khallgeisler's blog

2010 Ford Flex to Use Straw-Based Plastic

khallgeisler — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 13:04:07 -0500

Ford Motor Company announced that it will be using a wheat-straw-reinforced plastic in the interior storage bins of the 2010 Ford Flex. While this might seem like a baby step — and it is — Ford says the change to a 20% wheat-straw plastic will reduce petroleum use by 20,000 pounds per year and CO2 emissions by 30,000 pounds per year. The wheat straw itself is a byproduct of processing the grain.

These numbers are drops in the pollution bucket, but you have to start somewhere. Ford says it will be using the biomaterial in other places and other vehicles in the future. This is in addition to Ford’s soy-based polyurethane seat cushions and headliners, seat fabrics made from post-industrial recycled yarn, and post-consumer recycled resins for underbody covers.

A wee bit of wheat trivia, courtesy of the Ford press release: This isn’t the company’s first foray into the wheat world. In the 1920s, Henry Ford developed Fordite, a mixture of wheat straw from his farm, rubber, sulfer, silica, and more, that he used to make steering wheels.

X Prize Contenders at SEMA 2009

khallgeisler — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 11:50:05 -0500

A dozen of the contenders for the Progressive Automotive X Prize were on hand in the “Making Green Cool Zone” at SEMA 2009 in Las Vegas. I’ll keep the text short — you know by now that this is a competition to create a buildable, drivable car that gets 100 MPGe with a $10 million purse — so you can peruse the cars below.

Team Hydrophi Ford 500 PHI Ride
Team Future Vehicle Technologies eVaro
Team Edison 2 Very Light Car
Team EVI Wave 2
Team Tango
Team Optamotive Surge
Team Aptera 2e

Pimp Yer Prius – SEMA 2009

khallgeisler — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 13:22:11 -0500

While the Toyota Prius gets the Aerius treatment at the official Toyota booth, there’s a way cooler, totally pimped version at the other end of the “Making Green Cool Zone” at the 2009 SEMA show in Las Vegas. Like all the best supercars, the doors on this Prius up, and the gold-and-green flake paint job lets people know you care about looking styling as much as you care about the environment.

Stay tuned for more posts from SEMA, including more on the Prius Aerius and announcements from the X Prize people.

Do We Even Need Cars Anymore?

khallgeisler — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 13:44:32 -0400

It’s no surprise to learn that people are buying fewer cars these days than they have in years. An article in the Sunday New York Times by Micheline Maynard explores why exactly that is, and it’s pretty encouraging. While the expected reasons rise to the top of the pile, like the awful economy and a turn toward the green side of transportation, there are more nuanced reasons in there.

What Ms. Maynard found, in a nutshell:

One woman would rather spend her limited funds on health insurance than a car, insurance, and parking
Empty-nesters are moving from suburbs to cities and shedding cars as they go
Personal transportation like the P.U.M.A. may gain traction among carless commuters
And, of course, people have switched to bikes and public transportation for environmental reasons

The article explores the major shift away from car purchases as an emotional, status-based purchase. Have you given up your car? Are you car sharing? Car pooling? Riding a bike, like 8% of Portland, Oregon, commuters? Do you feel like you have to have a car, given your commute or family situation? Tell us your experience in the comments.

Meet the Nissan Leaf Electric Car in Person

khallgeisler — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 13:36:08 -0400

Nissan announced dates for its Nissan LEAF (did you know they capitalize that name? Me neither) Zero Emission Tour in the next few months. No test drives — the car on tour is a left-hand drive Japanese prototype — but if you’ve got questions about the car, or electric cars in general, I’m sure the Nissan reps would be happy to answer.

Most of the dates are on the alterna-fuel lovin’ West Coast, with stops in Detroit to rub it in and Tennessee, where Nissan has its U.S. headquarters.

The sked:

Southern California
Los Angeles: Nov. 13-17
Orange County: Nov. 18
San Diego: Nov. 19-21

Northern California
Berkeley/Walnut Creek: Nov. 23-24
San Francisco: Nov. 25-29
Santa Rosa: Dec. 1
Sacramento: Dec. 1
San Jose: Dec. 3-6

Pacific Northwest
Seattle: Dec. 8-12
Vancouver, Canada: Dec. 14-15
Portland, Ore.: Dec. 17-23

Southwest
Phoenix/Tucson: Dec. 30-Jan. 5
Las Vegas: Jan. 6

Midwest/East Coast
Detroit: Jan. 11-13
Knoxville/Chattanooga, Tenn.: Jan. 16
Middle Tennessee: Jan. 19-21
Washington, D.C.: Jan. 26-28
Raleigh, N.C.: Jan. 29
Orlando: Feb. 1-2

Texas
Houston: Feb. 5-6

New York
New York City: Feb. 9-14

Name the Color, Win a Volt Test Drive!

khallgeisler — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 13:36:05 -0400

You’ve seen pictures of the Chevy Volt — that thing has been unavoidable for nearly two years now. And it’s always shown in that distinctive space-age silver with a slight greenish sheen. It turns out that paint color is nameless, and Chevy wants you to come up with something clever.

