ElectriClub

A report released by the Rails to Trails Conservancy  asserts that people in rural areas walk and bike at rates much like their metropolitan counterparts. The “Active Transportation Beyond Urban Centers” reveals important details about America’s travel patterns in rural communities that the Rails to Trails Conservancy hopes will garner support for more federal investment in bicycling and pedestrian infrastructure.

The report presents The Rural Policy Research Institute’s (RPRI) analysis of the 2009 National Household Travel Survey. The RPRI uses alternative geographic classifications for “rural” areas with the belief that the “rural” versus “urban” dichotomy is too simplistic. The RPRI classifies five different types of rural communities based on the Rural-Urban Commuting Areas (RUCAs) developed at the University of Washington. These five depend on factors including population size as well as whether these communities are tourist destinations, agricultural communities, or exurbs, and are as follows: large rural core, outer large rural, small rural core, outer small rural, and isolated rural.

Rates of bicycling in some of the smaller towns outpace those in some urban centers:

“[t]he share of work trips made by bicycle in small towns (Small Rural Core, 2,500 –10,000 people) is nearly double that of urban centers. And among all trips taken in towns between 10,000 and 50,000 population in rural regions (Large Rural Core on accompanying charts), just as many people bike as in the urban core..”

Surprising information, perhaps, but the report cites many reasons for this relatively high bicycle use, including that many of these smaller towns were founded before World War II and were originally designed with pedestrians in mind. Another reason for higher biking rates is that parents in small towns may feel it is safer for their children to bike to school, and seniors may find it easier to walk to their destinations in smaller neighborhoods.

A declining population and downturns in the economy, including the agricultural and mining sectors, are contributing to limited budgets. These rural areas depend more and more on federal programs to fill in the breaks in the transportation system that occur when cities lose their tax revenue. Federal programs include the Transportation Enhancements grants, the Safe Routes to School Program, and the Bike/Walk Pilot Program, all of which would be eliminated with the Transportation Bill.

Source: Networked Blogs

The automotive landscape is changing. More choices are coming and that promises to be the watchword for the coming decade. Buying a new car will no longer be: What engine do you want? What model do you want? What options to you want?

The options will be the focal point of choice. And the options will be the type of powertrain and fuel you choose for your new ride. I took a tour in January through some of those choices and came away with a new appreciation of the challenge that plug-in vehicles are facing and will continue to face in the marketplace.

The event was called "Future Cars: Future Technology"; it was organized by Western Automotive Journalists, a 20-year-old group of auto writers (and photographers and videographers) based in Northern California. During the day, panelists discussed the long-range future of automotive technology--one panel talked about whether automated cars like the ones Google is running are likely to take over our highways; a second panel of engineers from the auto companies explored the variety of options they were researching for future cars.

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In an appearance on Comedy Central’s The Daily Show, actor Brad Pitt asked a simple but provocative question about our entrenched approach to powering cars. Pitt appeared on the show to promote Money Ball, the award-nominated movie about Oakland A's general manager Billy Beane's use of economic analysis to draft his players.

Pitt said that Beane’s success was based on a questioning of 150 years of baseball knowledge. “Just because we’ve doing it this way for so long, does that mean it’s right?” asked Pitt. That’s when he drew a comparison to cars.

“I equate it with the automobile," he said. "What if we invented the automobile today? Would we say, I know, we’ll run it on finite fossil fuels, we’ll export a half-trillion dollars of our GDP, we’ll spend hundreds of billions of dollars a year to protect that interest, and it will pollute the environment?”

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New York City’s Department of Transportation and Alta Bicycle Share, Inc. will be opening the largest bike share system in the country by summer of 2012. Ten thousand bikes in 600 stations around Manhattan, Brooklyn, and the surrounding burroughs will be available 24 hours a day throughout the year for short bike rides.

The Details:

Alta Bicycle Share, the same company that runs Boston’s New Balance Hubway and Washington D.C.’s Capital Bikeshare, will be running the program. New  York City’s program is funded by private sponsorship and user fees, much like Miami’s DECOBIKE. Alta will be responsible for installation, maintenance, repairs, cleaning, and customer support. The bike stations will be solar powered, thus reducing energy costs, do not require roadwork for installation.

Rental rates will be determined after the contracts are signed, but Alta is promising affordable annual memberships, costing less than a monthly unlimited ride MetroCard (around $90-95). Unlimited weekly membership would cost $20-25 and unlimited 24-hour access would be $8-10.  The NYC bike share will include the obligatory smart phone app, which will use the system’s wireless technology to find real-time bike and station availability.

Like the DECOBIKE bike sharing program in Miami Beach, the bikes will be available in 30 to 45 minute sessions. Longer trips will incur a small, graduated usage fee. Check out the Boston and Washington D.C. bike share programs to compare rates. Check out NYC Bike Share to see how it works.

