While Good Green Cars readers might not mind that Ferrari has pulled out of the Detroit show, you might find it interesting that Nissan/Infiniti has also decided not to bring any cars, and has even asked local dealers not to put up a display. The manufacturer has a hybrid program and plans to introduce electric cars to Oregon in the near-ish future. I was hoping to see those EVs, at least in prototype form, in Detroit this year. I also don’t see Mitsubishi on the press conference schedule, which means no up-close-and-personal time with the adorable iMiev.

What we can expect to see are the new Ford Fusion hybrid, the new Honda Insight, and the new Toyota Prius, all of which have a bunch of buzz surrounding them. Ford is also expected to talk about — but not have on hand — the new EVs it plans to build. I’m sure Chevy will be bringing the latest incarnation of the 2011 Volt PHEV, and that Chrysler will have its lineup of potential EVs on display.

Keep this blog bookmarked for the next week or so, as I report firsthand on the green goings-on in Detroit.

After hiring out its design arm to create chassis for Tesla and Chrysler’s electric vehicles, Lotus has hinted that it may throw its own hat in the EV ring. The Financial Times reported — and Edmunds.com’s Inside Line passed it along — that Lotus CEO Michael Kimberley said there may be an electric Lotus “shortly.”

According to the Edmunds blog post, “shortly” may be as soon as the Geneva auto show in March. The concept EV wouldn’t be fully functional, but it would give potential buyers an idea of what a 300-mile-range EV from the British sports car manufacturer might look like.

Looking at Lotus’s current lineup, I think we can assume it’ll be along similar curvy lines. And the company already has a tradition of model names that start with E (Elise, Elite, Evora, Europa … ), so coming up with a clever EV name should be a snap.

Image provided by Lotus Designs, from its 2009 calendar. As far as Good Green Cars knows, it’s not the EV Lotus is talking about, but, you know, it could be.

The police force in Sherwood, Oregon, is trying out a new all-electric cop car for a year. Sherwood’s EV of choice is the E-Z-Go with black and white po-po livery on its doors. An article in the Sherwood Gazette says that the department is leasing the car free of charge for a year. At the end of the year, the police department will decide if it wants to purchase the car for $14,500.

Where did the cops get this crazy idea? From the city manager, Jim Patterson. He has an E-Z-Go of his own that he uses to commute to work. The idea for the EV squad car is to save on gasoline costs for the city and reduce the environmental impact. There won’t be any high-speed chases in the E-Z-Go, but there could be some silent stealth missions on the agenda.

The drawback of the E-Z-Go that the Sherwood police are leasing is that it is, at heart, a golf cart. The company threw on some doors, and the police will be adding a light bar soon, but the casual observer is going to say, “Hey! That cop is driving a golf cart!” While the low-power cart will be great for community policing and undoubtedly better for the environment than a fully loaded squad car rolling slowly along city streets, the E-Z-Go doesn’t do much for the perception of electric vehicles as the cars of the future.

Regardless, big ups to Sherwood for taking a step in the right direction and giving an EV — even one with limited power and design sensibilities — a chance.

Image by Ray Pitz/Sherwood Gazette.

A few of the problems with EVs in winter:

• Some, especially conversions, don’t have a heater
• The locks on older cars used for conversions can freeze up
• Lead acid batteries left in the cold lose 10-20% of their range

A few benefits of EVs in winter:

• They don’t have to warm up - “instant on” no matter the temperature
• Newer lithium, NiCd, and NiMH batteries lose less power than older lead batteries
• All batteries can be charged in a toasty garage with minimal power loss

One OEVA member said his ZAP car drives fine in the snow for his short commute, and another has a factory-built Chevy S10 pickup with a little diesel-powered heater, so he does fine. One guy mentioned that he’d put so much time into his conversion that he couldn’t bear to drive it in questionable conditions, so he drives his “store-bought” car when it’s snowy out, but one other guy said he’s got a battery-powered quad that he plays with in the snow.

So it looks like EVs aren’t much better or worse in the snow and ice than gasoline-powered cars. But the EVs can plug in overnight rather than take a trip to the gas station, and they emit zero pollution. So they do have that going for them.

Electric vehicles have a reputation for being the pokey little puppies of the automotive world, and not without reason. The neighborhood electric vehicles that are available today generally go 35 mph for about 30 miles. Hardly fast enough to muss your hair. That’s where events like the 2009 Battery Beach Burnout in Jupiter, Florida, come in.

The EVs, plug-in EVs, and hybrids that meet at Florida Atlantic University February 21 and 22, 2009, will blow past the slow stereotype. Organizers have acceleration testing, autocross, and more on the docket for participants, plus a ride-and-drive event to give the public a chance to try out what may be an unfamiliar powerplant.

