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Should the U.S. institute a vehicle scrapping plan?

Mon, 09 Mar 2009 15:06:00 +0000

Last month, Germany reported a shocking 21 percent improvement in auto sales, and the greatest driver in the uptick was a used vehicle scrapping plan that pays drivers 2,500 euros ($3,150) to remove their old car from the road. With new car sales in most other countries down by at least that much, it was widely speculated that other governments would look closely at Germany’s new system to see if it would be worth adopting in their areas. An opinion piece at Automotive News (sub. req’d) suggests that it’s time for the United States to implement its own vehicle scrapping program. President Obama’s recently-passed economic stimulus plan does contain provisions that are intended to help spur new vehicle sales, but has nothing as dramatic as what’s been enacted in Germany. Such a plan would certainly spark major debate as to the environmental benefits and drawbacks of replacing older cars with new ones. One one hand, new cars feature engines that generally use less fuel and definitely emit less pollutants. On the other hand, the production of cars in general creates its own emissions and uses lots of power. What do you think: With signs pointing towards a possible sales recovery in the U.S., is now the right time to give the market an extra kick with a scrapping plan? [Source: Automotive News - sub. req'd | Photo: nico.cavallotto ] Auto Blog: Legislation and Policy , Green Daily , Germany , USA Should the U.S. institute a vehicle scrapping plan? originally appeared on AutoblogGreen on Mon, 09 Mar 2009 15:06:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Car Blog Green | Car Blog Green | Car Blog Green | Car Blog Green

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Should the U.S. institute a vehicle scrapping plan?

Used hybrid values have "fallen off a cliff"

Sat, 07 Mar 2009 18:25:00 +0000

As we’re sure you’ve noticed every time you’ve gone to refill your gas tank in the last few months, gas is once again relatively cheap. Just under a year ago, the price for a gallon of fuel was about double what it is today in most parts of the country, and those high costs were driving the sales of hybrids – both new and used – to record levels. Now? Well, not so much. According to Kelley Blue Book , used hybrid prices have fallen by an amazing 23.5 percent since last summer, and 4.5 percent of that has come in the first two months of 2009. It’s not just fuel prices that are causing hybrid values to plummet. Due to the lack of discretionary spending money and despite the savings on each tank of gas, the extra cost associated with a hybrid at the time of initial purchase is something that many buyers are unwilling to consider. Perhaps there’s a positive side to this story. Buyers looking to get a good deal on a used hybrid should have plenty of options to consider. Then, when the price of fuel inevitably climbs back up, you can laugh all the way to the bank. [Source: USA Today ] Auto Blog: Hybrid , Green Daily Used hybrid values have “fallen off a cliff” originally appeared on AutoblogGreen on Sat, 07 Mar 2009 19:25:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Car Blog Green | Car Blog Green | Car Blog Green | Car Blog Green

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Used hybrid values have "fallen off a cliff"

German car sales rise 21 percent; UK to launch vehicle scrappage plan?

Thu, 05 Mar 2009 14:02:00 +0000

Vehicle scrapping plans are likely to get lots of attention now that Germany’s program has proven so effective. Last month, sales in Germany, Europe’s largest new car market, surged by 21 percent, which is an amazing figure considering the current state of the global economy. Much of this uptick in sales can be attributed to a new program that Germany introduced that pays new car buyers 2,500 euros to trade in and scrap their old cars, just so long as the displaced vehicle is at least nine years old. Officials from the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders in the United Kingdom are now urging their government to adopt a program similar to the one introduced in Germany. UK car sales were down by nearly 22 percent last month and almost a third so far for the year. It’s logically assumed that the fleet of vehicles on the road would be cleaner and more efficient if older models were replaced with new vehicles that meet the latest environmental requirements. [Source: Automotive News - sub. req'd | Photo: Patrick Dockens ] Auto Blog: Legislation and Policy , Green Daily , Europe/EU , UK , Germany German car sales rise 21 percent; UK to launch vehicle scrappage plan? originally appeared on AutoblogGreen on Thu, 05 Mar 2009 15:02:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Car Blog Green | Car Blog Green | Car Blog Green | Car Blog Green

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German car sales rise 21 percent; UK to launch vehicle scrappage plan?