Who will benefit:

Bike shares are great for short trips: they reduce bike parking, storage issues, and as well as theft. This share program will help New Yorkers connect to different modes of mass transit where subways don’t reach. And Alta Bike and the NYDOT will be hosting demonstrations, open houses, and workshops throughout the city for those who are new to the concept. Alta Share estimates that it will employ 200 locals to help run the share.

The Benchmarking Bike and Walking Report shows that New York is in the top five states for bicycling and walking levels, and that New York City ranks in the top five cities for the same. The city’s transit system already tops the nation in its scope; items like this bike sharing program no doubt make biking the Big Apple that much more accessible, especially considering that 54% of all trips New Yorkers make are less than two miles, the perfect distance for a quick bike ride.

New York City has one of the highest bike userships in the country, but it also ranks in the top 10 cities with the highest fatality rates for bicyclists and pedestrians. Mayor Bloomberg acknowledged this in his State of the City address in January: “…the reality is more and more New Yorkers are biking, and the more bike lanes we put in, the fewer deaths and serious injuries we have on the streets.” Of course, that depends on education and biker awareness. But it seems that the government will be providing the infrastructure support needed, as per the mayor’s address: “We’ll also make our city smarter and safer by deploying Traffic Enforcement Agents to safety hot spots at key intersections, doubling the number of 20 mile-per-hour zones for schools, and continuing adding more miles of protected bike lanes.”

Source: International Business Times | Image: NYCStreets

Peugeot’s flagship car, the 508 RXH, goes on sale in just a couple of months. Bare weeks before the car shows up at dealerships, Peugeot has finally announced the price. It’s not exactly pretty – 41,900 Euros (that’s $55,000 USD), a 9,000 Euro price difference from the comparable gasoline-powered 508 SW.

The upside to the 508 RXH is pretty much everything else, if you like the station-wagon-on-steroids type that’s nearly an SUV anyway. They’re all over, which makes me think they’re pretty popular and that Peugeot might be channeling the target market here.

The 508 RXH isn’t only a giant station wagon with extra ground clearance for off-roading, of course (and how many people actually off-road in their SUVs? I personally know exactly one). The new flagship car has been outfitted with a functional hybrid drive.

Diesel and (Sometimes) Pure Electric

The 2.0 liter diesel engine in the front of the car has about 160HP, and the electric motor mounted on the rear axle has an output of 27 kW. The rear-mounted electric motor is actually pretty versatile, and the one thing that I really like about the car. If the ground is rough, it powers the rear wheels for 4 wheel drive. If you should happen to run out of gas (it happens to all of us once or twice), the electric motor will move the car for up to 2.5 miles provided the driver stays below 35 mph.

The electric motor also helps the car accelerate quickly – Peugeot alleges zero to sixty in 8.5 seconds, which is fairly decent for a daily driver type normal passenger car. (You wouldn’t want to put your kids into something that does zero to sixty in less than 3 seconds, right? Right?) After reaching 60mph, the RXH can just keep going all the way up to 130mph before topping out.

If the 508 RXH is driven as intended with diesel in its tank, Peugeot claims that it will get 57mpg (combined city and highway), with a carbon dioxide output of 107 g/km (well below the EU standards for all new cars over the next few years).

The neat parts of the RXH hybrid aside, I’m not sure I’d pay over $50,000 for it, which is about what a faster, sleeker Tesla Model S sedan costs (after tax credits.) Then again, I like the pure electric cars. What do you think? Let us know in the comments, below.

Source: Auto Motor Und Sport | Image: Peugeot

Filed under: EV/Plug-in, Legislation and Policy, NEV (Neighborhood Electric Vehicle), USA

Pennsylvania may make neighborhood-electric vehicles street legal originally appeared on AutoblogGreen on Mon, 06 Feb 2012 09:56:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

A Nissan LEAF rear-ended a school bus and, despite being heavily damaged, the LEAF shows us that plug-in vehicles can be safe.

The federal investigation into safety concerns related to the Chevy Volt were closed last month, and hopefully will continue to recede in the rear-view mirror. As opposed to the simulated tests conducted on the Volt, real-world accidents involving plug-in cars will begin to create a set of data points about EV safety.

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Ever wonder what's inside the Chevrolet Volt? Well, wonder no more as time-lapse video shows a detailed teardown of General Motors' plug-in hybrid. Though the teardown took three days, the video captures all the details in less than five minutes.

Last week, Munro & Associates tore down a 2012 Chevy Volt to get a full understanding of how the vehicle works. Part of the "Drive for Innovation" initiative, the disassembly was conducted to highlight the technology found within the Volt, from its T-shaped lithium-ion battery pack to individual circuit boards.

The bolt-by-bolt deconstruction was conducted without GM's involvement, but now that the Volt has been dissected, the possibilities of Volt 2.0 are starting to emerge.

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Filed under: EV/Plug-in, Tesla Motors, USA

Tesla Model X to have ... "falcon" doors? originally appeared on AutoblogGreen on Mon, 06 Feb 2012 07:46:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Size doesn’t matter – at least, not when it comes to beauty and charm. The mia, a microvan produced in France, is the embodiment of practical and cute wrapped up in a tiny package.

