The Green LiterGoing the extra mile with electric vehicles, hybrid cars, fuel efficient cars, biofuels and alternative energy sources

America’s largest auto club, AAA, just released their top green cars per category. We have to admit that most who were voted were already expected, but still it bears to hear them out as to why they were chosen:

Top Electric Powered Car: The Nissan Leaf
The car is comfortable and the driving experience is enjoyable. Depending on traffic, speed and temperature, owners can expect to travel 50 to 80 miles on a single charge.

Top Plug-in Hybrid: Chevrolet Volt
Owners can plug in the car for recharging overnight then drive 25 to 40 miles before the gasoline engine starts to recharge the batteries. For most drivers, this range covers the daily commute, suggesting that the gasoline engine will rarely be needed.

Top Gasoline-Electric Hybrids: Toyota Prius
Its fuel economy is outstanding, with many owners reporting 50-plus miles to the gallon in daily driving. Making the vehicle even more appealing is a surprisingly roomy and flexible interior.

[Article & Image via: Press Release]

Honda will be pushing a different kind of Green Car to the US auto industry: the compressed natural gas (CNG) powered car: The Civic GX.

A CNG runs on methane and is considered the cleanest among all fuel alternative type of vehicles. One user even says that it “makes the Prius look like a Hummer” (For those who aren’t familiar with the Hummer–it’s a large vehicle that is known to use huge amounts of gasoline to run)

The Civic GX will be made available to the US Govt and business fleet owners before it will be introduced to the retail market. Compared to other green cars, it can run up to 250 miles (403 kilometers) on a single tank.

[Article  and Image via: AFP]

Hearing that shockwaves make your car engine run might make people scared of riding it, but what the Wave Disk Generator does is make your car more fuel-efficient and more lighter.

According to researchers in Michigan State University, their prototype engine will make the car 20 percent lighter and 3.5 times more efficient. As Norbert Müller says, the engine is flexible:

Müller says the engine can be adapted to run on a variety of fuels, including hydrogen. Having built a small prototype, he hopes to have a 25-kilowatt version ready by the end of this year.

Will this change the way our engine is built? We’ll see when it goes to production and usage by next year.

[Article and Image via: New Scientist]

One of the concerns buyers have regarding Hybrid cars is its longevity. Will it still run as good as it did when it came out? How long (or short) is its lifespan before one goes off to buy another one?

The best example is Toyota’s Prius Hybrids. It’s one of the first Hybrids out there and is over a decade old. Consumer Reports tests the car model and sees if its performance has degraded after such a long time.

The results? It’s like it just rolled off the car dealership.

They found that there was very little difference in battery performance, fuel economy and acceleration in the used ’02 model when compared to a nearly identical 2001 Prius they tested 10 years ago when it was new.

The results show the testament of Toyota’s quality and a Hybrid’s longevity.

[Article via: AOL Autos | Image via: Wikipedia Commons]

New York politicians are pushing a legislation named “The Green Taxis Act” that will make Manhattan one of the first cities in the world to have environment friendly taxi cabs.

All of New York’s high level politicians are in on the idea: From Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, Rep. Jerrold Nadler, to Mayor Michael Bloomberg are uniting to ensure this legislation gets approved by Congress. It allows states to create their own standards for taxi emissions and fuel efficiency, thereby forcing taxi companies to use fuel-efficient cars. Enforcing this law would cut down greenhouse emissions by 296,000 tons.

Currently only one third of the 13,000 taxi cabs in New York are counted as green.

[Article via: DNAinfo | Image via: Jeff Pearce]

Green cars in the future will not only have an engine running on electricity, the car itself may be made of pineapples or bananas.

Brazilian scientists have discovered that fibers coming from plants such as those from the pineapple and banana can be nearly as strong (or even stronger) than kevlar. According to their study leader Alcides Leão, Ph.D. not only are they strong, but they’re also light:

“The properties of these plastics are incredible,” Leão said, “They are light, but very strong — 30 per cent lighter and 3-to-4 times stronger. We believe that a lot of car parts, including dashboards, bumpers, side panels, will be made of nano-sized fruit fibers in the future. For one thing, they will help reduce the weight of cars and that will improve fuel economy.”

It’s definitely something to look forward to.

[Article via EurikaAlert | Image via: Mega Hammond]

Who says that driving a green car means sacrificing luxury for ecology? Ones who haven’t seen the Lincoln MKZ Hybrid 2011, that’s who.

It’s a Hybrid with power and speed. With its 41 city mpg, it was declared as the most fuel-efficient luxury car in America today. However, it still burns the road with a 2.5-liter Atkinson-cycle, four-cylinder gasoline/electric powertrain enabling it to reach 191 horsepower.

Feel luxurious with less the carbon guilt. It has the amenities of a modern luxury car: 10-way powerseats with memory controls, temperature controlled seating, and voice-activated communications system allowing the driver to contact 911, operate the MP3 player, without the hands leaving the steering wheel.

The Lincoln MKZ Hybrid 2011 will be out this fall.

[Article via Autos & Trends | Image from Lincoln]

Let’s say you have no intentions of replacing your beloved oil-guzzling car, but you want to save money by using an electric car. Usually most people would end up buying another car and just keep the old one somewhere in the garage. Worry no more as VerdeGoh Electric Vehicles will convert your old car into an electric car!

With the earthquake and tsunami in Japan halting sales of Japanese green cars like the Nissan Leaf, Josh Womack’s VerdeGoh Electric Vehicles is slated to be the perfect option. Although it might cost a bit more than buying a new car, at least you’ll be re-using your old car’s chassis with an electric motor inside. Besides that, the federal government will offer a 10 percent tax credit until $4,000 for plug-in electric car conversions until Dec. 31 2011.

Convert to a green car now!

Source

Singapore is now considering various measures aimed to make the campaign for energy efficiency better. The National Environment Agency (NEA) has been assigned to be the lead agency as far as energy efficiency and conservation is concerned. The promotion of green cars is part of the new strategy of the government.

This is in line with the country’s move to reduce the emission of greenhouse gases through helping consumers go green.

Mandatory labeling for vehicles is looked forward to, alongside that for refrigerators and air-conditioners, to let consumers determine what the more fuel-efficient cars are.

For another two years, the Green Vehicle Rebate is expected to be extended as part of the plan of the Ministry. The improvements in the Green Vehicle Rebate strategy since it has started paved the way to a significant rise of fuel-efficient cars by hundreds.

[via To Build Solar Panel]

General Motors is one of the participants in the 2010 Guangzhou Auto Show via Shanghai GM. The event brings forward 23 production vehicles as well as concept vehicles in line with its theme “Drive to Green and Leading Innovation”.

Included in the Guangzhou Auto Show is the Sail electric concept vehicle by Shanghai GM and Shanghai’s Pan Asia Technical Automotive Center (PATAC). The Sail electric concept vehicle, which is based on the previously released Chevrolet Sail, is an environment-friendly small car perfect for ordinary Chinese families.

Powering the Sail electric concept vehicle is a lithium-ion battery (maximum output: 65 kW, maximum torque: 220 Nm, maximum speed: 130 km/h, single electric charge: up to 150 km). Its energy conversion ratio is powered up by its Intelligent Charging Assisting System. Additional energy is triggered by its regenerative braking.

[via Electric Vehicle News]