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Thursday, September 2, 2010:
We came across an item about a new 300 MPG car design and were reminded of the famous Groucho Marx joke from the movie "Duck Soup": "Why, a four year old child could understand this. Run out and get me a four year old child, I can't make head or tail out of it." It turns out that the latest high-mileage, zero-emission vehicle not only gets 300 MPG - an impressive feat - but wasn't designed by the engineering students or industry experts in Japan, Detroit or Germany. The high school students in Kansas City, Missouri who conceived of and delivered the 300 MPG electric car have even applied to Guinness World Records for their achievement. "The students' electric car consists of a chassis from the 2000 Lola Indy, an ultra light-weight aerodynamic body and Bridgestone Ecopia EP100 tires, and a high-end electric propulsion system specially designed for the vehicle ... With a test run showing the vehicle got around 300 mpg, the students are looking for a suitable automaker who can turn the project into a full-scale commercial entity ..." according to MyFoxDC.com ... It's official! We reported a few weeks ago on a proposed California law which would create a new HOV sticker program for electric cars and extend carpool lane privileges that currently exist for hybrids. California Governor Schwarzenegger has now signed it into law. The new sticker program for up to 40,000 vehicles includes all electric cars - and also hydrogen fuel cell cars and plug-in hybrids. It will run through 2015. The 85,000 hybrid-electric owners who currently have stickers will have privileges extended another six months ... Boston's Logan airport is has had to increase the number of spots available for hybrids as part of its clean vehicle program. Logan started out by offering 100 special spots for hybrid owners two years ago and has had to increase that to 160 spots. Hybrid drivers at Chicago's Midway airport and Los Angeles LAX also get benefits along the same lines. Let's hope this trend spreads across the country ...
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Friday, August 27, 2010:
China has not historically been at the forefront of the green movement. However, a major new effort to put more than a million hybrid and electric vehicles on the roads is part of a real sea change for the country. As part of the China's plan to become a world leader in green technology, a group of 16 big state-owned companies has agreed to form an alliance to do research and development, and create standards for electric and hybrid vehicles. If reports that the companies will invest the equivalent of $15 billion in the endeavor are true, that " ...would make it one of the world's most ambitious attempts to develop more energy-efficient vehicles." In the U.S., President Obama had pledged to bring a million hybrid and electric cars to highways by 2015 a while back. He pushed a $2.4 billion grant program to develop next-generation batteries, which could lead to 500,000 batteries a year by late 2014 and his administration has passed tough fuel economy regulations, partly to encourage automakers to produce more hybrid and electric vehicles. With any luck, the combined effect of the Chinese and U.S. efforts will lead to some real breakthroughs on the hybrid/all-electric vehicle front ... More "Fusion" for the NYPD? NY City Mayor Michael Bloomberg has been a major proponent of hybrid and electric cars as part of the city's push to go green. The NYPD recently deployed 30 of 102 Ford Fusion hybrids for use as marked patrol cars. The Fusion's join the city's fleet of 76 Nissan Altima hybrids, which were the first hybrids to join the patrol car ranks in April 2009. Alternative fuel vehicles now account for 400 of the NYPD's fleet of 3,000 vehicles ...
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