How Much Car Is Enough?

The mia rolls off the line in Cerizay on 14” electric wheels, to the tune of 61” of height, 65” of width, and (depending on the model) either 113” or 126” of length. It weighs just 1,675 lbs. and if you’re in Europe, you can buy it for 23,500 euros (Google says that’s about $31,000 USD today).

The mia isn’t just tiny and cute. As long-term Gas2 readers may remember, the prototype at the Frankfurt Auto Show was purely electrically driven. Of course, all production mias are also 100% battery electric and zero emission.

Mia designer Murat Guenak, head of corporate strategy for mia electric, developed a love of cars that aren’t powered solely by gasoline throughout his career. The question that he asked himself when designing the mia was incredibly simple:

“We kept coming back to the same question. What does a person really need to be mobile in an urban environment?”

Guenak seems to think city dwellers will do well with a range of about 81 miles packed into a frame small enough to fit into nearly any parking space. He also offers the mia L and the mia K, just in case a little more cargo room is in order. Either way, the little mia is definitely more than adequate for most people’s daily needs.

Reduce, Re-use, Recycle

Then there’s the question of materials. Mobility, like so many other things, is inextricably linked to the availability of resources. Edwin Kohl, pharmaceutical entrepreneur and founder of mia electric SAS, is staking his future on the combination of renewable energy and electric cars (as we’ve said before, this is perhaps the greenest and therefore most awesome possible combination). The mia takes eco-friendliness one step farther, according to Kohl:

“I treasure the thoughtful concept of the mia. It’s easily built, constructed like an airplane. We not only use recycled and recyclable sheet metal, but the plastic can be recycled as well.”

Kohl trusts in the talent available in Cerizay as well – the production company Heuliez, which assembles the mia, has 20 years of experience in building electric cars for Peugeot and Citroen.

Whether or not the mia will be able to slip into the hearts of European drivers remains to be seen, but the German distribution company, Smiles AG, has decided that it most definitely will; they’ve set a sales goal of 500 units this year, with the first cars going on sale within this quarter. My question is when do we get an American release?

Questions? Opinions? Let us know in the comments, below.

Source | Image: Oekonews.at.

Tesla’s latest offering regarding the Model S is a video with some great footage and fairly useless commentary.

Filed under: EV/Plug-in, Hybrid

Switzerland-based Catecar extended-range vehicle is tested in Geneva originally appeared on AutoblogGreen on Sat, 04 Feb 2012 16:49:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Electric cars are a symbol of green transportation – no emissions, no reliance on fossil fuels, no noise pollution, even. And then, inevitably, someone raises a hand and points out that EVs really aren’t that green after all, because manufacturing them still requires CO2 emissions and the source of the electricity driving them is coal and nuclear power and totally not clean at all.

Just to be very clear on the matter, let me reassure you that this person is totally full of it.  It’s not like we need a federal study to tell us that the more clean electricity is used the power an electric car, the smaller its tire-track of a carbon foot print is – except apparently somebody does.

Not the Newspapers Again

The German newspaper taz caused quite a stir by reporting just such reservations on the green-ness of electric cars, adding the word “eco-deception” to the mix and citing a study published mid-January by the Institute of Applied Ecology in Freiburg. According to the paper, the Institute said that EVs were not nearly as protective of the environment as a mythical everyone claimed. The Institute itself couldn’t distance itself from the claim fast enough (and this is why newspapers are dangerous and unreliable, but that’s another matter entirely).

The Institute of Applied Ecology’s report of their research, undertaken at the behest of the German Federal Ministry of Environment to evaluate the benefits of the potentially reduced carbon footprint provided by driving electric cars, focused on renewable energy. Federal Minister of the Environment Norbert Roettgen pointed out that not only do EVs have lower emissions while driving, but that the use of additional renewable sources of energy would drive down emissions associated with EVs even more.

Going from Dirty to Renewable

The crux of the matter, in Germany and worldwide, is the source of power for electric cars (and anything else you may use to cart yourself and your family around). Of course the source of electricity for an EV is directly related to its carbon footprint, but the recent re-emergence of the electric vehicle into the popular consciousness of the worldwide consumer base is coupled with an even stronger push toward generating more renewable energy. Even the shipping industry is getting in on it.

A switch from coal or nuclear powered electricity to greener renewable sources (sun, wind, geothermal, to name a few – all of which are the source of some really neat breakthroughs and pieces of new and awesome tech) is already imperative to help protect the environment and reduce the amount of waste generated. When that shift is combined with electric cars running on that green energy, there’s a vision of a really bright possible future.

Change isn’t easy – making a shift to green sources of electricity is hard enough, but adding in a fundamental alteration of how personal transportation works makes many people incredibly nervous. Don’t be – electric cars are super neat in so many ways.

Questions? Opinions? Let us know in the comments below.

Source: Autobild | Image: Wikimedia Commons.

The SolarWorld GT, hailed as the world’s prettiest solar car, is making its way across America right now as part of its attempt to go farther than any solar-powered car has ever gone.

