Honda announced last week that it will delay the launch of its planned first diesel for the United States. The diesel-powered Acura TSX will be delayed to 2010 from 2009. Some reports claim that the company’s U.S. diesel program is being completely canceled. The main reason for the delay is cost.
In recent years, many argued that the path away from Middle East oil and toward reduced vehicle greenhouse gas emissions would be led by a switch to ethanol and biodiesel. That argument—and the biofuels movement championed by entrepreneurs, industry leaders, and some researchers—is quickly dying. In the past week alone, VeraSun—the largest public ethanol producer in the country—filed for bankruptcy, and Germany became the first country to formally scale back its commitment to biofuels.
Texas-based Ronn Motor Company rolled out its hydrogen hybrid supercar Tuesday at the Specialty Equipment Marketing Association Show (SEMA) in Las Vegas. The Scorpion is a wildly sculpted exotic vehicle that can hit 200 miles per hour, while promising 40 miles per gallon on the highway.
T. Boone Pickens is clearly a man on a mission. The iconic billionaire whose plan for energy independence aims to transform America's transportation and utility infrastructures will spend nearly $60 million promoting the Pickens Plan over the airwaves and through lobbying. It's first major test will come in the form of a referendum on the California ballot this November.
As investors grappled with the potential ramifications of a looming global economic downturn today, oil prices fell to levels not seen since late 2007. The dive was precipitated by a growing sense that in the coming months, businesses and individuals around the world will drastically cut oil use, and that a spike in demand from emerging economies is about to plateau.
What will your children drive 20 years or more from now? According to one analyst, many of them are likely to take the wheel of a battery electric car.
Toyota hopped on the compressed natural gas (CNG) bandwagon today when the company said it will unveil a CNG-powered Camry Hybrid concept vehicle at the Los Angeles International Auto show this November.
The first “clean diesel” vehicles are making their nationwide debut in late September and early October. Two new factors could boost sales of these vehicles: a recent drop in diesel fuel prices and new federal tax incentives for clean diesel vehicles.
As the current congress scrambles to pass an energy bill before its term expires at the end of the year, some parts of the House version of the legislation should be of note to green car enthusiasts.
If you've watched any cable news or read the editorial pages of a major newspaper in the past few months, you're likely to have come across advertisements energy baron T. Boone Pickens' plan to decrease America's dependency on foreign oil. One element of the plan is the promotion of a long existent but relatively unused automotive technology: engines powered by compressed natural gas.
