase of testing, announced last month, will take place in Berlin with another 100 cars.

The updated version seen in Paris at the auto show will have a 90-mile range, which is twice as far as the current crop of neighborhood electric vehicles will go on one charge. No word on if or when the Smart ED will show up at U.S. dealerships.

Now that the new 2010 Honda Insight Hybrid has made its Paris debut, like any model worth her skinny jeans would do, the company has launched two new online outlets for the car.

“Latest Insight” is a blog that follows the car from debut to dealership. The design seems to be final with only the manufacturing step left to go, so I’m not sure what “journey” the bloggers at Honda will be following. You can count on posts and pics from every event and auto show the car graces, though.

Honda also launched a mini site, “Words of Hybrid,”* that showcases all of its hybrid vehicles, including the original Insight and the forthcoming CR-Z. There’s a link at the bottom of the list for a Jazz Hybrid that can’t be clicked. (The Jazz is the name of the Fit in Europe and the Middle East.) U.K. site What Car says the hybrid Jazz could reach the European market by 2010.

*You can also reach the Honda mini site by visiting Honda’s world hybrid site and clicking “Launch.”

Spooky photo of the Insight courtesy of Honda.

Neighborhood electric vehicle manufacturer ZAP reported that its third quarter, which ended September 30, was its best ever, or at least since it launched the Xebra model in 2006. In fact, it shipped 200% more vehicles in the third quarter of 2008 than it did in the same quarter last year.

While this is absolutely good news — the company has even upped its workforce by 30%, something the Big Three couldn’t do this summer — it has to be put in perspective. ZAP is a small company, so a 200% increase in units shipped means 240 went out the door this summer, as opposed to 80 in 2007.

In comparison, the rest of the industry slumped hard in August. Sales were down 15.5% over last year, making it the worst August the auto industry has seen in a decade. GM’s sales were down 20%, Ford was down 27%, Toyota dropped 9% despite the popular Prius, and even steady Honda dropped 7%. But Chrysler had it the worst in August, with a 34% drop in sales.

Legendary design firm Pininfarina has brought its own little EV to the Paris auto show this year, the B Zero. Actually, the model name is written B0, but the company has helpfully let us know that it’s pronounced “B Zero.” Presumably, they don’t want us Americans running around calling it the “BO.”

The B0 will roll off the production line in late 2009 as a 2010 model, the Italian company says. The mass-produced car is a collaboration between Pininfarina and Bollore, who will provide the powerplant. The proprietary system will use batteries and supercapacitors to propel the B0 about 150 miles per charge, with a top speed of 80 mph.

If zero emissions and a high-tech lithium polymer battery aren’t enough to float your eco-warrior boat, the car also has solar panels on its roof and even a few on its tiny hood. Right now, the panels will be able to run “some of its equipment,” according to Pininfarina. I assume this means they provide enough power for creature comforts like the radio and maybe air conditioning.

The Northwest Automotive Press Association has released the results, and the first-ever Best Green SUV Award went to the 2009 Ford Escape Hybrid. The field included two hybrids, a diesel, and an SUV with variable cylinder management technology.

SUVs in the green category were judged alongside “regular” SUVs and were scored on the same on-road and off-road handling capabilities, comfort, ergonomics, etc. In addition, the Green SUVs were evaluated on their fuel economy and emissions technologies and innovations.

It’s interesting to note that, because the Green SUVs were run over the exact same courses as the conventional SUVs, they won in other categories as well.

Best Family SUV

• $30,000 - $50,000 price range as tested
• Kid-friendly features
• Winner: 2009 Dodge Durango HEMI Hybrid

Best Luxury SUV

• Above $50,000 as tested
• Advanced luxury features
• Winner: Mercedes-Benz ML320 BlueTec Diesel

After I posted a synopsis of the alternative fuel tax credits here on GoodGreenCars Monday, astute reader Emily wondered if electric-only vehicles could get the credit, or if this particular sweetener only applied to PHEVs like the Volt.

Here’s the straight dope from the bill, as translated into English from Congress-ese by yours truly.