Filed under: EV/Plug-in, Green Culture, Honda, Hyundai, Nissan, Toyota, AutoblogGreen Exclusive, Legislation and Policy

Continue reading Who was for, who was against CARB's ZEV mandate "over-compliance" rule

Who was for, who was against CARB's ZEV mandate "over-compliance" rule originally appeared on AutoblogGreen on Fri, 03 Feb 2012 17:53:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Filed under: EV/Plug-in, MPG, Toyota

Toyota boosts fuel-economy rating for Prius Plug-in to 95 MPGe originally appeared on AutoblogGreen on Fri, 03 Feb 2012 13:53:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

PluginCars.com has done a lot of reporting about direct anti-electric-car venom. EV-Haters, YouTube ranters and politically motivated attackers do their best to arrest the growth of electric car sales—which is forecast to expand from 17,000 units in the US in 2011, to between 60,000 to 100,000 sales this year. But in this age of Internet self-publishing, perhaps the greater threat is from mostly well-intentioned car buffs—trying an electric car on for size for a day or two, rather than living with one as a daily ride throughout the year or speaking to real-world drivers.

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Filed under: EV/Plug-in, Fiat

Italian Environment minister: Hey Fiat, you missed the boat on EVs originally appeared on AutoblogGreen on Fri, 03 Feb 2012 11:50:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Filed under: EV/Plug-in, USA

Continue reading Boulder Electric Vehicle delivers first truck to Precision Plumbing [w/video]

Boulder Electric Vehicle delivers first truck to Precision Plumbing [w/video] originally appeared on AutoblogGreen on Fri, 03 Feb 2012 10:06:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Filed under: EV/Plug-in, Hybrid, North America, Fisker

There has been so much confusion over our sales targets in the media (15,000 was the figure for full global production and sales of all 3 Karma derivatives - sedan, Surf Wagon and Sunset convertible) that we have now moved away from quoting projections.

This is a new car from a new brand in a unique market segment. Therefore, we are not making any predictions on sales figures. We are a new car company, learning as we go and opening up new markets consistently - and one thing that we have learned is that making annual sales projections when you bring a car such as the Karma to the market is unhelpful!

Continue reading Fisker lowering 2012 sales estimate to 10,000 units, expands availability to Canada

Fisker lowering 2012 sales estimate to 10,000 units, expands availability to Canada originally appeared on AutoblogGreen on Thu, 02 Feb 2012 19:33:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

We know where our Democratic President stands of Electric Vehicles (EVs) and alternative energy thanks to President Obama’s State of the Union Address. But where do the remaining Republican challengers stand on such issues? We here at Gas2 decided to find out.

The current state of America is not great. The housing market has not returned, unemployment is high, and the price of good just keeps going up. To top things off 2012 also happens to be a Presidential election year – so that means not a lot of is actually going to get done on the real issues and instead all eyes are going to be on the race.

Currently there are four Republican candidates squaring off against one another for a chance to take on President Obama. The candidates are former Massachusetts Governor Willard Mitt Romney, former Republican Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich, Texas Senator Dr. Ron Paul, and former Republican Senator from Pennsylvania Rick Santorum.

Different people from different background and all with different ideas on many issues; but for the sake of our interests here at Gas2 let’s look at where each candidate stands on alternative fuel use and the growing EV market.

Willard Mitt Romney

On the issue of alternative fuels, Romney gives importance to achieving the targeted goal of American energy independence so that America can free itself from reliance on oil rich countries.  At the same time, energy independence will aid America in becoming an economic and military superpower. Essentially through energy independence in Romney ‘s eyes America can do what it has to do without worrying about fuel or energy related consequences associated with the actions.

“The United States must become energy independent. This does not mean no longer importing or using oil. It means making sure that our nation’s future will always be in our hands. Our decisions and destiny cannot be bound to the whims of oil-producing states…” Romney said.

As for what kinds of alternative fuels Romney as listed as viable for the US, really for Romney just about everything is on the table. Nuclear energy, biodiesel, ethanol, and natural gas are all worth exploring for the Romney Camp. Additionally Romney has suggested exploiting domestic sources of oil such as the Outer Continental Shelf and Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. With the use of alternative fuels Romney believes the nation will also have to invest a lot into research and innovation. The areas that will need heavy investment include fuel technology, power generation and materials science with a focus on clean technology and more efficient power generation.

Mitt Romney is taking the safe road when it comes to his stance on alternative fuels. That safe road is saying that America’s dependency on foreign oil is bad and needs to stop, the solution for Romney is not set in stone, nuclear power or natural gas whatever works. What this does for Romney is not pigeonhole him within the alternative fuel markets. However, it is also not a clear plan.

This scatter shot approach to the alternative fuel issue is not uncommon for the Republican candidates as will soon be shown.

However, where Romney does stand out from the other candidates is on his stance that having America kick its foreign oil addiction will lead to an even stronger military. Romney has repeated time and time again his idea that having the strongest and largest military in the world will act as a deterrent from foreign aggression. This stated mixing of alternative energy and military muscle is a unique stance amongst the Republican candidates and one that Romney believes in.

