Electric motorcycles appear to be on the steep part of the development curve these days. The latest model comes from Brammo, the small Oregon company that produced the Enertia a few years back. The company’s newest offering is called the Empulse and the electric motorcycle is a big step forward offering a top speed of over 100 miles per hour, and a range of up to 100 miles. And perhaps best of all, the increased performance comes at a... 

After flying for more than 26 hours, pilot André Borschberg has completed the first ever night flight by a solar powered airplane. The Solar Impulse aircraft touched down at 9 a.m. local time at its home airfield in Payerne, Switzerland after breaking records for the highest and longest solar flight in history. “I’ve been a pilot for 40 years now, but this flight has been the most incredible one of my flying career” Borschberg... 

The Solar Impulse team has given pilot André Borschberg the thumbs up to fly through the night. The team on the ground has been carefully monitoring the aircraft’s batteries and power usage throughout the day in Switzerland. As the sun set over the mountains, the decision was made that the airplane would stay aloft and continue flying through the darkness of night. Throughout the day the flight has gone according to plan with just a bit... 

The Solar Impulse aircraft known as HB-SIA is in the middle of its first 24 hour flight including a complete day/night cycle. The aircraft took off from its home airfield in Payerne, Switzerland shortly before 7 a.m. local time on Wednesday (1 a.m. EDT). It will spend the day climbing to an altitude to nearly 28,000 feet (8,500 meters) while charging its batteries. Just before sunset, pilot André Borschberg will decide whether or not to continue... 

The United States Army is experimenting with a hydrogen fuel cell unit that could be installed in the M1 Abrams tank to provide electricity for computers and other equipment. The auxiliary power unit would produce hydrogen from JP8 diesel fuel , then use the hydrogen in a fuel cell, Steven Eick, a chemical engineer in the Tank Automotive Research, Development and Engineering Center, said in a posting at the Army website. The goal is to generate... 

You want power? The guys at Switzer Performance will give you more than you can handle: 900 horsepower in a heavily tweaked Nissan GT-R running on ethanol. Spare us the arguments against ethanol and just admit this car is incredible. Tym Switzer calls this beast E900, but we think Matt Hardigree of Jalopnik nailed it by riffing on the GT-R’s nickname Godzilla and dubbing the car Cornzilla . Switzer is no stranger to the engine bay of the... 

After more than 22 hours of racing around the punishing Nürburgring circuit, Porsche nervously waited for the remaining two hours to tick by. After unveiling its new hybrid drive system back in February, the company’s new 911 GT3 R Hybrid was in the lead of the grueling Nürburgring 24 Hours. The company had only a few test races under its belt and was hoping to use the 24 hour race as a testing opportunity to further refine the new system.... 

Now that we’re deep into spring and the weather has changed, hopping on your bicycle probably is looking more and more tempting — just in time for national Bike Month. Bike Month is, as the name implies, recognized throughout May. But it kicks into gear today with the start of Bike to Work Week and hits its zenith Friday with Bike to Work Day. Megan Cahill, spokeswoman for the League of American Bicyclists , says “Every month... 

Volkswagen is making another run at the 24 Hours of Nurburgring race with its natural gas Sciroccos and released a bunch of photos of the car ahead of the race. The Germans are sending three Scirocco GT24-CNG racers to run the ‘Ring against conventional cars and alt-fuel racers like two diesel Peugeot CRZs . The two cars VW entered last year swept the alt-fuel field , but then they were the only cars in the class. Still, one of them took... 

Natural gas has always been the least sexy alt-fuel, but an advocacy group is aiming to change that with a saucy new video on YouTube. EVs have the Volt, hydrogen has the FCX — heck, even biodiesel has old Benzes and Willie Nelson, which apparently works for some folks. But think about natural gas and you’ll undoubtedly picture dinged up Crown Vics sitting in a City Hall parking lot. The natural gas advocates at  NGVsNow wanted... 

Amtrak hopes beef fat can make it green. The rail company is testing the viability of alt fuel passenger trains by launching a biofuel pilot program on the Heartland Flyer line between Oklahoma City and Fort Worth, Texas. The train will run on B20 derived from rendered beef fat. Emissions and engine data collected during the pilot will help Amtrak determine…  Read More →

Toyota says it has cut the cost of building fuel-cell vehicles by 90 percent and could sell its first hydrogen vehicle for $50,000 by 2015. That’s still a big chunk of change, but a bargain compared to the six- or seven-figure price tags the cars are generally thought to cost now. The exorbitant cost has been among the technology’s greatest hurdles and one reason Honda , General Motors and others lease or loan — rather than... 

Petroleum was formed by the compression and heating of biomass over millennia. Chemical engineers at the University of Michigan hope to do it in minutes. They are applying heat and pressure on microalgae, exploring a method to create affordable biofuel that could replace fossil fuels. They also hope to use the byproducts of bio-oil production as feedstock for more biofuel. “The vision is that nothing would leave the refinery except oil.... 

For all the attention on electric vehicles these days, there’s still a lot of work being done with cellulosic ethanol, and French oil company Total has taken an interest in it. The oil giant has acquired an undisclosed stake in Coskata, an Illinois biofuel startup. The investment came during Coskata’s latest round of equity financing, which also saw Khosla Ventures and others chipping in. Total’s stake in the company includes... 

It’s probably no surprise that it’s a European aircraft company leading the way in bringing diesel power to the world of general aviation. Austrian airplane maker, Diamond Aircraft recently received certification from the Federal Aviation Administration for its new, diesel powered DA42 NG. Diamond’s DA42 NG uses a pair of 2.0 liter Austro Engine turbo diesels capable of producing 170 horsepower each. The common-rail injected...