AutoblogGreen

Dr. Charles Perry, a former electrical engineer at IBM, believes his hybrid retrofit kit can transform nearly any vehicle into a fuel-saver at a cost of between $3,000 and $5,000. The idea is at least sound enough to have taken the top prize at the green energy competition from the Tennessee Technology Development Corp., which came with a $50,000 grant along with a matching investment and a hopeful deal to put the invention into commercial production within three years from Palmer Labs LLC.

Perry's patent-pending hybrid retrofit kit features one hub-mounted electric motor with 10-15 horsepower powering each wheel. The needed electrons to power the system would come from an appropriately-sized battery mounted securely in the trunk. According to the inventor, this system could potentially double fuel mileage in urban settings. Work is currently underway on a functional prototype that's being developed with assistance from the Tennessee Technological University.

[Source: Popular Science]

Currently, most commercially available hydrogen is collected by reforming natural gas with steam. That means fossil fuels are still in the mix, which is a serious black mark against hydrogen use for fuel. While it's possible to extract hydrogen from water, the process is rather energy intensive and isn't yet commercially viable.

Gerardine Botte of Ohio University believes she may have one possible solution. Instead of cracking hydrogen away from its tight bond in water, the University has demonstrated that it takes much less energy to extract hydrogen from urine, whether that's synthetic urea or real, honest-to-goodness human urine.

As the single most abundant waste on the planet, there's certainly no shortage of urine in the world and, according to the Botte, this technology can be quickly and easily scaled up as a way to both generate hydrogen and help clean up sewage plants. Sounds like a win-win scenario to us.

[Source: Chemistry World | Photo: estherase]

Having just recently returned home from the TTXGP at the Isle of Man, where its race bike managed a very respectable second-place finish in its class, Barefoot Motors has officially opened its doors. The event, complete with a ceremonial ribbon-cutting ceremony, took place June 25th in Ashland, Oregon.

Barefoot Motors' new $12,000 Model One electric Earth Utility Vehicle was present and accounted for, and initial ride reports have been highly favorable. According to the company, its machine makes 40 horsepower and can hit speeds of up to 30 miles per hour.

With enough capacity from its lithium iron phosphate batteries to travel for up to 40 miles, which translates into roughly four hours of constant use or eight hours of intermittent use, the Columbia Daily Tribune reports that Barefoot Motors believes its new EUV should be a hit with farmers and vineyard growers.

[Source: Barefoot Motors]

Considering the two fledgling automaker's past history, it's not terribly surprising that Henrik Fisker would want to distance his company from Tesla Motors. Recall that Fisker had originally been tasked with penning the design for the Tesla S electric sedan but later unveiled the Karma after being dismissed by the Silicon Valley automaker. There was a lawsuit, which was ruled in Fisker's favor by an arbitration court.

Speaking at a meeting of the Western Automotive Journalists Association, Fisker said, "The full-electric car [like the Tesla Roadster] is a niche market. Plug-in hybrids have a much bigger market." Of course, not everyone agrees that PHEVs are the way to go. Fisker goes on to say that his company's latest business plan will lead to profits at just 5,000 annual sales, though the goal remains 15,000 sales per year.

What about the Chevy Volt, which uses a similar range-extended electric architecture as the Fisker Karma? Somewhat disparagingly, Fisker suggests that GM's future EV won't really be competition for the Fisker, saying only, "It's a Chevy." He's got a point, though, as the Volt is likely to cost about half what Fisker plans to ask for the Karma and surely won't fit into the same luxury category as Fisker's green machine.


[Source: Hybrid Cars]

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 – consisting of a diverse group of scholars, vision-impaired groups, consumers, police and automobile industry officials – "decided to consider introducing a sound-making function" on all hybrids at its first meeting on Thursday, July 2. The panel hasn't yet decided what sound hybrids should make. We'll cast our unofficial vote in the direction of cowbells.

The issue is well-known in America, where the government has launched Pedestrian Safety Enhancement Acts in each of the last two years to study the supposed problem. Naturally, there is some opposition to artificial noise generators on hybrids. "On the other hand, we should pay attention to residents (along roads) as hybrids are excellent in reducing noise," added the Transport Ministry official.



