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The CATO Institute published a study last year comparing the major modes of urban mass transit. Using government statistics they calculated energy usage and carbon emissions for each mode. The interesting conclusion was that passenger cars and the average of all forms of transit use about the same amount of

According to the latest issue of Forbes, Professor Richard Muller tools around uber liberal Berkeley in a Toyota Pirus. Nothing out of place here, right? Wrong. “It doesn’t save me money,” he explains. “It doesn’t help slow global warming. I just love the technology.” Muller, named a MacArthur genius in 1982, goes even further. He scoffs at the greens’ favorite energy theories....

Jodie Foster was pulled over in Beverly Hills last week for speeding. Police said the movie star’s politically-correct Prius was clocked doing 54 in a 35 mile per hour zone. To make it even better, the whole thing was caught on tape by a crew of “Speeders,” a truTV reality show. According to the New York Post, “Foster refused...

Remember last spring, when Seattle's mayor rolled out the city's first car that could be "filled at the plug instead of the pump?" It's called a plug-in hybrid. They are all the green rage — "possibly the most sought-after technological innovation since Captain Kirk first flipped open his communicator," says The New York Times. You may have seen the city's cars around town, painted with an eye-catching claim on the rear bumper: "This plug-in hybrid gets 100+mpg." Also, a greener boast: "150+City MPG!" Not exactly, it turns out. Not even close. Try 51 miles per gallon, city and highway combined....

I'm in the market for a new car. Hybrids have always intrigued me from a gadget and gas-thrift standpoint, but I'd certainly like to not mistaken for the self-righteous, eco-charlatan liberal who normally drives one. That's right, the same people who pretend to engage the downtrodden driving an uber high-mileage car that only a well-off person could afford. (I suppose a "Protected by Glock" bumper sticker would be enough to dispel any false assumptions.) Of course, the common-sense conservative approach tells me to buy a compact that gets only about 10 fewer MPG's but costs over $10K less...all without the...

Sharp fall in hybrid vehicles sales as US tightens belt By Bernard Simon in Toronto Published: January 1 2009 23:31 | Last updated: January 1 2009 23:31 Americans’ appetite for hybrid cars is evaporating as tumbling fuel prices and tighter household budgets trump environmental concerns. The sudden reversal in what was, until a few months ago, one of the hottest segments of the world’s biggest car market creates a new area of uncertainty for carmakers, such as Toyota, General Motors, Ford Motor and Honda, that are investing heavily in hybrids and other fuel-efficient technologies. Industry executives, including Alan Mulally, Ford’s...

> And you also should know that the battery packs are available from any Toyota dealer. The MSRP for a battery pack for a first-generation Prius is $2,299, while the MSRP for the battery pack for the second-generation cars, those from the 2004-2008 model-years, is $2,588. >

Big is back: As pump prices plunge, SUV sales surgeBuyers with short memories when it comes to gas prices find hot deals on big vehicles. By Adrianne Jeffries | Special to the Daily Press December 30, 2008 NEWPORT NEWS - It looks like the Highlander is in and the Prius is out — for now at least. Trucks and sport utility vehicles will outsell cars for the first time since February, according to a December report by Edmunds.com, which tracks industry statistics. "Despite all the public discussion of fuel efficiency, SUVs and trucks are the industry's biggest sellers right now...

The camouflage on the new Prius has come off a little sooner than Toyota had planned. We've known for quite a while that Toyota was going to bring the new Prius to the Detroit auto show next January. And there's been no shortage of spy shots of well-covered prototypes. But the new Prius has gone naked. The fans at priuschat.com posted pix of what was claimed to be redesigned Prius. And guess what? Toyota PR confirms that the photos are legit, although they won't say anything else about them.

The Toyota Prius, the car favoured by celebrities wanting to flaunt a green conscience, is to become bigger and more sporty, with a larger engine, quicker acceleration and a top speed of well above 100mph. The changes – coming at the expense of fuel economy and carbon emissions – will be incorporated in a new version to be introduced at the Detroit motor show in January. The decision risks denting the image of the Prius as one of the greenest cars on the road and will be seized upon by critics, who accuse the car’s owners of being smug and...

