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Audi will start selling the new A1 hatchback outside Europe next year and increase production to meet higher demand, Audi sales chief Peter Schwarzenbauer said in an interview with a Bloomberg reporter Wednesday.

Audi decided to expand sales of the fuel-efficient model after a website the automaker set up for the car attracted more than 150,000 interested customers worldwide, Schwarzenbauer said.

The A1, which will compete with BMW's 1 Series, Mercedes-Benz A-Class and the MINI Cooper, will start at 15,800 euros ($20,100) and will enter showrooms in Europe on Friday.

"We will expand our production capacities by 20 percent" for the A1, Schwarzenbauer said in Munich. Audi initially pledged to produce about 100,000 A1s, which can get more than 40 miles per gallon when fitted with the smallest of three offered engines, annually at its Brussels factory.

The A1, originally built to sell only in Europe, will be expanded to markets globally in 2011, with the exception of China and the U.S., he said.

The A1 will be introduced in China at some point after 2011, Schwarzenbauer said. The car will go on sale in the U.S. "at the earliest" with the model's second generation, he said. That likely would not be for at least several years.

Parent company Volkswagen could introduce the A1 "at short notice" in China, he said, adding that a decision on the timing of such a move hasn't been made yet. Audi, BMW and Mercedes-Benz have boosted sales this year because of surging demand in China and a rebound in the U.S.

By Scott Doggett, Contributing Editor

Fuel-economy improvements related to traditional powertrains aren't so much occurring in leaps and bounds these days as they are in baby steps.
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Right, the variable displacement oil pump improves the Chevy Cruze's fuel efficiency. The pump body pivots (blue lines), causing the vanes (red lines) to move, resulting in just the right volume of oil being pumped. When less oil is pumped, less energy is needed, which saves fuel. The pump is standard on the Ecotec 1.4-liter turbocharged engine.
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Take, for instance, a story that's splashed all over the blogosphere today, more often than not re-posted verbatim from a news release issued by Chevrolet this morning.

The news release begins: "The oil pump in the engine of the 2011 Chevrolet Cruze takes a laid-back approach to its work, delivering the precise amount of oil needed during all driving conditions. That requires the engine to work less versus a conventional pump and ultimately saves fuel."

By lowering the volume of oil GM engineers reduced the amount of energy, or torque, required to pump the oil, without taking necessary lubrication away from the engine, Mike Katerberg, assistant chief engineer for the 1.4-liter engine, explained in the statement.

Remy Electric Motors and design and engineering firm MotoCzysz have to work together bring a revolutionary, new generation electric drive system to market.
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Right, Remy International's HVH motor.
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The announcement comes less than two months after Remy International Inc., the largest U.S.-based supplier of electric motors for hybrid cars and Remy Electric Motors' parent, said it will work with Enova Systems on developing an electric-motor control system.

The unique drive system announced today leverages Remy Motors' patented High Voltage Hairpin (HVH) electric motor technology and patent-pending cooling and integration technology from MotoCzysz, the companies said in a joint statement today.

"The resulting breakthrough is a complete electric-drive system optimized to elicit and manage the full performance benefit of the powerful Remy motor," they said.

Paris isn't very green this year - the October 2-17 Paris Motor Show, that is.

The whole think looks to be pretty subdued, and there's just a handful of green - and greenish - vehicles slated for introduction.
One of the biggies will be the Honda Jazz Hybrid (its the Fit Hybrid in Japan), which we told you about when the Japanese version was announced earlier this month.  Now the company is trickling out a bit more news:

• The production version of the Honda Jazz Hybrid for the European and other markets outside of Japan, China and the Americas will be unveiled next month at the 2010 Paris Auto show;
• One of the colors will be a vivid electric green;
• Fuel economy and pricing will be disclosed at the show, but in Japan the premium if $4,000 more than the standard Fit and Honda says fuel economy will be about the same as the Insight hybrid (which is rated at 41 mpg overall in the U.S.);
  
• On-sale date outside of Japan hasn't been set (it's October in Japan for the Fit Hybrid) but it will be "early" in 2011.

