EnviroHop - A Greener Commuting News and Information Portal.

What do seats and charging stations have in common? Very little, except that automotive seat supply giant, Lear, has been chosen by GM to supply the home charging stations and some key parts for the Chevrolet Volt.

Although Lear is best known as a car seat supplier, the Southfield, Michigan, based company says they’ve realized how important it is to get in on the electric car supply chain early on in the process. And, instead of GM going with an electronics supply company for the chargers and parts, GM chose to go with a company that may not have the electronics history, but does have a great deal of experience in the automotive realm.

To GM it seems that knowledge and experience in the auto world holds more water than a lengthy experience in electronics when it comes to the new world of plug-in vehicles.

(more…)

Lancia started delivering the first examples of its MultiAir-powered Delta model to European clients last month, which is good news for Chrysler fans: that car is slated to come to the US next year, as the Chrysler Delta.

What can we expect from (what is sure to be) Chrysler’s most fuel-efficient offering for 2011? Find out, after the break.

(more…)

Mercedes’ S400 hybrid luxury sedan has received a lot of attention this month after a Canadian market study of 16 hybrids singled out the big Benz as the “only” cost-effective hybrid option on the market.  Let’s face facts, though: the S400’s clients are less interested in what’s cost-effective, and more interested in what they’re being asked to sacrifice (in terms of luxury) in order to greenwash their driveways.  I was curious, too, and when a showroom-fresh S400 made itself available, I jumped at the chance to poke around and see what was what.

How does Mercedes’ S400 hybrid stack up against its more conventional, V8-powered brothers?  Find out, after the jump.

(more…)

The Nissan LEAF is one hot ticket. From hand-raisers to pre-orderers, just about everybody wants to get their hands on a Nissan LEAF. Who can blame them? It will be the first mass-market electric vehicle with an affordable price and practicality to boot. Nissan wants to sell these things en masse too, but at least at launch, numbers will be extremely limited… especially in the U.S.

That is because Nissan has decided on a January launch for the LEAF in Japan. To keep up with orders over there, Nissan is cutting the expected U.S. shipment by 2/3, from 10,000 cars to just 3,300.

(more…)

Who doesn’t love eBay? I made a small fortune in college buying my text books for a semester and then selling them (always at a profit) on eBay at the end of the term. It has also helped me track down obscure parts for my stable of perpetual project cars. Besides books and car parts, I’ve sold cameras, computers, and much much more on eBay.

Never have I thought of using eBay to launch a company though. Ricky Søndergård, a Scandinavian, wants to find some capital investment for his new brand of lightweight, low-carbon sports cars. He claims his prototype makes 330 horsepower and gets around 80 mpg. Too good to be true?

(more…)

I am a country boy, through and through. I don’t like crowds, or traffic congestion, or the endless hustle and bustle that entails city life. That said, I enjoy a visit to the city (either Boston or New York, I’m half way in between both) and I can see some of the appeal of living there. Yet just as “white flight” led to suburban sprawl in the late ’40’s and 50’s, people seem to be gravitating back to cities… especially in the developing world.

Frost & Sullivan, a global consulting firm, released a study that suggests “Mega-Supercities” will drive up the demand for electric vehicles. So tell us something we don’t know.

(more…)

How far can you get on a tank of gas? 200 miles? 300? Maybe even as much as 500 miles in a single tank (and if so, you either have a very light right foot, or a very big gas tank!) 500 miles seems to be the “golden ticket,” as it were, when it comes to electric vehicles and their batteries. There is even a government-sponsored contest that will award a large sum of money to the first individual or company to make a battery that can propel a car 500 miles. That is a long time coming though… right?

Not according to Martin Eberhard, a former Tesla employee who is now developing a battery system Volkswagen. In an interview with AutoCar, Eberhard says that within 10 years, electric vehicles will have a range of 500 miles or more. Do you believe him?

(more…)

I used to hate the cyclists that ride in front of my house at all hours during the spring and summer time. I have grudgingly grown to accept their right to the narrow roads in my neighborhood (though I still hate those that insist on riding side-by-side). I haven’t ridden a bicycle in years, and yet lately I’ve had the strange desire to hop on one and go for a ride myself. Maybe I am just growing up?

Then again, maybe I am having a mid-life crisis (at age 24!). According to research from the UK, affluent, educated, mid-life men are twice as likely to be cyclists… and to own multiple cars! Has bicycling become a new way to deal with a mid-life crisis?

(more…)

We all knew it was bound to happen sooner or later, and Ford has finally started lifting the veil on the F-150 EcoBoost. This engine is a big deal for Ford and pickup truck owners, and it could have a profound effect on pickups as a whole. Are buyers willing to pay a premium for an engine that gets better gas mileage, if all other factors remain the same?

The 2011 F-150 will get four engine options, two V6 engines and two V8s. The 3.7 liter V6 will be the base engine, and the 3.5 liter EcoBoost will be the top end motor, the two V8’s (5.0 and 6.2 liter) sandwiched in between. Is a 20% boost in highway gas mileage going to be worth the as-yet unspecified price premium?

(more…)

Watch any car commercial, and you will almost always see the abbreviation “MSRP” come up next to the price of the car. Many people don’t know that this stands for the Manufacturer’s Suggested Retail Price. In other words, this is what the big corporations “suggest” their dealerships sell their cars for. But dealerships are independently owned and operated, and they can set the price as high, or low, as they want.

Which plays into two upcoming, potentially world-changing cars; the Chevy Volt and Nissan LEAF. While many Chevy dealerships seem prepared to gouge initial Volt buyers by as much as $20,000 over MSRP, many Nissan dealers are taking the opposite route, actually going under the MSRP for the LEAF by as much as $1,000. What gives?

