The Chinese auto industry will make development and production of electric and hybrid vehicles its top priority over the next five years, according to its latest Five-year Plan. By 2015, China aims to sell 1 million “new-energy” automobiles, according to a report in People’s Daily. (more…)

At the Paris Motor Show today, electric cars are everywhere.

Chevrolet is showing off the Volt, its plug-in hybrid due in U.S. showrooms this December. (Motown music blared as a Chevy rep told me all about the car’s performance.) Nissan is displaying the Leaf, its all-electric sedan scheduled to roll (more…)

The Netherlands has quite a bit to contribute in the area of green transportation. Since 2001, for example, the Delft University of Technology has been designing solar powered race cars known as the Nuna, the first of which won the 2001 World Solar Challenge race in Australia. Another heavy hitter for green transportation, Netherlands based Electric (more…)

As electric cars continue to become a prominent method of alternative transportation, companies are continuing to find new ways to make their vehicles more efficient and longer lasting. Recently, Ford has joined the ranks of other electric car manufacturers who are trying to tackle the issue of a loss of charging power in batteries when the temperature outside the (more…)

Decades ago the only type of car was the internal combustion (gasoline)type. Other varieties have arrived such as Hybrid and electric. With the new choices are other decisions such as which one reduces most the carbon footprint (or is the most green)and which one is the most cost effective. No more is “the miles per gallon” a standard that can be applied across the (more…)

News from the Northern Hemisphere is grim: A record heat wave in Russia has led to fires that covering a thousand square miles and enveloped Moscow in smoke. Meanwhile, a chunk of ice four times the size of Manhattan broke off of Greenland. Global warming? Uh, just maybe. But are they related? (more…)

Shai Agassi is not merely a prophet for the electric car industry. When the CEO and founder of Better Place describes the development of an ecosystem for the EV, he turns skeptics into believers.

Listening to Mr. Agassi speak in Santa Clara at an event sponsored by The Churchill Club, I was struck by his passion – his belief (more…)

Recently my colleague John Voelcker over at Green Car Reports wrote about why he and some fancy report thought that people will buy hybrid electric cars if more car companies offer electric cars and prices come down. Only then will we see that it’s not about being “seen.” Instead, it’s about trying to do the right thing, which is moving our transportation sector to an all-electric model.

People who buy new technology do that because they are early adopters. However, I can tell you that most of the electric cars that come out (except for the Tesla) have not been the sexiest. Does anyone remember the first generation Toyota Prius or the THINK City in 2001?

However, here is the thing: (more…)

The Oil Spill’s Unlikely Victim: As oil from the Deepwater Horizon spill continued to gush into the Gulf of Mexico, it tarred the feathers of an endangered creature: the climate bill. Sens. John Kerry and Joe Lieberman introduced a retooled American Power Act on Wednesday to little fanfare. Perhaps that’s because the media’s klieg lights were already divided between the grilling of oil executives on Capitol Hill or the so-far hapless efforts to plug the leak. Or maybe it’s because the two senators took to the dais without their erstwhile Republican ally, Lindsey Graham. Nevertheless, it was ironic to see a solution to our fossil-fuel addiction pushed to the side because of a fossil-fuel disaster. Must we cap the gusher before we get a cap on CO2?

More Electric Cars Roll to the Starting Line: You’ve heard that the Nissan Leaf and the Chevy Volt are on the way, but how about the Think and the Wheego? Wheego, a maker of electric putt-putt vehicles based in Atlanta, hopes that 200 highway-ready copies of its Whip Life will roll off the assembly line by August, months ahead of the well-publicized launch of the Leaf. Meanwhile, the Norwegian carmaker Think raised $40 million this week and plans to start assembly of the tiny Think City in Elkhart, Indiana in early 2011.

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Are Offshore Oil Rigs a Threatened Species? Is the Deepwater Horizon spill the beginning of the end for offshore oil drilling, or just another Exxon Valdez? Today, as BP attempted to place a 100-ton cap over the broken well gushing under the Gulf of Mexico, it was uncertain if they’d be able to stanch the spreading damage at sea or in Washington, D.C.

The spill has muddied the prospects for a climate bill as one of its pillars — a new round of offshore oil drilling — founders in unstable political soil, as Mackinnon Lawrence reports. Meanwhile, environmental groups are hustling to make the case, as in this Sierra Club video, that offshore oil is dirty and unsafe. Perhaps it’s not only brown pelicans and terns who will have trouble flying after all this is over, and the black tide might yet turn against its maker.

Efficiency Experts To America: Stop Dreamin’ and Pick Up Yer Caulkin’ Gun. At a symposium of the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy — what, you missed it? — experts concluded that weatherstripping beats windfarms as the fastest way to save the US economy, and released some numbers to prove it. First, America is not as efficient as it thinks: the domestic economy is only 13 percent efficient, compared to 20 percent efficiency in Japan and some European countries. We were left pondering if it’s more efficient, percentage-wise, to order a veggie pizza from Papa John’s or gnaw on a frozen one from Trader Joe’s. (more…)