The addition of plug-in EVs and hybrids is new this year, as is a separate vendor area near the event field. The Florida Electric Auto Association is hosting the burnout, and will of course include a show-n-shine for EV owners. There’s no reason for the long-standing tradition of spiffing up your car to impress the ladies to die with the combustion engine.

• What: Battery Beach Burnout 2009
• Who: Florida Electric Auto Association
• Where: Florida Atlantic University, Jupiter, FL
• When: February 21-22

The Los Angeles Auto Show just came to a close, and not surprisingly, manufacturers brought a lot of green cars to the event. There were high-mpg gasoline cars, electric cars, clean diesels, and more. (Ferrari and Bentley also brought expensive gas guzzlers, but I’m willing to bet the market for those is pretty small.)

Here, then, is the Good Green Cars round-up of the enviro-friendly autos that were at the L.A. Auto Show.

• Ford hybrids: Ford brought the all new 2010 Fusion hybrid and 2010 Mercury Milan hybrid to L.A. The cars are nearly identical but for a few styling cues and trim levels, and they share the new lighter hybrid system found in the current Ford Escape and Mercury Mariner SUVs. The cars can go 47 mph on electric power only, according to Ford.
• Hyundai Blue Drive: This isn’t a new engine technology; rather, it’s Hyundai’s strategy to reach a fleet average of 35 mpg by 2015. It includes the 2010 Sonata hybrid, high-mileage “Blue” versions of the 2009 Accent and Elantra, and a future crossover with a gasoline direct-injection engine.
• Lexus hybrid SUV: The 2010 Lexus RX 450h gets its first update since its introduction, with more horsepower and better exhaust-heat recovery. It also gets its own distinctive grille. No further word yet on whether Lexus could be Toyota’s all-hybrid brand in the future.
• Mini EV: The Mini E plug-in electric vehicle made its official debut in L.A. Only a handful will be available anytime soon, and those will be tested by private and corporate customers in California, New York, and New Jersey. The Mini E can go 150 miles on a charge, with a top speed of 95 mph.
• Volkswagen diesels: VW expands its clean-diesel TDI technology to the latest Touareg SUV, which means it passes California’s stringent emissions laws. The EPA rates it at 25 mpg, and it will be available in all 50 states. This is the same technology that earned the Jetta TDI the “Green Car of the Year” award at the show.

Oregon Public Broadcasting’s call-in show, “Think Out Loud,” was about the future of the automotive industry this morning. The program focused on the state of Oregon, and most of the guests and callers were from the state, but the show had a lot to say about where personal transportation is headed in the next decade for the entire U.S.

The show, which aired Monday, December 1, was called “A Sustainable Auto Industry.” Guests included John Viera, Director of Ford Sustainable Business Strategies; Mark Perry, Director of Product Planning for Nissan North America; a representative from Governor Kulongoski’s office; and an assistant professor at Oregon State University’s College of Business. So they had their bases covered.

Highlights of the show (though you should listen to the whole thing):

• Viera says Ford will not go back to making so many trucks, no matter what the price of gas is. The company apparently is trying to learn its lesson and produce for the tomorrow instead of yesterday.
• Perry says Oregon will be one of the first launch markets for its new EVs in 2010. Yay!
• He also said Nissan wants to have 10% of its sales to be EVs by 2020 — that’s about 100,000 vehicles in the U.S.
• My favorite phrase came from Chris Warner, Kulongoski’s transportation adviser. He says there is no silver bullet, only “silver buckshot,” which includes alternative fuel cars, bikes, walking, public transportation, and whatever else the future holds.

A lot of basic alternative-fuel questions were answered, like shifting emissions from the tailpipe to the smokestack, and the recyclability of electric-vehicle batteries. It’s a good listen for newbies and alt-vehicle veterans alike.

A Sustainable Auto Industry

Here’s the 7-minute video of how Hazen constructed the car, which ended up as a Frankenstein of VW, Saab, and Kawasaki parts with glass-backed cedar body panels. It will even have removable gullwing doors; Lamborghini, eat your heart out! The 400 pounds of batteries and 12-hp electric motor propel the XP-Humm-E to a top speed (so far) of 39.5 mph. Normally, according to the video, Hazen can tool around at 35 mph for about 35 miles on a charge.

The video includes an in-car, driver’s-eye-view camera, so you can hear the wind and the road noise, but no engine. For those of you new to the EV experience, that’s a pretty good approximation of what you get. As the car gets more complete, those noises will be lessened, too.

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.