President Obama travelled to Detroit today to tout the success of the auto bailouts and federal stimulus program in reviving the American automotive industry. At General Motors's Hamtramck facility, Obama told workers that the $62 billion dollars the government spent to keep Chrysler and GM in business had saved 1.1 million jobs, and resulted in the strongest year of hiring that the industry has seen since 1999.

The speech comes one day after the administration released a new interactive map detailing the investments that have been made in new car and battery factories across the country and the resulting jobs created at each plant. The graphic shows particularly strong growth in Indiana and Michigan, which were two of the states hardest hit by the automotive crisis. Most of new job sites will produce green vehicles and components, with grants going to lithium ion battery, truck and bus hybridization, and electric vehicle factories. A handful of other projects include fuel cell research and manufacturing, biofuels, and natural gas and propane vehicle development.

The White House has released a new interactive map detailing investments that have been made in new car and battery factories across the country.

According to information provided by the administration, 55,000 new automotive jobs have been created in the last year, with more on their way in the near future as a series of new plug-in cars hit the market and carmakers add workers to help produce more next-generation, fuel-efficient vehicles.

Department of Energy loans have been awarded to new production facilities for the Nissan LEAF, THINK!, Fisker, and a $465 million renovation of the old NUMMI plant in California, which will someday produce the Tesla Model S electric sedan. The stimulus bill also provides grants to 30 battery and component factories across 19 states. By 2015, the White House says that the U.S. will have the capacity to build 500,000 electric vehicles per year, with 40 percent of the world's lithium ion battery production occurring domestically as well.

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Ever since the surprise debut of the Porsche 918 Spyder at the Geneva Auto Show this year, many of us have been salivating at the prospects of its eventual production… and for good reason. With a 0-60 time of around 3 seconds, a lithium-ion battery that can take the car 16 miles on battery power alone, a maximum fuel efficiency of about 78 mpg, and a combined 718 horsepower, this plug-in hybrid supercar seems to have it all.

Porsche has said in the past that all they needed was 1,000 firm orders to before they’d start production, and as of this week they have more than 2,000 non-binding submissions of interest. Yesterday Porsche’s Supervisory Board reportedly approved the vehicle for production as a way to show Porsche’s commitment to next generation vehicles and support the German economy.

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The workhorse of taxi fleets across the U.S. is the Ford Crown Victoria. Also popular as a cop car, the Crown Vic is known for its body-on-frame design (easy to repair) and impressive cargo and interior space. One area it does not excel in is gas mileage, as the big V8 engine aren’t all that efficient to begin with. Task them with the stop-and-go nature of city driving, and gas mileage plummets.

New York City has been trying for several years to force taxi owners to switch to hybrids. A recent ruling by a Federal judge backed up an earlier ruling  that barred the city from mandating hybrid taxis.

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California prides itself as being a green mecca, inviting inventions and high technology and grooming early adopters with special HOV lane access and tax credits on alternative fuel vehicles. Well, mostly. It seems like California has soured on hybrids in HOV lanes, recently revoking the Prius’s access to this less-traveled road.

At least the Prius was allowed in for a time though. In a rather shocking turn, California has not only denied the Chevy Volt access to the HOV lane, it also won’t get any state tax credits. Zing!

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I haven’t quite made my mind up on the Volt. I like a lot of things about the Chevy super-eco-car, like its many standard features, emphasis on technology, and the fact that it can be an every day car. I don’t like the $41,000 starting price (which comes down to $33,500 after Federal tax credits… still pretty expensive).

Know what else I don’t like about the Chevy Volt? Premium fuel only. Seriously GM?

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By Larry E. Hall

Chevrolet’s Cruze is, well, Cruisin’. Since its launch in Europe in the spring of 2009, Chevy’s first global compact car has racked up a total of 270,000 sales in more than 60 countries. Add another 70,000 sales with versions from Holden in Australia and Daewoo in South Korea.

The Chevy Cruze Eco and Ford Fiesta could be leading the way to economical fuel economy.

