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Cheap electric car conversions could come from lead acids + supercapacitor

There's no debate that batteries for electric cars remain absurdly expensive and one of the main hurdles to widespread EV acceptance. A team of electric vehicle converters at the ChargeCar project at Carnegie Mellon University in Pennsylvania is trying to solve the puzzle by using low-cost lead acid batteries coupled with a supercapacitor and four electric motors. The powerplant was installed in some sort of Scion model in order to prove that the team's goal – expressed by team leader Illah Nourbakhsh to "use the cheapest hardware ... Read more →

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REPORT: Michigan universities returning their electrical vehicles because of poor performance Sebastian Blanco

Three Michigan universities are not happy with their electric vehicle, and want their money back. Actually, two have already returned their EVs, which were purchased on a trial basis, and Central ...

AltCar 2009: Dan Neil, "Some Inconvenient Questions," and GM hints it could sell Chevy Volt gliders Sebastian Blanco

On top of the test drives (Wheego Whip), test rides (Coda Sedan) and a visit to the unlimited energy booth, a highlight of the AltCar Expo last weekend was getting to hear the LA Times' premiere ...

KU EcoHawks turn 1974 Volkswagen Beetle into a biodiesel-electric hybrid [w/VIDEO] Sebastian Blanco

At the University of Kansas, a group of students is working small and thinking big. The EcoHawk students are part of a mechanical engineering senior project that is building small, 1/8th scale ...

AltCar 2009: EF9's "unlimited clean energy" turbine could go into cars, if it works Sebastian Blanco

Mark Tanner, who does R&D for EF9 Energy Systems, was pretty wiped out by the time we got to speak with him at the end of AltCar 2009 in Santa Monica last weekend. It's understandable. He'd ...

Woodward 2009: Invasion of the Smarts 2 months ago on Autoblog Green

Typically, the annual Woodward Dream Cruise in Detroit, Michigan, is a gathering ground for classic American cars, trucks and motorcycles. As you can see from our coverage of this year's festivities, the 2009 edition was little different from past years... mostly. We noted some sort of ...

One Gallon Challenge will drive 7 cars to go 100 miles using, well, one gallon 2 months ago on Autoblog Green

Remember the Moonbeam (pictured)? The tiny three-wheeled bubble car can go more than 100 miles on a single gallon of gas, which is exactly what inventor Jory Squibb wanted to create when he set out to maximize efficiency from a microcar. But Suibb also recognizes that designers of other vehicles ...

Tales of woe from the electric car frontier, MINI E edition 3 months ago on Autoblog Green

We've heard the stories about the charging problems with BMW's MINI E lease program and understand that paying $850 a month for one of these electric cars doesn't appeal to everyone. Still, the issues that some early adopters are dealing with with these EVs are pretty dramatic: the car going ...

Daily (Show) update on Cash For Clunkers, and a look into the future 3 months ago on Autoblog Green

The foggy blur surrounding the fate of Cash For Clunkers (aka C.A.R.S.) is clearing up. On the political front, passage in the Senate of the extra $2 billion in funds now looks incredibly likely. White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said that the $2 billion would be enough to keep C4C ...

Lincvolt withdraws from X-Prize, will focus on "main goal" 3 months ago on Autoblog Green

Neil Young's evolving Lincvolt project – a 1959 Lincoln Continental that weighs 2.5 tons and is 19.5 feet long that is being converted into a "bio-hydro-electric series hybrid vehicle" – today officially announced it will no longer participate in the Automotive X Prize. The split seems ...

Shweeb, the human-powered monorail, makes hamsters jealous 3 months ago on Autoblog Green

As big fans of pedal-powered vehicles, we'd like to suggest that Schweeb change their name to something that doesn't sound quite so much like "dweeb." Sure, riders look a bit like hamsters moving through a Habitrail, but that doesn't mean they're not respectable. We think. Right now, the ...

Toyota uses 18-foot solar flowers to market 2010 Prius, offers free electricity, wifi 3 months ago on Autoblog Green

As part of Toyota's strange but seemingly effective marketing campaign for the new 2010 Prius hybrid, the Japanese automaker has rolled out a bunch of 18-foot tall solar flowers to various urban centers all around the United States, starting with Boston's Prudential Plaza. Next up: New York, ...

Hybridfest, anyone? 3 months ago on Autoblog Green

The annual Hybridfest Green Drive Expo kicks off today in Madison, Wisconsin as part of the Dane County Fair. While AutoblogGreen has been able to attend in past years, we won't have any of our regular bloggers in covering the show this year. Still, we're willing to bet large piles of cash that at ...

