AutoblogGreen

At the beginning of the year we brought you initial news of the planned Green Challenge being implemented by the organizers of the American Le Mans Series. The announcement was made at the Detroit Motor Show, however details of how the initiative – co-sponsored by the Energy Department, the EPA and SAE International – would play out were still being worked on at the time.

The series has now announced that the Green Challenge will kick off this coming October at the "Petit Le Mans" race at Road Atlanta. ALMS race cars running on clean diesel, E10 ethanol or cellulosic E85 will be ranked by how much fossil fuels they use and how many emissions they produce over the course of the race distance. The vehicles which go the farthest on the least with the least impact will receive the lowest scores (i.e. the highest ranking), with winners announced in both the prototype and GT classes. Although only the one race will feature the Green Challenge component this season, in 2009 the initiative will carry through the entire calendar.

[Source: AutoWeek]

Click above to watch the video

With fuel prices skyrocketing worldwide, everyone is clamoring for a solution. So, who better to turn to for a conservation plan than a leading Conservative? Newt Gingrich, the former Speaker of the House, presents a three-part plan that entails tapping into the Strategic Oil Reserves, the deregulation of offshore oil drilling, and investment in alternative fuel technologies. According to our old pal Newt, "What you've got to have is a rational plan that says: Here's how you punish the speculators this morning, here's how you produce more energy in the near future, and here's how you have breakouts that are fundamental."

Gingrich might not have the clout in the green community that his rival Al Gore enjoys, but does that mean he doesn't have a point? Follow the jump to watch the video of his speech and leave your thoughts in the comments section below (just keep it civilized).

[Source: American Solutions via The Auto Channel]

Click above for hi-res gallery of the Lotus Exige 270E Tri-Fuel

British sportscar-maker and engineering firm Lotus may be known for its lightweight vehicles, but in the industry it still packs a punch as a heavyweight. It's that weight which Lotus is throwing behind methanol as the most viable alternative fuel.

Towards that end, at this year's Geneva motor show Lotus unveiled the flex-fuel 270E prototype based on the lightweight Exige sportscar. The vehicle is designed to run on gasoline, ethanol or methanol, but it's the latter which the company feels is the most viable for the near future. Like bio-ethanol, methanol can be made from natural materials, or can be made from hydrogen combined with CO₂ pulled out of the thin air, which allows for zero-emissions operation. The most convenient aspect, however, is that most car engines on the road today could be converted to run on methanol.

[Source: Automotive News Europe - subs. req'd]

Lamborghini could very well be the antithesis of the green car movement. Their cars burn just about everything they can, including prodigious amounts of fossil fuels and vulcanized rubber, to say nothing of our ear-drums. And the company's CEO says he has no intention of changing that, nor that he should.

In an interview conducted while the newest Gallardo LP560-4 was being demonstrated at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Stephan Winkelmann re-opened a big can of proverbial worms. Justifying that because his company sells so few cars (it sold 2,604 vehicles last year, more than any year before) and that those cars accumulate such low mileage (most owners keep them in climate-controlled garages and only take them out on leap years), Winkelmann recognized that his company will "have to see about the social acceptance of super sports cars like ours," but that Lamborghini "will never reach the emissions that are asked for." In tangible terms, Winkelmann makes a point. The question remains whether, in our worsening environmental and geo-economic situation, cars like his can should be banned altogether or whether there is room for exemptions.

[Source: Automotive News - sub. req'd]

In partnership with French industrial group Bollore and Indian automaker Tata, Italian design house Pininfarina is preparing to launch its new electric minicar by 2010. Initial production of the car, which will be sold across Europe, Japan and in the United States, is scheduled to begin at 2,000 units, mounting up to peak manufacturing at 15,000 vehicles annually by 2012.

Italian design houses like Pininfarina and Bertone, however, have been struggling to make ends meet. While the latter struggles to emerge from bankruptcy, Pininfarina is raising 100 million euros in capital for the new electric car project by selling shares. The Pininfarina family will be selling an undetermined part of its 55 percent majority stake to some of the biggest names in the Italian automotive industry: Piero Ferrari, the scion and vice-president of the Maranello-based sportscar-maker; Alberto Bombassei, chairman of Brembo brakes; and the Marsiaj family, founders of seatbelt manufacturer Sabelt.

[Source: Automotive News Europe via Autoblog]

Click to view more of the Gumpert Apollo in hi-res

Endurance sportscar racing continues to lead the way in green motorsports, as independent German automaker Gumpert prepares to campaign a hybrid version of its Apollo supercar at the upcoming 24-hour race at the Nurburgring next month. Known as "the green hell," the Nurburgring Nordschleife makes a rather fitting debut for the hybrid race car.

