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150 MPG with AFS Trinity’s PHEV Technology

Matt Kelly — Fri, 25 Jan 2008 00:26:35 +0000

Prior to the North American International Auto Show (NAIAS), one news story getting a lot of traction was the conversion of a Saturn Hybrid into a Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicle (PHEV) capable of 150 miles per gallon. So I was quite excited to speak with Don Bender, chief technology officer for AFS Trinity, the company behind the conversion, about their soon-to-be patented Extreme Hybrid drivetrain.

Tags: AFS Trinity, Don Bender, Extreme Hybrid, hybrid, NAIAS, North American International Auto Show, PHEV, Saturn

GM’s Chairman Rick Wagner Meets with Bloggers at NAIAS

Matt Kelly — Sat, 19 Jan 2008 00:28:06 +0000

In an hour sit down with online journalists during the North American International Auto Show (NAIAS), GM’s Chairman Rick Wagner answered questions on several topics from the joint partnership announcement the day before with Coskata, to Tata Motor’s Nano, recently unveiled for the Indian auto market. Participating int he breakfast meeting were journalists including (but not limited to) Brian Dooley at HummerGuy.net, Lyle Dennis of GM-Volt.com, Joe LaMuraglia - Gaywheels.com, Paul Stamatiou, Gear Diary’s David Goodspeed, Hybridcarblog’s Chad Snyder, Hank Green of Ecogeek.org, Joel Williams of Lifegoggles.com, Alphamom’s Isabel Kallman, Autowriter Matthew Keegan, Philippe Daix of TopSpeed.com, Clayton Cornell of Green Options, and Autopia’s Marty Jerome.

Tags: Coskata, GM, NAIAS, Nano, North American International Auto Show, Rick Wagoner, Tata Motors

GM’s Bob Lutz Holds Court at NAIAS

Matt Kelly — Tue, 15 Jan 2008 00:59:54 +0000

During the North American International Auto Show, (NAIAS) GM’s Vice Chairman Bob Lutz joined a roundtable discussion with a group of online journalists including (but not limited to) Brian Dooley at HummerGuy.net, Lyle Dennis of GM-Volt.com, Joe LaMuraglia-Gaywheels.com, Vincent Nguyen at Slashgear.com, Paul Stamatiou, Gear Diary’s David Goodspeed, Hybridcarblog’s Chad Snyder, Hank Green of Ecogeek.org, Joel Williams of Lifegoggles.com, Alphamom’s Isabel Kallman, Autowriter Matthew Keegan and Autopia’s Marty Jerome.

LA Auto Show: Chrysler’s Frank Klegon

Matt Kelly — Fri, 30 Nov 2007 01:45:07 +0000

After the Chrysler LA Auto Show, I spoke with Frank Klegon, Chrysler’s executive vice president, product development about the company’s unveiling of their new hybrid SUV’s.

Tags: Chrysler, LA Auto Show, Frank Klegon

LA Auto Show: GM’s Dave Barthmuss

editor — Thu, 29 Nov 2007 01:37:47 +0000

After Chevy’s hybrid Tahoe SUV won Green Car of the Year at the LA Auto Show, I spoke with Dave Barthmuss, group manager of GM’s western regional environment and energy communications team about the win.

Tags: Chevy, hybrid, Green Car of the Year, LA Auto Show, GM

LA Auto Show: Chrysler Press Conference

Matt Kelly — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 23:55:23 +0000

Frank Klegon, Chrysler executive vice president, product development, took to the stage during the Chrysler Press Conference at the LA Auto Show to present the company’s entry into the mid-sized cross-over market, the Dodge Journey, as well as two new hybrid’s, the Dodge Durango Hemi and Chrysler Aspen hybrids.

Tags: Frank Klegon, Chrysler, Chrysler, LA Auto Show, Dodge Journey, Dodge, Chrysler Aspen, hybrids

LA Auto Show: GM Press Conference

Matt Kelly — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 02:50:49 +0000

During the LA Auto Show, I attended the GM Press Conference, where Vice Chairman of Product Development Bob Lutz and Chevrolet GM Ed Peper, introduced the company’s lineup of gas-friendly to gas-free vehicles, including the Chevy Malibu hybrid, the all new Chevy Silverado hybrid, Chevy Tahoe hybrid, and of ourse, the Chevy Volt.

Tags: LA Auto Show, Bob Lutz, Chevrolet, Ed Peper, Chevy Malibu hybrid, Chevy Silverado hybrid, Chevy Tahoe hybrid, Chevy Volt

LA Auto Show: Green Car of the Year

Matt Kelly — Sat, 17 Nov 2007 06:37:47 +0000

During the 2007 LA Auto Show, Green Car Journal announced the winner of it’s 2008 Green Car of the Year award. The contenders were the new Chevy Malibu hybrid, Saturn Aura hybrid, Mazda Tribute hybrid, Nissan Altima hybrid and Chevy Tahoe hybrid. The winner? Watch and find out!