Otherwise, all's the same. The Fit/Jazz hybrid gets a new grill, headlights and bumpers and will use the same Honda 1.3-liter Integrated Motor Assist hybrid system that's used on the new Insight hybrid, and there's no plan (yet) to bring it to the U.S, where, Honda says, the Insight fills the same market space (although we think a Fit hybrid might do better here than Insight, with its  looks-like-a-Prius design).

Other green vehicles debuting at the Paris show include:

• Hyundai's Veloster: A conventionally powered, 140- horsepower sporty hatchback that Hyundai says will use lots of advanced engine and lightewighting technologies to achieve hybrid-like fuel economy of at least 40 mpg.

• The Peugeot 3008 Hybrid4: A hatchback the French automaker is billing as the world's first production diesel-electric hybrid (a necessary distinction as several diesel-electric concepts have been shown in the past year or so). It features a conventional diesel engine up font and an electric drive system powering the rear wheels, with control logic that will enable the powertrains to work independently or as a team.

• Ford 's the 2012 Focus, finally being built on the same chassis in North America as in Europe. That's good for us North Americans, as the European chassis is a whole world of sportiness, handling and ride quality ahead of the present North American Focus' underpinnings. We mention the Focus not because it is fairly fuel efficient all by itself - which it is - but because Ford will be bringing out a battery-electric version in 2011. The Focus BEV won't be shown in Paris, but we couldn't pass up the opportunity to write about it again.

• The Kia POP concept: A futuristic, 3-seat battery-electric vehicle representing the latest look at the South Korean automaker's idea of what a small "city" EV could be,

• And Lotus Cars is expected to announce a new game plan that could include a number of electric-drive cars.

• We''ll keep you posted during the show's press days, Sept. 30-Oct. 1.

Toyota Motor Corp. said today it wants to reach cumulative sales of 5 million hybrid vehicles in the first part of this decade, Reuters news service reported.
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Toyota's upcoming plug-in Prius.
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The news comes less than a week after an unconfirmed report out of Japan stating that Toyota was planning to build only about 740,000 hybrid car and SUVs next year, down 26 percent from the 1 million target it is thought to previously have set.

That might sound like bad news, but in fact it is still is a 7 percent increase from this year's anticipated total and a 48 percent increase from Toyota's 2009 global production of 500,000 hybrids.

Toyota, the leader by volume in gasoline-electric hybrid vehicles, said earlier this month it had sold more than 2.68 million hybrid vehicles globally since it launched its first hybrid model in 1997.

Toyota has a goal of selling at least 1 million hybrid vehicles a year in the early part of this decade, and plans to introduce a hybrid option across its whole lineup as early as possible in the 2020s.

Under a five-year environmental action plan to run through 2015, the world's biggest automaker also said it would improve its vehicles' average fuel efficiency in all regions by 25 percent compared with 2005 levels.

Nevada environmental regulators have for the first time certified a refinery that produces a cleaner, more efficient fuel made from low-sulfur diesel mixed with natural gas.

Reno-based Advanced Refining Concepts received formal certification for its GDiesel last week for the state's alternative fuels program, Nevada Division of Environmental Protection spokesman Vinson Guthreau told The Associated Press on Monday.

That means lab results showed GDiesel will reduce emissions of one or more regulated pollutants compared to conventional gasoline, the NDEP said. Further, the certification permits the fuel to be used by several thousand government vehicles in Clark and Washoe counties - including more than 1,000 school buses - without requiring any modifications to the vehicles.

Peter Gunnerman, co-founder and director of privately held Advanced Refining Concepts, told The AP that in addition to burning cleaner, GDiesel provides better fuel economy at a lower cost than conventional diesel fuels.

"Receiving alternative fuel status is an important development for our company, potentially opening new and large markets for GDiesel," Gunnerman said.