The prize, should your clever paint name win, is to test drive a pre-production Chevy Volt in Los Angeles. Use your coffee breaks to come up with good ideas, then submit them by November 4. Three finalists will be announced on November 16, and the good people of the Internets will vote for the winner, who will be announced on December 1.

2010 Kia Forte SX: The Fuel Economy Review

khallgeisler — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 14:13:23 -0400

The Kia Forte sedan is zippier than you’d expect from a car that gets 31 mpg on the highway, and it did rate a 7 out of 10 on California’s Global Warming Score (higher is better). But calling it “green” would be a stretch.

The 2.4-liter, 4-cylinder engine and 5-speed automatic transmission go a long way toward making the Kia Forte a fuel sipper rather than a gas guzzler. There’s a green “eco” light that comes on to the right of the speedometer to indicate when your driving style is saving fuel. The problem with the light is that it can blink on and off as you slow for traffic then speed up for a green light. Catching it out of the corner of my eye, I kept thinking I’d left my right blinker on. It also wasn’t enough of a reward to encourage good driving habits.

If you have family or friends who need to trade in a gas hog of an SUV or pickup truck, and they’re not ready to go hippie-dippy hybrid, the Kia Forte would be a good transition car. It’s got lots of pep in the gas pedal — which doesn’t lend itself to green driving — but the engine size and transmission keep you from burning too much fuel, no matter how you drive.

In the end, after a week of driving, I got a combined 26 mpg, with about equal highway and street driving. It sounds odd to say, since that’s a perfectly respectable number, but I expected higher. For about the same price, a person could get a Honda Insight, which gets 43 mpg on the highway but lacks the quickness of the Kia.

2010 Kia Forte SX Info

2.4-liter 4-cylinder engine
EPA rated at 23 mpg city/31 mpg highway
Tons of safety equipment
MSRP as tested: $19,795

This car was provided for review by the manufacturer at no cost to the reviewer.

Government in Action: Three-Wheeled EVs and Hydrogen Fuel

khallgeisler — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 13:07:33 -0400

These are your tax dollars at work, people. (Unless you live outside the U.S. But your tax dollars are doing something equally worthy, I’m sure.)

Let’s start with the electric vehicles: After Energy Secretary Steven Chu eliminated funding for hydrogen fuel from his budget, the Senate has reinstated it for the department’s 2010-2011 budget. Chu prefers straight-up battery electric vehicles for the future of greener transportation, but he says he’ll work with Congress on hydrogen fuel cell-powered electric vehicles.

Speaking of electric vehicles, you may have noticed that many of the EVs on the road today, especially neighborhood electric vehicles, have three wheels instead of four. Thanks to some heavy lobbying by Aptera and its three-wheeled brethren, Congress has extended research and development loans to manufacturers of safe, high-mileage vehicles, even if they are short a wheel.

Requirements for the loan:

Vehicles must be fully enclosed
Vehicles must meet all the same safety standards as conventional vehicles
Vehicles must carry two adults
Vehicles must average 75 mpg or equivalent

Automotive X Prize List Gets Shorter

khallgeisler — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 13:07:29 -0400

The Progressive Insurance Automotive X Prize made its first round of cuts, leaving 43 teams still in the running for the $10 million prize. All these teams have passed round one — design judging. Round two, which will examine the technical feasibility of the entrants, begins in spring 2010.

Those still in the running include corporate teams, like Tesla and Zap, and schools like Western Washington University, Cornell, and a team from a West Philadelphia high school. For the conspiracy buffs, Illuminati Motor Works has made it past round two. International teams from Italy and Switzerland made the cut, too. And of course the space-age white Aptera 2e is hanging in there.

For a complete list of the teams so far, and a detailed description of the prize, visit the X Prize web site.

2010 EPA Top 10 Fuel Economy Leaders

khallgeisler — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 14:34:41 -0400

The Environmental Protection Agency published its official gas mileage numbers for the 2010 model year, including the leaders in each segment. Guess who won overall? Yeah, it was no contest, and no surprise: the 2010 Toyota Prius, with its 51 city/48 highway rating beat all the competition.

The other thing to note about the list is that out of ten cars with top fuel economy, only one is not a hybrid, the Smart ForTwo. If you take a gander at the top two cars in each category at FuelEconomy.gov, the fuel type varies a bit more, with Audi and Volkswagen scoring well with their diesel wagons.

Toyota Prius Hybrid: 51/48
Ford Fusion Hybrid: 41/36
Honda Civic Hybrid: 40/45
Honda Insight Hybrid: 40/43
Lexus 250h Hybrid: 35/34
Nissan Altima Hybrid: 35/33
Ford Escape Hybrid: 34/31
Smart ForTwo: 33/41
Toyota Camry Hybrid: 33/34
Lexus RX450h Hybrid: 32/28