Click the Tahoe hybrid for a high-res gallery

General Motors looks to get loads more exposure in short order as it becomes the exclusive automotive sponsor for the new Discovery Communications channel known as Planet Green. Therefore, viewers should expect to be inundated by vehicles from the General - hybrids and flex-fuel SUVs in particular - while they watch shows like Living With Ed. The city of Greensburg, Kansas, will be highlighted on the new channel, as that city is currently rebuilding itself using as much green-tech as possible. Besides giving Greensburg city administration some Tahoe hybrid SUVs and E85-capable pickups, GM has also provided the local school's South Central Community Foundation three flex-fuel Suburbans. One story line of the show will center around the rebuilding of Greensburg-area Chevrolet dealership Dwane Shank Motors.

Says Betsy Lazar, executive director, GM advertising and media operations, "Planet Green programs will attract consumers who also want to know what GM has to offer in terms of fuel-efficient cars and trucks, hybrids and alternative fuel vehicles." Therefore, more direct advertising will take place on both the television channel and its accompanying website. Short films will be made showcasing GM vehicles and employees. Planet Green launches on June fourth.

[Source: Automotive News]

According to Graham Hill of Treehugger, the site related to all that is green was acquired by Discovery Communications, which many know primarily for the Discover Channel television programming. Here are the reasons cited for the deal:

• They (Discovery) reach 1.5 billion (yes, billion!) cumulative subscribers around the world with top quality, often nature related, non-fiction content
• They (Discovery) have commitment from the top of the company for over $50M to create content including programming for the world's first 24 hr green channel and in addition have allocated significant budget aimed at building the leading green web portfolio on the Internet
• They (Discovery) already have web properties serving hundreds of millions of pageviews per month
• They (Discovery) are looking to the TreeHugger team to help drive the direction of their green efforts online

What does this mean to readers of Treehugger? To quote Graham Hill again, "As a reader, you can expect TreeHugger to improve the quality and quantity of its offerings while maintaining the editorial integrity and attitude that you've enjoyed to date. You can also expect to see community tools that help you interact with each other and our writers as well as rate content. Discovery wants us to continue with the successful approach we've always taken, help us build a larger, deeper team, create new tools and help us reach a larger audience."

So, there you have it. As a reader of our site, you may be a reader of theirs as well, so we thought we'd share. Now, back to all the best green related automotive and transportation news!

[Source: Treehugger and Discovery Communications]

Were you able to catch the Discovery Channel TV show "Cool Fuel"? I did, and I thought that the show was pretty interesting. If you didn't see it, here is a quick run down of what went on. Basically, Shaun and his team, including his wife and little dog, Sparky, mapped a journey across the United States. The catch was that they were not permitted to use any type of fossil fuel. So, they had electric scooter, electric bicycles and an electric motorcycle of their own. They used an RV running on biodiesel as their base. Along the way, Shaun was able to hook up with various people who had their own vehicles running on alternative fuels, even an airplane in one episode. If that sounds interesting to you, first check out the interview here and then watch Discovery Channel for reruns.

[Source: Ecorazzi]

Is it a good thing or a bad thing to say that going green has gone mainstream? I dunno myself. If the mainstream media continues to cover green technology, I guess that more and more consumers will be introduced to the idea that they can make mainstream decisions in their lives that can help the environment and possibly save themselves a few buckaroos in the process. But, if the media does as Discovery Channel did with their coverage of all that is green in automobiles, then there could be just as much misinformation floating around as good solid reporting. Any comments on that?

I think that getting the news of the mini Chevy concepts, the current hybrids and clean diesels out there is more important than the fact that many people don't know just how far off hydrogen as a fuel just might be. When consumers go car shopping, and they see some of the current green technology in the showroom that they just saw on the major news stations it could spur a possible purchase. Your mileage may vary, literally.

[Source: Reuters on Youtube via Hugg]

You may have seen our previous coverage of the Eliica eight-wheeled electric vehicle from Japan. If not, perhaps you were introduced to the vehicle by the Discovery Channel, as it was frequently seen on their show Future Car. Regardless, I hope you enjoy the above video of the vehicle, and the interviews conducted with some of the men behind the Eliica. A common thread connecting all of the electric car prototypes seen on these pages are the hardships facing the designers regarding their batteries. The Eliica team is no exception, and to help combat this problem, they are looking to create larger lithium ion batteries than are currently available. They hope that these batteries will make inroads in other fields as well, helping to lower the cost. It would certainly be great to see them succeed with this endeavor, and, the more electric vehicles we see on the roads using lithium ion technology, the less the batteries are likely to cost.