The company soon will produce up to 100,000 gallons of GDiesel per day at the company's Peru Heights refinery, which recently began its startup phase on a 10-acre site in the Tahoe Reno Industrial Center about 10 miles east of Sparks, Gunnerman said.

He said his tests with a Humvee and a Mercedes SUV have shown up to a 36 percent gain in fuel efficiency.

The AP cited Diesel World magazine as reporting in its April 2010 edition that its staff recorded about a 30 percent gain in fuel efficiency, using 50 gallons of GDiesel to drive a 1996 Dodge Ram more than 1,200 miles back and forth between Reno and Sacramento on Interstate 80.

The magazine said it got 22 miles per gallon compared to 17 to 19 mpg on conventional diesel.

Peugeot says it has stopped conceptualizing and now will bring a diesel-electric hybrid to market: the 3008 Hybrid4 crossover that it will show at the upcoming Paris auto show.

The new hybrid, scheduled for a European launch next year, will get 62 miles per gallon (by European standards) while delivering up to 200 horsepower, through a six-speed automated transmission, from a 163 hp, 2.0-liter diesel that powers the front wheels and a 37 hp electric motor at the rear.

Under slick road conditions, the vehicle's diesel and electric motors will run simultaneously, allowing for all-wheel-drive capability. The diesel will deliver 221-lb.-ft of peak torque and the electric motor can add an additional 143 lb.-ft. The system also has a driver-selectable ZEV mode that will allow for some all-electric travel using only power from the hybrid's nickel-metal hydride battery pack.

No pricing has been announced for the hybrid diesel, which is slated to go on sale in Europe next March. Base price for the non-hybrid version is about $26,500.

Gas-electric hybrid systems typically add a few thousand dollars to a car's price and diesel engines are more expensive than gasoline-burners, so don't expect the diesel hybrid version to come it at under $30,000.

Peugeot parent PSA/Peugeot-Citroen SA isn't wedded to diesel-electric systems, although it has been exploring ways to boost fleetwide fuel economy both in Europe, where diesels account for about half of all vehicles, and globally. Automotive News Europe reported in June that PSA/Peugeot-Citroen SA was considering selling gas-electric hybrid cars outside of Europe.

Danny King, Contributor 

Nice way to kick-start your business: Zero Sports, a Japanese performance car tuner and EV converter that only received government approval to build EVs in 2003 has received an order from Japan Post Service for 1,000 electric vehicles based on Subaru's commercial light vehicle platform.

The deal follows a year of testing by the Japanese postal service, which replaces about 3,600 vehiles a year and has said it plans to convert all 22,000 vehicles in its mail delivery and collection fleet to electric drive by 2016.  It also has tested EVs supplied directly by Subaru and Mitsubishi.

Zero Sports, which was started in 1998 as a performance shop specializing in Subarus, said that it sources its EV components locally. But last year its test vehicle for Japan Post used a lithium-ion battery pack supplied by Indiana-based EnerDel and an electric drive system supplied by Norway's Think.

We've not been able to find out whether the to companies are part of the 1,000-vehicle conversion deal or just supplied components for the test program - but we'll keep checking and let you know.

Yes, hydrogen fuel cells vehicles in any meaningful volume are still years, if not decades, away, and yes, even when the engineers get all the bugs worked out of the fuel cell system, the big question still looms: Where's the hydrogen gonna come from and how clean will it be?
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Fuel-cell electric cars such as Honda's FCX Clarity would get a huge boost with availability of clean, home-produced hydrogen fuel.
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If it is made and compressed for fuel cell use with electricity from coal-fired powerplants, hydrogen won't be very clean (no tailpipe emissions, but lots of nasty stuff pouring out of the powerplants' smoke stacks). Even if electricity from natural gas-fired generators enters the equation there still will be emissions to deal with.

But if the hydrogen can be produced using electricity from solar or hydro power, and if the cost of making the stuff can be lowered to the point that home-based hydrogen makers and pumps can be employed, well, then we've got a new ballgame.