On the issue of EVs, Romney has raised some eyebrows with comments that he has made. In an interview with The Detroit News, Tesla spokesperson Ricardo Reyes commented, “[It is] unfortunate that Gov. Romney is using Tesla as a political tool and he’s wrong. We’re creating American jobs.”

Reyes was commenting on a piece Romney wrote in which he said,

“Tesla’s next vehicle is expected to list for $57,400. Fisker’s car, already a year behind schedule, will cost $97,000. “We have a history of losses and we expect significant increases in our costs and expenses to result in continuing losses for at least the foreseeable future,” says Tesla’s most recent quarterly filing.

And neither firm has created many jobs. So far, approximately 100 workers are employed by Fisker in Wilmington, Del., while an additional 500 are actually assembling the cars in Finland. Tesla’s record is only slightly better. Even these few jobs may be illusory: studies of Europe’s green job experiments have found that each new green job destroys several other jobs elsewhere in the economy.”

 This is an interesting departure from research approach that Romney has championed for regarding alternative fuel use and energy independence. On one hand Romney is saying that as a nation, America needs to explore all alternative energy options. But on the other hand, Romney is saying that the “European green job experiment” is no good for the United States.

The underlying factor for Romney is not that EVs are bad and that there is no market for them, as some other Republicans have said. For Romney it comes down to money. Romney is a capitalist and a successful one at that. For Romney companies live and die depending on the actions they take. On the American auto industry bailouts Romney said,

“It would have been best not to have had the president and government put their hands on the bankruptcy process … Bailouts are not the answer.”

The same goes for making EVs. Romney does not care that a company like Tesla is making an EV. From a capitalistic standpoint Romney is looking at Tesla and saying go for it, make the EVs and if they do not sell and Tesla goes away so be it – it’s the risk of doing business in the American market. What Romney does not like is the $1 billion USD in federal loans that companies like Tesla and Fisker took to create a few hundred “green jobs”.

Newt Gingrich

“Contrary to popular belief, America has more energy than any nation on earth. All that’s keeping us from becoming energy independent is a lack of political will to do so.” – Newt Gingrich

Gingrich has been in politics a long, time first arriving I Washington DC representing Georgia’s 6th congressional district in 1979. Gingrich is unique amid the other Republican candidates in regard to his alternative energy policies because Gingrich has actually written a book in which he details his plan. The book is titled A Contract with the Earth.

A Contract with the Earth details ways in which Gingrich would address almost every green issue facing America today. Within his book Gingrich comes out strongly in favor of nuclear energy and domestic oil drilling, he also recognizes the need for federal tax incentives that encourage clean energy choices, specifically singling out electric cars and renewable resources. Gingrich digs deep into federal agencies and policy and would replace the EPA with a more economically driven organization called the Environmental Solutions Agency. Gingrich has also written Drill Here, Drill Now, Pay Less: A Handbook for Slashing Gas Prices and Solving Our Energy Crisis.

At one of the latest CNN Republican Debates Gingrich said,

“We ought to have a massive all-sources energy program in the United States designed to, once again, create a surplus of energy here, so we could say to the Europeans pretty cheerfully, that all the various sources of oil we have in the United States, we could literally replace the Iranian oil.”

Gingrich’s approach to green issues combines solutions that the two major parties have put forward in the past. Interestingly, Gingrich’s emphasis on consumer choice, weak government control, and private enterprise reflect a gathering of Republican, Democrat, and even Libertarian proposals; and his “all options on the table” solution is the same solution taken by Romney.

Gingrich, however, is not all talk and thought on issues. Gingrich has put his proposals into action in the past most notably as was one of the sponsors of the Endangered Species Act. In fact, Gingrich record and reputation on the wide range of green issues is, arguably, clearer than any other candidate in the 2012 race — Democrat or Republican.

On the Gingrich website his energy plan is even laid out.  

As for EVs, Gingrich has outlined their positive use in many of his environmentally and energy focused books. While Gingrich has shied away from mentioning the benefits of EVs as of late, his past published works in which he uses EVs as an example of viable clean energy solution speak for themselves.

 Ron Paul

Ron Paul is a Libertarian through and through. As a Libertarian, Paul’s aim is to minimize federal government action in virtually every aspect, and that includes the energy and environmental fields.

Libertarian’s reason that the government has no business controlling or regulating what persons or firms do with their money, because of this system of thought Paul has been labeled by some as a non-green, however such labeling is inaccurate.

While Paul is “still open” on the question of global warming, Paul is not anti environment or alternative energy and fuel, not bay a long shot. Being a Libertarian Paul thinks that each state should pass their own environmental laws not the federal government – take the power away from the federal government and pass it off to each state plain and simple.

Paul supports nuclear, wind, solar, and any other forms of energy production. However, he opposes subsidies to them as he does not believe that the federal government has the right to take money from one person to subsidize the energy desires of another. Thus Paul is anti carbon tax as collected by the federal government. However, if a state put into effect their own carbon tax Paul would be fine with that because this would leave the business being hit with the carbon tax the option of moving to another state that did not have a carbon tax. Liberty.