Sentience Research Vehicle shows how tons of data can save millions of barrels of oil

Thu, 05 Mar 2009 13:16:00 +0000

Click above for a high-res gallery of the Sentience Research Vehicle How smart does a car have to be before it starts saving you money and reduces your fuel usage? You can make any car a bit smarter by driving more sensibly, but a team of engineers in the UK has decided to give an SUV a few more microchips and let it try and save fuel for you. Dubbed the Sentience intelligent advanced hybrid vehicle, the 15-month-long project melds telematics with technology that is here today to reduce CO 2 emissions of the test vehicle by between 5 and 24 percent, dependent on driving style. The collaborators, including Transport Research Laboratory, Ricardo, Jaguar-Land Rover, Ordnance Survey and Orange Business Services, say that by using readily-available technology, the Sentience technology could be applied to vehicles in the UK without too much cost. If it were, the engineers estimate, total savings in the country would be somewhere between 1.2 and 2.9 million barrels of oil per year. There are three main components to the Sentience technology: Enhanced Acceleration/Deceleration (EAD) in which the vehicle speed is controlled to meet actual and virtual speed limits Optimized Engine Load (OEL) in which the hybrid powertrain systems are managed using advanced route knowledge in such a way as to make optimal use of recharging opportunities Enhanced Air-Conditioning (EAC) control in which temperature set-points are adjusted prior to and following temporary stops. More details after the jump. Gallery: Sentience Research Vehicle [Source: Ricardo] Continue reading Sentience Research Vehicle shows how tons of data can save millions of barrels of oil Auto Blog: Emerging Technologies , Green Daily Sentience Research Vehicle shows how tons of data can save millions of barrels of oil originally appeared on AutoblogGreen on Thu, 05 Mar 2009 14:16:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds .Car Blog Green | Car Blog Green | Car Blog Green

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Ford CEO Mullaly expects many Fords to be electric in a decade

Thu, 05 Mar 2009 12:29:00 +0000

Click above for high-res gallery of the Ford Focus EV “mule” Ford may have been relatively quiet on the electric vehicle front while General Motors got all the attention for its Chevy Volt series hybrid, but the Blue Oval has come roaring back in recent months. It was revealed in its viability plan submitted to Congress back in December that an electric commercial van would be launched just one year from now followed by an electric car the next year. According to CEO Alan Mulally, that’s just the start. At a conference in California this week, Mulally declared, “In 10 years, 12 years, you are going to see a major portion of our portfolio move to electric vehicles.” Mulally told the conference that internal combustion efficiency will also improve dramatically over the next decade, and more hybrids will join the lineup including a plug-in hybrid that will debut in 2012. Ford is shifting a significant proportion of its truck building capacity to cars over the next two years and the company doesn’t expect truck sales to recover to their previous record heights. While fuel prices are low now, they are expected to climb again as the economy recovers. The shifts to cars and more hybrid and electric vehicles will be necessary to meet both market demands created by those expected higher fuel prices and government mandates for higher fuel efficiency. Gallery: ABG Quick Drive: Ford Focus EV mule Photos Copyright (C)2009 Sam Abuelsamid / Weblogs, Inc. [Source: Automotive News , sub. req'd] Auto Blog: EV/Plug-in , Hybrid , Ford Ford CEO Mullaly expects many Fords to be electric in a decade originally appeared on AutoblogGreen on Thu, 05 Mar 2009 13:29:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Car Blog Green | Car Blog Green | Car Blog Green | Car Blog Green

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Elon Musk reportedly sets trap for loose lipped employees

Thu, 05 Mar 2009 11:46:00 +0000

The breathless style of writing at which Valleywag has made a name for itself isn’t the sort of thing we often link to, but we’ll make an exception today. According to the Gawker team , Tesla CEO Elon Musk is not making any friends in his own company; in fact, Valleywag claims that Musk recently tried to pinpoint people on his team who may be leaking confidential information to the media. The tactic? Sending each employee a slightly altered version of an email about stopping the leaks and then checking to see which version made it to the media. It reportedly backfired in a pretty big way. Valleywag reports that Musk did not let his own executives know of this plan to smoke out the leaker. One of them unknowingly forwarded his version of the email within the company, which made it clear to the rest of Tesla’s workforce that they were being set up. We contacted Tesla about this story, but got a simple “No Comment.” That’s fine for us, but it might be a long, long month before the Model S unveiling on the 26th . Follow the source link to Car Blog Greena version of the email, presumably one of many, that Musk sent to his employees. Thanks to Yanquetino for the tip! [Source: Valleywag ] Auto Blog: Etc. , EV/Plug-in , Tesla Motors , Green Daily Elon Musk reportedly sets trap for loose lipped employees originally appeared on AutoblogGreen on Thu, 05 Mar 2009 12:46:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Car Blog Green | Car Blog Green | Car Blog Green | Car Blog Green

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Auto X Prize deadline has passed; thoughts on the purse split

Wed, 04 Mar 2009 18:00:00 +0000

The Automotive X Prize’s deadline for registration has passed and now we get to wait and see just who’s going to be actually participating in the upcoming high-mileage competition. The organizers say that the last few days and hours before the deadline were “an absolute firestorm of phone calls, emails, and overnight packages.” From the looks of it, there might be 100 teams actually registered (40 already committed and then more than 50 applications that arrived in the last week), but somewhere between 60 and 70 is much more likely. We’ll have to wait for the staff to go through the papers and see if everything was submitted correctly before we get a complete list of all the teams released. One other bit of information that the X Prize organizers have shared on their blog is the reasoning for changing the $10 million prize purse from a 3-to-1 split between mainstream and alternative classes to a $5 million mainstream prize and two alternative class winners – one for a vehicle with side-by-side seating and one for a vehicle with tandem seating – who will each split the other $5 million. Details available here . [Source: Auto X Prize ] Auto Blog: Green Daily , Automotive X-Prize Auto X Prize deadline has passed; thoughts on the purse split originally appeared on AutoblogGreen on Wed, 04 Mar 2009 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Car Blog Green | Car Blog Green | Car Blog Green | Car Blog Green

