Read more from TreeHugger.com:
Exotic car maker Lamborghini has announced they will be entering the hybrid fray with their iconic Gallardo.
Company CEO Stephan Winkelmann told Germany’s Automobilewoche that the first one is slated for 2015. He says that the Gallardo’s electric motor will be used for low demand driving in slow, congested city traffic much like the Toyota Prius. When the Lambo hits higher speeds the 10- or 12-cylinder gas engine will kick in and immediately drop your MPGs back to a single digit.
Recently Lamborghini has cut tailpipe emissions by 18 percent with the latest Gallardo, achieved through conventional refinements in the existing V10 powerplant.
Winkelmann said the company will spend $50.3 million between now and 2015, to reduce emissions in both its vehicles and its production facilities. He also confirmed that they will not be producing an all-electric car like the Mercedes-Benz Gullwing.
And I say, why the heck not? This is clearly a vanity effort on Lamborghini’s part. They have a lot more wiggle room design-wise with a starting price of $180,000 for the Gallardo than say Honda.
While this helps the Audi-owned company meet its goal of cutting emissions by 35 percent, I cannot help think it’s all just a big pissing contest with Ferrari.
Ferrari’s hybrid is also set for a 2015 release.
Road trips, weekends away and drive ins are just some ways that we use our cars to create memories. Today there’s more to consider than just having enough money to fill the tank, but also what effect you’re having on the environment.
Change your driving with these easy tips and tricks so that you can enjoy the open road without the guilt gut.
1-Think about what you’re driving
2- Give your car a check up before a long trip.
3- Slow down and save more
4- Use your cruise control
5- Go easy with the A/C
6- Drive in the right gear
According to Sympatico.MSN
According to inhabitat.com:
“Chicken consumption in the US creates over six billion pounds of feathers each year. Previously discarded as waste, researchers at the University of Delaware are developing an innovative way to put all that wasted plumage to use — as fuel to power hydrogen fuel cell vehicles. If this technology was implemented in a fuel cell vehicle, it would cost about $200, as opposed to using carbon nanotube tanks (which cost about $5.5 million) or metal hydrides (which cost about $30,000).
Yesterday at 13th Annual Green Chemistry and Engineering Conference, a team of scientists announced that they developed a way to store hydrogen in carbonized chicken feathers. At present, the major hold-up with making cars powered by fuel cells, is that no one has come up with a way to inexpensively and effectively produce and store all that hydrogen. Researchers Erman Şenöz and Richard P. Wool found that when they heated up quill fibers to extremely high temperatures, carbon nanotubes with nanoporous walls formed, allowing the substances to absorb and store hydrogen.”
Unveiled at the Detroit Auto Show, the 2010 Toyota Prius is the first - and so far only - car in the US to get mileage greater than 50 miles per gallon. This third-generation model is even bigger and more powerful than its predecessors. Read more…
Obama will arrive to his inauguration with class… and basically in a tank:
GM vice president Bob Lutz was brought in to the company in 2001 to help turn things around. Since then, the company has only lost market shares and has continued to rely on gas-guzzlers for sales. In 2005, Lutz wrote a blog post explaining that GM was being all maverick-y with their SUV initiatives. And although we may have seen a small jump in SUV sales recently since gas prices lowered, it’s probably unlikely these gas-guzzlers will ever rule the market again. Read what Lutz had to say three years ago:
We began developing these trucks three years ago when fuel prices were stable and historically low in real-dollar terms. Nevertheless, we made fuel economy an extremely high priority item, even back then.
This is one reason why we are still very confident of their success. In addition, we have a huge owner body, it’s a segment we think will level off at about 750,000, and we’re going to have the newest and best products out there, with substantial improvements in fuel economy. If you’re using our Displacement on Demand technology and you carefully manage when and how often you go on four cylinders, you can do better than the EPA ratings!
Let me make this clear: I don’t think anything exemplifies the state of our art today like our all-new full-size sport-utilities. We’ve made significant strides forward in exterior styling, interior refinement, vehicle dynamics, safety, quality and reliability.
You think he’d agree now with his past self? Read more…
So not only are gas prices astronomical, some gas stations are actually running out of gas. Atlanta is the latest city to suffer from this problem, creating huge line-ups at those gas stations lucky enough to have some left. Check out this reader’s account of the quest for gas in Atlanta. And stay tuned: it’s only a matter of time before this happens to you… Betcha gas prices won’t look so bad when you can’t drive at all.
Falling gasoline prices were not enough to revive sales of SUVs and pickups in August as General Motors, Ford Motor and Toyota Motor all reported a sharp fall in sales once again. And Ford warned it sees even tougher times ahead.General Motors, the nation’s largest automaker, reported that sales tumbled 20% from year-ago levels. That wasn’t as bad as expected though — sales tracker Edmunds.com was forecasting a 28% drop.
In fact, August turned out to be GM’s best month this year. The company sold 307,285 vehicles thanks to a popular “employee pricing” incentive program which allowed any buyer to get a vehicle for the same cost as a GM employee. That offer, in place for the last third of the month, has been extended into September.
But there was plenty of weakness in the report as sales of light trucks, which includes pickups, SUVs and vans, tumbled 24% from a year ago.
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