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Volvo Trucks unveiled last week its plans to launch a 13-liter heavy-duty natural gas engine featuring Westport high pressure direct injection (HPDI) technology. The engine, marketed under the “Blue Power” designation, is scheduled to launch for the North American market in 2014. The engine’s advanced high pressure diesel ignition technology will provide significant fuel efficiency gains compared with current natural gas products. Combined with the company’s previously announced offering of compressed natural gas (CNG)-powered Volvo VNM and VNL model daycabs, the new engine will provide customers with a complete range of natural gas-powered transportation solutions. Volvo is also testing another...

Most Hybrid Owners Choosing Not to Rebuy Hybrids - Many consumers are looking to fuel-efficient cars in order to find relief from today’s high gasoline prices. And automakers have been paying attention – there are now more fuel-efficient hybrid vehicles available than ever before. But when people who currently own a hybrid vehicle buy another car, they’re not buying another hybrid.

by John HillStand With ArizonaWe have become sadly accustomed to California - America's Sanctuary State - sinking lower and lower into utter lawlessness for the sake of naked racial politics. But whatever they do in Sacramento doesn't even come close to the utter madness that is Los Angeles - which makes the rest of the state look conservative by comparison. This week saw the Los Angeles Police Department announcing that it will soon start ignoring California state law, which requires police to impound the vehicles of unlicensed drivers for 30 days - because it is "unfair" to illegal aliens!That's right....

OK, this isn’t for you guys who are operators. If you own your own sub-gun, or your job requires you to handle/use M4s regularly, then just go away. There’s no need for you to stick around and sneer. This essay is for all the schlubs like me who don’t often get a chance to get to play with full-auto toys. Who have thought, “oh, that’s no big deal. It’d be silly to pay the freight for rental sub-machine guns, dropping a couple hundred bucks in almost no time." Well, this is me telling you just do it. Seriously. If you...

A handful of car makers risk potential fines of €10 billion ($13 billion) for failing to meet European targets on carbon emissions in 2012, the European Environment Agency (EEA) said on Tuesday. "If car manufacturers make no further improvements in carbon efficiency of new cars between 2010 and 2012, non-compliant manufacturers could face fines which in total would add up to €10 billion," the EAA said. Large auto manufacturers face being fined if they fail to meet a directive for lowering emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2), the principal greenhouse gas. The emissions target across the industry is an average of...

Electric car maker Aptera Motors is closing after failing to woo enough investors to bring a new sedan to market. Aptera CEO Paul Wilbur said the Carlsbad, Calif.-based company closed its doors Friday and laid off all 30 of its employees. The company was hoping to get a $150 million loan from the Department of Energy but needed to raise matching funds, Wilbur said. He said Aptera had trouble drumming up interest from investors, who have been spooked by the difficulties other small electric car makers have had. Palo Alto, Calif.-based Tesla Motors Inc., for example, has racked up millions...

Occupants experience "up to 400 g" As you are likely aware, our own NHTSA test-crashes all new cars for sale in the US at speeds up to 40 mph- as do EU authorities and a few others.  One day the folks at English television show Fifth Gear (not to be confused with Jeremy Clarkson's unparelled Top Gear) wondered over tea what would happen if they had some crash-test pros set up the cement barrier and run a Ford Focus into it at 120 mph... triple normal testing speeds. So they did it... and this is what happens: Car decelerates from 120-0 in .068 seconds Occupants experience up...

Three people were killed and 35 injured in a massive collision on a fog-covered highway in western Germany, police said.

When GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney came to Michigan and said he was opposed to the auto bailout, the Associated Press reported: “GM and Chrysler are again making money and adding thousands of jobs in Michigan, which continues to struggle with an 11.1 percent unemployment rate, the nation's third highest.” But have GM and Chrysler really added thousands of jobs in Michigan? That could be a stretch, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. From September 2010 through September 2011, Michigan added a net 65,300 jobs, according to the most recent BLS figures. “That’s a very positive sign about...

