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UK funds Low-Carbon Buses with £30 million
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 Carbon Emission Bus (LCEB) is defined as one that reduces greenhouse gas emissions by 30 percent compared to a current Euro 3 diesel bus of the same total passenger capacity. These buses should also deliver at least Euro V emission standards. The fund also welcomes EV buses, but thus far, few options are available. The fund will be distributed on a ... Read more →
Carver Europe files for bankruptcy, technology may live on Jeremy Korzeniewski
Carver One - Click above for high-res image gallery We've been following the story of the Carver One leaning three-wheeler for the last few years, and we've often thought the vehicle was a great ...
It's Friday: Oddball sidecar outfits redefine the word 'hybrid' Jeremy Korzeniewski
Vespa-based sidecar - Click above for high-res image gallery There's more than one way to attach a sidecar to a motorcycle. Proving that point are the three oddball machines you see here. We're a ...
More on the Maya 300, the new $35,000 NEV Sebastian Blanco
The Maya 300 was unveiled this week and we can now get a better handle on the new all-electric vehicle that is put together by Electrovaya (with a bit of help from ExxonMobil in the battery) and will ...
Electric airplane to debut at Oshkosh [w/VIDEO] Domenick Yoney
Yuneec E430 electric airplane - Click above for high-res image gallery It isn't the first electric airplane we've seen, nor is it the fastest. It's not even the first one to be shown at the annual ...
More transportation-alternatives news
Wike Electric Sun = bike + WTF? 11 days ago on AutoblogGreen
Wike has been making bicycle trailers since the mid-1990s but what caught our eye recently was the electric, partially enclosed four-wheeled vehicle that the company is working on. More than an electric bike and less than a car, the Wike Electric Sun is a suitable alternative for people who belive ...
SNCF launches "door-to-door" trip planner for four French cities 15 days ago on AutoblogGreen
SNCF, the public company that manages French railways, has launched a new directions service that includes all modes of public transport. While there are plenty of sites that offer directions for drivers, and most mass transit systems have their own "how to go" application, this is claimed to be ...
New electric airplane sets world record for speed [w/VIDEO] 18 days ago on AutoblogGreen
During a flight that only lasted about eight minutes, the SkySpark managed to set a world record for the fastest speed attained by an electric airplane. The craft, piloted by astronaut (STS-75) Maurizo Cheli, achieved an airspeed of 155 mph (250 km/h) last week at the World Air Games in Turin, ...
Zipcar expects profit soon, IPO planned for early next year 22 days ago on AutoblogGreen
Zipcar's future might just be black. If the company's latest statement turns out to be accurate, then the car sharing service's first profitable quarter ever might be coming in the third quarter of this year. Then, in early 2010, the company plans to go public with an IPO. If the numbers found on ...
BMW introduces new pedal power machines, too 23 days ago on AutoblogGreen
BMW Cruise Bike - click above for a high res gallery Following on the heels of Mercedes-Benz launching an updated bicycle line, BMW has gone and followed suit. BMW's pedal power lineup isn't quite as extensive in terms of styles as the one from Stuttgart, but provides some nice rides. The BMW ...
Zipcar announces new iPhone app, gives new meaning to "unlocked" cell phone 25 days ago on AutoblogGreen
If you're not an Apple fanboy who's been hitting F5 repeatedly over on Engadget today, here's a green car tie-in from the big WWDC that's just wrapping up: your iPhone will soon be able to unlock the doors of your Zipcar rental vehicle. Yes, your phone can now tell your car what to do. It's only a ...
Bilbao claims to have the first subway in the world using only renewable energy 27 days ago on AutoblogGreen
Bilbao, Spain, has a subway system that is famous for having its stations designed by Sir Norman Foster. There's now another reason that people might be interested in riding the underground rails. Metro de Bilbao, the company that manages the railway system, has announced that all the energy they ...