In the past, Paul has noted that protection of the environment is not a function that the Constitution allows the federal government to perform. He has therefore called for an end to the EPA. To address any possible pollution, Paul has stated that private property rights should function in this aspect as no man has the right to pollute another person’s land, water, or air. He notes that if government regulation of the environment were removed and ill environment effects were addressed on a private property level, then the cost of any pollution would be built into the cost of that particular energy model. The best energy model would then prevail and would be the one that best balances the cost to bring the product to market and the effects it has on the environment.

Yes, it is a bit messy but on the issue of alternative energy Paul summed up his feeling through a post on his website:

“…I do not support providing federal grants to any industry, I do support the tax credits contained in the NAT Gas Act, HR 1380. These credits reduce taxes for the production or purchase of vehicles that run on American-made natural gas. These credits are not subsidies. Of course, we should repeal federal barriers to energy production and reduce taxes on all forms of energy. Therefore, I have also introduced the Affordable Gas Price Act HR 1102 which would remove governmental barriers to offshore drilling, encourage private investment in new refineries and suspend taxes on gasoline when the price at the pump reaches a certain threshold. Lowering taxes to encourage the domestic production of energy and getting government out of the way of the American energy market is not a government giveaway; it is the way it should be in a free country.”

On the issue of the EVs, Paul has not really said anything specific. But by understanding the Libertarian views and playing by the Libertarian rules we can see where his opinion would likely fall: If a company wants to invest money and attract outside investors into building and selling EVs that is fine – but there will be no federal involvement, monetary or otherwise, what so ever.

Rick Santorum

First off, Rick Santorum does not believe in global warming and, as a Senator, voted exclusively against reducing emissions or pollution, including voting against funding of renewable energy, voting to end CAFÉ standards and voted against reducing oil usage 40% by 2025. Santorum was rated a 0% by the League of Conservation Voters. Yikes.

On his campaign website, Santorum said the country needs

“…an all-of-the-above energy policy that uses oil, natural gas, coal, and nuclear energy to power our economy and empower the American worker.”

As with Romney and Gingrich, Santorum is taking the safe (scatter shot) road in regards to alternative energy policy and an energy independent America.

Additionally, Santorum does advocate ending roadblocks to oil exploration and stopping new natural gas regulations.

“We will open up energy in America, whether it’s ANWR, whether its coal mining, whether it’s drilling, we will have a free market of energy production. And we will lead the world and we will have stable, long-term energy prices.”

Santorum has said that he would phase out all energy subsidies and opposed creating incentives for “different forms of energy that the government supports.” Santorum voted against ethanol subsidies while in Congress and in a June 2011 debate in New Hampshire, Santorum said he believes the ethanol industry is mature enough to survive without them.

Santorum also supports offshore and Arctic drilling for oil.

“It is absolutely essential that we have as much domestic supply of oil, that we build the Keystone pipeline, that we create the jobs that — that that would create, and provide oil from domestic sources.

Different from the other Republican candidates, Santorum is a major supporter of coal. For some time Santorum was a consultant, being paid $142,500 from 2010 to August 2011, to Consol Energy one of the largest coal mining companies in the United States.

While Romney has attacked EV manufactures and Gingrich has written books promoting their use, Santorum has been rather mute on the topic. Santorum is, however, a proponent of ethanol use in vehicles, saying that all U.S. vehicles should be required to burn ethanol and other bio fuels in addition to gasoline while speaking to the Iowa Renewable Fuels Association, even though he voted against ethanol subsidies while in office.

Overall the four remaining Republican candidates have different views on EVs – some negative, some positive, and some none at all. However, all of the Republican candidates are for alternative fuel use and American energy independence…which is the same thing that every President since Dwight Eisenhower has said.

If nothing else, it is important to know where the Presidential candidates stand on America’s energy future. If anything will define this nation in the coming years, it will be the looming energy crisis. Whoever is elected President in November needs to have a clear, concise plan, but it is up to voters to figure out who truly has America’s best interests at heart.

Andrew Meggison was born in the state of Maine and educated in Massachusetts. Andrew earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Government and International Relations from Clark University and a Master’s Degree in Political Science from Northeastern University. Being an Eagle Scout, Andrew has a passion for all things environmental. In his free time Andrew enjoys writing, exploring the great outdoors, a good film, and a creative cocktail. You can follow Andrew on Twitter @AndrewMeggison

Filed under: EV/Plug-in, Hybrid, Infiniti, Geneva Motor Show

Infiniti EMERG-E announced as name for Geneva-bound electric concept originally appeared on AutoblogGreen on Thu, 02 Feb 2012 14:09:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Filed under: Etc., EV/Plug-in, Hybrid, Chevrolet

Continue reading Chevy turns to aliens to pitch Volt in Super Bowl ad

Chevy turns to aliens to pitch Volt in Super Bowl ad originally appeared on AutoblogGreen on Thu, 02 Feb 2012 11:54:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Tesla Motors released this teaser image of its Model X ahead of its full reveal on February 9.

