Transportation & Energy

Riverwired.com: WARNING: Fosh Auto Is a Political Scam

khallgeisler — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 13:06:33 -0400

I published a post last week about Fosh Automotive, saying that they hadn’t produced their promised electric miracle car. While skeptical of the car, I emailed them for details, and was told to wait. It turns out the whole project was a scam to lure in supporters of fuel-efficient cars (and the people who report on them), then use their email addresses to donate to John McCain. I’ve changed the link on the original post from the Fosh site to the AutoblogGreen site, where they detail the extent of the scam.

Riverwired.com: G-Wiz EVs Get Custom Paint

khallgeisler — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 12:20:17 -0400

Reva’s teensy electric car, the G-Wiz, is the best-selling EV in the U.K. The car has an owner’s club, with nearly 600 members so far, and you can park it in London for free, which saves Brit commuters nearly $2000 a year. Retailer GoinGreen can get you into a brand-new G-Wiz of your very own for about $18,000.

Granted, the cars are weird-looking. Weirder than a Smart ForTwo, anyway, but maybe not as weird as a Zap Xebra. If they’re going to drive such strange-looking vehicles, Londoners seem to think they might as well go all the way. The cars are often subjected to custom paint jobs and marketing wraps, as if they weren’t getting enough attention from passers-by.

Here, for example, is a car covered in what looks like parking garage locations:

This example is covered in lightning bolts, though it tops out at 50 mph:

GoinGreen has even partnered with a designer to produce a special-edition G-Wiz featuring one of her designs, Sunlight Through Leaves, which was on display at the London auto show this year:

So, my fellow Americans, let the Brits inspire you to fancy up your weird-looking green car, whether it’s an old Honda Insight with the covered rear wheels or a brand-new GEM with its space-age ovoid doors. Why stop at fuzzy dice and seat covers? These cheap neighborhood electric vehicles are crying out for you to put your personal stamp all over them.

Photos by Rain Rabbit, canonsnapper, and jonanamary.

Riverwired.com: And They’re Off! Priuses Race across Boston

khallgeisler — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 14:02:25 -0400

Staffers at The Boston Globe recently put five Toyota Prius hybrids to the test in the Great Prius Mileage-athon. They had to drive from friendly territory — a Whole Foods — to enemy territory — a Hummer dealership — from an old-school, F1-style standing start in the parking lot. Best gas mileage wins.

As narrator and Globe columnist Alex Beam puts it in the video, “You don’t get there very fast, but you feel better about getting there.” I hope he felt great at the finish line — he was the race’s biggest loser, at just over 50 mpg. To see the winner, take a 3-minute coffee break and watch the video. It’s no Michael Phelps, but it’s inspiring nonetheless.

Riverwired.com: Ford to Double Number of Hybrids

khallgeisler — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 13:03:06 -0400

At a press event in Portland, Oregon, Dan Kapp, Ford’s director of powertrain research, said that the company has plans to become the number-one hybrid producer in the country next year. By adding hybrid versions of the Ford Fusion and Mercury Milan to the Ford Escape and Mercury Mariner hybrids already on the market, Ford will double the number of its hybrids on the road.

Kapp laid out Ford’s long-term strategy, from today to 2050. The company plans to migrate its advanced fuel-saving technologies, like hybrid systems and the new EcoBoost engine, across the product line by 2012, so at least a few Ford, Lincoln, and Mercury vehicles will get a little better gas mileage. By 2020, Kapp said Ford will fully implement current technology and begin to delve into more gasoline-electric hybrids, plug-in hybrids, and more. After that, the plan is to roll out hydrogen fuel-cell cars, biofuel-powered vehicles, and whatever other new technologies have developed by then.

Kapp was eager to point out the advantages of Ford’s new EcoBoost engine, which uses gasoline direct injection and turbocharging to raise fuel efficiency by as much as 20% and lower tailpipe emissions by as much as 15%. The physically smaller engine will be able to deliver the same or greater power as traditional Ford engines, and will be available first in the 2009 Lincoln MKS sedan.

