Is General Motors’ latest Chevy Volt commercial on the Fox network a proverbial case of speaking truth to power? Is it a case of the deeply criticized paying to air its perspective on a network which has been long on negative rhetoric against the Volt? You decide, but as the new commercial is about “just
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Last week, General Motors unveiled the first Chevy-brand model to use the company’s new eAssist technology, the 2013 Chevy Malibu Eco. The car will get an estimated 26 mpg in the city and 38 mpg on the highway, making it among the most efficient mid-size vehicles available without a full hybrid system—or a full hybrid
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Working at an unprecedented pace, today’s automotive engineers are exploring new technologies to revolutionize cars for a post-petroleum era. Innovative battery chemistries, advanced biofuels, and hydrogen fuel cells—will likely be future game-changers. Yet, it will take many years to convert the American fleet to these new technologies. Meanwhile, there’s another track of innovation aimed not
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Peugeot announced this week that it sold out the first run of its 3008 Hybrid4 Limited Edition diesel-hybrid in just nine days. Is this a sign that hybrids using an efficient diesel engine, instead of a gas engine, are ready for prime time? Not at all. Yes, a diesel-hybrid can boost fuel-efficiency past the level
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On Nov. 12, 2010, we ran a story about the fuel-saving technology known as stop-start or micro-hybrids. The article read: “There are virtually zero micro-hybrids currently on U.S. roads, mostly because the technology is dismissed in favor of sexier alternatives, like electric cars…[but] the reluctance to shift to micro-hybrids could turn around very quickly. The
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There’s no love lost between diehard fans of the Chevy Volt plug-in hybrid and true believers in the all-electric Nissan LEAF. That’s the feeling you got from fan websites for the respective electric vehicles in the months leading up to the introduction of the Volt and LEAF. In fact, in the summer, it led some
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As the global focus on improving fuel economy reaches a new level, the writing on the wall has become clear to automakers and those who supply them. Consumers are demanding more efficient and, in many cases, smaller vehicles and governments worldwide are putting new emphasis on reducing emissions… and Eaton Corporation, being one of the
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Diesel engines have traditionally delivered better fuel mileage than their gas counterparts, and today, thanks to technology, their emissions output rivals gas powertrains. Adding an electric hybrid system to a diesel would, therefore, seem to make sense—a green car with superb fuel economy. For years, Volkswagen has showcased a number of diesel-hybrid concept vehicles. That
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Hydraulic Hybrid Developed By EPA Increases Garbage Truck Fuel Economy Up To 30 Percent In the early morning hours across America, five days a week, an army of big-dog garbage trucks sets out to pick up our trash. They pull up, stop, idle, load and take off for the next stop, often only 100 feet
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According to new research from the Yano Research Institute, more than 10 million cars worldwide will be equipped with stop-start systems by 2015—up from 900,000 in 2009. Start-stop systems, while sometimes referred to as micro-hybrids, are not really gas-electric hybrid vehicles. Cars using stop-start do not provide propulsion to the wheels. Instead, cars with stop-start
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