Related:

• Eliica 8-wheeler EV blows away Mitsu Evo in drag race

[Source: Youtube via Treehugger]

We have shown you the air-car before, and you may have seen it on TV if you watched the Discovery Channel series, Future Car. If you did, you witnessed them erroneously refer to the possibility of perpetual motion in reference to the air-car. While there is no perpetual motion at work here, there may be production plans in the works. An agreement between Tata Motors and MDI, creators and patent-holders for the air-car and it's powertrain may just bring the air-car to market.

Details of the air-car peg the top-speed at 68 mph, and a range of 200-300 kilometers (up to 186 miles). The tanks containing the compressed air can be refilled at special stations, or using the on-board electric compressor in 3-4 hours. The vehicle is expected to see use primarily in urban environments. Will it ever hit U.S. shores? We'll see, right?

[Source: Business Week via Hugg]

I was pretty excited about the show "Future Cars" on Discovery show when I found out about it. And, thankfully, I have not been disappointed. I wrote about the show before it actually started, and we are now three weeks into the series. The last episode, number three, is of particular interest to us at AutoblogGreen, because it covered the types of fuels that we are likely to see in the coming years. All of the usual suspects were included: ethanol, biodiesel, hybrids, pure electrics, hydrogen, solar and even compressed air were all considered, and got roughly equal coverage. Left off the list were biobutanol or any of the other bioalcohol-based fuels.

Linton, a frequent poster on Hugg, has posted his summary of each episode, and here is a link to his coverage of the third. I also noticed that the show incorrectly referred to the air-powered car as perpetual motion. The official website of the show, which can be found here, has more information on the interns at GM that we originally posted about.

As the banner at the top of this posting shows, the last part of this four-part series will be shown next Wednesday, the 28th of February, at 8pm on Discovery Channel. The show will be replayed later that night as well.

EDIT: After rewatching the episodes of Future Car, I was a bit alarmed at the inaccuracies of their depictions of ethanol, biodiesel and air. Ethanol was presented as merely a form of fuel derived from corn. As we all know, corn is one of the worst foodstocks to use for ethanol production. Also, biodiesel was almost completely describes as vegetable oil. In fact, that point was hammered! "ON VEGETABLE OIL" was shown on title screens something like three times. I already mentioned the fact that they described the compressed air car as perpetual power, which is not the case. Anyway, what damage will be done to each industry? Probably not too much... but miseducation is never a good thing.

Related:

• Starting Feb. 7th - Future Cars on Discovery Channel
• GM and Discovery Channel offer design process of fuel-cell vehicles in new show
• Futurecar report on the GM "Skateboard" car on YouTube

[Source: Discovery Channel]

Discovery channel has been running a four part series called FutureCar for the past few weeks and one of the segments focused on the GM Skateboard chassis that was first shown a few years back, featuring fuel cell power and complete by-wire controls. A variation of the Skateboard is used on the Sequel concept.

The segment doesn't delve too deeply into the technology, but instead focuses on a group of design interns . They were with tasked developing some new concepts that took advantage of the packaging flexibility afforded by low profile chassis and electronic controls. The Ford HySeries Drive system is similar in concept, minus the by-wire controls, and the Airstream concept was also designed to showcase packaging flexibility, even if the aesthetics were questionable.

Related:

• Starting Feb. 7th - Future Cars on Discovery Channel
• GM and Discovery Channel offer design process of fuel-cell vehicles in new show

[Source: Hugg.com - thanks to Linton for the tip]

Next year, Discovery Channel subscribers will get a PR-approved peek at the design process of eight new hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles in a four-part documentary series. The show, which doesn't have a title and will air in 2007, will follow some of GM's interns as they create the initial sketches of their vehicles all the way to "finished design properties", whatever that means. Anyone who has wanted to look behind the scenes of how a major automobile manufacturer designs new cars (and how they treat their interns) should be enticed the "rare look at the design studios, confidential proving grounds, aero labs and engineering centers that continue to yield amazing advances in automotive development" the show's press release promises.

[Source: GM]