A New, Qualified, Plug-In Electric Drive Motor Vehicle, according to the recently passed bailout bill, means a vehicle that:

1. Has a battery with at least a 4 kwh capacity (your tax credit will go up with the size of your battery)
2. Uses an off-board source of energy to recharge the battery (an outlet or generator would do)
3. Is certified under the Clean Air Act and meets California’s low emissions vehicle standard
4. Will be put on the road for the first time by the taxpayer
5. Was bought for use by the taxpayer, not for resale
6. Was made by a manufacturer — home conversions do not get this credit

So your 6-year-old daughter’s battery-powered Barbie car doesn’t get the credit, nor does my friend Tim’s Porsche 914 conversion. You have to buy the car brand-new and use it yourself, no dealers or used cars allowed. And any plug-in vehicle should meet the emissions standards with flying colors.

If you have further questions, read the text of the bill here (look for Section 205 on page 186 of the PDF).

The bailout bill passed by Congress last week included “sweeteners,” as anyone with a radio, TV, Internet connection, or newspaper subscription has learned by now. What didn’t make the top of the news was the fact that a couple of these provisions to sweeten the Wall Street bailout bill directly affect alternative fuels — in a good way, for once.

Buyers of plug-in hybrid vehicles will receive a $2500 tax credit, plus $417 per kilowatt hour for batteries greater than 4 kwh. This makes the Chevy Volt $7500 cheaper, as GM’s Volt blog was happy to point out. The credit will apply fully to the first 250,000 PHEVs sold, then will be phased out over the next year’s worth of sales after than landmark number is reached. (See Section 205 on page 186 of the bill.)

The bill also extends the 30% clean-burning fuel property tax credit to electricity, and moves the deadline for taking the credit out a year to December 2010. (See Section 207 on page 197 of the bill.)

Since that information, while useful, was dry as sand, here’s  video of a souped up Smart ForTwo beating the pants off a Ferrari in the quarter-mile (38 seconds):

Hyundai’s got the blues. Two of them, to be exact. Like Mercedes-Benz, the Korean manufacturer has apparently tired of everything being green and branded its eco-conscious automotive efforts blue, as in the i20 blue and Santa Fe blue Hybrid, both of which debuted at the Paris auto show in early October.

The “blue” designation doesn’t mean hybrid; it means aerodynamic, efficiency, and weight measures have been taken to lower the car’s environmental impact. In the case of the i20, Hyundai took the following steps to lighten its footprint:

• 1.4-liter diesel engine
• six-speed gearbox, rather than a five-speed
• low-friction engine oil
• software to optimize timing, injection, and idle speed
• ISG start-stop system that cuts the engine while the car is not moving and not in gear
• full-length covers underneath the car to reduce drag
• Michelin Energy low rolling resistance tires

All this adds up to 15% lower carbon dioxide emissions and a 15% improvement in fuel efficiency (from 55 mpg to 63 mpg).

The Santa Fe blue, meanwhile, has a 2.4-liter engine mated to a 6-speed transmission and a 30 kW electric motor and a lithium polymer battery. The company says that this parallel hybrid architecture, as they call it, will be the basis for all Hyundai’s hybrids in the future. In the Santa Fe, the system returns 38 mpg. As part of the new blue lineup, it also incorporates many of the features, such as ISG start-stop, found in the i20 blue.

Yet another addition has been made to the online arsenal of tools for the savvy driver: CostToDrive.com. This easy-to-use web app asks for your start point, end point, and year, make, and model of the car you’ll be driving. It can then spit out the amount you’ll pay to fuel your rig for that trip.

I decided to give the calculator a test run, as I just took a drive to Auburn, Washington, for work, and I know what I spent on gas for that little adventure. The first thing I found was that if your car is older than 1999, you won’t find it in the drop-down menu.

Cost to Drive couldn’t find my little red truck in the system, so I entered it free-form style, including the MPG and size of the tank.  It told me I could expect to spend $25.75 on that trip, which was just about right. But I could have figured that out in my head using the information it had me type in.

The builders of the site call the process “galculating,” which is what I did while stuck in traffic on Interstate 5 yesterday. “If I sit here for x number of minutes burning y gallons of gas, how much time and money am I losing?” There’s nothing like a traffic jam to make word problems seem fun.

Cost to Drive may help you decide if a trip is worth it, or it may help you compare the cost of gas to the cost of a train ticket, but the math is pretty easy. I firmly believe you could figure this stuff out without a dedicated web site, but if your brain is having a difficult day, then Cost to Drive may help.

In the past six months, American car buyers have fled from buying SUVs and oversized pickups in favor of small, fuel-efficient cars and hybrids (if they can find one on the lot, that is). But car makers still feel that some small cars are too small for our roads.

