Author: Clayton
Military’s New Super-Efficient Humvee Gets 6.8 MPG
The US Military’s new humvee prototype, the FED ‘Alpha,’ consumes 70% less fuel than previous models. And yes, even 6.8 MPG will save millions on overall fuel costs. Anyone delivering fuel to the battlefield understands just how important these savings are. On the field per gallon fuel costs can exceed hundreds of dollars, and delivery requires a whole slew of support personnel, ...
Colorado will offer $6,000 Tax Credit for Plug-in Hybrid Conversions
If you live in Colorado and own a Prius, here’s a New Year’s Day gift for you: $6,000 off a plug-in hybrid conversion. Earlier this year, Colorado passed House Bill 1331, “Incentives for Efficient Motor Vehicles,” which creates new tax credits of up to $6,000 for the purchase of, or conversion to, a plug-in hybrid electric vehicle. Background: plug-in hybrid and electric car retrofits....
Better Place Unveils First Solar-Powered Electric Vehicle Battery Switching Station
[UPDATE]: Video of the switching station in action and photos added below. YOKOHAMA, JAPAN- Last night at approximately 10:30 PM PST (1:30 AM EST), electric vehicle services provider Better Place will demonstrate key elements of their battery switching station technology. This is the first public exhibition of a battery switching station—which Better Place lauds as the final piece of a “tota...
World’s Top 10 Fastest Electric Cars
Think a Ferrari is fast? Watch one get schooled below. Electric cars are no joke. Yes, it’s true that many EVs are small, ungainly-looking oddities, but the other end of the spectrum—the realm of high-performance supercars—might surprise you. [social_buttons] After re-discovering a 1972 electric datsun that can accelerate from 0-60 in 3 seconds, we decided that an important question hadnR...
President Obama Announces $2.4 Billion in Funding for Electric Vehicles
President Obama announced today that $2.4 billion will be made available for the US-based development of plug-in hybrids and electric vehicles. [social_buttons] The fund is intended to spur growth in research and manufacturing of next-generation plug-in hybrid vehicles and advanced battery componenents for electric cars, while creating tens of thousands of US jobs and reducing US petroleum depende...
Complete List of Cellulosic Ethanol Plants Operating or Under-Construction in the US
Courtesy of Reuters, here is a list of cellulosic ethanol plants currently operating or under construction in the US. We’ve been following a number of these companies over the last year, and I’ve linked each company name to either something we’ve written about them or their company website. For more background on cellulosic ethanol, see: Dedicated Energy Crops Could Replace 30% o...
San Francisco Installs Electric Vehicle Recharging Stations in Front of City Hall
Editor’s Note: San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom has written an exclusive guest post on this topic here on Gas 2.0 earlier this same day. [social_buttons] At approximately 10:00 AM PST today, San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom will announce the installation of three electric vehicle charging stations in front of City Hall. The stations will be used by plug-in electric vehicles already in San F...
Flex-Fuel Kits Convert Toyota Prius to E85 Ethanol (For Less Than $1000)
[social_buttons] Dutch firm Green Fuel Systems, along with several other companies, has developed flex-fuel conversion kits for the Toyota Prius that cost less than $1,000. Converting our existing fleet to second-generation ethanol could be the best near-term play to directly replace fossil fuels. Although the concept of a hybrid/biofuel combo has been around for a while, it has (at least in our m...
Startup Converting Ford F-150s Into 41 MPG Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicles
[social_buttons] The 16 MPG F-150 is one of the most ubiquitous vehicles on the road today. What if you could convert them all to get 41 MPG? The Illinois Institute of Technology’s masters program has spun-off a start-up with big plans for our aging fleet of big trucks. The company, called Hybrid Electric Vehicle Technology (HEVT), has built a bolt-on module that will convert a standard F-1...
An Air Car You Could See in 2009: ZPM’s 106 MPG Compressed-Air Hybrid
[social_buttons] Compressed-Air Powered cars could take you over 800 miles on a single fill-up, at speeds of up to 96 mph. They should refuel in less than 3 minutes, and at speeds over 35 mph emit about half the CO2 of a Toyota Prius. Best part? You could see them in the US at the end of next year. Car-tech aficionados may already be familiar with Zero Pollution Motor’s (ZPM) compressed-air ...
Clean Diesel Cars Coming to US This Fall: 2008-2010 Timeline
New diesels will get better mileage and have cleaner emissions than your average car. Pictured above: 2009 Jetta SportWagen 2L TDI Clean Diesel. Later this year (see the timeline below), we will finally begin to see an influx of new model diesels in the United States. While diesels make up 50% of the market share of vehicles in Europe, they’re still trying to shrug off the stigma of being di...
How to Get 70 MPG Out of a Honda Civic
Although it could be one of the ugliest car hacks I’ve ever seen, Mike Turner of Hodges, SC, modified his 1992 Honda Civic to get 70 MPG. As you can see in the picture and video clip, the modifications are relatively simple use of aluminum siding and plastic, which decrease wind resistance (vaguely reminding me of Aptera’s Typ1 electric car) and lowering the vehicle’s drag coeffi...