"The Hawaiian Electric Company on Tuesday endorsed an effort to build an alternative transportation system based on electric vehicles with swappable batteries and an “intelligent” battery recharging network."
Hawaii endorces plan for electric vehicles
Ford Motor Company's Sync system is a microchip located in the dash of 21 new cars, trucks, and crossovers that delivers a fully integrated, voice-activated in-car communications and entertainment system. Sync can read incoming text messages, and accurately translate emoticons and messaging expressions such as "LOL."
Read the entire article, Ford introduces speech engine
This article by Ann Job describes how Chrysler's financial woes have caused them to terminate production of the new Durango and Aspen hybrid SUVs, closing the only plant that produces them as part of an effort to curtail expenses. Job takes the view that this is an unfortunate occurence, given that these two hybrids compare [...]
Washington gubernatorial candidate Dino Rossi is trying to win votes from the incumbent Gov. Chris Gregoire on the topic of infrastructure improvements. Gregoire supports removing Seattle's waterfront highway by 2012 and will decide after the election whether she supports replacing it with a tunnel, surface street or elevated highway. Rossi supports a tunnel. Rossi blames [...]
New York's Mayor Bloomburg had pushed to make all taxis in New York fuel-efficient to help create a "greener" New York. But federal judge Paul Crotty ruled that only the Federal Government can set standards for cars' gas mileage. However, Bloomberg is now pushing to have the Taxi and Limousine Commission come up with other [...]
The high price of gasoline and increasing congestion on the roads make it more attractive for workers to look for alternate means of transport. There are a number of incentives and promotions employers can use to encourage alternate forms of transportation to the office. Some are as simple as having a designated place for bike parking [...]
The city of Mishawaka is taking aggressive steps to use hybrid vehicles in efforts to save money on gas. They have put in orders for a number of hybrids and have already received three Toyota Prius. The city of Mishawaka has a fleet of around 300 vehicles it uses. The city only replaces the vehicles [...]
A simple device has been developed by Temple University to significantly increase the fuel economy of larger internal combustion engines. The device uses electrical fields to reduce the viscosity of fuel, allowing it to separate into smaller droplets. Six months of road testing in a diesel-powered Mercedes-Benz automobile showed that the device increased highway fuel [...]
Although gas prices are not at record highs these days, they are still impacting the lifestyles of Americans. One of the ways this is occurring is with a newly developed plug in battery for the Prius. It gives the care a whopping 100 miles per gallon and adds 35 miles in electrical power alone. Toyota [...]
Hybrid vehicles save money at the pump by getting better mileage, but their drawbacks include higher sticker prices and decreased ability of consumers to negotiate the purchase price because of the extremely high level of demand in the hybrid market. For some car buyers, economically priced non-hybrids may be worth considering. Nathan Becker's article Alternatives [...]
