Who Killed the Hybrid Minivan?
Where would we be without Digg? Thanks to the collective hysteria of a thousand Diggers, we learn that the Gas 2.0 blog is baffled by the fact that Toyota builds an AWD hybrid minivan that gets 40 mpg and doesn’t sell it stateside. Gas 2.0’s Nick Chambers has fond memories for Toyota’s old Previa, and damns its US-market replacement, the Sienna for being a gas hog. But the spiritual successor to the Previa, the Estima, has been sold to the Japanese in hybrid form since 2001. The baffling unfairness of it all even had the Union of Concerned Scientists in a tizzy, circulating an online petition urging Toyota to bring the Estima hybrid to the states. Which it almost certainly won’t. A hybrid Sienna is considered likely to arrive sometime around 2010, but that’s not impressing people who are new to the concept that US-market vehicles consistenly lag behind Euro- and J-market offerings in efficiency. “Yo, Toyota,” writes Chambers, “you’ve already got a minivan that half of the families in the US would kill for, what the hell are you doing investing so much energy in redesigning a has-been?” Dude, if you love it so much just buy one. Oh wait, does that say it costs $39,600? Now it’s starting to make sense…
Report: Hybrid Taxis Save Gas, Unsafe For Occupants
Mazda's Rotary EREV
Rush Limbaugh's GM Pimpatorial
Honda Reveals New "Insight" Prius Killer
Greenwashing Masks Boston Cab Fare Hike
Hyundai Sonata Wades Into Hybrid Price War
Ask the Best and Brightest: Should States Assess Environmental Scores?
Toyota Prius Vs. Honda Civic Hybrid: "This One's Gonna Be Insane!"
First, this post dovetails nicely with the Ask the B&B question on homoerotic truck ads. I mean, if the testosterone-laden Torque.tv's announcer's tongue isn't firmly in his cheek, well… Anyway, the video also suggest a click on over to Paul Niedermeyer's excellent editorial on the coming showdown between the 2010 Prius and the 2010 Honda Hybrid. Personally, I find the producer's choice of cartoon clown xylophone background music a bit OTT. But I'm glad the torque team pointed out that a properly-flogged Prius can suck more unleaded than a 'Vette. It brings back fond memories of the time I tried to discover how much gas I could use in a Prius. I never got it below 17mpg. Guess I wasn't trying hard enough.
U.S. Car Market: All Hybrids All The Time By 2020?
Volt Birth Watch 73: "Please Wait for the Next Available Car…"
Infiniti Hybrid: "We Need to Make Some Adjustments Before 2010"
Lexus: Performance Out, Hybrids In
Volt Birth Watch 71: Olympian Hype
USA Today: Another MPD Chrysler Hybrid SUV Review
GM Prices Cadillac Escalade Hybrid at $71,685. Yes Way.
Daimler Sues Cobasys; Mercedes ML Hybrid Delayed or Cancelled
Nissan Hybrid, EV and FCV Systems "Previewed"
Lotus Develops Hybrid Hi-Fi
Obama To Spend $4b of Your Tax Money for 1m Hybrids by 2015
Volt Birth Watch 70 / Tesla Death Watch 14 / Karma Birth Watch 2: Toyota's Death Watch
Hybrid "Fad" Set to Hit 1m Global Sales by 2010
Meet The New Prius, Same As The Old Prius
Saturn Aura Hybrid $3k Price Bump. Huh?
GM's Other Complicated, Expensive PHEV
Land Rover Shows Diesel Hybrids
Bolt-On DIY PHEV Conversion Coming?
McCain OKs CA's EPA Trump Card
$3,200,000,000,000 for an Oil-Free Future
Well, you can't accuse either side of the political spectrum of hanging around while gas prices have opened-up the debate on America's energy policy, or lack thereof. While President Bush has removed the executive order against off-shore drilling (over to you congress), former Vice President Al Gore has asked Americans to help foot the bill for a ten-year, three trillion dollar "moon shot" effort to switch to "clean" electricity from solar, wind and geothermal power. While this is an extremely inconvenient solution for coal mining states that leaves pro-nuclear partisans in the cold, I mention Al's plan here because it's implicit that the transition would enable a nation of plug-in hybrids or pure EVs. Hey, what about hydrogen? Big Al made no mention of water vaporware. But The Boston Herald reports that a group of scientists have priced-out a U.S. switch to hydrogen-powered vehicles at $200b. No mention was made of the energy source for the fuel, but apparently the the Committee on Assessment of Resource Needs for Fuel Cell and Hydrogen Technologies have bigger fish to fry (deep freeze?). "The cost of platinum is approximately 57 percent of the fuel-cell stack costs and represents the greatest challenge to further cost reductions," the study said. "Future platinum supply is a critical issue in forward projections of fuel-cell costs." If it's not one thing, it's another.
Honda Prius-Fighter Caught Testing
Chrysler to Build Two-Mode Hybrid, Diesel Minivans
Chrysler's "Volt" to Arrive In 3 to 5 Years. Or Not.
Volt Birth Watch 65: Damage Control
NADA: Malibu Hybrid A Better Buy Than A Toyota Prius
Toyota Shuffling U.S. Production to Make Room for Prius
Volt Birth Watch 64: NHTSA Calls GM's Bluff
Hybrid SUVs Hamstrung by High Demand?
Volt Birth Watch 62: "GM Readies Volt Unveiling to Shift Focus From Crisis"
Ferrari To Build Hybrid-Powered Sports Car by 2015
Toyota Leapfrogging Volt
TTAC Called It: Ford Calls PHEV Volt GM's "Hail Mary"
Wagoner to Obama: D2.8's "relatively Weak Balance Sheets" Require Federal Assistance
Volt Birth Watch 59: Stretched Thin
25 X 25. What's in YOUR Wallet?
Mazda Testing Hydrogen-Hybrid Premacy
New Induction System Bumps Efficiency By 10 MPG
Fuel Prices Hit Hybrid Sweet Spot in Canada
John McCain Offers Inventor $300m of Your Hard-Earned for New PHEV Battery
Volt Birth Watch 58: "Notional Targets"
The Great Mark Fields PHEV Beg-A-Thon
Prius Plug-In Conversion Goes Boom
Volt Birth Watch 57: $40k and a Jackass
Chrysler Aims to Undercut Tahoe Hybrid Pricing
Stay Together For The Hybrids
Toyota Prius Shortage Explained
Volt Birth Watch 56: "I Would Say There's Almost No Reasonable Doubt in Our Minds Anymore That This is Going to Work"
Honda CEO Trash Talks Toyota Prius
Hybrid Schmaloney
DOE Doles Out $30m for PHEV Research
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