With the GOP presidential candidate debate held Wednesday night in Michigan, the state’s economic woes received national attention from an Associated Press story that pinned the malaise on the auto industry. “But Michigan's economy is still bad, a victim of the auto industry's long slide,” the AP story reported as it was picked up all across the country. Blaming the auto industry for the brunt of Michigan’s problems is not uncommon. Former Gov. Jennifer Granholm used the auto industry as a reason why the state languished during her eight-year run. But James Hohman, assistant director of fiscal policy at the...

The article says the average selling price for a new imported car climbed to a record high of $31,536 in August, according to the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis. That was $7,614 more than the average domestic-made car, the biggest gap since December 1999. With Toyota Corollas and Honda Civics in short supply, more Americans have turned to Chevrolet Cruze and Ford Fiesta cars.

It seems few consumers want range-extending gas engines in their electric vehicles. General Motors plans to sell an electric version of the Spark, a mini-car that it currently sells outside the United States. GM will sell the gasoline version of the Spark in the U.S. starting next year, and will follow with the electric version in select U.S. markets and around the world in 2013. The electric Spark will be powered by batteries made by A123 Systems, based in Waltham, Massachusetts. The car is a departure from GM's current strategy for electric vehicles, exemplified by the Chevrolet Volt. For short...

Meet the Roberts electric car. Built in 1896, it gets a solid 40 miles to the charge — exactly the mileage Chevrolet advertises for the Volt — the much-touted $31,645 electric car General Motors CEO Dan Akerson called “not a step forward, but a leap forward.” The executives at Chevrolet can rest easy for now. Since the Roberts was constructed in an age before Henry Ford’s mass production, the 115-year-old electric car is one of a kind. But don’t let the car’s 115 years let you think it isn’t tough: It’s present-day owner, who prefers not to be named, told...

Palestinian Authority terrorists continued their attacks on innocent Jewish motorists over Yom Kippur, this time attacking a woman in labor and her husband as they rushed to the hospital. The husband, Ariel Goldman of Pnei Kedem, told Arutz Sheva that the two were lucky to escape with their lives. Their ordeal began near Har Homa at 2:30 a.m., as they drove to Hadassah Ein Karem hospital in Jerusalem. Suddenly, they encountered a point in the road that had been blocked by large stones. As Goldman slowed the car, looking for a way around the trap, several Palestinian Authority terrorists jumped...

A stretchy binder material that's compatible with existing factories could help electric cars and portable electronics go 30 percent longer. A stretchy binder material that's compatible with existing factories could help electric cars and portable electronics go 30 percent longer. One approach to the problem is to structure these anodes in a totally different way, for example growing shaggy arrays of silicon nanowires that can bend, swell, and move around as lithium enters and exits. This approach is being commercialized by Amprius, a startup in Palo Alto, California. But growing nanowires requires new processes that aren't normally used in battery...

Electric vehicles may seem like the inevitable evolution of the conventional gas-powered automobile, but not every carmaker agrees. Hyundai will sit out the pure-electric car round, and instead concentrate its efforts on designing the next-generation hydrogen fuel cell vehicle. As part of a decision by the Hyundai-Kia Automotive Group, Hyundai--which owns 51 percent of Kia--will stop all efforts to develop and produce electric vehicles, according to Korean newspaper The Chosun Iblo. The auto manufacturer previously planned to produce the all-electric BlueOn, but it has shelved those plans and instead will focus on developing the Tucson ix Fuel Cell Electric Vehicle....

A gallery of electric and hybrid vehicles on display at the International Motor Show in Frankfurt, Germany. Prototype and production hybrids and electric cars debuted this week at the International Motor Show in Frankfurt, Germany. Car manufacturers showed off sportier designs—and some outlandish models. The i8, shown here, is BMW's first plug-in hybrid sports car. It can reach 62 miles per hour in 4.6 seconds, has a top speed of 155 mph, and can achieve 87 miles per gallon. It weighs 3,200 pounds. A version of the car will probably be on sale by the end of 2013. Credit: Internationale...