Researchers at Massachusetts Institute of Technology have been working on one aspect of the home energy problem for a while now and this week announced what may lead to a breakthrough in making such systems affordable.

Toyota will add on-board sound effects to Prius hybrids sold in Japan as the automaker joins a growing list of companies addressing pedestrian-safety issues created by hybrids and battery-electric vehicles that run far quieter than conventional cars at low speeds.

In the U.S., the company is working with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and the Society of Automotive Engineers on legislation related to on-board sound devices, though hasn't set a timetable for including them domestically, according to Toyota Motor Sales USA spokeswoman Jana Hartline.

Toyota's Japanese auto dealers, however,  will start selling hybrid noise-makers, or what the company calls an "approaching vehicle audible system" on Aug. 30.

The device, which will cost 12,600 yen ($150), not including installation charge, will emit a synthesized sound of an electric motor when the car's in electric-only mode at speeds of up to 25 kilometers per hour (16 mph), with a pitch that will rise and fall with the car's oncoming speed.

Toyota is joining a growing group of automakers responding to concerns that the relative silence of hybrids and battery-electric vehicles, especially at low speeds, may present safety problems, especially for blind, sight-impaired and hearing-impaired pedestrians.

A 2009 study by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration found that electric vehicles and hybrids with an all-electric drive mode are twice as likely as other types of vehicles to be involved in pedestrian accidents at intersections and crosswalks.

Nissan in June said a similar system would be included on the all-electric Leaf that debuts in the U.S. later this year as well as on the Infiniti M35 hybrid that goes on sale in the U.S. in 2011. General Motors has been working on a similar system for the Chevrolet Volt.

Toyota said today that it planned to sell similar devices for future conventional hybrids, plug-in hybrids, battery-electric vehicles and fuel-cell hybrid vehicles in Japan.

Danny King, Contributor 

Indian automaker Mahindra & Mahindra says it has finally received federal EPA approval to sell its small diesel pickups and SUVs in the U.S.

The company has been working on gaining admittance to the U.S. market for several years and after several false starts now plans to begin selling its 2.2-liter diesel pickup through a U.S. distributor in December.

It plans to bring a diesel SUV here in 2011 and, if its vehicles find a market, to begin selling hybrid-electric models of the vehicles sometime after that.

M&M recently signed agreements to acquire South Korean SUV specialist Ssang Yong Motor, which could give it access to more advanced technology and assembly facilities, and to take a 55 percent stake in Indian EV-maker Reva, which gives it access to that company's electric drive technology.

OK Volt fans and info seekers, here's some stuff you've been waiting for.

A new video on the GM-sponsored AOL Autos.com Translogic "program" puts a Chevy Volt through its paces on GM's Milford Proving Grounds test track and reveals, among other things, the workings of the extended range plug-in's  "mountain mode" that enables a driver to order up an increase in the amount of energy stored in the battery pack to ensure plenty of juice while climbing step hills and mountains.

The video also shows that an average driver can get from stop to 60 mpg in around 8.5 seconds and - in this case at least - can drive at a pretty decent clip for 43.7 miles on battery power alone.

Coupled with 16.1 miles with the gasoline engine-generator engaged, the Volt posted fuel economy of 101 mpg over the entire 59.8-mile test drive (not including the gasoline-gallon equivalent of the electricity consumed). 

The video doesn't remark on the fuel economy achieved in the engine-generator segment alone, but simple math shows that if it consumed .59 gallons in 16.1 miles, it was achieving 27.3 mpg. But that's under fairly strenuous test-track driving conditions.

Tone things down for "normal" driving and we expect that Volt will deliver the the 30-34 mpg we've always estimated for combined city-highway driving once the engine-generator goes to work..

If the numbers are close to representative of the Volt's real-world abilities, that means the car is likely coming with an 8- to 10-gallon fuel tank (GM's been adamant about not disclosing the Volt's fuel capacity).

