I have survived Southern California’s horrendous traffic jams, though just barely. How anybody could stand to sit in traffic for hours on end, day in and day out, is beyond me. People do it though, and it seems to have bred a special kind of patience in the residents of Southern California. California also is a bastion of green living, and there are many advantages to owning a hybrid  Read More →

The Peel P50 was built on the Isle of Man in the 1960’s and powered by a 49cc gas engine that pushed the car to a 40 mph top speed and delivered more than 80 mpg. It was the smallest production automobile ever built, and—despite only 70 examples being produced —has become wildly popular in microcar circles, especially since appearing in a 2007 segment of the BBC’s hit show TopGear . This new-found popularity and BBC visibility... 

I know we have a lot of readers from Southern California. Sure the weather is great, and the people are generally friendly, but for me it is just too crowded and congested to ever call home. Plus, for such a progressive place, there is a surprising lack of good public transportation. Then again, California has been making big strides towards electric and hybrid vehicles, whether en masse or one municipality at a time. Give credit where credit... 

This summer I was lucky enough to be able to drive across the county and visit 29 states and dozens of different cities. One city that really stuck out to me though was Portland. It was young, hip, and, although cool in its own right, was not at all my scene (I’m a country boy through and through). What really stuck out to me about Portland though was the traffic, or lack thereof. See, Portland has a rather complete public transportation... 

Energy giant Shell International has signed binding Agreements with Brazilian company Cosan to begin forming a new, $12 billion joint venture project that would see Shell develop sugar can ethanol and new, “next-generation” alternative fuels. More on what this project means for the future of biofuels, after the jump. (more…)  Read More →

That dangerous-looking propeller/catamaran thing?  It’s taking a team of 11 researchers on a trip that will cover 3,600 miles of the Antarctic surface as part of the (awesomely named)  Moon Regan Transantarctic Expedition . That thing is pointy, loud, and fast… and you know you want one.  Find out more about this biofuel-burning ice-rider, after the jump. (more…)  Read More →

The EPA is considering a new fuel economy sticker for new cars and trucks sold in the US that gives consumers more information about their new car’s environmental impact, and they’ve posted an interactive “walk-through”on the EPA website . More about the new stickers, and why they will spark insane shouting matches, after the jump. (more…)  Read More →

I have a rather positive outlook on diesel engines, especially compared to many of my older contemporaries. To me diesels, are powerful, efficient, and sound a good deal cooler than most gasoline engines. Many older car buyers today though think of diesel engines as smoky, smelly, cranky old engines like those from the 1970’s and 80’s. My how times have changed. Mazda, an automaker that prizes itself on its youthfulness, is considering... 

In general, once you’ve bought something new, its value tends to sink the moment you take it out of the box. For a new car, the value plummets as soon as you drive it off the dealership lot. It’s called depreciation, and with cars it is especially brutal. That shiny new car you just bought for $30,000 might be worth less than $25,000 after just a week of ownership. With very few exceptions (like vintage muscle cars), most cars suffer... 

All the energy we could ever want and ever need comes from the sun. The trouble is that harnessing that energy en masse is extremely difficult given the low efficiency of current solar panels and the huge amount of area needed to harvest the sun’s power. While many people have paid out of pocket to install solar cells on their  Read More →

It is hard to believe that is had been over a year since Chrysler and GM went into bankruptcy filings. Both companies have shed a tremendous about of debt, obligations, and in GM’s case, four car brands. Only in America, right? So with all that taxpayer money, you’d think we’d see some genuine innovations in terms of hybrid and electric vehicles, especially when it comes to pickups. A hybrid pickup sounds great, especially... 

Detroit News writers recently got the chance to test-drive one of Honda’s new, “fun to drive” CR-Z hybrid coupes. They wrote about their experiences , and (after they got done calling Americans overweight and shallow) they told us about Honda’s new CR-Z and its chances in the US market. They were wrong. (more…)  Read More →

So far as I know, not many people from my generation want to be astronauts. It used to be the other way around; everybody wanted to be an astronaut. While getting strapped to a giant rocket and shot into space sounds appealing, living in cramped quarters with a half-dozen other human beings for months on end doesn’t sound like much fun. NASA engineers have, however, figured out how to maximize space and efficiency, and those efforts could... 

O Canada! Land of Maple trees, Maple syrup, and of course, the Toronto Maple Leafs hockey team, 13 time Stanley Cup champions. It is a vast, sparsely populated country, where the people sing show tunes with their crazy bobbing heads (at least according to South Park). The vastness certainly presents a challenge to anybody trying to cross such a huge country, and that goes doubly so for anyone with the gusto to cross it in an electric vehicle.... 

According to reports, Mercedes will introduce an all-electric version of its A-Class compact car at the 2010 Paris Auto Show in October. The A-Class E-Cell, as it’s called, will be made in a limited run of 500 units, mostly aimed at testing, and will start production early next year. Initially the car won’t be sold in  Read More →