Just the Facts: The Kia GT Concept, a 390-horsepower rear-wheel-drive sedan with suicide doors, was unveiled at the 2011 Frankfurt Auto Show. It showcases the Korean automaker's ambitions, with Kia's chief designer declaring, "It's exactly the kind of car Kia should be making." Power comes from a 3.3-liter turbocharged V6 engine linked to an eight-speed automatic transmission. FRANKFURT, Germany — The Kia GT Concept, a 390-horsepower rear-wheel-drive sedan with suicide doors, was unveiled at the 2011 Frankfurt Auto Show. It showcases the Korean automaker's ambitions, with Kia's chief designer declaring, "It's exactly the kind of car Kia should be making."...

Ford building $1bn manufacturing complex in India An child walks on a plot of land acquired by Ford India for its new automobile manufacturing plant near Sanand, some 60 kms from Ahmedabad. Ford has started construction on a $1 billion manufacturing and engineering complex on the site. The complex will create 5,000 jobs and be able initially to produce 240,000 vehicles and 270,000 engines a year from 2014, Ford says. AFP - US auto giant Ford has started construction on a $1 billion manufacturing and engineering complex in India as it bets on the country to help drive global growth,...

The all-new Honda Civic debuts at the 2011 Frankfurt Motor Show next month – here are the first details of the diesel version. With an evolution of the award-winning 2.2-litre i-DTEC turbodiesel engine and a 12.6 per cent improvement in aerodynamics, the 2012 Honda Civic is promising to be both more powerful and more efficient. That’s a familiar tune these days, but in this particular case the new Civic appears to be offering quite the combo. A 10hp boost might not sound like much to shout about, but the resulting 150hp total output is combined with CO2 emissions of just...

Toyota Motor Corp announced July 19, 2011, that it will equip the Prius with a function to provide electricity from its rechargeable battery to external equipment. The function enables to power, for example, home electric appliances in the case of power outage. Toyota plans to release it as an option for the Prius in 2012. Its price has not been determined yet. The company intends to make the function available to other hybrid electric vehicles, too. Toyota has already equipped the hybrid electric version of the Estima with a power supply function. "(After the Tohoku Earthquake,) users in the afflicted...

GM and Nissan tout systems to reuse the expensive battery packs. At $10,000 a piece, electric-car batteries are too expensive to throw out or recycle into scrap materials. And even after a decade of use, when they can't perform well enough to meet the vehicle's demands, they could still be valuable for other uses. Nissan and GM have both recently announced ways they might make some money from them. Many issues remain unresolved, not the least of which is whether the automakers would need to buy back the batteries from car owners, or whether dealers would simply lease the battery...

Peep this new roadable aircraft, the last creation of legendary aerospace designer Burt Rutan. Scaled Composites unveiled their new flying car to Aviation Week this week. The Model 367 BiPod is a dual-fuselage, hybrid electric car-plane, which engineers at Scaled took from a preliminary design to first flight in just four months. It made its maiden trip March 30, just before Rutan’s official retirement. The company says it has made several short jaunts off the runway at Mojave, Calif., building up enough speed with the drive train to take off without propellers, which have not been installed yet. The roadable...

Right now the fastest production car in the world is the hyper exclusive--and hyper expensive--Bugatti Veyron Super Sport, which is capable of a top speed of 268 mph. The previous record holder was the less refined, yet still very capable, Ultimate Aero from America’s own Shelby SuperCars (SSC), which itself stole the record from the original Veyron. Now SSC is set to reclaim the manufacturer of the world’s fastest production title from Bugatti with a brand new supercar, a supercar that will go by the name Tuatara (pronounced twu-tar-ah). Yes, SSC has taken a page out of Pagani’s book and...

A combination of two ordinary materials – graphite and water – could produce energy storage systems that perform on par with lithium ion batteries, but recharge in a matter of seconds and have an almost indefinite lifespan. Dr. Dan Li, of the Monash University Department of Materials Engineering, and his research team have been working with a material called graphene, which could form the basis of the next generation of ultrafast energy storage systems. “Once we can properly manipulate this material, your iPhone, for example, could charge in a few seconds, or possibly faster.” said Dr. Li. Graphene is the...