Green With Envy: Prius Owners Smile as Neighbors Fume Monday , August 25, 2008 By Meg Shannon Every morning, as Lynn Schmidt walks out of her Long Island, N.Y., home, opens the door to her baby-blue Prius, waves to her grumbling neighbor and pulls out of the driveway, she has every reason to smile. It's not just the 45 miles per gallon her gasoline-electric hybrid vehicle is getting. And it's not only that she can go three weeks without a fill-up. It's also because that through her choice of automobile, Lynn is doing what she considers her share of being...

Toyota Motor Corp. said today that its first quarter net income dropped 28.1% to 353.6 billion yen, or $3.2 billion, mainly due to the impact of exchange rates between the yen and the dollar, higher raw material costs and the turbulent U.S. market. While Toyota worked to cut costs and said global vehicle sales increased by 24,000 to 2.19 million vehicles, it wasn't enough to overcome a plunge in sales in the United States and Western Europe. For the three months ending June 30 Toyota's total revenue declined by 4.7% to 6.22 trillion yen or $56.9 billion. "The financial results...

You would think a car that didn't make loud engine sounds and offered a calm and silent ride would be a commercial winner. But supercar firm Lotus is putting the noise back into their electric and hybrid motors because of road safety fears. The company has started a project to synthesise the sound of a traditional engine in otherwise quiet vehicles and have installed speakers in their Toyota Prius. They are concerned that silent cars could pose a threat to pedestrians and cyclists who may not hear them coming. Despite their environmental credentials, electric and hybrid vehicles have come in...

Al Gore has a new boat and even it is green. The boat is docked at Hurricane Marina on Center Hill Lake in Smithville, about 70 miles east of Nashville. While it doesn't have solar panels yet, a spokesperson at Gore's office told News 2 they are scheduled to be installed Wednesday. The boat is named Bio-Solar One and has been called the "Toyota Prius of boats"...

Rising fuel prices, both in the U.S. and abroad, means that automakers can now offer similar engines in vehicles sold throughout the world. According to Automotive News, General Motors' next small car, the Chevrolet Cruze, will be offered with a new 1.4-liter force-fed four-banger, putting out between 120 and 140 horsepower and returning fuel mileage in the 40 mpg range.

TOKYO (Reuters) - Toyota Motor Corp (7203.T) will switch gears and produce the Prius hybrid instead of the less fuel-efficient Highlander sport utility vehicle at its planned Mississippi factory, the Nikkei business daily reported on Thursday. The world's biggest automaker is also likely to suspend production at one of two assembly lines at its Indiana factory, where it builds the Tundra pickup and Sequoia SUV, by year-end for at least six months, the paper said. Citing company sources, it said the move was in response to falling demand for those models and would amount to a production cut of 50,000...

Top-end versions of the Toyota Prius hybrid are set to receive rooftop solar panels. News agency Reuters reports that the Japanese giant intends to install solar cells in order to power the air conditioning unit. Silicon prices are currently rising, pushing up the cost of solar panels. At this stage, it is unclear how much the solar-panelled versions would cost. The third generation of Toyota Prius with a petrol-electric hybrid powertrain is due to reach the market in 2009. Over 1 million Prius cars have been sold, with the strong demand for 'green' vehicles accelerating thanks to high oil...

BOULDER, Colo., June 28 (UPI) -- Backers of all-electric cars say they're relieved a fire that destroyed a Toyota Prius prototype this month wasn't caused by the battery. A report from the Boulder, Colo., firm that built the Prius prototype said the blaze was instead caused by loose electrical connections that set fire to the vehicle's upholstery, and not by the sophisticated lithium ion batteries it carried, The Los Angeles Times reported Saturday.

" Have you ever thought that you stand a better chance to woo a girl by going green? Well, a recent study conducted by US car maker General Motors has revealed that nearly 88 per cent of women surveyed would chat to a guy who owns a green car than a sports car. Quite an award for going green! "

TOKYO - Toyota is building a $192 million plant in Japan to produce batteries for gas-electric hybrid vehicles, as it seeks to keep its lead in an intensifying race for green cars among the world's automakers. Toyota's joint venture with Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., which makes Panasonic brand products, is building the plant in Shizuoka prefecture, in central Japan, Toyota spokesman Paul Nolasco said Friday. He declined to give more details. The plant will produce nickel-metal hydride batteries, now in the company's hit Prius hybrid. The Nikkei, Japan's top business daily, reported Friday that Toyota was building another plant in...