Bright Automotive, would-be manufacturer of a plug-in hybrid delivery van, shut down today while CEO Reuben Munger and COO Mike Donoughe delivered a blistering letter to Energy Secretary Stephen Chu calling the Advanced Technology Vehicles Manufacturing program a debacle. Indiana based Bright Automotive, a start-up company which hoped to sell hybrid-electric delivery trucks, has closed its…
As the Toyota Prius Plug-in makes its way towards dealer show-rooms, Toyota announces that, in California, the Prius Plug-in will qualify for an additional rebate under the CVRP program, and additionally qualifies for the same green HOV access sticker that the Chevy Volt will get. The Toyota Prius Plug-in is making its way towards dealer…
The Audi A3 e-tron is the company’s latest electric car design, and a pilot project for the the San Francisco, Los Angeles, Washington D.C., and Denver markets is being launched at the TED conference this week. The Audi e-tron is a family of all electric concept cars Audi began showing in late 2009. Today, at…
Lithium battery startup company Envia Systems plans to announce tomorrow, at the ARPA-E conference, development of a high energy density lithium battery (400 watt-hours per kilogram) which could be the tipping point enabling long range affordable electric cars. Long range electric cars have been possible for quite awhile, Solectria built…
Following the controversy over whether a Tesla Roadster battery pack can be destroyed, Tesla Motors speaks saying the fears are “irrational”, based on limited information, and oh by the way it’s nigh-on impossible to brick a Model S. Two days ago news broke from a single blogger, Michael DeGusta, claiming…
The controversy over whether a Tesla Roadster can be bricked is building, running the risk of spooking Tesla’s customers just as the company is about to start production and delivery of the Model S, and just as customers are beginning to line up with deposits on the Model X. Yesterday…
Reports are circulating claiming a Tesla Roadster design flaw can destroy the battery pack, at a large cost to the owner. Tesla dismisses the problem, saying they’ve designed in safeguards to prevent it from happening. Last night a blog post by blogger Michael DeGusta (reposted by Jalopnik) went into great…
Henrik Fisker says production of the Fisker Karma is not dependent on Dept of Energy loans, and that the company is pursuing a “plan B” to fund the company independently from private investors to prevent the company from being a political football. In early February, Fisker Automotive laid off a few workers following a suspension of…
During a campaign sweep through Georgia last weekend, Newt Gingrich had some interesting things to say about the ability of a Chevy Volt to carry a gun rack, and his fantasy of returning to $2.50 a gallon gasoline. Last weekend Newt Gingrich decided to unload both barrels on the Chevy…
Ford (and other automakers) envision future cars with high tech infotainment systems galore where car dashboards could have downloadable app’s just like todays smart phones and tablets. With the OpenXC platform Ford is creating a channel for open collaboration with 3rd party application developers, allowing them to use cars like the Ford Focus to prototype their…
In 20 years or so our cities could start seeing automated self-driving RoboCars driving themselves around, relieving us of drudgery, reducing traffic accident rates, enabling better use of the land tied up by roads, making electric cars more practical, and generally saving the world. Google’s Self-Driving Car project is today using modified Toyota Prius’s to prototype…
The RoboCar vision offers huge gains in accident rates, erasing traffic congestion and more, but is it pie in the sky or will we actually have self-driving robotic cars roaming our cities in the future? Today Google’s Self-Driving car project does have modified Toyota Prius’s roaming the streets, primarily in Silicon Valley, prototyping the RoboCar’s of…
The StuntBusters on SPEED TV attempt to answer the question whether electric or gas powered vehicles are faster, and there are dozens of teams around the world doing the same thing in electric racing events on real tracks, under real race conditions. The StuntBusters TV show (SPEED TV) recently did…
On the Motley Fool is a piece about how Heckmann Corporation is looking to expand the use of liquified natural gas use in big trucks. The strategy is ingenious, gives Heckmann the ability to claim green credibility by using natural gas fuel, while giving a method to expand the LNG…
The other day we noted that TTXGP had posted their 2012 North American season schedule, of four races (one location TBD) and plans to hold the TTXGP World Final in Daytona FL. Over on Facebook, Brammo commented on TTXGP’s schedule posting saying this: We plan to contest every North American…
