While at Hybridfest in Madison, Wisc., I had the chance to speak with Wisconsin Public Power, a regional power company serving 49 customer-owned electric utilities. WPPI is very involved in clean, renewable energy, converting a hybrid Prius to a PHEV, among other projects.

Pat Cadam is owner of Pat’s Garage, an independent auto repair shop located in San Francisco’s SOMA district. He and his mechanics work primarily on hybrids like the Toyota Prius and Honda Insight. He’s also one of the few “green” auto repair shops in the Bay ...

Vectrix USA unveiled their zero-emissions vehicle (ZEV) in San Francisco at the Presidio last week. I had the opportunity to ride it with Jeff Morrill, Vectrix marketing director, and it was a lot of fun! (I want one!) At $11k, I’ll have to wait, although the State of California (where ...

“Plug In. Charge up. Drive On.” That’s the slogan of Carl Lawrence and his team at Hybrids Plus, a Boulder, Colo.-based group dedicated to converting Hybrid Electric Vehicles into Plug In Hybrid Electric Vehicles and minimizing the impact of transportation on the environment. In September 2006, they launched their ...

As host of The Next Gear, I get to meet people who are trying to bring about postitive changes in the automotive industry. Many of the people I meet are entrepreneurs whose inventions have the potential to change the world, and many of these people are using their own money, ...

Stephen Frears may not be entirely comfortable as an Oscar nominee. Lucy Gray remembers a conversation with him — back in 1985 — when he was focused on keeping his production costs down and his financial expectations about the same. Since then, things have changed a little, but a ...

So how much does it cost to convert a Prius into a PHEV? I spoke with Greg Hanssen, partner in Monrovia, Calif.’s EnergyCS and president of its offshoot, EDrive Systems, to find out. Along with his company, he has done about 12 conversions for state, government, ...

Solar Electrical Systems is providing ways of getting us off the power grid and helping us become energy independent through residential, municipal, agricultural and commercial solar power systems. While at the Alternative Car & Transportation Expo in Santa Monica, Calif., I spoke with Matt Ferrari about the company ...

LOS ANGELES, November 13, 2006, (PodTech News)–It’s no myth, the 100 mpg car exists — the rub is, they’re built in your neighbor’s garage, not a giant production plant. One company at the forefront of the technology is the California Cars Initiative, CalCars, a group of entrepreneurs, environmentalists, engineers ...

In a conversation with Guy Kawasaki about Small is the New Big, Seth Godin compares the role of storytelling and customer dialogue in marketing.

A great example of story telling and customer dialogue is Tesla Motors’s blog entry by Elon Musk, eBay co-founder, CEO of SpaceX, and Tesla ...