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REPORT: Japan could require hybrids to emit sound
2010 Honda Insight - Click above for high-res image gallery Now that hybrid cars have taken the top sales spots in Japan for the last few months, that country's Transport Ministry is reportedly launching an investigation to determine if it's wise to require hybrid automobiles to emit an artificial sound when operating with the internal combustion switched off. The thinking is that hybrids may be more dangerous to the blind due to their quiet operation under electric power. According to an unnamed official, the government's 13-member panel ... Read more →
UK funds Low-Carbon Buses with £30 million Xavier Navarro
The British Department of Transport has announced a new £30 million fund to help bus operators purchase low-carbon vehicles, like the new GM-Allison Two-mode hybrid system (pictured). A Low ...
EDITORIAL: Attention Wall Street Journal - Ford does not use Toyota's hybrid system! Sam Abuelsamid
2010 Mercury Milan Hybrid - Click above for high-res image gallery in an op-ed piece published in the Wall Street Journal, Alan Reynolds of the Cato Institute starts by making a few decent points ...
REPORT: Toyota hopes to boost profits by licensing hybrid technology Jeremy Korzeniewski
2010 Toyota Prius – Click above for high-res image gallery Over the last ten years or so, Toyota has amassed a wide-ranging assortment of more than 2,000 patents related to its proprietary ...
Grid Manager: Plug-in autos are OK if charged overnight or else Xavier Navarro
Plug-in hybrids are a hot topic right now. But there are many who question if our electric grid will be able to support a massive influx of EVs and plug-in hybrids? Those who know often say "yes," ...
More legislation-and-policy news
China raises fuel prices by 10% 2 days ago on AutoblogGreen
For the third time in recent months, drivers in China are finding themselves shelling out more each time they fill the tank. In China, retail fuel prices are regulated, just as other aspects of life are. As of this week, gasoline is at $3 per gallon in China, bringing it above prices in the United ...
Plug In America criticizes CARB loophole that could help BMW with its MINI E 3 days ago on AutoblogGreen
MINI E - click above for high-res image gallery BMW has gotten a lot of press (some bad) for their MINI E project. Even though the all-electric car comes with a plug, the plug-in advocacy group Plug In America (PIA) has a problem with the way that the Bavarians might be able to get a lot of ...
Columnist: Plug-in cars are the new ethanol-style boondoggle 3 days ago on AutoblogGreen
Peapod - click above for high-res image gallery The amount of money that the U.S. federal government poured into corn ethanol is legendary. Today, we're left with a floundering ethanol economy and a few happy corn farmers but not an abundance of the biofuel powering the nation's cars. A ...
Cash for Clunkers to officially begin July 23rd 4 days ago on AutoblogGreen
When President Obama signed the Cash-for-Clunkers bill into law back on June 24th, the Transportation Department was given 30 days to set the official rules and regulations for the program that put the actual plan into motion. According to the official CARS (Car Allowance Rebate System) site, the ...
Toyota stung by possible Prius HID headlight defect 4 days ago on AutoblogGreen
2009 Toyota Prius - Click above for high-res image gallery We'd wager that the last thing Toyota wants in the midst of the super-important launch of its new third-generation Prius is a negative stigma attached to the previous model. Unfortunately, that's exactly what the Japanese automaker may ...
"New energy car" classifications revised by Chinese government 4 days ago on AutoblogGreen
2009 BYD F3DM - Click above for high-res image gallery In China, the government tries to keep a tight reign on what companies can produce and sell. For example companies aren't allowed to get into the car business without prior approval from Beijing which is why the company trying to buy Hummer ...
EPA reverses decision, approves California's greenhouse gas emissions waiver 4 days ago on AutoblogGreen
The saga of California's greenhouse gas waiver has come to an end with the EPA deciding that the state can indeed enforce its own GHG emissions standards for new motor vehicles. This means that, at least between now (with current model year vehicles) and when the 2012 MY vehicles arrive, California ...
Mulally: Ford's path to profitability based on electrification 7 days ago on AutoblogGreen
2010 Ford Fusion Hybrid - Click above for high-res image gallery Ford CEO Alan Mulally says the automaker is on track to return to profitability by 2011, despite posting a record $14.7 billion loss in 2008 and a forecast to continue posting losses through the rest of 2009 and 2010. A major ...