Hyundai, for instance, is making a global push to establish itself in the small-car market. But not so much in the U.S. Its tiny five-door hatchback i10 model, for example, won’t be sold on American shores.  They’re looking instead to bring the larger i20 and i30 cars rather than the i10, which was designed with the European market in mind.

Though nothing is set in stone, not bringing the i10 to the small-car-starved dealerships here in the U.S. is a curious move for a company whose sales have been constrained by the limited availability of its current small cars, like the Elantra. Not even the i20, which is slightly larger and makes its debut in Paris next week, is officially set for import to the U.S.

Now that Wall Street and shifty mortgage schemes have the U.S. economy tanking and financing is hard to come by, the American car consumer’s wish for small, inexpensive, gas-sipping cars could become a demand. Everybody stand up and wave what few dollars you have in the direction of the i10 and the Ford Fiesta Econetic.

If you’ll recall, when the Tesla Roadster finally started rolling off the production line, the company promised that the transmission shipped with the car was not the final edition. Anyone who took delivery of the car in that first run would be eligible for a free gearbox upgrade — as soon as Tesla figured out what that would be.

The gearbox prize goes to supercar parts supplier BorgWarner. The 27 current Tesla Roadster owners can ship their cars back to the factory in California for an upgrade, which delivers 30% higher torque (in a car that already had plenty) and an EPA-calculated range of 244 miles on a single charge.

The gearbox Tesla planned to use at first turned out to be not so durable under the high-torque conditions generated by an electric supercar. The new BorgWarner setup has a single-speed gearbox.

Tesla says the new gearbox was the final hitch in production (we’ll see about that), and that it plans on upping its weekly production from 10 to 20 in the next few months. It wants to be churning out 40 per week by early 2009. Right now, it takes about six weeks from ordering a roadster to taking delivery and driving it away.

Fuel-efficient small cars like the Smart ForTwo and EVs like the Zap Xebra have a built-in cuteness due to their diminutive size. But the 2009 GEM Peapod acutally made me say, out loud, “Oh! They’re adorable.”

Like the Xebra, the Peapod is a neighborhood-electric vehicle, or NEV, so it can’t do highway speeds or ferry your family to Yellowstone for vacation (unless you live less than 30 miles from Yellowstone and have a very small family). Surprisingly, the Peapod is longer and taller than the Smart ForTwo, and even has rear seats. But the NEV’s top speed is 25 mph, where the gasoline-powered ForTwo can do a highway-capable 90 mph.

The Peapod comes from those eco-innovation lovers over at Chrysler’s ENVI outfit, the same folks who brought us the Chrysler, Jeep, and Dodge EV designs in late September. The design of the latest little EV is completely new, unlike, say, the Jeep or the Town and Country minivan EVs, and features a lot of glass and a shape straight out of 2001: A Space Odyssey.

I’ve blogged about GEM before, back in the dark ages of EVs (early 2008). With the advent of the Peapod, though, the decade-old, North Dakota-based subsidiary of Chrysler got a new-ish name, GreenEcoMobility. Whatever they call themselves, this is a big improvement over GEM’s glorified golfcarts of old. And by old, I mean six months ago.

This post is short, but important for anyone who’s got a Prius that they love: Toyota announced last week that it has dropped the price of replacement batteries for its popular hybrid sedan by 10%.

Replacements for the first-generation Prius, built from 2000-2003, can be replaced for $2,229, while second-generation Priuses built from 2004-2008 can get fresh power for $2,588. This, according to Automotive News, will benefit drivers who’ve passed the 10-year/150,000-mile or 8-year/100,000-mile warranty period.

This is good news for folks who like to hang onto a car and drive it into the ground. When the Prius first became available, the longevity of its battery packs was a source of concern. This has turned out to be less of a problem than anyone anticipated, and as time has gone on, prices of nickel metal hydride (NiMH) batteries have come down.

DriveFlexFuel.com sells conversion kits for cars, trucks, RVs, motorcycles, and boats so that they can run on E85, gasoline, or a combination of the two. The kits are available for any fuel-injected engine (which covers a lot of ground) for a few hundred bucks.

As a hypothetical demonstration, I’ll use my little red GMC pickup truck. The picture of this particular conversion kit looks intimidating: a box with a lengths of “plug and play” connectors coiled around it. It’s available for less than $400, though, which seems like a bargain. (They also have kits for the likes of your 12-cylinder Ferraris and Aston Martins for about $700.)