The "mountain mode," which hasn't been discussed much by GM engineers, is one of several operating modes - economy, normal and sport are others - that have been programmed into the Volt's power system control computer.

It tells the on-board battery charging system to light up the engine-generator (or range extender, as GM likes to call the small four-cylinder engine) for a few miles to push more energy into the battery pack- unless it is already fully charged - to provide a cushion for hill climbing.

It also requires the driver to manually engage the mode. Don St. John, the Chevrolet vehicle controls manager on the video, suggests that be done "about 10 miles out" while still driving on the flats.

Here's the entire 8-minute, 19-second AOL video (click anywhere on the picture to get it rolling), which also includes discussion of battery charging and smart phone integration with the Volt's on-board battery information system.

Concern Won't Keep Electronics Group From Featuring EVs at Las Vegas Show in January, Though

Range anxiety still appears to trump curiosity when it comes to the general public's attitude towards battery-electric vehicles, according to a new study that's got to be a disconcerting bit of news at Nissan, which is preparing to debut the Leaf (right), the first production BEV in the U.S., later this year.

While about 40 percent of Americans say they likely try to test drive a battery-electric vehicle sometime in the future, about half of those polled said mileage between battery charges is a major concern, while about a third said battery life was an issue, according to a Consumer
Electronics Association study.

Consumers are weighing such concerns against positive BEV attributes such as extremely low fueling and no tailpipe emission. The lack of oil changes and tune-ups are also big selling points, the CEA said, citing its poll taken in late May and early June.

"Environmental benefits, coupled with potential cost savings in fuel and tune-ups, will lead to increased interest for electric vehicles and potential floor traffic at dealerships," said Chris Ely, CEA's manager of industry analysis. "But concerns regarding battery life, charging stations and limited mileage may keep some consumers away until a comprehensive infrastructure is in place."

Nissan earlier this year started taking deposits on the five-seat Leaf, which will be priced at $32,780 before federal tax credits or local incentives kick in. Mitsubishi also is preparing to launch its i-MiEV four-seat electric city car in the U.S. and is trying to price it at less than $30,000, pre-incentives. Both cars deliver about 100 miles of range at city speeds on a fully charged battery.

Other battery-electric cars slated for U.S. market entry over the next year or so include BEV versions of Ford Transit Connect commercial van and Ford Focus compact, the Smart Fortwo EV and the Coda sedan that will  be sold only in California at first.

Range anxiety, no matter how problematic, doesn't seem pervasive enough to kill EVs, however, and in public acknowledgment of that the Consumer Electronics Association, which holds the giant CES trade show in Las Vegas each January, will feature electric vehicles for the first time at the upcoming 2011 show.

Danny King, Contributor

By Dale Buss, Contributor

Audi U.S.A. plans to dramatically boost the number of clean-diesel models it sells in the U.s., Green Car Advisor has learned.

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Diesels are a popular fuel economy and performance choice among Audi buyers. TDI models account for 50 percent of A3 sales in U.S.

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After enjoying better-than-expected success in selling Turbo Diesel Injection versions of its A3 and Q7 in the American marketplace since their introduction last year, Audi "will more than double our existing diesel portfolio in the next year or so," Scott Keogh, chief marketing officer of Audi U.S.A., told us in an interview.

He would't disclose which models might be added to the TDI portfolio, saying that Audi didn't want "to show our cards too soon."

But Audi USA spokesman Brad Stertz noted that, in the past, Audi had said it was "looking at the possibility of TDI for the A8, A6 and A4," all contingent on "working through packaging of the TDI equipment in different models, emissions, and other regulatory testing."

Unmitigated Success

Audi clearly has been the most enthusiastic about diesel of the three German luxury brands that have been pushing its re-appearance in the American marketplace and also has been the biggest winner, its diesels posting better sales performance that those from either BMW or Mercedes-Benz.

Does the world's largest automaker see continuing recession in its crystal ball?