U.S. dealerships will begin sales in September and all models will be produced in Lordstown, Ohio. The Chevy Cruze will be one of the few compact cars built in the U.S. for the 2011 model year.

Pricing starts at $16,995 for the LS model with a long list of standard safety features, including 10 air bags, electronic stability control with rollover sensing, traction control and anti-lock brakes.

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The Porsche Panamera caused quite an uproar when the German auto manufacturer first unveiled it a few years ago. A four door Porsche? Madness! Worse than a Porsche SUV! Still, after the car was a hit with many reviewers, and pitchfork-armed Porsche mobs settled done and enjoyed the car for what it is; an overpriced, fast, four-door sedan.

Now word has come down that Porsche is planning to make the Panamera into a hybrid. Grab your pitchforks!

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When President Obama came into office, he brought with him promises for new alternative energy vehicles including EV’s. He wants 1 million plug-in hybrid cars on the road by 2015, a goal easily achievable. Additionally, the Obama administration threw billions of dollars at electric vehicle and other alternative energy startups. But has the spigot been turned off?

Not quite. A new energy bill making the rounds in Congress would allocate $4 billion for natural gas vehicles… and just $400 million for EV’s. Has the tide turned against electric cars yet again?

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After teasing us for weeks, Ford has finally unveiled the 2011 Ford Explorer. The vanguard of the gas-guzzling SUV movement has been reimagined and redesigned as a vehicle that promotes fuel economy and the ability to handle a veritable boatload of passengers. It comes with two engines, a standard V6 and the pricier 4-cylinder EcoBoost engine, a new “terrain management system”, and a host of high-tech features on the interior.

I’ve had a few days to let the deluge of information on the new Explorer sink in, but there is still one nagging question in my mind; is this a crossover, or an SUV?

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By Larry E. Hall

Volkswagen Touareg Hybrid

Volkswagen, along with other European auto companies, has long proclaimed diesels as a better green strategy than hybridization. True, diesels are efficient and practical, but in the U.S., they have a reputation of being noisy and smelly. VW has worked hard to overcome that image with cars like the Jetta TDI but now are apparently changing direction (although they still like diesels).

During a press conference last week at its Electronics Research Lab in Palo Alto, California, Volkswagen chairman Dr. Martin Winterkorn repeated the company's electrified slogan: “In the future, the heart of Volkswagen will also beat with electricity.” And in an opaque reference to the original Beetle, Winterkorn told the gathered media that “Volkswagen is working on the electric car for everyone.” (We'll report on VW's electric car strategy on PluginCars.com later today.) He added that hybrid and electric vehicles will account for three percent of the German carmaker's global sales by 2018.

Winterkorn concluded his remarks by laying out the company's roadmap for hybrid and electric vehicle introductions into the United States. First up is the 2011 Touareg Hybrid, which launches later this year.

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The Porsche 918 Spyder plug-in hybrid debuted in Geneva.

Porsche AG's supervisory board has voted to move forward with production on the Porsche 918 Spyder, which first turned heads at March's Geneva Auto Show. The plug-in hybrid supercar has a top speed of nearly 199 mph, can accelerate from 0 to 62 in just 3.2 seconds, and comes with an astounding $650,000 price tag. The high-end carmaker says that it has received 2,000 non-binding submissions of interest for the 918—more than twice the required level of interest for the board to vote on production of a new vehicle.

The Spyder's two drivetrains provide a total of 718 hp, with 218 hp coming from a pair of 160kW electric motors and the other 500 coming from a 3.4 liter V8 engine. One motor will be mounted to each axis, with the V8 powering just the rear wheels. The electric drivetrain will provide about 16 miles of pure electric range when the vehicle's fluid-cooled lithium ion battery is fully charged—similar to Toyota's Prius plug-in hybrid.

Like the Prius, the Nissan LEAF and other more modestly priced plug-ins, the 918 will come with a dashboard computerized navigation system that tells drivers how far they can go on all-electric power and where the closest public charging station is.