House now considering doubling $25 billion DOE ATVM program 7 days ago on AutoblogGreen
The other day, Sue Cischke, Ford group vice president of sustainability, environment and safety engineering, said, "If they (the DOE) raise the appropriations from the $25 billion to the $50 billion, we qualify." At the time, we hadn't heard about any plans to increase funding for the Advanced ...
CARB adopts reflective glass rule to keep cars cooler 8 days ago on AutoblogGreen
Anyone that has ever climbed into a car on a sunny day is familiar with the greenhouse effect. The interior of the car is typically much hotter than the ambient temperatures outside, sometimes as much 20-30 degrees F more. As a result, drivers (unless they have the new 2010 Prius with solar roof ...
California Attorney General drops greenhouse gas suit against carmakers 8 days ago on AutoblogGreen
When I started posting here way back in 2006, one of the very first stories I wrote was about the state of California filing a lawsuit against six of the largest automakers over the damage caused by greenhouse gas emissions. The original premise was that the emissions from cars were a public ...
Obama signs Cash-for-Clunkers bill into law, countdown to start begins 8 days ago on AutoblogGreen
President Obama has taken pen to paper and signed off on Cash-for-Clunkers, a law that could help the auto industry shake its year-long funk. The Transportation Department now has 30 days to determine the rules and regulations for Cash-for-Clunkers, placing the start of the program at the end of ...
GAO says truly clean plug-in hybrids need to be powered by alternatives to coal plants 9 days ago on AutoblogGreen
The long tailpipe. The longer you've been interested in cleaner cars that come with a plug, the more chance there is you've heard about this topic and thought of ways to mitigate the effect of the resources that are being consumed elsewhere to move your wheels. Solar and wind are two obvious clean ...
Huh? Detroit News columnist criticizes Tesla loan, but not exactly in a brilliant manner 9 days ago on AutoblogGreen
Tesla Model S - Click above for high-res image gallery Manny Lopez does not appreciate Tesla Motors getting $465 million from the Department of Energy. The Detroit News columnist wrote an article published today that calls the money "an all-out gift to Tesla, the Silicon Valley startup that ...
UK will spend £25 million ($40 million U.S.) on huge electric car test program 9 days ago on AutoblogGreen
Mitsubishi iMiEV - click above for high res iamge gallery The electric vehicle money is flowing everywhere. Following the U.S. DOE's announcement yesterday, the UK has announced it will spend £25 million ($40 million) on a large project to get EVs and "ultra-low carbon vehicles an everyday ...
Ford wouldn't turn down another $5 billion loan from the DOE 10 days ago on AutoblogGreen
2010 Ford Taurus SHO - Click above for high-res gallery While Ford managed to get $5.9 billion from the DOE's ATVMLP fund yesterday, that's only about half of what the automaker asked for. Ford's original request for help was for $11 billion. And, since the feds are still handing out money at a ...
Not so fast: Jesse James' hydrogen speed "record" challenged 10 days ago on AutoblogGreen
Jesse James' hydrogen ride - click above for high-res image gallery Did Jesse James really pilot a hydrogen-fueled vehicle faster than anyone else ever has in history? Possibly. Did he set a world record as claimed in doing so? Not so fast (get it?), says noted world landspeed historian Louise ...
EnerDel gets $3.3 million to make safer lithium batteries with Argonne 10 days ago on AutoblogGreen
EnerDel Th!nk City - Click above for high-res image gallery It has not been a quiet year for Indianapolis-based EnerDel, the li-ion battery subsidiary of Ener1. Senator Evan Bayh spoke at the commissioning of EnerDel's li-ion battery plant in May. Back in March, Ener1 discussed its "$480 million ...
REPORT: GM persuing Chrysler for repayment of Two-Mode Hybrid development 10 days ago on AutoblogGreen
In a case that's sure to light up our own comments section along with untold numbers of message boards across the web, our friends at PickupTrucks.com are reporting that General Motors has filed documents in court in an attempt to get New Chrysler to honor its full pre-bankruptcy debt of $531,275 ...