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The “Bicycling and Walking in the United States: 2012 Benchmarking Report” was published by the Alliance for Biking and Walking on January 23rd. The report, which was funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the AARP, and Planet Bike ranks the levels of bicycling and walking in every state and 51 of the largest cities in the USA, and outlines the progress and challenges bike and pedestrian advocates have. Overall, the Report shows that bicycling is at least getting more popular as a method of transportation; the number of commuters who bicycle to work increased by 57% from 2000 to 2009.

The Benchmarking Report tells us that the top five cities with the highest levels of cycling and walking are Boston, Washington DC, San Francisco, Seattle, and New York. The top five states for biking and walking are Alaska (surprise!), Vermont, New York, Montana, and Oregon. The safest include Vermont, Nebraska, Alaska, Wyoming, and South Dakota.

Areas for Improvement: 

The biggest area for improvement is in the short trips Americans take. 40% of trips in the United States were shorter than two miles in 2009, and yet an overwhelming 87% of these trips were by car. 27% percent of trips were shorter than 1 mile, and yet Americans chose to use their cars for 62% of these trips.  That is a great area of opportunity for saving money and increasing physical fitness. Back in 2011, Andrew wrote about a study in the scientific journal Environmental Health Perspectives reported that riding a bike and taking public transportation instead taking the car out for a short spin would result in saving about $7 billion annually, as well as 1,100 lives. There is no better, cheaper way to improve our transit systems and health issues than investing in bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure.

Another area for improvement is overall bicycle and pedestrian safety. Cycling and walking are increasingly safe, but still need a lot of work. In 2009, 4,092 pedestrians and 630 cyclists were killed in traffic accidents, down from 4892 pedestrians and 786 bicyclists in 2005. It’s a reduction, but not good enough.

Wouldn’t it have been nice if our legislators cared enough about bicyclists and pedestrians to research or at least read reports like this one before writing their poor piece of transportation legislation (aka the American Energy & Infrastructure Jobs Act)? The act eliminates funding for biking and pedestrians, discretionary transit programs, including programs like Safe Routes to School, a proven project that has helped reduce fatalities in children throughout our country.

Maybe the seniors will get out and vote against Rep. John Mica and other supporters of this bill in outrage once they see the figures in the report. Seniors account for the highest percentage of fatalities while walking and bicycling, which is disproportionate to how often they walk and bike. For example, adults over 65 make up 10% of walking trips, yet comprise 19% of pedestrian fatalities, and this age group accounts for 6% of bicycling trips, yet 10% of bicyclist fatalities.

Click here to view rankings of the 50 states and 51 largest U.S. cities.

Source: Fast Coexist  | Image: Miami Cycling Club

Filed under: EV/Plug-in, Hybrid, BMW

BMW i3 caught winter testing again originally appeared on AutoblogGreen on Thu, 02 Feb 2012 10:02:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Infiniti's rear-wheel-drive two-seat Emerg-e concept will make its worldwide debut at the 2012 Geneva Motor Show in March.

Infiniti has officially named its extended-range electric sports car the Emerg-e. Infiniti's rear-wheel-drive two-seater will make its worldwide debut at the 2012 Geneva Motor Show in March. According to Infiniti, the Emerg-e will be the automaker's first-ever mid-engined vehicle.

Infiniti choose a mid-engined setup to optimize the Emerg-e's handling.

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Bob Lutz defends the Chevy Volt after the recent spread of misinformation.

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This is the Nissan Leaf NISMO RC. You can sum it up in four sentences: It is tiny. It is electric. It corners like the blazes and is not street-legal. And you cannot have it.

Disappointing, right? Not really. For one thing, the Nissan Leaf RC is a prototype, which means it’s far from perfect and not fit for public consumption. For another, it’s not very fast. Sixty mph comes up in 6.8 seconds, or roughly about as much time as it takes the average Porsche to reach the next time zone. Top speed is a whopping 93 mph. You can hit that riding a shopping cart downhill, or possibly while driving a 1980s Hyundai, which is essentially the same thing.

Still, this thing is cool. Pundits have mocked the RC for its lack of speed and single-minded focus — Nissan wanted to create a Leaf-powered track car, logic and reason aside, and it did just that — but there’s something neat at the RC’s core. How can you not dig a car that looks like this?

I drove the RC, for two laps, in the dark, on a race track in Dubai. This is just as ridiculous as it sounds.

The RC was in the Middle East as part of an exhibition at the 24 Hours of Dubai endurance race. I was there to test the Nissan Juke-R (GT-R-powered Nissan Juke, accelerates like a supercar, corners like a barstool on casters) for someone that isn’t Wired.com. The RC just happened to be available during a nighttime media program. Because I am not an idiot, I hopped in.

