PDX Transit » Driving

Ford Focus Electric Customers can Drive Green for Life

Bailey — Thu, 18 Aug 2011 18:01:13 +0000

Ford Motor Company and SunPower are offering a rooftop solar system option which will be sold alongside the upcoming Ford Focus EV. The “Drive Green for Life” program, as it’s being called, involves mounting solar panels on a customer’s home.

First Looks at the Honda Fit EV

Bailey — Thu, 18 Nov 2010 03:26:36 +0000

The highly anticipated Honda Fit EV Concept All Electric Car offically unveiled at the Los Angeles Auto Show today.

Honda Fit

The EV model is a brother to the gas sipping standard Honda Fit but with an “electric motor similar to that it developed for the Clarity fuel cell vehicle and a lithium-ion battery pack”

Quick Facts about the Fit

12hr charge at 120V, 6hr charge at 240V

90MPH top speed

Coaxial electric motor provides ~2.0L performance

~100mi range

Compatible with Honda-branded “charging stand”

Normal, Econ, and Sport drive modes

Smartphone and computer applications for monitoring battery, assistance, etc.

Honda expects the Fit EV to shift into production in starting 2012. More information is available on the official Honda Fit EV Concept Site

Sources
Honda Shows Off Its Fit EV
Honda has an electric Fit

Nissan Leaf tops the Chevy Volt with 367 MPG

Bailey — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 15:53:54 +0000

The Nissan Leaf is a zero emssion, plug-in electric card. It tops the Chevy Volt stagger fuel efficiency with whopping 367 MPG. Business week reports that the Leaf [will] run a 100 miles on a single charge [and] will cost no more to buy and run than a traditional gasoline-powered car. Charging time is estimated at seven hours, however a 30-minute quick charge can get batteries back up to 80% of full power.”

http://www.engadget.com/2009/08/15/nissan-says-its-new-electric-car-the-leaf-gets-367-miles-per-g/

2010 will be a privitol year for alternative energy cars. The electric Nissan Leaf will be introduced late next year in the U.S., Europe and Japan plus the much anticipated Chevy volt will charge into showroom.

Read more about the Nissan Leaf and on BusinessWeek.

230 MPG!!

pdxwriter — Sat, 15 Aug 2009 16:27:32 +0000

If the new Chevy Volt actually hits the market next year, there will finally be a car that addresses the majority of driving styles, if not the majority of pocketbooks. With their announcement that the Volt will travel about 40 miles on a charge, many drivers will not have to buy gasoline for months at a time. Then, when you do need to go for a roadtrip, the Volt will deliver up to 230 Miles Per Gallon with a gas powered generator keeping the batteries charged. As U.S.A. Today stated (http://www.usatoday.com/money/autos/2009-08-11-chevrolet-volt_N.htm?csp=34), this may be the start of looking at cost per mile of driving rather than miles per gallon.

Does the Toyota Highlander really get 431 MPG?

pdxwriter — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 15:24:08 +0000

Toyota has been working on the Highlander FCV, and they claim that the latest version of the hydrogen-powered SUV (the FCV-adv) traveled for 431 miles on just one tank of compressed hydrogen.

Impressive indeed. But as Christopher DeMorro points out in an article on Gas2.org, the claim is rather misleading. Toyota merely drove 331.5 miles from Torrence, CA to San Diego and back, then they reportedly “estimated” that enough H2 remained to go another 100 miles. Hydrogen autos have come a long way in a short time, but it's a bit early to hail the Highlander as a major breakthrough. Read more at http://gas2.org/2009/08/07/hydrogen-powered-toyota-highlander-goes-431-miles-on-a-tank/

Mapping the streets of Paris by bike

Bailey — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 20:32:09 +0000

Its been a while since any reports of the google streetview team visiting portland, but they are cetainly making their way around the world. The google team has ditched their car for a more ecco friendly tricylce and are now visiting France.

"The riders, wearing Google tee-shirts and white helmets, are visiting well-known sites such as the Chateau de Versailles, west of Paris, the Jardin du Luxembourg on the city's Left Bank or Les Halles, in the busy center of the French capital. "

Odd looking tricyle mapping Paris streets for Google

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,537941,00.html?test=latestnews

Cash for Clunkers: Is it a lemon?

Bailey — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 16:38:27 +0000

Not even the most optimistic greens could have predicted that the federal government's cash-for-clunkers program would work this well — at last count more than 240,000 Americans have traded in their clunkers for more fuel efficient cars, and the program has already burned through its first $1 billion of funding.

Have you traded in a clunker? If so, share you opinion in the comments section below.

UPS Delivers Hydraulic Hybrid Trucks

Bailey — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 16:19:42 +0000

UPS is about to field-test "hydraulic hybrid" delivery trucks, developed with the help of the EPA. They estimate that "savings on fuel and maintenance over the life of the truck could be as much as $50,000, while reduction in carbon dioxide emissions would be 30% or more."

High Hopes for a New Type of Hybrid Vehicle

Toyota’s Budget electric car – Drives 80Km with no fuel

Bailey — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 17:08:26 +0000

Toyota FT-EV unveiled a electric car for under $20,000 that can be driven up to 80km without using a drop of petrol

Ford Fusion best-in-Class 4-Cylinder with 34 MPG

Bailey — Sat, 10 Jan 2009 00:23:45 +0000

Ford Fusion Tops Toyota Camry, Honda Accord Again With Best-in-Class 34 MPG 4-Cylinder Model

http://sev.prnewswire.com/auto/20090109/CLF05009012009-1.html