Cars, trucks and more

Henderson, Lutz and Wagoner next to the Volt
I’m a big fan of the Chevy Volt. I think it’s an important step in the right direction, especially for a company like GM. Still, I’ve blogged over-and-over that the Volt was not an excuse not to build a direct Toyota Prius-contender.
Ultimately, the lack of small hybrid cars [...]

Get a deal on a Toyota hybrid today
Toyota has announced a bunch of incentives on its vehicles, including its hybrid cars. Incentives can vary depending upon your region, but the Toyota Camry hybrid is averaging about a $1500 discount and the Prius is averaging about $1000 discount according to Cars.com.
Check out Toyota’s consumer site for [...]

Can lithium power the Sonata past other hybrids?
Hyundai has confirmed that it plans to begin selling the Hyundai Sonata hybrid in October of next year. More interesting, the Sonata hybrid will utilize Hyundai’s Blue Drive – a lithium polymer powered hybrid drive.
In related news, the Hyundai Blue Will plug-in hybrid concept has not yet been [...]

Hyundai’s hybrid weapon?
A couple of years ago, when it was speculated that Toyota would use lithium in the third generation Prius, I thought the world of hybrid cars was ready to explode. Unfortunately, Toyota chose the safe and reliable path and stuck with NiMH.
Since then, there has been a lot of talk about lithium chemistry’s, [...]

569 units sold in first week
If you checked out your local Honda dealer last week hoping to purchase an Insight hybrid, you might have been disappointed. While Honda did begin delivery of the Insight, availability was limited. Nonetheless, Honda did record the sale of 569 Insights last week.
Interestingly, Honda Civic hybrid sales were down 20.8% [...]

Greenhouse gases to be a “health danger”
The EPA is ready to declare carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases a public health danger according to reports. If the White House accepts the EPA’s proposal, sweeping change is forthcoming. Already, the White House has indicated that it wants Congress to act on this issue, such as in [...]

One Katrina away from $3.00 gas
So, fuel efficiency standards are going up a little by 2011. Whohoo!
Yet, whom knows how many flex fuel credits and EV loopholes Congress will offer automakers. Loopholes are the Congressional speciality.
With or without an increase in fuel efficiency standards, automakers better be preparing for higher gas prices. Numerous energy analysts, [...]

The Blue-Will plug-in hybrid
Hyundai is showing off its latest hybrid concept as a sneak preview to the Seoul Auto Show in April. The Blue-Will plug-in hybrid, according to AutoWeek, utilizes used recycled soda bottles for the headlights, as well as biodegradable plastics for the engine cover and interior. Likewise, the panoramic solar-celled roof will help [...]

Now if I could only find that hydrogen filling station
So, Mazda has received permission from the Japanese government to start leasing the Mazda hydrogen hybrid. Cool, right, especially since this hybrid can burn both gasoline and hydrogen?
Still, now the President Obama has put the kibosh on hydrogen funding, isn’t the hydrogen highway closed here in [...]

Lithium supply will not limit EVs
Every company always has to put their best foot forward. To do otherwise, often times, would lead to the end of your business. So companies often wear rose-colored glasses when projecting their business viability forward.
Nonetheless, it was noteworthy today that in a Volt battery update conference, GM stated bluntly that [...]