An energy-harvesting shock absorber that can be installed in a vehicle’s suspension system to absorb the energy from bumps in the road, convert the energy into electricity, and improve fuel efficiency by 1-8% has recently won the R&D 100 award. Nicknamed the “Oscar of Invention,” the annual award is given out by R&D Magazine to recognize the top 100 innovative technologies introduced during the previous year. Previous winners have included the ATM (1973), liquid crystal display (1980), Nicoderm anti-smoking patch (1992), lab on a chip (1996), and HDTV (1998). The new shock absorbers were designed by Professor Lei Zuo and...

An old technology could make hybrid cars much cheaper. The automakers Volvo and Jaguar are testing the possibility of using flywheels instead of batteries in hybrid electric vehicles to aid acceleration and help engines operate more efficiently. The devices could reduce fuel consumption by 20 percent and would cost a third as much as batteries. Volvo will begin road-testing a car with the technology this fall. In a flywheel system, energy from the wheels is used to spin a flywheel at high speeds. The flywheel continues spinning, storing energy until that motion can be transferred back to the wheels via...

WASHINGTON, July 6 (UPI) -- Youngstown, Ohio, Mayor Jay Williams will lead the Obama administration's efforts to help communities dependent on the auto industry recover, officials said. Beginning Aug. 8, Williams will be executive director of the Labor Department's Office of Recovery for Auto Communities and Workers, Labor Secretary Hilda Solis said Wednesday in a release.

Trapping sulphur particles in graphene cages produces a cathode material that could finally make lithium batteries capable of powering electric cars Lithium batteries have become the portable powerhouses of modern society. If you own a phone, mp3 player or laptop, you will already own a lithium battery. More than likely, you will have several. But good as they are, lithium batteries are not up to the demanding task of powering the next generation of electric vehicles. They just don't have enough juice or the ability to release it quickly over and over again. The problem lies with the cathodes in...

Len Cutter woke one morning earlier this year to find his late-model Honda Civic had some reconstructive work done. The rear window was laying, broken, across the rear seats, although nothing inside the car was taken. As it turns out, the thieves were after his roof rack. "They're going to break into my car and steal a roof rack?" he said. "Gimme a break." Cutter, of Long Beach, California, fell victim to a common trend in auto thievery: components are now more attractive than the car itself. Vehicles are getting harder to steal outright, especially given massive advances in anti-theft...

University of Minnesota engineering researchers in the College of Science and Engineering have recently discovered a new alloy material that converts heat directly into electricity. This revolutionary energy conversion method is in the early stages of development, but it could have wide-sweeping impact on creating environmentally friendly electricity from waste heat sources. Researchers say the material could potentially be used to capture waste heat from a car's exhaust that would heat the material and produce electricity for charging the battery in a hybrid car. Other possible future uses include capturing rejected heat from industrial and power plants or temperature differences...

10) Olds Cutlass Ciera(GM A-Bodies)1984-1996 9)Geo Prizm 1989-2002 The what? Here’s the story, in short: It’s a Toyota Corolla with a different nameplate, and everyone knows Corollas last forever. 8)Subaru Wagons(All of Them) 1990-Present If all of these failed to start tomorrow, thousands of college professors in the Northeast and Pacific Northwest would have to walk to class. 7)Volvos (Rear-Wheel-Drive Ones)Dawn of Man-1996 To some extent, these are the Subaru wagons’ spiritual and actual predecessors. Volvo's secret? It basically built one car for 25 years under a variety of nameplates. 6)Ford Crown Victoria/Mercury Marquis 1992 - 2011 If these can...

German automakers lead in diesel car sales, but Mazda is joining the pack Team Audi's victory at 24 Hours of LeMans Sunday with a car powered by a TDI diesel engine again shines a light on diesel engines as an alternative to regular gas or hybrid gas/electric vehicles. Though cars and trucks running on diesel fuel remain a relatively small percentage of new cars and trucks sold in the U.S., increasing sales of such vehicles by German car companies in the U.S. points to a potentially rosier future. And the continued success of diesels at LeMans keeps bringing attention back...

