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,… 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… 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… 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… 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,… 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… 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…. 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…. Continue Reading