Transportation

Two years ago, Zap, the electric transportation specialist out of Santa Rosa, Calif., talked about coming out with a luxury, all-electric SUV called the Zap-X in late 2008 or early 2009. Things have changed a bit.

The company now plans to kick off its electric car strategy with the Alias, a three-wheeled electric car, CEO Steve Schneider said in a phone interview. The company hopes to have a working prototype later this year and then start selling cars in 2009.

Zap and China's Youngman Automotive Group, through a joint venture called Detroit Electric, will then follow up with an … Read more

Volvo showed off its ReCharge plug-in hybrid concept, based on the Volvo C30 model, at last year's Frankfurt auto show. We were skeptical when we saw it because even though it looked cool, Volvo only had a cutaway demonstration model to show off, and the company has no current hybrid cars among its model lineup. But Volvo reports today that it has a working concept on the road as part of a larger program to develop next generation powertrains. Volvo, in a consortium with Saab, the Swedish government, and energy company Vattenfall, announced a five-year plan to develop plug-in … Read more

North America and Europe are consuming less oil, but worldwide demand is still rising despite increasing prices.

The International Energy Agency came out with its monthly report yesterday and, in some ways, it's business as usual. Demand in Western economies for oil dropped by about 190,000 barrels a day, bringing daily consumption down to 49.3 million barrels. Demand in China, India, and other developing nations, however, rose by 120,000 barrels a day to 38.3 million barrels a day.

In all, that comes to 87.5 million barrels a day of oil being consumed worldwide--close to … Read more

Remember how Robert Lutz, vice chairman and design guru at General Motors, a few weeks back called global warming a "crock of s---?" Well, his boss, GM CEO Rick Wagoner, wishes Lutz hadn't made that comment, saying it does not reflect the auto giant's position.

Wagoner on Tuesday spoke to reporters in Washington, where he was lobbying for government policies to promote alternative energy efforts such as ethanol production and research on batteries.

He said he regretted Lutz's remarks, which were widely discussed on the Web. "The comments weren't coming out of our … Read more

To make ethanol, you want to make vinegar first, according to ZeaChem.

The biofuel start-up, which has moved from Colorado to Silicon Valley, says it has come up with a method of making cellulosic ethanol that results in close to 40 percent more fuel per ton of wood chips than competing processes. By 2010 or so, the company hopes to be producing ethanol commercially for 80 cents a gallon at wholesale. That could translate to anywhere from $1.10 to $1.50 at the pump, depending on a host of factors.

How does it work? Most cellulosic ethanol producers convert … Read more

Pushing its electric vehicle strategy, Nissan will unveil an electric car concept at the New York auto show. Beyond a one-off concept, this concept is the harbinger of Nissan's plans to push automotive technology forward with electric vehicles. Milestones of this strategy include the introduction of a new electric vehicle, based on the concept, to U.S. fleets in 2010. After this fleet testing period, the new electric vehicle will be sold to retail customers starting in 2012. Nissan has been testing a lithium ion electric powertrain in the Nissan Cube, a model soon to be offered in the … Read more

Industrial giant General Electric has invested approximately $4 million into Think Global, the Norwegian company that specializes in electric town cars.

The investment exists, in part, to aid another investment by GE in lithium-ion battery maker A123 Systems. GE has invested $20 million into A123, which is working with General Motors on the Chevy Volt. Think, which has been getting its lithium-ion batteries from a company called EnerDel, has now signed a deal to also get batteries from A123.

Think started rolling cars off the production line late last year. The company's first car is a resurrection of an … Read more

Update July 19, 2008: Escape from Berkeley is now scheduled for Oct. 10-13, 2008.

Now this is something that I wish I could see.

Over the coming Fourth of July weekend, the folks who organize the Power Tool Drag Races will be putting on an entirely new kind of competition: Escape from Berkeley (by any non-petroleum means necessary), a race of alternatively powered vehicles from the liberal Bay Area town to Sin City.

"This 4th of July weekend, NASA scientists and junkyard fabricators once again square off in the perennial battle of engineering prowess and creative excess, this time … Read more

San Francisco may have shaken some flowers from its hair since hosting the first Earth Day 38 years ago, but the city continues to be named one of America's greenest. Satirists mock its politically correct "smug cloud" of eco-hipness, but many other regions tend to follow the city's environmental lead. For instance, more than a handful of U.S. cities are now mulling a ban on plastic grocery bags, first passed in San Francisco last March.

Fresh into his second term, San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newson in January set goals for the city to become carbon-neutral … Read more