Tags: LA Auto Show, Green Car Journal, 2008 Green Car of the Year, Chevy Malibu hybrid, Saturn Aura hybrid, Mazda Tribute hybrid, Nissan Altima hybrid, Chevy Tahoe hybrid

Photowalking tour of Stanford University

Robert Scoble — Sat, 10 Nov 2007 06:58:10 +0000

This is a real treat. Stanford University’s Ian Hsu setup a tour for a fairly large group of photographers. We met Patience Young, who gave us a tour of the Rodin Statue Garden, Bernard Barryte who told us a story about the Burghers of Calais, and Gabe Hoffman and the rest of the hybrid systems lab crew who showed us their quadrotor helicopters. Add in Thomas Hawk and tons of other cool photographers who joined us for the tour and you’ll not just get a great tour of Stanford University from a unique perspective but you’ll learn some photography tips from Thomas as well.

Special thanks go to our photowalkers who contributed their photos to this video:

Thomas Hawk
Robert Scoble
Chris Collins
Jeremy Franklin
Josh Thompson
Jeff Henderson
Jigar Champaneria
David Newman
Min Liu
Matt Roe
Dennis Goedegebuure
“Jadient” on Flickr

If I left anyone out, please accept my sincerest apology.

Tags: Stanford University, Ian Hsu, Patience Young, Rodin Statue Garden, Bernard Barryte, Burghers of Calais, Gabe Hoffman, quadrotor, Thomas Hawk, photographers, photography, photowalkers, Chris Collins, Jeremy Franklin, Josh Thompson, Jeff Henderson, Jigar Champaneria, David Newman, Min Liu, Matt Roe, Dennis Goedegebuure, Jadient, Flickr

Ed Begley Jr. on Izip

Matt Kelly — Wed, 24 Oct 2007 00:45:03 +0000

Actor and activist Ed Begley, Jr. has been an ardent advocate for the environment for nearly 40 years, long before it was politically correct. During the Alt Car Expo in Santa Monica, I spoke with him about his passion and committment to green living, as well as his role as company spokesman for Izip, a Chatsworth, Calif., company that maufactures and sells a line of hybrid electric bikes and scooters for “clean and green” personal transportation.

Tags: Ed Begley, Jr., Alt Car Expo, Santa Monica, Izip, Chatsworth, hybrid electric bikes, clean and green

Meet the STARMAC robotic helicopter at Stanford

Robert Scoble — Tue, 16 Oct 2007 05:55:53 +0000

During our recent photowalking, Stanford University rolled out its STARMAC team (Stanford Testbed of Autonomous Rotorcraft for Multi-Agent Control). These are quadrotor helicopters that can fly remotely without much human assistance. Really cool research project that you’ll want to check out. Anyway, here you meet the team: Gabe Hoffmann, Ph.D. candidate, Aeronautics and Astronautics; Haomiao “H” Huang, Ph.D. candidate; Aeronautics and Astronautics; Steve Waslander, post doctoral scholar, Aeronautics and Astronautics; Vijay Pradeep, M.S. student, Mechanical Engineering and Mike Vitus, Ph.D. candidate, Aeronautics and Astronautics. They fly it around and explain what it is. By the way, in the video they said it costs $10,000 to build one of these. The team did more research and found out that you could build one for about $3,000 now.

Tags: STARMAC, quadrotor, Gabe Hoffmann, Haomiao “H” Huang, Steve Waslander, Vijay Pradeep, Mike Vitus

GME Unveils Opel Flextreme

Matt Kelly — Wed, 19 Sep 2007 01:07:31 +0000

During the Frankfurt Auto Show in Frankfurt, Germany, we had the chance to be on-hand for the unveiling of GM Europe’s Opel Flextreme hybrid concept, the European version of the Chevy Volt. The concept uses the monocab design popular in Europe and comes with a loading bay perfect for two Segways. The series hybrid electric vehicle can be plugged in and charged to yield a 40-mile range and uses a 1.3L four cylinder diesel motor to charge the lithium ion battery pack.

Tags: Frankfurt Auto Show, hybrid, Chevy Volt

Bill Robbins at Hybridfest

Matt Kelly — Thu, 13 Sep 2007 12:30:11 +0000

Our final story from Hybridfest, in Madison, Wisc., features event organizer Bill Robbins.

Tags: Hybridfest, Bill Robbins

Feeling Fuelish

Matt Kelly — Tue, 11 Sep 2007 12:30:55 +0000

Katie Gerrigan’s documentary film, Feeling Fuelish?, highlights her trip from L.A. to Chicago, via Route 66, in a Toyota Prius. I spoke with her at Hybridfestin Madison, Wisc.

Tags: Katie Gerrigan, Feeling Fuelish?, Route 66, Toyota Prius, Hybridfest

WPPI

Matt Kelly — Thu, 06 Sep 2007 21:25:39 +0000

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.

Tags: Hybridfest, Wisconsin Public Power, renewable energy, Prius, PHEV

Seagate announces hybrid drive for laptops

Michael Johnson — Thu, 06 Sep 2007 04:00:28 +0000

In this podcast, Marc Jourlait, Seagate’s VP of Global Marketing, talks with PodTech’s Michael Johnson about hybrid hard drives, a combination of Flash and hard drives with new features like faster startup time, increased battery life for laptops, and more. Jourlait says that currently, Windows Vista is the only OS able to take advantage of the hybrid drive’s special capabilities, through Vista’s ReadyDrive technology. Seagate’s current Hybrid Drive offering is the Momentus 5400 PSD. This is a Seagate podcast.