MSNBC: Early electric car adopters are the "lunatic fringe" 3 months ago on Autoblog Green

Ever wonder about your friend who's been converting an old Ranger to battery power? He's a nut. Or the lady who runs Electric Cars Are For Girls? Off her rocker. This is according to MSNBC, which wrote recently that electric cars have, until recently, been the domain of the "lunatic fringe." ...

West Philly X Prize team's Hybrid Attack on the street [w/VIDEO] 3 months ago on Autoblog Green

We got to meet the West Philly Hybrid X Team's Hybrid Attack at the New York Auto Show last year. Now, the students at the inner-city public high school West Philadelphia High School Academy for Automotive and Mechanical Engineering are being called a "top-10 contender in Progressive Automotive ...

A truly renewable vehicle comes to the Philippines: coconut oil-fueled bamboo taxi 3 months ago on Autoblog Green

Making powertrains more efficient is only one part of reducing the environmental impact of vehicles. The energy required to mine and process raw materials into the components that comprise a vehicle and then transport it to the end customer can often amount to a significant fraction of the ...

'Carbon Footprint' added to Webster's Collegiate Dictionary 3 months ago on Autoblog Green

Carbon footprint: the negative impact that something (as a person or business) has on the environment; specifically: the amount of carbon emitted by something during a given period. Regular AutoblogGreen readers surely already know what 'carbon footprint' means, but for the rest of the class, ...

Zipcar founder Robin Chase on why sharing is good 3 months ago on Autoblog Green

What's better: everyone owning their own car (which sits unused for 22 hours a day) or everyone having access to a car any time they need one? As you might suspect, this slightly loaded question is easy to answer for car sharing site Zipcar and ride sharing site GoLoco founder Robin Chase. In fast, ...

Ohio college students convert 1997 diesel Ford E350 into the Electro-Van 3 months ago on Autoblog Green

Students from Ohio Technical College thought that a heavy, old van would make for a great electric vehicle conversion project. In OTC's Alternative Fuel program, the 13 students, along with their teacher, ripped the diesel bits from a 1997 Ford E350 van and turned it into the "Electro-Van." The ...

Atlanta Motorsports Park to become "the only green motorsports park in the world" 4 months ago on Autoblog Green

Over the last few years, racing organizations have seemingly become increasingly aware that their activities don't quite fit into the environmentally friendly category. Proof can be seen by the use of ethanol fuel by the IndyCar Series and the controversial KERS systems employed by various Formula ...

McDonald's in North Carolina adds EV charging point 4 months ago on Autoblog Green

About a decade ago, a lone McDonald's in Phoenix, Arizona installed an electric car charging station in the hopes that one day consumers would be driving to its store on electrons in lieu of fossil fuels. A decade has since passed and most of us still pump dead dinos into our tanks, but at least ...

Get your Tesla Roadster with monthly payments from Bank of America 4 months ago on Autoblog Green

Since Tesla doesn't release the names of most of the people who purchase one of its electric Roadsters, we can only speculate about the financial wherewithal of most of them. However, it's probably reasonably safe to assume that most of them have considerable means and are mostly paying in ...

PETA Alert: Fiat underscores eco-friendliness using unique advertising campaign 4 months ago on Autoblog Green

We've some pretty cool advertising in our time, but the new European marketing campaign from Fiat is surely one of the more memorable efforts from an automaker in recent years. In an effort to underscore the safety of its diminutive 500, both to its occupants and the animals we share our planet ...

German town of Vauban basically bans all cars 4 months ago on Autoblog Green

Like the idea of car-free streets? Bicycle riders the world over can probably see the appeal, but in the town of Vauban, German, the car-free lifestyle is being taken up by pretty much everyone. Since the early 1990s, residents have been moving away from cars and into alternatives like public ...

STUDY: The way to profits in Detroit? Make fuel efficient cars 4 months ago on Autoblog Green

According to a new study by the University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute, the Detroit three automakers need to make major changes in their current corporate cultures if they truly want to reverse their fortunes, and that will likely require new leadership. Says Walter McManus, ...

Drive your green vehicle at Laguna Seca during Refuel 4 months ago on Autoblog Green

Ever wanted to take your green vehicle to a world-renowned race track, show it off to the masses and maybe even try a little race-against-the-clock action? Well, soon you can. On July 19th, Speed Ventures is presenting a day at Laguna Seca for owners, builders and manufacturers of ...