An unconfirmed report out of Japan has Toyota planning to build only about 740,000 hybrid car and SUVs next year, down 26 percent from the 1 million target it is thought to previously have set.

That might sound like a big letdown, but consider that it still is a 7 percent hike from this year's anticipated total and a 48 percent increase from Toyota's 2009 global production of 500,000 hybrids.

So, is the glass half full, or a quarter empty?

The report, from Japan's Nikkan Kogyo business newspaper by way of Reuters news service, doesn't identify sources but says the Toyota hybrid production plan was submitted recently to suppliers so they'd know what the automaker expected from them.

Toyota, as is usual, says it doesn't discuss future production plan details.

Like other automakers, though, it is under pressure from governments around the world to continue decreasing its CO2 footprint by increasing the average fuel economy of its fleet - a goal Toyota executives have said the company can best meet through increased production and sales of hybrids.

Thus, if it is cutting planned hybrid production, it either sees a weakening of perceived demand - likely brought about by ongoing economic stagnation - or it anticipates internal problems relating either to reduced capital (and it just reported a $2.3 billion profit for fiscal 2010 and a $2.2 billon profit the first quarter of its fiscal 2011 and raised its revenue projection for the full year by 10 percent) or issues with plant and production line expansion.

We don't know if this kind of thinking will ever make it across the water to our shores - or, if it does, whether our often dogmatically intransigent legislatures would ever give it serious consideration, but a panel of transportation and environmental policy makers meeting in Thailand over the weekend said that governments are going to have to reconsider where transportation funding should go if there ever are to be meaningful improvements in congestion, air quality and urban planning.

Too much of the world's transportation funding now goes to support motor vehicles and the fuels they run on, Michael Replogle, founder of the nonprofit Institute for Transportation and Development Policy told attendees at the Asian Regional Environmentally Sustainable Transport Forum held in Bangkok.

How much?

He claimed that as much as $700 billion is spent each year subsidizing motor fuels, while "hundreds of billions more in public and global aid funds subsidize the growing use of cars."

We have nothing against cars - although we want to see them all run as cleanly as possible -  but we also believe there needs to be a much bigger role in the world for mass transit, especially in developed and developing automobile-dependent countries.

A report released Sunday by the Institute and the nonprofit Partnership for Sustainable Low-Carbon Transport, urges developing countries to learn from the missteps of automobile-dependent countries (like the U.S.)  and suggests that they can play a significant role in a cleaner future by making sure their transportation, land use and other development policies foster increased use of "sustainable" transit including bus and rail systems.

Among the more disturbing findings: Rapid growth of passenger vehicle use in developing countries is expected to be a major cause of a nearly 60 percent global increase in transport-related CO2 emissions by 2030 "if current trends continue."

Here's hoping they don't.

If you find the subject interesting, you can click here to see the entire report "A Paradigm Shift Towards Sustainable Low-Carbon Transport: Financing the Vision ASAP."
 

By John O'Dell, Senor Editor

Offering a pretty good clue as to what we can expect stateside, Mitsubishi has slashed the price of its i-MiEV electric city car in the U.K. in order to remain competitive with the larger Nissan Leaf EV.

U.S. pricing for the i-MiEV, a 4-seat microcar, has not been announced, but a spokesman for Mitsubishi North America told Green Car Advisor today that I-MiEV pricing talks "have been trending down" and reiterated that the company wants to price the battery-electric car at or below $30,000 before a $7,500 federal tax credit is applied.

Some insiders talk about a post-incentive price of under $20,000 in order to give U.S. buyers who might otherwise be interested in the 5-seat Leaf or the 4-seat Chevrolet Volt extended range plug-in, both compacts, a reason to look at the much-smaller i-MiEV.

The Leaf will start in the U.S. at $32,780 while the base price of the Volt has been set at $41,000 - both before the tax credit and any state or local incentives.