Tags: Marc Jourlait, Seagate, hybrid hard drives, ReadyDrive, Momentus

Full Spectrum Solar

Matt Kelly — Wed, 05 Sep 2007 12:30:51 +0000

Full Spectrum Solar is a local, independent leader in solar energy installations in Madison, Wisc. The brainchild of brothers Burke and Marc O’Neal, Full Spectrum has installed over one hundred solar energy systems, including the largest grid-connected battery-backup and residential photovoltaic systems in Wisconsin. During Hybridfest, I spoke with Ross Reykdal about the company.

Tags: Full Spectrum Solar, solar energy, photovoltaic, Hybridfest, Ross Reykdal

Well-to-Wheels Emissions for Motor Vehicles

Matt Kelly — Tue, 04 Sep 2007 22:20:34 +0000

During Hybridfest in Madison, Wisc., Dr. Chris Damm gave a talk on “Well-to-Wheel Emissions from Motor Vehicles.”

Photo Credit: Michael Pereckas, via Flickr/Creative Commons

Tags: Hybridfest, Chris Damm

San Francisco’s Green Garage

Matt Kelly — Fri, 31 Aug 2007 12:30:04 +0000

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 Area. Not only that, but Pat and his team are part of the A123 Systems Hymotion team, doing all the conversions of hybrids to plug in electric vehicles, for companies like Google.org, as part of their ReChargeIT initiative, (our coverage of the story is here) Wisconsin Public Power, and others.

Tags: Pat Cadam, Pat’s Garage, ReChargeIT

The Big Yellow Bus Goes Green

Matt Kelly — Thu, 30 Aug 2007 12:30:53 +0000

If one man could be credited with bringing the first plug-in hybrid electric school bus to California, it would be Ralph Knight. As transportation director for the Napa Valley Unified School District, Ralph’s tireless four-year effort paid off with the delivery of the first “green” yellow bus, part of a nationwide initiative led by the non-profit corporation, Advanced Energy, out of Raleigh, N.C. The electric vehicle, or EV, will double fuel efficiency and reduce harmful emissions by up to 90 percent. (The school district’s bus fleet runs completey on alternative fuels — the rest of their fleet is powered by CNG!) Thanks Ralph!

Tags: hybrid, electric school bus, Ralph Knight, Advanced Energy

California’s New Hybrid School Bus

Matt Kelly — Wed, 29 Aug 2007 20:52:54 +0000

There are more than 500,000 yellow school buses in the U.S. Those buses, on average, get between 7 and 8 miles per gallon. Imagine if those buses were hybrid buses, capable of a 40-percent increase in fuel efficiency and a 90 percent reduction in particulate matter. Here in California, one community is doing just that. The Napa Valley Unified School District just took delivery of the first plug-in electric diesel hybrid school bus in the nation. It took a lot of collaboration to see this project through, including the efforts of the Bay Area Air Quality Management District, PG&E, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Advanced Energy, IC Corporation and others.

Tags: school buses, hybrid buses, fuel efficiency

Dr. David Travis at Hybridfest

Matt Kelly — Fri, 24 Aug 2007 12:00:19 +0000

Have you ever looked up and watched a jet high in the sky leaving a long contrail? Have you also wondered what effect that contrail might have on global warming and our environment? Dr. David Travis, from the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, has, and during Hybridfest in Madison, Wisc., he gave a talk entitled “Climate Change: Indications of Global Warming & Threats from Aviation.”

Tags: global warming, David Travis, Hybridfest

Sherry Boschert at Hybridfest

Matt Kelly — Wed, 22 Aug 2007 12:30:42 +0000

During Hybridfest in Madison, Wisc., Sherry Boschert, author of Plug-in Hybrids, The Cars That Will Re-Charge America, gave a talk entitled, “Drive with the Wind, Run with the Sun.”

Tags: Hybridfest, Sherry Boschert, Plug-in Hybrids

RIDE DRIVE: Kurrent

Matt Kelly — Tue, 21 Aug 2007 12:30:49 +0000

At Hybridfest in Madison, Wisc., I finally got the chance to ride in the Kurrent, the LSV from American Electric. A NEV with top speeds of 25 mph, the Kurrent costs .02 cents per mile to operate and is being distributed throughout Wisconsin by Tim Thompson and his company, Green Autos.

Tags: Hybridfest, Kurrent, LSV, American Electric, NEV, Tim Thompson, Green Autos

UW’s Challenge X Team

Matt Kelly — Sat, 11 Aug 2007 20:08:04 +0000

At Hybridfest in Madison, Wisc., the University of Wisconsin had their Challenge X team present. The team placed 2nd in the competition for the last 2 years with its diesel electric propulsion system.

Tags: Hybridfest, Challenge X, diesel, electric propulsion