Diesel engines, long confined to trucks and ships, are garnering more interest for their fuel efficiency and reduced carbon dioxide emissions, relative to gasoline engines. Argonne mechanical engineer Steve Ciatti takes a crack at some of the more persistent myths surrounding the technology. Myth #1: Diesel is dirty. "We all have this image of trucks belching out dirty black smoke," Ciatti said. This smoke is particulate matter from diesel exhaust: soot and small amounts of other chemicals produced by the engine. But EPA emissions requirements have significantly tightened, and diesel engines now have to meet the same criteria as gasoline...

The diwheel is a vehicle with two wheels on the same axle, i.e. in parallel, like the back two wheels on a wheelchair, and works by mounting a cabin of sorts for a driver between them. In this case, the power source is electricity stored in a battery. Diwheels have been created before, and have of course been seen in sci-fi movies; what’s new here is the stability control. Traditionally, the problem with creating a diwheel is in keeping the driver from gerbiling, an effect that comes about when you consider how a diwheel is constructed. If you simply connect...

Washington – The Obama administration said Wednesday that the government will lose about $14 billion in taxpayer funds from the bailout of the U.S. auto industry. In a report from the president's National Economic Council, officials said that figure is down from the 60 percent the Treasury Department originally estimated the government would lose following its $80 billion bailout of Chrysler and General Motors in 2009. The report's release coincides with the administration's efforts to tout the bailout's role in the revitalization of the U.S. auto industry after last week's announcement that Chrysler is repaying $5.9 billion in U.S.

The Detroit News reports that General Motors wants $10 million in refundable or assignable tax credits for its Warren Tech Center. It needs to be noted that the company already is getting billions in state support. The facility has been the subject of multiple tax deals with the state. In September 2008, the facility was part of a retention and brownfield credit that was expected to cost the state $168 million. The company has been the recipient of at least 10 other deals from the Michigan Economic Growth Authority, with estimated incentives valued at the time of passage at more...

The recent announcement that General Motors plans to add 4,200 jobs in eight states including 2,000 in the Detroit area has resulted in an “I told you so” response from some supporters of the $50 billion federal bailout of GM. Former Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm’s twitter feed noted: “And to all of you in the strangle-government crowd, who said the #bailout would never work – I’m #JustSayin.” However, the limited-government crowd has responded, saying such an analysis of the success of the bailout is superficial. Free-market analysts say that jubilation over a first-quarter 2011 profit of $3.2 billion and the...

E.J. Dionne seems perfectly comfortable with the fact that he doesn’t understand economics—as long as the Washington Post continues to allow him to interpret economic events in a manner that comports with his political predispositions. Dionne sees GM’s recent good fortune as evidence of the propriety of government “step[ping] in when the market fails.” Dionne, like others before him, stands slack-jawed, in awe, ready and willing to buy the Brooklyn Bridge, donning narrow blinders and viewing just a narrow sliver of the world, oblivious to the fact that related events are transpiring in the other 359 degrees that surround him....

Is the price of gasoline taking a toll on your wallet? Make your drive greener and more fuel efficient with the help of lasers. Everything else about an automobile is being retooled to be leaner and greener, so it was only a matter of time before spark plugs got a second look. While they might seem like an essential component for ignition, a group of Japanese researchers think their lasers can do a better job. "If you want save gasoline, cut CO2 and [emissions] with more power, new ignition should be required," said Takunori Taira, an associate professor of laser...

A start-up, Liquid Piston, aims to greatly improve the efficiency of internal combustion.

