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The most recent battle over electric car technology isn't being fought in the showrooms, but on the set of the "Late Show with David Letterman."

GM Vice Chairman Bob Lutz was invited on the "Late Show," giving him the opportunity to respond to Letterman's negative comments about the Chevrolet Volt, which is an extended range hybrid.

Not really understanding the concept of a plug-in hybrid, Letterman had previously called the 40-mile all-electric capacity "insane" on a previous episode during which Tesla CEO Elon Musk was a guest promoting the electric Model S sedan prototype.

Lutz offered his rebuttal on Wednesday, Chevy Volt in tow, and tried to explain why GM doesn't sell an all-electric vehicle and is instead is coming to market first with a plug-in. … Read more

GM announced its development of a new, more efficient internal combustion engine that will eventually be used to power its lineup of hybrid and extended-range plug-in vehicles.

In the homogenous charge compression ignition engine (HCCI), the air and fuel mixture is compressed to ignite rather than using a spark. When combined with other advanced technologies, the HCCI engine provides up to 15 percent better fuel economy, according to GM. … Read more

Editors' note: The title of this blog post initially misstated the name of Microsoft Virtual Earth.

When OnStar advisers get an accident response call, they now have another tool at their fingertips to use. The GM subsidiary recently integrated Microsoft Virtual Earth into their response system and are using the 3D features to guide first responders with more accuracy to hard-to-find or rural locations.

"Microsoft is helping automakers, suppliers and customers focus on long-term innovation to reshape the plant floor, in-car and dealership experience," said David Graff, U.S. automotive industry solutions director, Microsoft Corp. in a press … Read more

Correction, 10:27 a.m. PDT: This story incorrectly described Google as a private company. It is public.

As far as I know, nothing tragic happened as a result of Thursday's Google outage but it does remind us how important Google has become to many people's lives and livelihoods.

In addition to search, millions of people rely on Google for their e-mail, calendar, and other Web-based applications including word processing and spreadsheet. With its Google Health service, the company has also branched into health care record keeping, making me worry that someday an outage could literally be life … Read more

GM touts its six-speed-automatic transmissions in video and blog form today, highlighting the kind of power train technology that should keep the company competitive. Engineer Jeff Lux provides some insight into GM transmission advances in his blog entry, and another transmission engineer, Scott Damman, narrates a video with some interesting animations showing how these transmissions work.

The blog points out the four percent fuel efficiency that can be gained when using a six-speed transmission over a four speed. GM has nine different six-speed transmissions, and is working on a 10th, with 40 models using them. Those numbers are likely to … Read more

Microsoft employee David McLauchlan posted photos of how the Zune integrates with the 2010 Chevrolet Camaro. The news releases about the car from GM already confirmed that its stereo would feature iPod integration and a USB port, but this is the first we've seen about the Zune integration.

The pictures show a nice image of a Camaro appearing on the Zune's screen when it is connected to the car, along with the various play and navigation screens that show up on the car's radio display. We've never liked the aqua electro-fluorescent radio displays used by GM, … Read more

Raser Technologies will unveil a plug-in hybrid Hummer H3 that gets more than 100 mpg at the SAE World Congress in Detroit on April 20. The project was developed in cooperation with GM and is the "have your SUV and drive it too" answer to automotive industry critics and increasingly environmentally-conscience drivers.

By swapping the Hummer's conventional power plant--typically a V-8 engine--for an electric motor powered by a lithium ion battery, the SUV is transformed from a gas-guzzler to a green machine. The plug-in vehicle can travel up to 40 miles in all-electric mode. After the energy is depleted from the battery, the four-cylinder engine kicks in. However, the four-cylinder engine isn't connected to drivetrain and never turns the wheels of the car--its sole purpose is to recharge the lithium ion battery. … Read more

Driving the Aston Martin DB9, EPA starts a new era of emissions controls, GM is still talking bankruptcy, and Mitsubishi pulls the trigger on an electric car.

• CNET drives the Aston Martin DB9 Volante

• Minicars get crushed by bigger ones

• Mitsubishi prepares to launch its electric car

• Details on big GM recall

• Hitler stresses over his Tesla