The Apollo hybrid will use a 100kW electric motor – charged under braking – to supplement the gasoline-burning 630hp twin-turbo V8, and will be driven by former F1 pilot Heinz-Harald Frentzen alongside Dirk Muller. Gumpert noted that with the upcoming kinetic energy recovery system being instituted in Formula One and its star F1 driver, it hopes to spur the development of green racing when the hybrid Gumpert lines up on the grid on May 24 alongside such alternative-energy racers as the Audi R10 TDI and Peugeot 908 HDi. View the images in the gallery by clicking the thumbnails below and read the press release after the jump.

Click on the image to view the TAC Stark in hi-res

What you see here is the TAC Stark, a Brazilian off-roader that aims to leave a smaller footprint. The lightweight 4x4 was planned to be the first flex-fuel gasoline/ethanol off-roader on the market, but when local suppliers forced the small upstart automaker to push back the launch date from last year to next, Mitsubishi jumped in with the Pajero TR4.

Although fuel consumption figures are not yet available, the Stark promises to economize its intake on either type of fuel thanks to lightweight construction with a tubular frame covered with plastic body panels. The diminutive jeep has a wheelbase barely 2.5 meters long, weighs just 1300kg, and is powered by a small Volkswagen engine. But while it may share more in common with a VW Beetle than any other truck on or off the road, the Beatles' Yellow Submarine comes quickly to mind when looking at the Stark's styling. See what we mean in our high-resolution gallery by clicking on the thumbnail images below.

[Source: TAC (Portugese) via Autoblog]

Gasoline-electric powertrain aside, part of what makes the Toyota Prius get such good mileage is the stripped-out interior and itty-bitty wheels. Put in a leather interior, power everything, premium entertainment system with DVD players and LCD televisions and big wheels – features that Lexus customers (even those in hybrid models) have come to expect – and the purpose teeters on the brink of defeat. But that's what looks to be shaping up.

Our report from last month seems to be picking up speed – in typically slow Prius style – that Lexus will get its own version of the next-generation Toyota Prius. The initial reports were spurred by an announcement from Toyota president Katsuaki Watanabe that the Japanese motor giant would come to Detroit next year with two dedicated hybrid models – one for Toyota, and one for Lexus. While the Toyota will likely retain its hatchback form, the Lexus is expected to take on a "lifestyle wagon" bodystyle. Whatever that means, it should give poseurs enough space to carry around enough cargo to vanquish that purpose altogether.

[Source: Motor Trend via Autoblog]

We've been watching from afar as the students of Lawrence Technical University in Michigan have been gearing up for the Formula Zero racing series with their own hydrogen-powered kart. Element One, LTU's team of 50 students from various faculties (including the university's new undergraduate program in transportation design) – has now submitted its design to the FIA-supported Formula Zero Championship, which rated the fuel-cell racer among the top three designs.

The kart's fuel cell, hydrogen tank, electric motor and super-capacitors are housed in a chassis consisting heavily of lightweight but expensive carbon fiber. Camille Robbins, head of Element One's chassis development team, described the design you see above as inspired by fighter jets and instantly recognizable as American. Whether you agree or not, it's one badass-lookin' H-bomb. The design will be finalized by mid-March when the various teams are required to resubmit their final designs to race organizers, after which the students will begin constructing the kart in advance of its race debut in Rotterdam, Holland, this coming summer.

[Source: Lawrence Technical University]

Giorgetto Giugiaro has designed more cars than we could name, but while most of them have been crowd-pleasers, not so many have been earth-friendly. Included in the Car Designer of the Century's projects are nitrous-spewing gas-guzzlers as the Lotus Esprit, the Bugatti EB112, the DeLorean DMC-12 and the Maserati Quattroporte (as well as some of the Nikon cameras they've been photographed with). But after years of designing decidedly un-green sportscars – the latest of which includes the Ferrari GG50 Giugiaro made for himself and the Giugiaro Mustang – Giorgetto's styling house Italdesign has switched to green concepts.

At last year's Geneva show, Italdesign unveiled the Vad.Ho concept, powered by a BMW-sourced hydrogen V12. Giugiaro is gearing up to unveil a new show car in Geneva next week, and has hinted that it will be a green concept of some sort, with the slogan "nature has never been so powerful" accompanying the teaser images the design house has shown so far on its website. Our sister-site Autoblog has been following the story, and they'll be sure to have more details from Switzerland when the wraps come off Giugiaro's 40th anniversary creation.

[Source: Italdesign via Autoblog]