Like most other alternative-fuel web sites, there’s a carbon footprint calculator, which tells me that I’m emitting nearly 5,000 pounds of CO2 annually (the EPA estimator says I’m putting out more like 6,000 pounds. Either way, it’s not great). By using an E85 converter from Drive Flex Fuel, though, I could reduce my annual CO2 emissions by more than a ton. Intriguing.

Where to gas up, though? Using the zip code where my little red truck lives in Portland, Oregon, Drive Flex Fuel came up with eight locations within 50 miles. Two of these, though, were for government vehicles only, and a few seemed to be for commercial vehicles, not passenger vehicles.

This seems like a project for experienced home mechanics only — not a DIY weekend deal, unless you’re converting a non-essential car just for kicks. But if you’ve got the greasemonkey chops and want to green your ride, this seems like a relatively inexpensive and easy way to do it.

October 4 is opening day at Mondial de l’Automobile, or the Paris Auto Show to most Americans. Europe has long had more small cars that get better gas mileage than what we can buy in the U.S., and a wider array of clean diesel cars. We can certainly expect to see more of these kinds of autos in Paris this year; the difference is that now we want them, too.

Here’s a list of debuts and concepts to look for at Mondial de l’Automobile as the reports start filling the blogosphere next month.

Debuts

• Ford Fiesta ECOnetic, 65 mpg and not U.S.-bound
• Hyundai Santa Fe Hybrid, with lithium-ion batteries
• Nissan Pixo minicar, one foot shorter than the Chevy Aveo

Concepts

• Citroen Hypnos hybrid
• Honda Insight hybrid, poised to battle the Prius
• Lexus LF-Xh hybrid, based on the concept LF-X SUV
• Nissan Nuvu EV minicar
• Opel Insignia EcoFLEX sports tourer, clean diesel on sale in Europe next spring
• Peugeot hybrid
• Renault Ondelious diesel mild hybrid
• Suzuki SX4-FCV fuel cell vehicle, already certified in Japan

Let this serve as your reminder to set the TiVo: The first-ever Green Challenge will take place at the Petit Le Mans race at Road Atlanta October 4. The American Le Mans Series has taken the lead for alternative fuels in professional racing, and it will showcase the strides that have been made in go-fast green cars at its race within a race.

I’ve blogged about the race before, so this is just a recap. Race teams running alternative fuels for the 2008 season include:

• GT1 Class — Corvette Racing, E85
• G2 Class — Aston Martin V8 Vantage, E85
• LMP1 Class — Intersport Racing’s Lola, E85
• P1 Class — Audi R10, clean diesel

Photo by Dave Hamster.

Chrysler unveiled three EVs this week, one from each of its divisions. There’s a Jeep SUV EV, a Chrysler minivan EV, and a Dodge sports car EV, all slated to go on sale in the U.S. in 2010 as 2011 models. If the automaker can hit that mark, Chrysler’s EVs will beat the plug-in hybrid Chevy Volt to market. I bet that fact didn’t escape Chrysler execs.

Chrysler’s EV development team, ENVI, promises that these vehicles will allow drivers to go about their merry way without making major changes to their driving style. The Jeep, for instance, will be a body-on-frame four-wheel-drive vehicle, while the sporty Dodge will be rear-wheel drive.

The vehicles don’t have names yet, but Chrysler has published specs:

Dodge EV:

• 200 kW = 268 hp
• 0-60 in under 5 seconds
• Top speed 120+ mph
• 150-200 mile range

Jeep EV:

• 200 kW = 268 hp
• 0-60 in 9.0 seconds
• Two- or four-wheel drive
• 400 miles (with help from a small gasoline engine)

Chrysler EV:

• 190 kW = 268 hp
• 0-60 in 8.7 seconds
• Seats seven
• 400 miles (with help from a small gasoline engine)

Photo courtesy of Chrysler LLC.

An editor recently forwarded the results of the Sustain Lane 2008 U.S. City Rankings, asking me to please not gloat about the fact that the city I’ve lived in — and loved — since 2001 is the most sustainable city in the nation. Whatever, dude! We’re number one! Although the easy-to-read dartboard design makes it obvious how well Portland scored in a variety of categories, I’ll run down a few of our car-related kudos for those who are unaware of our awesomeness.