Kapp pointed out that while Ford was not pursuing hydrogen-powered cars as quickly as Honda, nor was it chasing Chevy’s PHEV Volt with any conviction, it does have the first driveable hydrogen fuel-cell PHEV in the Edge HySeries. The fleet of 30 cars is still very much in the test stage, and Kapp noted that hydrogen fuel has “monumental infrastructure problems.”

When fielding questions about bringing clean diesel cars from Europe (answer: not any time soon), a fellow journalist mentioned that he ran his diesel-powered Ford truck on B99 every summer. Kapp nearly choked on his coffee when he heard that one of his trucks was being powered by 99% biodiesel a few months out of the year. I was surprised that he was surprised — he was in eco-conscious Portland, after all.

Riverwired.com: Want Solar Power? Let RoofRay Calculate Your Solar Potential

jplatt — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 09:48:24 -0400

Thinking about putting solar panels on your house, but not sure how effective they'll be? RoofRay has an answer.

This great online tool uses Google Maps to calculate the amount of energy that you will likely be able to collect by placing solar panels on the roof of your house or business.

RoofRay is incredibly simple to use. You put in your address, and it pulls up a satellite image of your house or business from Google Earth. Once that image appears, you click on the corners of your roof, and the RoofRay system calculates the approximate square footage of your rooftop. Then you drag a small indicator to tell the calculator which direction your roof slants. RoofRay already knows how much sun your part of the country gets, so its calculators do the rest.

According to my test of the system (which took all of 45 seconds), putting solar panels on my house could generate up to 11,000 watts of electricity at peak performance.

RoofRay also tells me which months will be the best for my solar panels (obviously, December and January won't be ideal). Next, it tells me how much I can expect to save on my electric bills each month of the year. Finally, it estimates the costs of my solar panels, deducts likely state and federal rebates or tax credits, and tells me how much the panels will cost or save me over their anticipated 25-year life.

According to RoofRay, installing solar panels will cost me about $100,000 to start, but create a net positive cash flow of more than $88,000 over 25 years. That's a pretty good illustration of the effectiveness of solar power.

RoofRay won't connect you with contractors to install your solar panels, but if you're just looking for information, this could be the first step toward your energy independence.

Riverwired.com: Google Goes Geothermal. Can You?

jplatt — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 09:00:00 -0400

Google recently announced it would invest $10 million into the development of geothermal energy systems. Geothermal, one of the hot new ideas in "clean technology," uses the natural heat under the Earth's surface to provide heat or create electricity.

Could geothermal be the "killer app" of the energy world, as Google predicts? More specifically, can you take advantage of it for your home or business?

Geothermal isn't a new idea (it's been around for centuries), but new technologies are making it a more viable energy alternative for today's electricity-starved world.

Geothermal power for homes or businesses comes in two "flavors": direct geothermal taps hot water under the ground to provide heat, while ground-source heat pumps moves heat from below the surface for heating during the winter and removes heat from the surface in the summer. Geothermal can also be used to drive electric generators in larger facilities and power plants.

So can you use geothermal? Depending on your location, the answer is probably yes. Western states appear to have the best resources, but you might be able to tap into geothermal energy no matter where you live. Talk to your local power company or energy contractors to find out about your options.

For more information on geothermal power, visit the U.S. Department of Energy's Geothermal Technologies Program.

Riverwired.com: Willie Run, the Cross-Country Biofuel Tour

khallgeisler — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 06:26:41 -0400

Inspired by Willie Nelson’s commitment to biodiesel and the cross-country races of the ’60s and ’70s, Nik Bristow and a partner will bomb non-stop from New York to L.A. in a biodiesel-powered Jetta starting September 22. The trick? They’re going to do the Willie Run, as they call it, on one tank of Bio Willie fuel.

While biodiesel does get good mpgs, it doesn’t get 3,000 miles per tank. That’s why, according to Autobloggreen.com’s interview with Bristow, the Jetta has been outfitted with a huge spare fuel tank, just like the Cannonball Run guys used to do.