Porsche says that the car will produce just 79g/km of emissions and get 78 miles to the gallon. (Of course, the method for calculating official fuel economy numbers for a plug-in hybrid remains a major point of contention within the industry and among regulators.) Since the 918 has four distinct modes—with each providing varying levels of performance and fuel economy—calculating its fuel efficiency is an even more complicated task. E-Drive Mode is the most efficient, with Race Hybrid Mode providing the gaudiest power numbers. In Race Hybrid Mode, the electric motors are used only for short bursts of additional passing power—meaning that fuel efficiency numbers plummet.

The Spyder isn't the only hybrid that Porsche is preparing for release in the near future. The Cayenne S hybrid SUV will be released in the coming months, with Panamera S sedan following next year. Both will be equipped with V6 engines and nickel metal hydride batteries, with the Cayenne yielding 25 mpg and the Panamera nearly 28 mpg.

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Ever hear of the Partnership for a New Generation of Vehicles? Neither have I. In fact, when the program came into existence under President Clinton in 1993, I was just 7 years old. I knew nothing of cars or fuel efficiency. This program involved the three major U.S. automakers and eight Federal Agencies. The initiative was to produce several high-mileage concept cars to be put into production by 2003, and each of the automakers deliver. GM came up with the Precept, Chrysler the ESX II, and Ford developed the Prodigy. Each was a hybrid vehicle capable of delivering about 80 mpg.

The Ford Prodigy is heading to auction next month in Monterey, California. So why haven’t I ever heard of it before?

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There has been so much speculation surrounding the Chevy Volt’s eventual price, that I’m just going to cut to the chase. GM has placed an official price on the Chevy Volt, its plug-in hybrid with a 40 mile all-electric range: $41,000. That is before any tax incentives, like the $7,500 Federal tax credit, (which would take the price down to about $33,500). This is pretty much what everybody was guessing the Volt would cost, so is it really any surprise?

The Volt will come with lots of standard features as well as add-ons, to a top-price of around $44,000. Even with tax incentives, the four-passenger Volt will be about $8,000-10,000 more than its nearest competitor, the Nissan LEAF. Yet GM says there is”no competitor”. O RLY?

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As much as I love driving, I know a lot of people aren’t all that fond of it. Need proof? Look at all the people who talk, text, read, or are otherwise distracted from driving behind the wheel. The Next Great Thing just might be cars that drive themselves, as so many sci-fi films have teased us with. The idea may still be rather far off, but a team of Italian engineers is taking a big step towards the future with a long-term, self-powered test of driverless capabilities.

Two pairs of vans, powered by the sun, will trek from Italy to China during a 3-month excursion to test the capabilities of self-driving technology. Will they make it?

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The most exciting story of the ePower electric motorcycle race, in my opinion, is not the state-of-the-art ultra-mega high-tech MotoCzysz E1PC win. To me, it’s actually Lighting Motor’s second place bike that I find more interesting. I deeply admire Czysz’s commitment and his ability to bring this industry to the next level, as demonstrated with their record-breaking win at the 2010 IOM TT Zero. But what’s so interesting about the Lightning is the progress the team has made since the TTXGP season opener back in May. In just two months, they have taken a bike with a CAR motor that could not make it through a corner without bottoming out, and made it into a lean, mean, Corkscrew racing machine. This bike has undergone the sort of suspension and weight distribution development only possible in race conditions. The bike handled so much better in this race, even claiming pole position with a 1:45, over Czysz’s 1:47. (more…)

America’s roads, especially around metropolitan areas, have long exceeded their capacity to move people and cargo efficiently. Having spent 3 hours on a six-lane super highway in SoCal to go just 60 miles, I now understand that better than ever. Part of the problem is all those long-haul trucks. They take up the space of four or five cars, get terrible gas mileage, and when they have an accident, it usually shuts down the highway. There has to be a better way.

And there just might. The Department of Transportation is working on an idea to promote marine highways. The idea is that smaller cargo ships could transport large loads longer distances, taking long haul trucks off the road. Could it work?