Russian taxi company adds Carver to fleet 1 month ago on AutoblogGreen
Carver One for taxi duty - Click above for a high-res image gallery We don't often hear about the Carver One here in the United States, probably because it's not actually available for sale in this country. Apparently, that's not the case in much of the European Union and Russia, where a taxi ...
VIDEO: Scott Griffith, Zipcar CEO: We have never had a request for a GM product 1 month ago on AutoblogGreen
Click above to watch the video after the break It shouldn't come as a major surprise that car sharing services like Zipcar are reporting increased membership rates and demand for short-term rental vehicles in these tough economic times. It's also to be expected that as more and more people rely ...
8th graders build solar human hybrid vehicle 1 month ago on AutoblogGreen
A group of 8th grade students at Novato Charter School in Marin County in California have produced an interesting new project. They've created a solar human hybrid vehicle that combines the power of the sun with pedal power. The students started off with a four-wheeled, four-passenger pedal powered ...
Mercedes introduces new range of bicycles 1 month ago on AutoblogGreen
new Mercedes Benz bikes - click above for a high res gallery Mercedes Benz has announced an updated and expanded range of bicycles for 2009/10. The new lineup includes two-wheelers of all shapes and sizes, including a pair of kids bikes. For more grown-up riders, Mercedes has you covered no ...
Electric car sharing coming to Oslo, Norway 1 month ago on AutoblogGreen
It's about to get a lot easier to drive a Th!nk City electric car. Residents of Oslo, Norway - and tourists - will soon (i.e., tomorrow) be able to participate in a new car sharing plan called Move About. As of May 27, Move About will start public car sharing with 13 electric vehicles at three ...
Boaz Frankel goes on an "Un-Road" trip 1 month ago on AutoblogGreen
Click above and scroll down to watch the video Memorial Day is said to mark the beginning of the summer driving season and over the next few months, many Americans will be taking to the highways to visit far-flung family and friends or, perhaps, to just get away it all. In advance of the long ...
CarBuddy.com helps match up carpool partners and manage costs 1 month ago on AutoblogGreen
With gas prices on the rise again, those of who still have jobs to commute to might well be looking for a way to save some money. Given the often limited mass transit options in the United States, car pooling is often an excellent option. However, finding people to car pool with can be problematic ...
VIDEO: London mayor nearly killed on cycle while doing recon for new city bike routes 1 month ago on AutoblogGreen
Click above and scroll down to watch the video On AutoblogGreen, we regularly promote the idea of parking your car and using an alternative form of transportation whenever it's practical. For those living in urban environments, cycling is a common and often faster approach compared to driving, ...
Dequindre Cut - Travel The Motor City on a bike path 1 month ago on AutoblogGreen
Residents in and around Detroit have a new bike and walking path to enjoy, and it's reportedly only the beginning of a much broader plan to introduce a network of green pathways that will one day stretch to around 100 miles. Click here to see a PDF of the city's greenway network plan in detail. The ...
The greener side of Google Street View: camera on a trike 1 month ago on AutoblogGreen
Google has already faced plenty of issues with its Street View technology, not the least of which has been angry Japanese citizens and invasion of privacy lawsuits from Americans whose driveways were mistaken for a roads. Beyond these unforeseen issues, there's also the rather obvious problem of ...
Flavio Deslandes - Building greener bicycles using bamboo 1 month ago on AutoblogGreen
Flavio Deslandes bamboo bicycles - Click above for an image gallery Bamboo is an excellent building material. As the fastest growing plant in the world, the long, thin, lightweight stalks of bamboo are useful for a variety of applications, apparently including bicycle frames. Flavio Costa ...
Green group says scrappage plans are bad business 1 month ago on AutoblogGreen
One of Spain's most important green groups is claiming that scrappage (aka cash for clunkers) schemes, such as the new one in Spain, are bad business. According to Ecologistas en Acción, driving a car is not only bad for the environment, but it's also bad for administrations expecting to reap ...
A hybrid bus that cuts fuel consumption in half 1 month ago on AutoblogGreen
Before sitting down to write this story, I asked a professional bus driver about the average fuel consumption for such a vehicle. As it turns out, a standard Agora bus on the roads of any European city burns about 60 liters of fuel per 100 kilometers, which equates to about 4 mpg. So the claim from ...