Virent Energy Systems wins Presidential Green Chemistry award for efficient biofuel process 11 days ago on AutoblogGreen
Virent Energy Systems, a biofuel company based in Madison, Wisconsin, has received a Presidential Green Chemistry Challenge award for its low-energy water-based process for producing fuels. Using its proprietary BioForming process that uses nearly zero outside energy other than what's generated by ...
Chu: all American cars should be E85 capable 11 days ago on AutoblogGreen
In early May, the U.S. DOE announced a $786.5 million "third-generation" biofuel program. Yesterday, ex-biofuel researcher Stephen Chu, the Energy Secretary, said that all cars made in America should be able to burn ethanol (E85). Earlier this month, Chu said electric vehicles were "inevitable." Chu ...
Officially, official: Ford gets $5.9b from DOE in ATVMP funds for 13 greener cars 11 days ago on AutoblogGreen
Ford Focus EV Mule - Click above for high-res gallery The third piece of the DOE's funding puzzle that was laid out this morning goes, as expected, to Ford. What's notable is that Ford's share of the $8 billion in conditional loan commitments that the DOE announced today for electric cars is by ...
Officially, official: Nissan gets $1.6B DOE loan to build EVs, batteries in Tennsessee 11 days ago on AutoblogGreen
Nissan EV-02 prototype - click above for high res image gallery Nissan has just announced that the Department of Energy has approved its request for a $1.6 billion low interest loan under the ATVM program. The money will be used to update the Smyrna, TN factory to build up to 150,000 battery ...
Officially, official: Tesla gets $465m in loans from the DOE to build Model S, EV powertrains 11 days ago on AutoblogGreen
Click above for a high-res gallery of the Tesla Model S After many months of anxiously waiting, Tesla Motors officially got the word from the Department of Energy that it would the loan interest loans that it was seeking. Tesla and the DOE announced that the California EV maker will get two ...
Ford gets first DoE loan, Nissan and Tesla expected winners 12 days ago on AutoblogGreen
Ford Focus EV Mule - Click above for high-res gallery The U.S. Department of Energy will finally announce the first recipient of low interest loans under the Advanced Technology Vehicle Manufacturing Incentive Program. The first winner is Ford, and analysts expect the DoE to announce Nissan and ...
Elon fires back at Eberhard in Tesla lawsuit's latest twist 12 days ago on AutoblogGreen
Shortly after Tesla Motors co-founder Martin Eberhard filed a lawsuit against Tesla Motors and its Chairman, Product Architect and CEO Elon Musk, the Silicon Valley automaker had this to say: This lawsuit is a fictionalized, inaccurate account of Tesla's early years -- it's twisted and wrong, and ...
REPORT: S. Korea targeting Japanese li-ion products 12 days ago on AutoblogGreen
Mitsubishi i MiEV - Click above for high-res image gallery The long-simmering confrontation between South Korea and Japan has affected all sorts of relationships between the two countries. While mostly peaceful over the last few decades, there remains some bad blood between the two countries. A ...
Analysts: There's no guarantee that cash-for-clunkers will really drive car sales 12 days ago on AutoblogGreen
Now that the cash-for-clunkers bill is ready for the President's signature, attention is turning to how much of an impact the negotiated bill will actually have on car sales. There are a lot of positive stories about the bill floating around - headlines say the bill might "jumpstart US auto sales" ...
The best of the French low-carbon auto industry displayed at the Ministry of Environmental Affairs 13 days ago on AutoblogGreen
The parking spaces at the French Ministry of Environmental affairs was recently filled with alternative cars in many flavors. The alt-fuel vehicles were introduced to Jean-Louis Borloo, the French Environmental Minister and are the results of a €57 million investment from ADEME (The French ...
NHTSA proposes tire fuel efficiency stickers 13 days ago on AutoblogGreen
American car buyers are used to seeing window stickers with information about fuel efficiency, crash test ratings and emissions. They may soon have another chunk of information to review when they go to their local tire store to buy new rubber. Buying new tires has always been problematic for ...
CARB asks DOE to restore hydrogen vehicle funds 15 days ago on AutoblogGreen
Hydrogen cars in Vancouver - click above for high-res image gallery The U.S. Department of Energy under President Obama hasn't been kind to hydrogen vehicles in 2009. In early May, the DOE eliminated funding for research into H2-powered vehicles. Since then, the hydrogen vehicle industry has ...
