Blogs & Ecology

Photo Credit: Tochichi

Toyota, who is famous for its groundbreaking introduction of the Prius, is currently rumored to be hot on the trail of another first... a solar powered car. This headline was splattered all over the Web last Thursday. The vehicle will feature roof mounted solar cells that will have the ability to collect enough electricity to power a small portion of the vehicle. The future goal will be to have these vehicles completely powered through the solar energy they collect, but this was admitted to be a few years down the line....

Photo credit to Willrad

Well folks, another basic function of life has now been taken away from us, as if we were stumps on a log not able to think and function for ourselves. But perhaps Ford is right. Maybe the public has forgotten the art of parallel parking......

Image Credit: Nissan

Small Cars Selling for Under $10,000

Image credit: Car Talk Holiday Card

NPR's Motoring Gurus Get Political

Image via Gas Cubby's iTunes page.

Gas Cubby is a super cool iPhone app that helps users monitor their driving habits and get a little greener.

It has also gone on a 24-hour sale at the iTunes store for just $0.99 (regularly $4.99) which means this could be a great last minute gift for an iPhone-lovin' loved one.

More about Gas Cubby after the jump...

Image source

As Mike wrote a while back, even the Prius can’t save Toyota. On Monday the world's biggest car-maker announced that, in contrast to 2007‘s 2.3 trillion yen operating profit, for the past year the company made an operating loss of 150 billion yen.

Looks More Like a Toy, but Performs Better

photo: Ford Motor Co.

According to a new piece of analysis by NRDC of fuel economy plans submitted to Congress by General Motors and Ford will be able to meet the most stringent emissions standards in the nation. Chrysler did not provide fuel economy projections.

You can download a PDF of the analysis (GM and Ford Investment Plans and California Greenhouse Gas Emissions Standards) but here are the key points:...

On Sunday, a few days before collecting his 10 million kronor (US$1.4 million) Nobel Memorial Prize in economics (on international trade patterns), Professor Paul Krugman told reporters he felt the American auto industry will likely disappear.

"It will do so because of the geographical forces that me and my colleagues have discussed, it is no longer sustained by the current economy,” he said.

Photo credit to Tim Patterson

What a ride it has been folks... The price of gas in the U.S. was teetering on the $4 mark just a short few months ago, and here some states stand today with $1.90... $1.70... $1.60... dare we say soon to be $1.50. We are making history right now with gas prices having plummeted over half its original value in just the last six months. You'd think folks would be happy, which many of them are, but gas is not quite selling like hotcakes, even at these outrageous prices.

(Image from Japan Car: Designs for a Crowded Globe at Flickr)

London's Science Museum, Design Platform Japan and a host of others are presenting a rather different take on the cultural aspects of state-of-the-art automobiles, including kei cars, in a clever exhibition that started on November 29, 2008.

Image: Michelin

The Holy Grail of Eco-transportation
Could this be the technology that revolutionizes transportation? Will the company that invented the air-pressure tire trump that achievement by making electric cars affordable and practical? Michelin's Active Wheel system is the holy grail of wheel technology: a wheel with an integrated drive motor that has succeeded to meet unsprung weight limitations.

Once again, in America, gasoline is cheaper than bottled water. Is this good or bad?

Let's start with the bad (5 reasons):

1) Thousands of more Americans will perish in car crashes. There is a direct, undisputed correlation between the price of gas and the number of deaths in car accidents each year. This last year, when record breaking gas prices greatly reduced nonessential driving while increasing more conservative driving habits, thousands of lives were saved. In fact, it was the first significant reduction in driving fatalities in decades. ...