[Source: AFP via Google]

Yokohama debuted its new ADVAN ENV-R1 orange oil-infused racing tire at the Porsche GT3 Challenge at Sebring a few months back. At the time, the company promised to have new tires using the eco-friendly technology on the market for consumer use in short order. Apparently, that time is now. According to Dan King, Yokohama vice president of sales:

The eco-focused dB Super E-spec mixes sustainable orange oil and natural rubber to drastically cut the use of petroleum, without compromising performance. It also helps consumers save money at the gas pump by improving fuel efficiency via a 20-percent reduction in rolling resistance. With these innovations, the dB Super E-spec could very well be the most technologically-advanced tire ever produced.

At launch time, the new green orange tires will be available in four sizes. Not coincidentally, those sizes will fit popular hybrids like the Toyota Prius, Honda Civic Hybrid/Civic GX NGV, Toyota Camry Hybrid and Honda Accord Hybrid. Click past the break for the official press release.

[Source: Yokohama]

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Back in early April at the Denver International Auto Show, Lightning Hybrids' showed off its new biodiesel-powered hydraulic-hybrid LH4, the design of which was inspired by the classic 1963 Split-Window Corvette. Although the team had to scramble to get the prototype together in time for its unveiling, things have now settled down a bit and Lightning has managed to get the vehicle in running condition. Assuming everything goes to plan, the car – supposedly capable of hitting sixty mph in around six seconds and managing 100 miles per gallon – will be entered in the Auto X Prize competition.

Lightning Hybrids also plans to produce a three-wheeled vehicle using similar technology, appropriately called the LH3, as well as hydraulic-hybrid retrofit kits for everything from midsize sedans to fullsize pickups. Before any of that can happen, though, the group is seeking an investment of $5 million – surely not an easy task in this weakened economy. Click past the break for a short video of the Lightning LH4's maiden voyage.

[Source: Lightning Hybrids via Wired]

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Art may be the last thing in the world the average person thinks about when sitting idle in a major traffic jam, but Spanish artist Maider López apparently sees things the normal person doesn't. López put a call out way back in 2005 to anyone willing to intentionally sit in the largest possible non-moving traffic jam, and she got more than 400 responses from willing participants in 160 individual automobiles.

That conglomeration of cars and trucks all convened to purposely clog up some twisty roads in the Aralar Mountains in Spain, and the predictable results were caught on film for the Auto. Dream and Material exhibition at the Laboral Centro de Arte y Creación Industrial in Gijón, Spain. According to the artist, this traffic jam illustrate the automobile's impact on the landscape. We'll take her word for it.


[Source: Inhabitat]

Back in February, the UK-based Lightning Car Company announced that it still intends to begin building and selling its Lightning GT by 2010. The £120,000 electric sportscar will be powered by one 120kW electric motor per wheel – assuming the fledgling automaker is still able to use hub motors from bankrupt PML Flightlink – that will get their electrons from 36kW of Altairnano NanoSafe lithium titanite batteries. According to its maker, the car should be able to accelerate its carbon fiber and Kevlar self to 60 mph in just four seconds and sport a range of up to 180 miles.

Despite the fact that the company has yet to ship its first automobile, Lightning Car Company chairman Ian Sanderson has said the company intends to also offer "a high-end chauffeur-driven car with electric power." Also on the menu will be an SUV and a smaller sportscar, all powered by variations of the GT's electric drivetrain. Ambitious, no?


[Source: Autocar]

The U.S. Department of Transportation and National Renewable Energy Lab (NREL) are hard at work developing new ways to make the air conditioners more efficient and reduce the interior tempteratures in our cars and trucks. What's the big deal? Apparently, a whopping seven billion gallons of gasoline are used each and every year in the United States alone to run automotive AC units, which represents 5.5-percent of the country's fuel use. Burning that fuel emits more than 58 metric tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.

Surely, then, anything that can be done to make air conditioners more effective is worth looking into, and the NREL has a helper called ADAM. The 160-pound Advanced Automotive Mannequin features 120 sensing zones and is used to effectively monitor the ambient and surface temperatures inside a car, among other things. The end result of the organization's findings could be a savings of some three billion gallons of gasoline per year. That's hot stuff.

[Source: Wired]