The Willie One, as the Jetta has been dubbed, has plenty of room for sponsors’ names. So if you’ve always wanted to see a car with your name on it but don’t have the $300,000 to slap a sticker on Dale Jr.’s car, this is your chance. Sponsorship of the Willie One starts at five bucks.

Riverwired.com: Don’t Be a Girly Man — Be an EcoDriver

khallgeisler — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 18:57:20 -0400

California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has teamed up with Governor Bill Ritter of Colorado to unveil the ecoDriving campaign. [WARNING: When you click on that link, the Governator immediately starts talking to you, with nary a stop or mute button in sight.] Auto manufacturers and dealers, along with industry leaders and politicians, have aimed the campaign at drivers who want to increase the fuel efficiency and reduce the emissions of the car they already drive.

The site offers tips like keeping tires properly inflated and “riding the green wave” — maintaining a steady speed to hit all the green lights on a long street. I have an uncle who is the king of this maneuver; I thought he was anal, but it turns out he’s a natural-born ecoDriver. The site also recommends keeping the gas cap tight to reduce evaporation.

There’s a clever ecoCalculator to tell you, based on your yearly mileage, mpg, and driving habits, how many pounds of CO2 you could be saving by adopting a couple new habits. If I kept the tires on my little red truck inflated, for instance, I’d save $68 a year on gas and keep 76 more pounds of carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere.

The site has games, resources, and will help you send a message to your governor asking him or her to sign on to the ecoDriving campaign. In a related measure, the National Automobile Dealers Association is recommending that its members give free green checkups in the month of September, along with child safety seat inspections.

Riverwired.com: 12 Unexpected Gas-Saving Cars

khallgeisler — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 06:44:35 -0400

The NY Times reported last weekend on a dozen autos you might not expect to get such great gas mileage. Among their picks was a Corvette, which I can tell you first-hand gets better gas mileage than you’d expect, at 26 mpg on the highway — if you drive it reasonably and responsibly. But who does that in a Corvette?

Here’s the Times’s list with combined miles per gallon, but you’ll want to read the whole list on the newspaper’s Web site. Reporter Lawrence Ulrich includes everything from tiny econoboxes to full-size SUVs and pickups. He purposefully left out the obvious, like the Prius and Honda Civic, to focus on overlooked models in broad categories.

Toyota Camry Hybrid, 34 mpg
Volkswagen Jetta TDI, 33 mpg
Mini Cooper, 29 mpg
Nissan Versa, 27 mpg
Honda Accord coupe, 24 mpg
Toyota RAV-4, 24 mpg
Mazda 5, 23 mpg
BMW 328i, 22 mpg
Toyota Tacoma, 21 mpg
Chevy Corvette, 19 mpg
Ford Flex, 19 mpg
Mercedes-Benz GL320 Bluetec, 19 mpg

Riverwired.com: Fosh Auto EV a No-Show

khallgeisler — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 18:10:20 -0400

Last week, the Internets were abuzz with the marketing hype of Fosh Automotive, which promised to unveil an EV with self-regenerating batteries and an unlimited range. I emailed the company and was told to cool my jets — all would be revealed on Monday, August 18, but it had something to do with “solar like” panels and regenerative braking.

Monday came, and the curtains on the Web site stayed closed. It seems that Fosh has had some television interest, so they delayed the unveiling of this perpetual motion machine they’re calling the EVT-3 until next Monday, August 25. And Fosh’s predicted price of $25,000 is out the window, too. Estimated MSRP of the EVT-3 is over $50,000 now.

There are forums on the site, and posters seem none too happy to be shunned for television cameras. Post headings include “Why Not Show the Demo Video Now?” and “Ok good joke now where is the real car”. The FAQ says the on-sale date is November 28, 2008, but we probably shouldn’t hold our breath.

If the EVT-3 works as promised, it could be revolutionary. But Fosh’s false start isn’t inspiring confidence so far.