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Canada wants North American fuel efficiency standard

Wed, 04 Mar 2009 15:44:00 +0000

Canada’s Environment Minister Jim Prentice believes that there should be a single fuel efficiency standard for all countries in North America. He says, “At this point in the United States, it would appear as though they are headed toward a 35 mile a gallon standard by 2020 and that would start to come into effect in the 2011 model year. We’ve essentially been prepared to go in that same direction.” That 35 mpg standard is good enough for Canada if it’s good enough for the United States, right? It makes sense for automakers that sell their products across all of North America, especially to the U.S. domestic manufacturers that build hundreds of thousands of cars in Canada and Mexico each year. It’s not perfect, though, as California is moving to create its own fuel economy standards under the guise of greenhouse gas emissions regulations. “The first thing that has to happen, however, is that the United States has to land with their own domestic policy. It’s by no means clear how this will emerge from Congress over the course of the next year,” Prentice said. [Source: Reuters | Image: AlexCovarrubias C.C. 2.5] Auto Blog: MPG , Legislation and Policy , Green Daily , North America , USA Canada wants North American fuel efficiency standard originally appeared on AutoblogGreen on Wed, 04 Mar 2009 16:44:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Car Blog Green | Car Blog Green | Car Blog Green | Car Blog Green

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100,000 Apteras in 5 years?

Wed, 04 Mar 2009 14:54:00 +0000

It appears that a sizable chunk of the 32.7 million electric vehicles predicted to be roaming the streets in that report we told you about will be built by Aptera . 100,000 of them to be exact. That is, if the company’s ambitious goals are reached. In their latest newsletter , the number was slipped in alongside mention of 1,500 jobs they plan on creating in that same time span. With a pool of customers over 4,000 deep, months before the first one hits the road, and a 4-wheeled sedan on the way as well, these targets may seem a little high-reaching but doable. This latest dispatch is more content rich than those in the past and contains links to some of the press attention they’ve gotten since their high-profile TED appearance . It also reveals an expanded web presence. Yes, the flightless ones are now Twittering away about everything Aptera and even fielding some questions. Look back over their past tweets and find links to pics of their appearance at the Desert Classic Concours d’Elegance or learn what one of these birds looks like in colors other than white. Enjoy. Gallery: Aptera 2e at TED [Source: Aptera ] Auto Blog: EV/Plug-in , Aptera , USA 100,000 Apteras in 5 years? originally appeared on AutoblogGreen on Wed, 04 Mar 2009 15:54:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Car Blog Green | Car Blog Green | Car Blog Green | Car Blog Green

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RETECH 2009: hydrogen proponent Sandy Thomas says fuel cells beat the pants off of battery-powered cars

Tue, 03 Mar 2009 18:53:00 +0000

At the American Council on Renewable Energy’s RETECH conference and expo last week, I was able to listen to a few presentations on renewables and transportation. It’s always interesting to hear about the auto industry from people on the outside, and the RETECH presentations lived up to expectations. I’ll be writing about a few of them this week. The most full-throated defense of hydrogen vehicles I heard was issued by Sandy Thomas, president of H 2 Gen Innovations , during the “Hydrogen, Fuel Cells & Advanced Engines” panel. H 2 Gen is mostly interested in stationary hydrogen production stations, but Thomas believes that hydrogen is the one right propulsion system for vehicles, since nothing else will meet America’s greenhouse gas emissions, energy independence, and clean air targets. He had the presentation to prove that H2 cars beat battery vehicles, too, and was willing to share his slides with AutoblogGreen readers. You can Car Blog Greenthem all in the gallery below (there’s a reason we try to post items like this at the end of the day, when we think you’ll have time to indulge a bit). I’ve also written up some more of what Thomas said after the jump. Gallery: RETECH 2009: Hydrogen presentation from Sandy Thomas Continue reading RETECH 2009: hydrogen proponent Sandy Thomas says fuel cells beat the pants off of battery-powered cars Auto Blog: Hydrogen , AutoblogGreen Exclusive , Green Daily RETECH 2009: hydrogen proponent Sandy Thomas says fuel cells beat the pants off of battery-powered cars originally appeared on AutoblogGreen on Tue, 03 Mar 2009 19:53:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds .Car Blog Green | Car Blog Green | Car Blog Green

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RETECH 2009: hydrogen proponent Sandy Thomas says fuel cells beat the pants off of battery-powered cars