Former Tesla CEO's a Big Fan of Commodity Batteries for EVs, But Says All's On Table At VW R&D 

By John O'Dell, Senior Editor

When former Tesla CEO and now VW battery research program director Martin Eberhard was interviewed by Britain's AutoCar last week, he had quite a bit of interesting stuff to say about his new employer and the state of the battery industry today.

The interview was presented in a Question-and-Answer format, and while we thought it important enough to quote from in a piece we posted a week ago , we also caught some very British-sounding terminology that made us wonder how much of Eberhard's answers were actually presented as delivered.

We sent a copy of the Q&A to Eberhard and asked for an interview ourselves.

Turns out that while the main point of the article was correct - Eberhard does see the day of the 500-mile EV coming - Mr. E tells us that some of the As to the Qs weren't quite what he said.

We're not trying to question the accuracy of the AutoCar piece - Eberhard does that on his own. But we do believe that the subject matter is important enough to revisit it and share with you what Eberhard told us directly.

One key point - Eberhard told Green Car Advisor that Volkswagen is working on numerous electric drive programs and that his group's work on battery packs made up of  the "18650" lithium-ion cells that power Tesla Roadsters and are widely used in the laptop computer industry is only one small part of the effort.

The AutoCar article had Eberhard mentioning VW's development of the Blue e-Motion Golf, the E-Up! electric city car (pictured above) and the Audi e-tron electric sports car and saying "we're working exclusively with the 18650-type cells."

Turns out that Eberhard's "we' was his self-described "little group" at VW's research center in Palo Alto, Calif., not all of Volkswagen.

United Auto Workers President Bob King (pictured) has ruled on one of the UAW's more controversial (and sophomoric) policies: no non-union foreign brand cars are allowed to park at union facilities.

The decision came to light last week when a Kansas City Business Journal reporter visited a Ford truck plant in his personal Toyota Camry and was told by a union worker to move his car off the premises.

The reporter argued that his Kentucky-built Camry was more "domestic" than the F-Series pick-ups being assembled at the Ford plant, but that got him nowhere.

It did, however, result in King writing a letter to the Business Journal about the importance t the local economy of buying local union-made products.

"Buying a U.S./UAW vehicle makes a difference," King wrote. "Foreign automakers accept U.S taxpayer's dollars in incentives to build assembly plants in the United States, jeopardizing the future of middle-class workers in the domestic auto industry."

In an email to Green Car Advisor, an analyst for IHS Global Insight's Automotive Group said "King's postulation is not entirely accurate; the only thing in jeopardy is the future of unionized middle-class workers."

One could argue that the foreign automakers that have been taking U.S. taxpayer dollars to build assembly plants have been the only force that has shown any growth in the U.S. auto employment ranks in the last 30 years, the analyst wrote.

"Insisting that union-made vehicles be purchased over non-union is practically 'un-American' in its push to restrict freedom of consumer choice over what products fit best for an individual's needs. That freedom of choice is what has led to the U.S. automakers' downfall and recent rebirth, as for several decades, consumers chose foreign-brand product over what domestic automakers have even admitted was inferior product."

We couldn't agree more.

Car Charging Group, a Florida-based operator of commercial batter charging systems, said it has signed a test program deal with one of New York City's major parking lot operators.

The company, which installs, maintains and operates the chargers, said Icon Parking Systems, which has 200 lots in Manhattan, has agreed to let Car Charging provide EV charger stations at 5 of its lots - one charger per lot - for the test.

The deal "lays the groundwork in Manhattan to support the national rollout of electric automobiles on the way to dealer showrooms in late 2010," said Car Charging Group CEO Michael D. Farkas.

Car Charging, which presently uses networked chargers built by California-based Coulomb Technologies, provides chargers at no cost to retailers, parking lot owners, apartment developers and other commercial outlets that see a benefit in offering battery charging to customers who will be driving plug-in vehicles as they begin hitting the market at the end of the year.

The company will charge drivers a fee for use of the charging stations and share its revenue with the businesses that provide space for the stations.