How can I live without a car? 1 month ago on AutoblogGreen
Overall, the trend for the upcoming years will be more and more cars, maybe up to 3.5 billion around the world (there are about 800 million on the roads today). Cars like the ultra-cheap Tata Nano are opening the door for more and more people to own their own car, and a lot of people are eager to ...
World Electric Vehicle Association recognizes Seattle for sustainability efforts 1 month ago on AutoblogGreen
The city of Seattle has made a lot of progress toward encouraging sustainable transportation in the Pacific Northwest. In recognition of these efforts, the World Electric Vehicle Association will be presenting its E-Visionary award to Seattle mayor Greg Nickels on Friday. The Osaka prefecture in ...
Montgomery, MD spends $1,300/hr on car sharing service 1 month ago on AutoblogGreen
A good number of people may think they are getting a great deal on their cell phone service until they look at how many of the 1,400 or 2,000 (or more) minutes a month from their plan they actually use. If you only use 50 minutes of a 1,400 minute plan it can work out to a steep $1.60 per minute, ...
Gruber Assist auxiliary drive turns nearly any bicycle into an ebike 1 month ago on AutoblogGreen
Bicycles can be a great way to reduce fuel consumption. They are efficient, relatively inexpensive, easy to store and care for and are often a fun way to score a little exercise while also getting you where you need to go. Of course, it's not always practical to pedal, which is one big reason that ...
Engineering students from India create air-powered motorcycle 1 month ago on AutoblogGreen
Click above to watch the video after the break Just over a year ago, we reported on an air-powered moped that was built using carbon fiber tanks originally intended for firefighting use. Apparently, the idea has occurred to a few other people as well, as a group of engineering students from ...
Best Buy to sell a range of electric vehicles? 1 month ago on AutoblogGreen
Brammo Enertia - Click above for a high-res image gallery We already know that Best Buy plans to begin selling the Brammo Enertial electric motorcycle sometime very soon, but we now have reason to believe it won't be the only vehicle available from the Big Box retailer. The following is from a ...
It's no flying Tesla, but Elon Musk wants electric planes 1 month ago on AutoblogGreen
First things first: electric airplanes are nothing new. The French eplane "Electra" flew in 2007 and the "ElectraFlyer C" wowed the crowds at Oshkosh in 2008. But, these one-offs are not for sale and they're certainly not cheap to put together. Enter Elon Musk. The man at the head of Tesla Motors ...
Proterra electric bus gets over 20 MPGe in tests 1 month ago on AutoblogGreen
The Pennsylvania Transportation Institute at Penn State just had the chance to put the Proterra electric bus through some fuel economy tests in Altoona, PA and it was there that the Altairnano-powered people mover generated some head-turning miles per gallon equivalent (MPGe) numbers. After going ...
Old vehicle scrappage program not just for cars in Deutschland 2 months ago on AutoblogGreen
The popular German car scrapping scheme helped revive German car sales in the early part of 2009. The Germany city of Mannheim thinks that what's good for the four wheels is good for the two as well, and started a scrapping bonus plan for bicycles this past Saturday. It works like this: city ...
FastFleet lets Zipcar boost car sharing for cities and fleets 2 months ago on AutoblogGreen
Zipcar has unveiled a new service that makes carsharing easier to use for government and fleet operators. FastFleet is being rolled out in Washington, D.C. and differs from Zipcar in one big way: clients supply their own vehicles. FastFleet simply allows fleet operators to use Zipcar's wireless, ...
Masdar City personal rapid transit designer talks transport 2 months ago on AutoblogGreen
The zero-carbon and zero-waste Masdar City currently under construction in Abu Dhabi will also be car-free, so how will one get about the one-mile square town of 50,000? If you want to travel on the surface you can walk, bicycle or ride a Segway but if it's snowing too hot to travel outside, you ...
