Chevy Volt poised to resuscitate dying automotive town Flint, Mich.
Flint, Mich., the small automotive city northwest of Detroit known best for being featured in Michael Moore’s first documentary, Roger & Me, has been in dire straits for a while. When the movie came out in 1989, it was already suffering from mass unemployment. Now, 20 years later, it may have a chance to rebrand itself as a home to General Motors’ Chevy Volt — perhaps the most practical electric vehicle primed to hit the… Continue Reading
GM announces $43M battery plant for its Chevy Volt
General Motors became the first major automaker to announce plans for a battery manufacturing facility today, unveiling a roadmap that will jump start production of up to 70,000 lithium-ion battery packs a year by the end of 2010.
The batteries produced will be used primarily in the car company’s long-anticipated electric Chevy Volt. The plant will be located near GM’s headquarters in Michigan, which is quickly becoming a mecca for the battery industry, with A123Systems, Johnson… Continue Reading
Obama turns to California for new emissions standards
President Barack Obama is getting ready to announce new, stringent vehicle-emission standards for the whole U.S. Combining California’s tough policies with Transportation Department recommendations, he will call for a 30 percent increase in car and truck fuel efficiency by 2016 — an announcement that will probably go out tomorrow.
If properly implemented, this measure would establish the standard that all cars and light trucks need to get 35 miles per gallon mileage within the next seven… Continue Reading
Segway teams with GM for two-wheeled transport
And you thought the original Segway was funny looking. Now the company that brought you the standing transport for people who don’t feel like walking has joined forces with General Motors to produce a two-wheeled, two-passenger vehicle for “urban” transportation — unveiled for the first time today. Powered entirely by electricity and dubbed the Puma, it looks sort of like the back end of a bicycle taxi without the bike.
Unlike its Segway cousin, which tops… Continue Reading
EcoCAR competition unveils student designs for cars of the future
EcoCAR:The NeXt Challenge, a competition sponsored primarily by General Motors and the Department of Energy, announced its big reveal of 17 futuristic vehicle designs submitted by students from various colleges around the U.S. Taking participants from the brainstorming stage through the production of a prototype, the three-year contest is meant to showcase realistic green concepts on the verge of becoming reality — from electric motors to hydrogen fuel cells.
Here’s a quick roundup of the designs… Continue Reading
Electric cars disappointed in 2008 — and 2009 won’t be different
The Detroit Auto Show is underway, and the world’s most famous vehicle brands are touting the next generation of cars. And although yesterday’s fervent promises of hydrogen-powered vehicles have mostly fallen away, they’ve been replaced with new promises, this time centered around the idea of the electric car.
Don’t believe the hype. Although electric vehicles are almost certainly the way forward, much of the motion is really a show intended to sway the opinion of consumers… Continue Reading
Coskata enters partnership with ethanol plant builder ICM
Coskata, a next-generation ethanol startup, has come back up in the news again with an announcement that it’s partnering with ICM to design and build a commercial-scale ethanol plant.
We covered Coskata less than a month ago when it received a strategic investment from General Motors. Reaching another major partnership so quickly is remarkable, and indicates that large, established companies see promise in Coskata’s technology as a more efficient competitor to cellulosic ethanol companies like Range… Continue Reading
The Detroit Auto Show’s cleantech notables: Coskata, EcoMotors, Fisker Automotive
American automakers have finally learned that fuel efficiency and environmental friendliness count, turning the yearly Detroit Auto Show, which started Sunday, into a lineup of cleantech exhibitions.
Among big-company prototypes like the Chevy Volt and Cadillac Provoq are a handful of smaller firms making significant headway. Following is a brief lineup of the ones we thought were most interesting:
Coskata
A mere two years old, ethanol producer Coskata has managed to attract an investment from General Motors,… Continue Reading