Sen. Doug LaMalfa billed the state $1,317.12 for hitting a raccoon with his state-issued car. Former Assemblywoman Mary Salas drove her state car into a post on one trip, into a concrete guardrail on another and later ran a red light, hitting a vehicle. Her four claims cost nearly $28,000. Assemblyman Cameron Smyth and Sen. Mimi Walters, meanwhile, each filed claims for hitting their personal vehicles with their state-issued cars. With approval ratings hovering in the teens, California lawmakers are often criticized for failing to solve the state's problems. ..A Bee review of vehicle claims paid on lawmakers' state-issued cars...

As an investor with significant exposure to oil prices, I’m always worried about something like the financial panic of 2008 that might trigger a quick drop in the commodity. One thing I’m not overly worried about is the American public kicking its addiction to oil any time soon. For years I’ve always gotten a big kick out of analysts on CNBC talking about how $2 then $3 and now $4 per gallon for gasoline would kill the demand for the product in the United States. [snip] And that is a bit strange, considering that Canadians pay quite a bit more...

Kia Motors Corp unveiled the "Naimo (KND-6)" electric concept car at Seoul Motor Show 2011, which opens for the public from April 1 to 10, 2011, in Seoul, South Korea. The electric vehicle (EV) has a lithium-polymer (Li-polymer) rechargeable battery with a capacity of 27kWh under its trunk. Its drive range is about 200km per charge. Its battery cells seem to be manufactured by LG Chem Ltd. The release date of the EV has not been determined yet. The Naimo has a permanent magnet synchronous motor in the front side of the vehicle. The maximum output and maximum torque of...

SIM-Drive Corp, a Japan-based start-up, announced that it has developed the "SIM-LEI" electric vehicle (EV). The four-seat EV is expected to be released in 2013. It is equipped with a lithium-ion (Li-ion) rechargeable battery with a capacity of 24.9kWh, and its drive range is 333km under the JC08 test mode. It measures 4,700 (L) x 1,600 (W) x 1,550mm (H) and weighs 1,650kg. The SIM-LEI uses in-wheel motors, motors that are for driving and stored in wheels. Unlike normal electric vehicles that use inner rotors and outer stators, the new EV uses outer rotors and inner stators. In 2004, Hiroshi...

Michigan researchers have built a prototype of a new auto motor that does away with pistons, crankshafts and valves, replacing the old internal combustion engine with a disc-shaped shock wave generator. It could slash the weight of hybrid cars and reduce auto emissions by 90 percent. The generator is about the size of a saucepot, and would replace the 1,000-pound power train in most cars — no transmission, cooling system, emissions regulation or fluids needed. Norbert Müller and colleagues at Michigan State University showed off the new motor prototype at a meeting with the Department of Energy’s Advanced Research Projects...

Waste is a terrible thing to waste. That's the mantra guiding an Ohio State University researcher and a bioenergy entrepreneur in the development of a brand-new, renewable source of polyurethane foam that's expected to create up to 30 jobs in Mansfield, in the next two years. The product (known as a bio-polyol) is made from crude glycerin, a byproduct of biodiesel production that has so little commercial value it's practically considered waste. Mixed with other biomass -- through a patent-pending process developed by Yebo Li, a biosystems engineer with the university's Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center in Wooster --...

What is it with companies thinking they can get around the Clean Air Act? Earlier this year, the second-largest refinery in the U.S. was fined $5.3 million (and required to upgrade pollution control systems for $700 million) for CAA violations. Before that, companies like Pep Boys, Cummins and Mercedes (among others) were all forced to pay fines for selling products that are just plain dirtier than they should be. Today, the EPA announced that PowerTrain is the latest to be hit with a CAA-violation fine. The company settled the case and will now have to pay $2 million because, between...

Two German inventors have created an electric vehicle that recharges the battery through a wind turbine carried in the car. To test the vehicle, the duo recently completed a 3,100-mile trek across Australia.

If you've ever been pulled over for speeding, you know it feels like you're a gazelle that just got taken down by a lion. And, while this recession, and the gaping budget holes that resulted, have turned most cities into a jungle for motorists, there are some cities that have far more speed traps than others. And automated traffic cams have only egged them on. Now, they can snag just as many motorists for speeding, if not more, with less manpower.