(more…)

Forget emotion for a moment. If you were to base your next new car purchase purely on logic, what would it be? If you live in America, you most likely would buy either A) a V8-powered pickup or B) a fuel efficient hybrid. Why? Because either you need to move stuff around (pickup) or just yourself (hybrid). Yet for all their fuel-saving frugality, most hybrids don’t pay back the extra cost spent on the technology very quickly.

Except perhaps one. A Canadian study of 16 different hybrids found that just one, the Mercedes Benz S400 Hybrid, cost less to own and run than its gasoline counterpart (that would be the regular S400). How is that so?

(more…)

I still find it hard to believe that mass market electric vehicles are right around the proverbial corner. In fact, until I’ve actually seen a Nissan LEAF or a Chevy Volt on the road, I refuse to be suckered in. There are people out there far more optimistic than I, however, and they see the future as looking more promising every day.

The McKinsey research firm has published a study which suggests that the United States will lead the world’s electric car consumer market.

(more…)

It is hard to believe that just 100 years ago, most people still got around either by foot or (if they were lucky) on horseback. These days, many Americans don’t just drive cars; they couldn’t live without them. As cities continue to siphon off people from the suburbs though, many municipalities are looking for ways to cut down on the increased traffic that comes with too many cars.

San Juan, the capital (and most populous city) of the island of Puerto Rico, is faced with a series of challenges. An over-reliance on cars has left the city over developed and under planned, with many pristine beaches inaccessible, the traffic an absolute nightmare. This is especially true in Isleta, or Old San Juan. But a $1.5 billion infusion of cash hopes to change Old San Juan into a walkable city where cars aren’t allowed.

(more…)

All the races for the American Le Mans Series should be on every green gearhead’s calender. After all, it has quickly become the greenest “conventional” racing series in America, and possibly even the world. They’ve done this by introducing new fuels and features into the series that promote innovation and fuel efficiency. In racing. You just don’t see that very often (NASCAR, I’m looking at you).

The latest entry into the ALMS series of alternative fuels was biobutanol, to be run by Dyson Racing. Proving the power of their special blend, Dyson just took their first checkered flag at this weekend’s Mid-Ohio Sport Challenge.

(more…)

We (the royal we) have been asking car companies for electric vehicles and alternatives to gasoline for decades, though rarely in resounding force. Finally though, the message has gotten through. A lot more goes into a car than gas though; the production process is labor and material intensive, and many of the plastics and other materials use large quantities of  hazardous chemicals. That said, cars have a high recycling rate, and many are made from the same metal and other materials that has been in use for decades now.

Which is why a press release from Ford touting the new 2011 Explorer’s high recyclable rate. Sure an 85% recyclable rate is impressive, but the industry-wide average is already 80%. So I ask you; will we ever see 100% recyclable cars?

(more…)

Ford’s EcoBoost series of engines are my cup of turbocharged tea. Powerful, fuel efficient (at least in comparison to bigger engines with similar horsepower) and with a torque curve flatter than the Bonneville Salt Flats, it is everything an eco-concious gear head like me could want. And I’m not the only one. Gearheads are finding that the EcoBoost engine, including the 3.5 liter V6, has tremendous power potential beyond what Ford has limited themselves to.

Roush Yates, a famous name from the world of racing engines, are teaming up on an EcoBoost V6 for the 2011 American Le Mans Series. This will give a chance for the EcoBoost to really flex its turbocharged muscles.

(more…)

It has been awhile since I’ve talked about high speed trains here because, well, there hasn’t been a lot to talk about. America’s high speed rail system is slowly doling out money to Florida, the MidWest, and California, but it will be years before we see anything substantial. China, however, is moving ahead full speed with its plans for a high speed rail network, pouring hundreds of billions of dollars into such a network.

The latest plan from the People’s Republic calls for a high speed train that will combine the maglev system used in Japan and France with vacuum tubes. In theory, this train will be able to go 1,000 kph, or about 620 mph. That is twice as fast as most high speed trains travel today. How?

(more…)

There’s something about defecation that seems to both fascinate and revulse humans at the same time. In other words, there’s just something funny about poop and I can’t explain it. I will however, direct your attention to a poop-powered VW Bug built by some enterprising Brits.

GENeco has streamlined a process that allows this VW Bug to run on methane. This has been done before, but many methane vehicles had decreased performance because the fecal fuel wasn’t “clean” enough. GENeco seems to have solved this problem, and the Bio Bug as it is being called, is being hailed as a breakthough in poop-power.

(more…)

Remember a few years back, when all of the sudden the market was flooded with hybrids? I’m not talking about the Prius or the Insight, genuine hybrid cars, but rather the “half-hybrids” cranked out by GM and Chrysler prior to their bankruptcy proceedings. There was the Saturn Vue Green Line, Cadillac Escalade Hybrid, the Chrysler Aspen Hybrid, even the Chevy Silverado Hybrid. Rather than running on electric engines at low speeds, some of these systems (like those in the Vue) used stop-start technology to save fuel when at a stop sign. Kinda half-hearted if you ask me.

After canceling all their hybrids, GM is set to return with their “mild-hybrid” system sometime next year. So will it meet with more success than the first time around?

(more…)

15 years; a lot can happen in that time. Think back to 1995. What’s changed in your life since then? 9/11. Afghanistan. Iraq. $4 per gallon gas. Economy. Hell, I was just entering college. 15 years can allow for some pretty momentous change.

So it’s easy to see why a company would set lofty goals for itself over the course of 15 years, especially if that company saw the writing on the wall and realized that to compete in the future, something drastic needs to happen. Which is exactly why Hyundai’s president and CEO of North American operations, John Krafcik, said yesterday that his company has set a target of an average of 50 mpg for their entire fleet of cars by 2025.

(more…)