Envy alert: cruising in a Tesla Roadster in Hawai'i 4 months ago on Autoblog Green

Finally. It's been a few years since we made the case that Hawai'i is one of world's best places to introduce electric cars. Since then, we've seen the state begin to make moves in an EV direction through a partnership with Better Place and got to learn about the first ever electric car in ...

It's Friday - Big Rig Jig is one artist's take on the global oil industry 4 months ago on Autoblog Green

Big Rig Jig is a rumination on power as manifest in the relationship between humankind and nature. The sculpture utilizes two decommissioned 18-wheeler tanker trucks, referencing a global oil industry at the nexus of our world's political, social, and environmental systems. By repurposing these ...

SNCF launches "door-to-door" trip planner for four French cities 4 months ago on Autoblog Green

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 ...

eBay find of the day: Pyramid-shaped Dream Car 123 electric vehicle 4 months ago on Autoblog Green

The Dream Car 123 electric car is not your average EV. Previously named the Zanis 1 after designer and builder Greg Zanis, the car is a pyramid-shaped beast that weighs something like 8,000 pounds and carries 80 batteries and four motors. Of course, there are also neon lights. Yeah, this ...

Get ready to see more Priuses at the pump in your neighborhood this summer 4 months ago on Autoblog Green

The third generation Toyota Prius is just ramping up its marketing mojo, and one place you'll see plenty of the gold standard hybrid is at the gas pump, at least virtually. Toyota is hooking up with Gas Station TV to present "Prius Neighborhood" television program to the over 1 million unique ...

PICC plug-in Prius can now go 70 mph on battery power 5 months ago on Autoblog Green

Thanks to a beefed up bit of software, Priuses converted to plug-in drive by Plug In Conversions Corp. (PICC) have gotten quite a bit better. They can now go up to 70 mph using nothing but their batteries and get 170 mpge. The software manages to get around Toyota's built-in top speed limitation of ...

Meet a MINI E that will only use solar power 5 months ago on Autoblog Green

The all-electric MINI Es are starting to be delivered, and AutoblogGreen reader David VM. will do something a little extra with his new ride: power it completely by solar power. David has started up a new blog called MINI E 19 (his car is #19) and the first entry talks about the initial week ...

Xinhua: Hummer is "an exaggerated and extreme example of a disregard for the environment" 5 months ago on Autoblog Green

General Motors' HUMMER division has long been the whipping boy of the environmental movement, and now even the Chinese government seems to be getting in on the act. Quoting Richard Wottrich, International Managing Director at investment banking firm Dresner Partners, the state-run Chinese media ...

Convoy of Tesla Roadsters in California commemorates 500th delivery 5 months ago on Autoblog Green

UPDATE: Added Speed and Motion HD Video after the jump Just what do you call a gathering of 30 or so Tesla Roadsters all in one place? A gaggle? A flock? After taking a look at the photos of such an event from our friends at Speed and Motion, we'll go with convoy. This crowd was brought together ...

Bilbao claims to have the first subway in the world using only renewable energy 5 months ago on Autoblog Green

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 ...

Meet Veronica Moss, A.U.T.O. lobbyist [VIDEO] 5 months ago on Autoblog Green

"If you know yourself but not your enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat." In an effort to follow the advice of Art of War author, Sun Tzu, the good folks over at Streetfilms, the video arm of the Livable Streets Initiative, wanted to learn more about the people engaged in ...

No Brainer of the Day: Making biodiesel at home is dangerous 5 months ago on Autoblog Green

While fuel prices are nothing like they were last summer (but they are climbing), there are still plenty of reasons to want to make your own biodiesel. Homebrew biodieselers are, on the whole, a careful bunch and there are plenty of classes available to make sure your mixing of vegetable fat, lye ...

Pollution from leaded gasoline might have reduced the impact of greenhouse gases, study says 5 months ago on Autoblog Green

Before you think we've gone crazy, let's make clear that this is a post about a serious report published in Nature Geoscience. According to this report, lead that was expelled to the atmosphere through exhaust gases stimulated the growth of clouds. Larger clouds imply less solar radiation, which has ...

MINI asks drivers to hang up the keys and not drive on June 5th 5 months ago on Autoblog Green

If you're a Mini owner or an enthusiast, why not leave your car in the garage on June 5th? This may sound unusual for a car company, but its exactly what Mini is asking. The company has named that day, "Let's not motor day," although the official name, courtesy of the UN, is World Environment Day. ...

Dequindre Cut - Travel The Motor City on a bike path 5 months ago on Autoblog Green

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 ...

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