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What a difference a year makes. Just before Chrysler went bankrupt, I remember them rolling all of these could-be electric vehicles out. After all, green was in, and Chrysler needed to make itself look viable in the eyes of their savior, the Federal Government. So they gave us an electric Wrangler, a hybrid aspen, and the Dodge Circuit, a Lotus-based EV sports car. Dodge was so serious, they even made an EV division called ENVI to exclusively work on electric vehicles.

Enter 2010. ENVI is dead, all of Chrysler’s hybrids have been swept under the rug, and their plans for electric vehicles canceled. Bailout money well spent?

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Unlike many of my fellow gearheads, I’ve come to realize just how much potential for performance is locked away within electric vehicles. Major manufacturers have made the mistake of assuming only the eco-conscious care about electric cars. But if the Tesla Roadster proves anything, it is that there is a market for electric performance cars.

Looking for proof? Well last week Kleenspeed, an electric car startup based in Moffet Field, California, took to the famous Laguna Seca raceway where he set a new track record of 94 mph, beating its own previous record of 93 mph.

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General Motors announced today that the Chevy Volt plug-in hybrid will be offered for sale at $41,000, or for a surprisingly low monthly lease cost of $350 per month (with a $2,500 initial payment.) The sticker price for the Volt is $8,200 higher than that of the $32,800 all-electric Nissan LEAF—though the two vehicles' lease prices are virtually identical.

The Volt's $41,000 sticker cost doesn't actually reflect what early buyers will pay for the car—the federal government is subsidizing the price of both it and the LEAF to the tune of $7,500. That brings real price of the Volt down to $33,500. For California drivers in particular though, the economic attractiveness of buying a LEAF versus a Volt is even stronger—the Volt plug-in hybrid isn't eligible for the state's $3,000 Advanced Technology-Partial Zero Emissions Vehicle rebate for plug-in hybrids.

GM says that the apparent disparity between the Volt's sticker and lease prices is a reflection of the company's calculation that the vehicle will maintain a very high residual value after three years—significantly higher than that of the LEAF. Even if that is the case, it's probably more than just a coincidence that the result of that calculation was a monthly lease that matches up so closely to the LEAF's.

But there also seems to be bit of a hitch in GM's residual value logic. If electric vehicle incentives are still being offered three years from now, will any original lessees be interested in buying their used Volt when they can get a brand new plug-in for almost the same price?

Remember, the $7,500 federal credit only applies to new vehicles, and is subtracted from the monthly payment of the original lease. That means that whether or not the lessee decides to purchase the car at the end of 36 months, the Volt will effectively come full circle—from a $41,000 car that leases for the price of a $32,000 car, to a used car that resells for the price of a $41,000 car.

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AFS Trinity claims that its ultracapacitor technologies could push the mileage of a small plug-in hybrid SUV to 150 mpg.

AFS Trinity Power Corporation today announced that it has been awarded a patent for its Extreme Hybrid drive train that makes ultracapacitors a critical part of plug-in hybrid strategy. For the last few years, AFS Trinity has claimed that using ultracaps could push the mileage of a small SUV to 150 mpg.

Capacitors store only small amounts of electricity but can provide bursts of power—reducing strain on hybrid batteries primarily designed to store large amounts of energy. Think of capacitors as a way to provide instant oomph. In fact, F1 has been using something similar—an energy-saving device known as Kinetic Energy Recover Systems—for a few years. The benefit of ultracapicators for everyday hybrids is the ability to use smaller, less expensive battery packs—especially on plug-in hybrids—and to extend battery durability and performance.

The AFT Trinity patent provides broad protection for its technology, covering the use of ultracapacitors, flywheels, and “power batteries” used to protect the main energy storage battery bank.

“By seamlessly integrating ultra-capacitors into the electronic propulsion system of plug-ins, the AFS Trinity system eliminates peak electric loads on the battery caused by the frequent acceleration and braking events that are part of everyday driving,” wrote AFS Trinity Chief Executive Officer Edward W. Furia, in a letter to federal legislators. “This innovation allows plug-ins to travel farther on smaller, less-expensive lithium-ion batteries, while also increasing the useful life of the batteries.” Furia is advocating that government incentives should support power-based systems, not just vehicles like the Chevy Volt that have large battery packs.

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