Hybrid, Electric, Plug-in, Clean Diesel Cars for the Responsible Consumers.

Electric cars have been around since the 1830s, but amidst all this excitement about bailout money, new clean diesel, hybrid and electric cars announcements, joint ventures and collaborations, and battery development progress, I though we’d take a brief look at the history of the electric car.
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Nissan Motor Co., Ltd. unveiled Nissan LEAF on August 2, 2009 the world’s first affordable, zero-emission car. Designed specifically for a lithium-ion battery-powered chassis, Nissan LEAF is a medium-size hatchback that comfortably seats five adults and has a range of more than 160km (100 miles) to satisfy real-world consumer requirements.

Today I caught an interesting debate between Lauren Fix and Geoffrey Pohanka on the status and success/failure of the Car Allowance Rebate System (CARS) or Cash For Clunkers program. CNN brought them on as part of its coverage of the first anticipated depletion of the one billion dollars allocated to CARS after just 5 days.

For model year 2010 the smart fortwo cdi has been given a clear power boost, yet it remains just as economical and environmentally friendly as before. In future the state-of-the-art three-cylinder diesel engine will produce 21 percent more power and deliver approximately 18 percent more maximum torque. Although this extra power makes the popular two-seater car noticeably livelier, it does not affect its exemplary fuel consumption.

Ever find yourself driving behind a hybrid car? With larger number of hybrids sharing the public roads, hybrid cars are becoming common sights everyday. So here’s the question: if you’re “caught” driving behind a hybrid, do you find your blood pressure soaring, or do you feel this is actually good for your health?

The Indian car manufacturers may not be churning out cars by the minute, but the cars they do come out with seem to command attention, because they are very affordable. India’s top priorities seem to evolve around affordability and environmentally-friendly considerations, that of putting affordable cars into the citizens’ hands, and planning for explosive growth in the future.

The Mercedes-Benz SLS is not for everyone, but it never fails to turn heads. Add the AMG badge and you know it’s built for performance. Now MB is giving it full electric drive. Powerful and locally emission-free.
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Here’s part 2 of my conversation with Jim Ruby, Manager of Fleet Services, and Greg Nishihira, Business Manager of Fleet Services at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD.) In this segment Jim and Greg went into more details on UCSD’s fleet of neighborhood electric vehicles (NEVs,) the on-campus generators, working with the city’s power grid, and future plans.

I had a chance to visit with Jim Ruby, Manager of Fleet Services, and Greg Nishihira, Business Manager of Fleet Services at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD.) We talked about fleet operations at UCSD that support numerous university functions and the many programs that Jim and Greg are spearheading to achieve sustainable transportation for the school. Here is part 1 of our conversation, with Fleet Services photos showing electric, hybrid and alternative fuel vehicles in action in and around the UCSD campus.

Minh Duong was showing off his 3-wheeled street-legal electric car named Xe Điện (‘electric car’ in Vietnamese) among the Priuses, Honda Insights, even a Tesla Roadster at San Diego’s Street Smart 2009. We spent a few minutes chatting about his creation of the electric car, his passion to start such a personal project and what he hopes to achieve in the future.