100 mpg: big vehicles that give us big mileage

it seems we may have to rethink the ideal that smaller cars are better for the environment

recently GM has announced that they are working on a electric hybrid Hummer that will get 100 mpg.

but this is not the only 100 mpg automobile that is in the works.

an upstart company Bright Automotive has van (or as they call it fleet vehicle) that can get 100 mpg.

both companies are hoping to have their vehicles out around 2011 or 2012.

Bright automotive is looking get a $450 million loan from the Department of Energy from a program to help car companies to put out fuel efficient cars

Doc gets into trouble because of his fat ride

a Beverly Hills cosmetic doctor has gotten into a lard of trouble because of the unique way he was fueling his SUV.

Dr. Craig Alan Bittner was using turning the fat that he got form the liposuction he performed into biodiesel (or as he calls it lipodiesel)


Doc Bittner says that he received permeation form his clients to use their fat ass's to power his car but it doesn't seem to matter because it is against Cali law to use human medical waste for fuel.

instead of facing charges for this and other things (he's a little shady it seems) the doc has skipped town and is living in Columbia.

This car is full of air

Zero Pollution Motors in a deal with Indian car company Tata is planning on bring a car that is ran on air to the American market.

the car is a hybrid that runs on compressed air in two ways. either by a tank of compressed air or a fueled motor that compresses outside air.

on the tank the car can reach top speeds of 35 mph for about 60 miles.

Using the motor gives the car the speed of 106 mph for 800 miles.

The motor can be fueled by multiple sources of fuel such as gas, diesel, biodiesel, vegetable oil, or ethanol.

so on nonhighway driving you can drive without giving off any emissions.

Zero Pollution Motors is hoping to have the car on the road by 2011 and are aiming to have a car plant in most states.

expected price for the car will be $40,000

going green with a coca and smile

coca-cola is adding 120 hybrid delivery trucks to it's fleets across American. Which is apart of the 4300 trucks that Coca-Cola is putting out around world.

at speeds lower then 30 miles an hour the trucks use no gas.

these trucks are expected to be over 30% more fuel efficient then the non-hybrid Coca delivery trucks.

the american eletric grid can handle eletric cars

one of the fears that people bring up when talking about switching to plug in electric cars is that it will be to much for the eletric grid to handle.

but that doesn't seem to be a realistic problem. utility companies say that they will be able to handle the switch over if it's gradual.

and since everyone will not be able to go out and get an plug in electric as soon as they hit the market. everything will be all good.

they point to the fact that they handled the increased power that plasma TV used (and it seems that Plasma screens use up more eletricity then it would take for a eletric car)

swedesh guy's wood powered car

a 78 year old man in sweden has decide to fuel his car using wood gas instead of oil.

during world war 2 Sweden used wood gas due to oil shortages.

Tore Blomqvist grew up during this time period and so the ideal wasn't to far out for him to switch to wood.

he is now only playing about 1/7th the price of gas.

ok this might not really be riding clean but it's an intersting alternative to gas

McCain wants to give a tax break for those who buy electric car

Today (July 18) McCain says there should be an electric car tax credit of around $5000.

Sounds nice but if this tax credit is in acted I just hope it is done better then the one that was made for hybrid cars that is no longer around because the tax credit credit got smaller and smaller every year.

also if the ideal for the credit is to make so eletric cars are in the same price range as normal cars it really should be about $10,000. But I guess $5000 is much better then nothing.



and for those who wonder here are things Obama says he wants to do in terms of energy.

solar-gas-break battery triple hybrid cars

toyota is planning on adding solar panels to a future model of their Prius cars

even thought they don't think the addition of solar panels will really save much gas...but at the current price of gas every penny counts.

light weight hybrid buses

Fisher Body (a brand that was once part of GM and now the name of a new company) is now going to be focusing on making buses that use a new typed of uni-body stainless steel body that make the buses much lighter.

these lighter buses combined with using hybrid technology (batteries that are recharge by breaking like those found in Prius cars) and a diesel engine is expect to the buses 3x more fuel efficient.

GM trying to Volt to the finish line

has GM bit of more then it can show with saying they would have the volt out by 2010.

it seems like the car company has made a big goal for it self when it says that it would have a plug in car that can go 40 miles on one charge.


The people are at GM are racing to get the car to the market but have fallen a bit behind as statested in this article in the atlantic.

but the people at GM are hopeful that they can reach their goal.

I think this is an interesting article that goes into GM quest to reach it goal, so far and it's failure with electric cars in the past.

though I think the article is incorrect about one thing with GM's electric car released in the 90's. they say it was a failure in the market but my understanding the car was released in such a limited market and had it's plug pulled shortly after launch that I wouldn't say it's a market failure since it didn't have much chance to be in the market.

there was a movie released a few years ago about it, where a number of the owners of the cars talked about how they liked it but GM only offered them a lease and they couldn't buy the car out right. when the lease was over many of the owners wanted to keep the car but GM refused and took their cars (and sent them to get crushed)

that's not a failure of the market that was a failure on GM's part to see that in the 90's there was a market for an electric car (even if it was a niche at the time)

Hopefully GM will be wiser on how they deal with the Volt.

Toyota hybrids can't be made fast enough

Toyota is facing a problem due to the high demand for their hybrid cars...they can't make enough batteries for their cars to match the demand for them.

because of this, Toyota is looking to expand it's facilities to produce batteries as well as funding more research to make better batteries for their cars.

Shai Agassi breaks down what needs to be done to get everyone into an electric car

Shai Agassi CEO of Project Better Place talks about how easy it will be for a country to buid the infrastructure that will make it possible for everyone to drive electric cars instead of gas powered cars and how any country can do it.



the vidoe is a little over 20 mins long

Honda leaving them in the dust...er.. I mean...water vapors

Honda is planning on release a super limted edition car that only emmits water.

the car will be the first hydrogen powered fuel cell car made for the direct market.

Honda plans on only making 200 cars in the next 3 years and lease them for $600 a month.

get your car to drive on 100 miles per gallon

a company called A123 Systems are selling a conversion kit (for $10,000) that will turn your hybrid Pirus into a plug-in hybrid car.

this upgrade will now allow you to get up to 100 mpg.

soapy fueled cars?

Stone Soap of company in Sylvan Lake, Mi has invented a new way to get biofuel.

instead of mixing food with alchol to get biofuel they have came up with a way to compined planet and animal waste with natural gas to great biofuel.

since it uses waste product this gets rid of the problems of high food prices caused by biofuel.

They say the price of there hybrid gas should be $1 less then normal biofuel.

Inventors that can keep it going you could win $10 million

The X prize group is now holding a contest looking for someone that can build a car that can get 100 mpg (or what would be the equivalent to a gallon)



The car most be able to be build in mass production.



Some time in 2010 the automotive X prize group will hold a 10 stage race to find the winner.



If they are able to find a team that actually can do this, this will be great. Even if the car runs on gas, a car this fuel-efficient would not only be great on the environment but also on our pockets.

the isetta makes an electrifying return?

BMW may bring back it's isetta brand name for an up coming eletric car.

which will be powered by rechargeable lead batteries.