Move over Honda Civic hybrid and Toyota Camry hybrid! If these videos from the 2007 Tokyo Motor Show are any indicators, the new hybrids coming out in the near future are going to be amazing. The video above is loud without much information other than CR-Z stands for compact renaissance zero but, hey, it's from a car show, what do you expect? Below the fold is a more informative video about the CR-Z. Also below the fold is a video all about the Toyota Crown hybrid concept.

[Source: YouTube]

The video above is of Yamaha's very unusual Tesseract concept bike. The Tesseract has four wheels but the appearance is much more like a bullet bike than a traditional four-wheeler. The Tesseract is powered by a liquid cooled, V-twin, 2-cylinder gasoline engine and an electric motor. The clip above not enough for ya? Look below the fold for two more videos of the Tesseract.

The first is from CNET, which questions just who might want a leaning, four-wheeled bike? The second video is a look at lots of the bikes at the Tokyo Motor Show including smaller electric scooters, which is the usual type of electric bike you see. The Tesseract and Crosscage concept are slowly changing our images of electric bikes.

[Source: YouTube]

I think we have a winner for the greenest car at the 2007 Tokyo Motor Show. Below the fold is a video all about the Mitsubishi iMiEV Sport concept. It's a plug-in electric car with a cool tear drop shape and a number of cool ways of charging the batteries. The iMiEV's lithium-ion batteries can be charged via a wireless microwave charger in your garage floor which means you don't have to struggle to plug it in.

Not keen on turning your garage in a giant microwave? Don't worry, the iMiEV has solar panels on the roof and micro wind turbines in the front grill. The iMiEV has other strange features like the ability to connect to your computer, in-hub motors and an electric plug that flips open. BTW I think the way you say the car's name is eye My EV, which also gives iMiEV our award for strangest car name at the 2007 Tokyo Motor Show.

[Source: YouTube and tipster Domenick]

Below the fold are three videos from the 2007 Tokyo Motor Show. The first video includes many green cars like the Toyota Nissan Pivo 2, Audi Metroproject, Honda CR-Z and Toyota Hi-CT. The most interesting part of that video is a tour of the Hi-CT which shows the ignition on the ceiling and mini Segway-like vehicles on the back. The plug being pulled out of the hybrid Metroproject was also very interesting as well. The second video is just the hybrid Metroproject with shots of the interior. The third video shows the strange, Mazda's wind-inspired concept car, the Taiki. It seems green has taken over yet another major auto show this year.

[Source: YouTube]

Below the fold are two videos by Nissan released for the 2007 Tokyo Motor Show. The first video shows the making of the electric concept car, the Pivo 2 and has a quick chat with Tomoko Sato and Mariecamill Lecoq, two Japanese and French designers of the car.

The second video includes the making of the RDBX, a car a lot like the Mixim, which is going after the youth market with large, media displays. The 2007 Tokyo Motor Show runs through November 11th and opens to the public from October 27th.

[Source: YouTube]

The 10 minute video below the fold is the first we have found to include the Honda Puyo and Toyota Rin concepts. The video, apparently from a Japanese news program, starts out with demos of I-Real, the chair concept car, which we have already shown you in several videos. Then it's the cars that want you to relax, Toyota's Rin and the conerless Honda Puyo. I also think I see the Hi-CT in the background. The video ends with several of the other concept cars by Nissan, videos of which we also already shown you. The video below is entirely in Japanese but anyone can enjoy it because the cars do most of the talking.

[Source: YouTube]

It's the lucky 13th episode of the Autoblog Green Podcast, just in time for Halloween. More importantly, just in time for the Santa Monica Alt Car Expo. The Alt Car Expo starts soon, and Sebastian will be there. It's one of the largest green car shows in the world, and admission is even free. There's always lots of really innovative and clever things to see. Last year, a group of folks converted a 1957 Triumph to EV power during the show. We'll be there rubbing elbows with all of the movers and shakers in the green car world. Our interview this week is with the Society for Sustainable Mobility, who will be in Santa Monica, and we talk about the Open Source Green Vehicle Project (check back later today for the transcript of the interview. UPDATE: here it is).

The Tokyo Motor Show is coming up soon, as well, which will be full of alternative fuel vehicles that push design innovation. There's a real alphabet soup of concepts heading to Tokyo, and the vehicles are as strange as their names. Both shows provide us with good podcast chatter for 42 minutes - enjoy!

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My favorite concept car at the 2007 Tokyo Motor Show is Toyota's I-Real, a chair concept car, so I dug around for some videos of the thing moving around. You can watch videos of the I-Real and iSwing, another concept chair vehicle by Toyota, in action below the fold. I also found another video of the of Nissan's Pivo 2 robot, a worm-headed thing that watches how you feel and goes crazy if you are sad. If you don't cheer up, it won't let you out of the car saying "I am afraid I can't do that, Dave." Wait, maybe that was from the movie 2001: A Space Odyssey?

[Source: YouTube]

Below the fold are three videos I think you'll find interesting. The first video is from the Aptera launch party. The Aptera video has lots of cool music and people enjoying the debut of this very cool car. The second video below the fold is filled with Nissan's concept cars. The Nissan concepts are debuting at the 2007 Tokyo Motor Show and the video includes the cool interior of the Round Box roadster. The third video is the Smart ForTwo Hybrid. The mild hybrid system makes the tiny smart that much greener.

[Source: YouTube, Motor Authority]

We just wrote about Nissan's new electric concept car Pivo 2. Below is a gallery with a few more pictures of the new R2D2-like robot companion (above) for Pivo 2. Below the fold, are two videos all about the design of the Pivo 2 and two videos about Pivo 1 which had monitors inside the car that augmented your view of the outside world. The monitors seem to be missing in Pivo 2 and I am not sure an in-car robot distraction is such a good idea. Maybe I will grow to like the little guy when we see more of him at the Tokyo Motor Show, starting October 27.

[Source: Nissan]

The Hydrogen Economy. How many times have we heard that this futuristic nirvana is coming? And why is it always 15-20 years from today? It'll be great when the HE finally gets here and provides clean energy to everyone, but who knows when (or how) the serious technological hurdles will be overcome. While we wait (some more), here's a look at how Mazda spent the past 15 years gearing up for hydrogen vehicles.

Mazda introduced their first hydrogen prototype in 1991 at the Tokyo Motor Show. This vehicle, called the HR-X, was powered by a hydrogen-powered rotary engine. Mazda is still working on putting rotary engines into cars, but is also working, like other automakers, on hydrogen fuel cells. The company's latest hydrogen prototype, the RX-8 Hydrogen RE concept car, was presented at the 2003 Tokyo Motor Show. The RX-8 Hydrogen RE is currently being leased (and is not affected by the recent RX-8 recall) to companies and local governments in Japan for 420,000 yen a month (about 3,600 US$ or 2,860 Euros). Mazda, like Ford, believes using hydrogen internal combustion engines are the right next step before we get to hydrogen fuel cells. Mazda says it considers hydrogen well-suited for rotary engines, and the company's long experience with rotary engines means it will lead the pack in introducing hydrogen engines to the market.

[Source: Fullboost.com]