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Filed under: Green Culture, Chrysler, Ford, GM, Legislation and Policy, Green Daily, USA

The plan to drive a slew of Detroit’s best new cars from the Motor City to Washington, DC is over before it even got started. Amazingly, there was just too much support for the idea, which led to a complete lack of control over the event and leading to its cancellation. It’s just as well, really. While it would have been an awesome display of support for the ailing Detroit 3, the notion of packing Washington’s already busy streets with a few hundred more vehicles, not to mention their occupants, would have been a complete nightmare. Even worse, the plan was to show how fuel efficient vehicles from America can be, but the proposal would have equaled the burning of hundreds of gallons of gasoline, which doesn’t exactly strike us as particularly green.

The event’s organizers, made up of suppliers, dealerships and Union officials, have instead started a new website called TheEngineOfDemocracy.com. At the site, individuals will be able to show their support for Detroit’s automakers in a peaceful and hopefully meaningful way. One delegate from each of the 50 states plus one from DC will make the trek to show their support in person.

[Source: The Detroit News]

Motown to Washington caravan a bust originally appeared on AutoblogGreen on Sat, 29 Nov 2008 19:53:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: EV/Plug-in, Hybrid, Ford, LA Auto Show

Following the reveal of the Ford Fusion Hybrid at the Los Angeles Auto show last week, Ford’s director of sustainable mobility technology Nancy Gioia spoke with Green Fuels Forecast about a number of topics. Top of the list, of course, was the new hybrid sedan and the fact that Ford has decided not to make its hybrids more visually distinct from conventional cars. The Fusion is just the latest of Ford’s hybrid programs, but the most advanced is the plug-in hybrid Escape that Ford is testing with Southern California Edison. That program is apparently going very well and in fact Ford will be announcing soon that several more electric utilities are joining the test program. So far the Escape PHEV is averaging 120 mpg running in charge-depleting mode and 70 mpg overall. Gioia also discussed battery exchange programs. She told GFF that while battery technology is still changing so quickly, such systems may not prove to be technically viable. Check out all of what Gioia had to say at Green Fuels Forecast.

[Source: Green Fuels Forecast]

Nancy Gioia discusses hybrids, plug-ins and battery leases originally appeared on AutoblogGreen on Sat, 29 Nov 2008 17:31:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Emerging Technologies, Chevrolet, Tesla Motors, On Two Wheels

Time Magazine has released its annual list of the Top 50 Inventions of the Year, and the 2008 edition features a good deal of green automotive technology. In fact, the Tesla Roadster has managed to snag the second spot on the list, with the Chevy Volt nabbing slot 7. Of course, you can’t actually go out and buy yourself a Chevy Volt quite yet, so while we agree it is a praiseworthy invention, perhaps it should really be on next year’s list.

Number 11 on Time’s list is a biofuel currently being developed by researchers at Arizona State University that uses algae for its base. Smog-eating cement shows up at number 37 and an innovative enclosed two-wheeled vehicle called the Peraves MonoTracer grabs slot 41. That’s pretty cool, and its BMW motorcycle engine will offer plenty of performance along with relatively high fuel efficiency. The last vehicle of interest to us greenies is the Aptera, which props up the end at number 46, which we think may be a bit too low for an amazing invention such as this. Oh well, we could always make our own list. Wait a second…

[Source: Time]

Time’s 50 Best Inventions of 2008 includes assorted greenery originally appeared on AutoblogGreen on Sat, 29 Nov 2008 15:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Ethanol, Flex-Fuel, Toyota, USA

Toyota has announced updated pricing information for the 2009 Tundra full-size truck, along with a few new options that weren’t available before. Chief among these new features is flex-fuel capability on the largest, most powerful 5.7L engine option. Toyota has been planning on adding this capability since the new Tundra was introduced, which makes sense considering that all of its major competitors offer the ability to run on ethanol mixtures higher than 10 percent. The Japanese automaker will specifically be focusing in on the Midwestern states where E85 is more common, and will in fact be made standard on four-wheel drive models in certain areas. There will be no price increase on models equipped with the ethanol capability, which is good since the 2009 Tundra can top out at well over $40K. Prices have risen only modestly across the line - just an average of four percent, or $109 per truck for the new year.

[Source: Carscoop]

Tundra 5.7L V8 gets flex-fuel option for ‘09 originally appeared on AutoblogGreen on Sat, 29 Nov 2008 13:05:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Acura

Honda has always been a company run by engineers who like to do more with less. In the 1970s, the Civic got a CVCC system that allowed it to meet emissions standards for many years without using a catalytic converter. Today the company’s top of the line Acura RL competes in the luxury sport sedan segment with a V6 engine where others use a V8. The current RL has been somewhat of a sales laggard at least in part due to that powertrain choice. As a result, many have been pushing for Honda to drop a V8 in the RL. The problem is the company doesn’t have one. Recently, CEO Takeo Fukui acknowledged the company was working on a V8 for a future RL, but now it has come to light that it won’t be the next-generation model in 2011, but rather the one after that, due in 2015. If the company puts off a V8 that along, it seems likely that it won’t ever happen. By that time, it’s likely that smaller, boosted and direct injected engines will be the order of the day, especially with rising CAFE standards and the expected higher fuel prices. If anything, it would be more likely for Honda to develop a future performance hybrid variant than a V8 for the RL.

[Source: Auto Observer]

Next-next-gen Acura RL may finally get a V8 … or not originally appeared on AutoblogGreen on Sat, 29 Nov 2008 10:52:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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