There are eight Leaf RCs on the planet, each hand-built with a showroom stock drivetrain. The ordinary Nissan Leaf’s 107 horsepower AC synchronous motor, 24 kilowatt-hour lithium-ion battery and one-speed reduction gearbox reside in a carbon fiber unibody with what Nissan says is 50:50 weight distribution. Charging time is identical to that of a standard Leaf (seven hours at 220 volts), though a quick-charge setup allows engineers to get the pack to 80 percent in 30 minutes. The motor drives the rear wheels, not the front as in the production Leaf, and A-arm suspension replaces the stock multilink-and-strut setup. Ground clearance drops from 6.3 to 2.4 inches. Curb weight also shrinks, from 3,366 to 2,058 pounds.

On the surface, the RC is a race car. It looks, smells and feels like a race car. Two Bride shell-type racing seats occupy the relatively spacious cockpit, and four-point harnesses keep you in place. A tiny, suede-covered steering wheel sits in front of an unpainted carbon-fiber dash. Predictably, the difference comes in the start-up procedure: There is no drama, no explosion of noise, just the toggling of a few switches and the awakening of a dash-mounted LCD screen displaying motor stats and other useful information.

So there you are, tooling down the track in your priceless, one-of-eight, electric Nissan track missile. What goes through your head? Noise, mostly. The engine whines, wind rushes over the roof and the 18-inch tires pelt the RC’s uninsulated belly with rocks. You can talk with a passenger and hear yourself speak, but not easily.

Above all, you never forget you’re in an electric car. The motor’s torque comes immediately from a standstill but is less noticeable at speed; with just over 100 horses moving just over 2000 pounds, you spend a lot of time with your right foot mashed to the floor, waiting for speed. (Ever been on a Greyhound bus when it merges onto the highway? Remember that gentle, relentless acceleration, with no surge, no shove in the back? It’s like that, but without the smelly weird guy in the seat next to you.) Heat fills the cockpit. There is no power steering, but you don’t need it. The RC’s unassisted rack-and-pinion setup is linear, light, and doesn’t ask to be horsed around. Unboosted brakes offer a rock-solid pedal more sensitive to pressure than travel. All told, you could drive this thing with your fingertips and toes.

So that’s what you do. The RC’s relative lack of power and race-car-like grip means you spend much of your time attempting to preserve momentum—tiny steering angles here, the least possible amount of braking there, and so forth. Everything you do is measured in millimeters of movement, and you pay for your mistakes with an agonizingly long climb back up to speed. It’s fun, if occasionally frustrating.

But that’s what it’s like to drive any relatively slow car on a track. The really interesting part is how the powertrain impacts things. Thanks to the RC’s hefty battery pack, the Leaf carries a disproportionate amount of its mass low in the chassis. Few track cars of this size are this heavy and offer this kind of weight distribution; stiff springs and dampers are used to compensate, and you get the sense that Nissan’s engineers aren’t thrilled with the resulting balance. Approaching the RC’s grip limits is like threading a needle: The Leaf generally wants to understeer, sliding its front tires, but the window between that and a loss of rear traction is relatively small. When the back end slides, it happens quickly, and you don’t have much power with which to collect it. I’ve driven purpose-built racing thoroughbreds that are more forgiving.

Nissan says it built the Leaf RC for exhibitions and to prove the worthiness and adaptability of the Leaf powertrain. This makes sense. The RC isn’t currently legal in any sanctioned racing series, and the battery is only good for 20 to 40 minutes of driving. (Actual time depends upon your talent and speed.) You can’t buy one, and even if you could, you wouldn’t be able to do much with it.

But that’s the neat part. The RC exists as a tangible possibility, a first step toward a practical, production-worthy electric track car. It’s a glimpse at one of the cooler parts of our automotive future, and for that, we’re thankful.

Photos: Nissan. Sam drove the car at night, and obviously these were shot during the day.

We don’t have any video from the event in Dubai, but here’s some on-board footage of test driver Tsugio Matsuda shaking down the Leaf RC at Sodegaura Forest Raceway on June 6. Video: Nissan

Filed under: Etc., EV/Plug-in, Green Culture, Nissan

Nissan Leaf rear-ends school bus in Oregon; results in minor injuries but no fire originally appeared on AutoblogGreen on Wed, 01 Feb 2012 19:31:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Filed under: EV/Plug-in, Better Place

Better Place may try an IPO within two years originally appeared on AutoblogGreen on Wed, 01 Feb 2012 18:14:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Filed under: EV/Plug-in, Hybrid, Chevrolet, Nissan

Continue reading Chevy Volt sales drop to 603, Nissan moves 676 Leafs in January

Chevy Volt sales drop to 603, Nissan moves 676 Leafs in January originally appeared on AutoblogGreen on Wed, 01 Feb 2012 13:33:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

The Nissan LEAF outsold the Chevy Volt by 73 units in January 2012.

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According to Toyota Division Group vice-president, Bob Carter, the 2012 Prius Plug-in returns 95 miles per gallon equivalent (MPGe) in electric-only mode and 50 miles per gallon in hybrid mode.

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