• Curbside EV Charging. The local electric utility company, PGE, just this summer began installing curbisde charging stations in the Portland metro area. Right now, there’s a total of two of the new EV chargers, but most other cities don’t even have a plan yet (though Boulder is one-upping us with its vehicle-to-grid system).
• A chain of EV dealerships. So it’s only a chain of two. EcoMotion has been one of the top sellers of ZAP vehicles in the country — and its been open for just a year. The shiny, new EVs are out front, but the back room holds a trove of used high-mileage, low-emissions SmartWay-certified used cars.
• The OEVA. The Oregon Electric Vehicle Association, part of the national EVA, is active in the area. The offer assistance to those who want to buy electric or convert a car on their own, and they have a presence at almost every green event in town — and there are a lot of those.
• The MAX. While Seattle was building the famed, and failed, monorail system, Portland was laying down tracks for light rail. The latest completed addition, the Yellow Line, finished early and under budget. More light rail connections are being built as we speak.
• Bikes everywhere. Portland has miles and miles of bikeable streets, with designated bike lanes, for the thousands of people who commute using pedal power. Any bike shop has a map of bikeable routes available, and people are even stretching their biking season into the first rainy months of the year.

Okay, PDX is not perfect. There are some safety issues on MAX, especially in the suburbs, and there are notorious and sometimes violent clashes between drivers and bikers almost every month. But there are also a lot of good green car things about Portland that I didn’t even mention, like its bid to build an electric car factory in the future, or the fun and inclusive scooter scene.

I’m done gloating. Check out the rest of the sustainability rankings to find your city. If it’s low on the list — or not on it at all — get moving. Every location on here can always do better. Even Portland.

Photo by Doug Geisler.

Last week, two Penn State patrolmen took their new rides for a spin: electric-powered Vectrix motorcycles. The central PA campus is the first in the nation to add EV motorcycles to its police force, and the first cop shop in the state to do so, as well.

The bikes will be used most often to patrol parking lots on game days, which attract over 100,000 fans to watch the Nittany Lions play. The pair of motorcycles are expected to last 8-10 hours per charge, or about 60 miles. According to Steven Shelow, director of University Police, the department has been eyeing motorcycles for about three years. When he saw the EV models at a law-enforcement convention over the summer, he decided they would work well on campus, as they are quiet enough to operate while classes are in session.

The Vectrix used on the PSU campus costs less than $9,000, comparable to a gasoline-powered motorcycle. Like most EVs, it plugs into either a 110- or 220-volt outlet to charge overnight. Top speed is around 60 mph, if the police should need it. The one hitch in the plan is the same hitch that affects all motorcycle cops: winter. Snow falls in big, cold, wet flakes pretty often in Pennsylvania, which means these two patrolmen will need to borrow a cruiser or pull on their warmest waterproof boots.

Photo from wjactv.com.

The stalwart Consumer Reports has come up with a list of a dozen or so used cars that get great mileage. The list is divided into two categories, under $10,000 and between $10,000 and $20,000. There’s no mention of tailpipe emissions, so the focus is on the price of gas, not the ecological impact of the vehicles.

The hybrid 2000 Honda Insight tops the fuel economy numbers at 51 mpg for under $10,000, but there were only about 17,000 of these cars in the country even while it was still being produced. Good luck finding one now — especially for that price. You might be better off socking your down payment away in a savings account and waiting for the reincarnated Insight hybrid to arrive in dealerships next spring.

It’s interesting to note that the cars are as old as a 1998 Mazda Protege LX and as new as a 2007 Honda Fit Sport with a manual transmission, but even more interesting is the fact that one lone American car, the 1998-2002 Chevy Prizm, made the list. It can be snagged for less than $10,000, and it gets a respectable 32 mpg.

CR, being the people’s advocate that it is, points out that the older cars on the list lack some safety features common in new cars, like ABS and side-curtain airbags. Check out MSN Autos for the full list.

A little humor for your Monday — GM Vice Chairman Bob Lutz, who’s been touring the country touting the Volt for what seems like decades, was a guest on a recent episode of the Colbert Report (winner of several Emmys last night, by the way).

Host Stephen Colbert grilled Lutz on global warming, man-talk, and 40-mile extension cords, and Lutz mostly held his own. Except, that is, on the global warming question. This is the man who declared global warming to be a “crock of sh*t” in February, but he’s also the man charged with convincing people that GM is looking forward and the Volt is a good idea. Colbert left Lutz hanging a bit when he asked why GM didn’t just call the car the Chevy Gore.

Lutz made his appearance the day after GM’s 100th birthday celebration and the official unveiling of the probable production design of the Volt, and a week after the images of the Volt design leaked to the web. Lutz himself is a speed and power man, and the “adequate” performance of the Volt seems to pain him a bit. He was a good sport about the