All About Alternate Fuel Vehicles (AFV)

By Greg Flakus
Detroit, 14 January 2008
Source: VOA News
http://www.voanews.com/english/2008-01-14-voa52.cfm

More than 6,700 reporters from 42 nations are in Detroit for the news media preview of that city’s North American International Auto Show, which opens to the general public this weekend. This year’s show emphasizes fuel efficiency and green technology, but, as VOA’s Greg Flakus reports from Detroit, there are also plenty of big glitzy cars and trucks on display.
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By Jane Northrop, Staff Writer, Jan 23, 2008
Source: Pacifica Tribune
http://www.pacificatribune.com/localnews/ci_8055621

Pacifica City Council approved an innovative biodiesel plant for Pacifica, the first of its kind to be built in the United States that shares facilities with a wastewater treatment plant.  On Monday, Jan. 14, the City Council voted 4-1, with Councilmember Cal Hinton opposed, to approve the environmental impact report and enter into a ground lease agreement with Whole Energy Fuels Corporation for the construction, operation and maintenance of a biodiesel facility at the Calera Creek Wastewater Treatment Plant (CCWTP).
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By Chuck Squatriglia, Jan 24, 2008
Source: Wired.com
http://www.wired.com/cars/energy/news/2008/01/ethanol23

A biofuel startup in Illinois can make ethanol from just about anything organic for less than $1 per gallon, and it wouldn’t interfere with food supplies, company officials said.  Coskata, which is backed by General Motors and other investors, uses bacteria to convert almost any organic material, from corn husks (but not the corn itself) to municipal trash, into ethanol.  “It’s not five years away, it’s not 10 years away. It’s affordable, and it’s now,” said Wes Bolsen, the company’s vice president of business development.
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by Justin Couture, January 4, 2008
Source: Automobile.com
http://car-reviews.automobile.com/news/
subaru-s-electric-car-on-sale-next-year/5379/

In many ways, mass volume electric cars are closer to reality than many people might  Subaru will be selling the R1e through its Japanese retail vendors starting next year.  Although the Chevrolet Volt is still years away (although more of a reverse hybrid than a true EV) and another EV candidate, the Pininfarina-Bollaré isn’t expected until 2010, Tesla has been producing and selling a full electric vehicle for some time now, and other more mainstream automakers are working full steam ahead to produce pure electric cars before the end of the decade.
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Source: PR-USA.net /8 Jan 2008
http://www.pr-usa.net/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=56677&Itemid=9

Following a year of significant advancements in its technology and product line, Miles Electric Vehicles was named the “Electric Car Company of the Year” by GoodCleanTech, a 2007 Weblog Awards Finalist and active eco-friendly blog website, December 30, 2007.
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Incentives Can Add Up to Free Car, Says ZAP CEO
London, Jan 3, 2008
Source: ZAP electric cars, press release
http://www.zapworld.com/node/297

Electric car pioneer ZAP  says that owners of its ZAP Xebra electric city car commuting into London can save so much on parking, charging and tolls that it could help pay for the car within a year.  London is expanding the number of charging stations, according to recent news reports. The London Evening Standard said that Westminster council is putting in 10 roadside posts following a trial of two in Covent Garden. About 50 more will be installed in 13 of its car parks. Funded by Transport for London, the Energy Savings Trust and EDF Energy, users have to register with the council and pay a one-off fee to cover administration costs after which charging is free. Colliers International estimates parking in London to cost US$55 per day. With free parking, charging and no congestion tolls, the incentives start adding up.
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Oviedo, Florida, December 7, 2007
Source: Environmental News Service ENS
http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/dec2007/2007-12-07-091.asp

Florida’s second hydrogen vehicle fueling station was opened with a ceremony today in the city of Oviedo, about 10 miles northeast of Orlando, where the state’s first hydrogen station opened in May.  Florida Department of Environmental Protection, DEP, Secretary Michael Sole joined executives from Ford Motor Company, BP America, Inc., Progress Energy Florida and the United States Department of Energy to officially open the new fueling station.
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By Candace Page, Free Press Staff Writer, December 12, 2007
Source: Burlington Free Press.com
http://www.burlingtonfreepress.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?
AID=/20071212/NEWS02/712120324/1007

Vermont’s electricity system can handle the plug-in hybrid automobile revolution — good news for drivers waiting for climate-friendly, cheaper-to-fuel cars, a research team said Tuesday.  Now all that’s needed is the cars themselves. And if drivers are looking for a Ford, the wait could be a long one, a Ford Motor Co. executive told a University of Vermont conference on plug-in hybrids.
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By: Bill Brown. Dec 12, 2007
Source: Hurricane Valley Journal
http://www.hvjournal.com/articles.php?id=3906
&art_title=HHS_Building_Electric_Car

With the price of gasoline rising every year, and no end in sight, the electric car may be in our future. An electric car is definitely in the future of a group of Hurricane High School students. Tera Houston’s Introduction to Engineering class is, among other projects, building an electric car. They plan on taking it to an Electrathon America race in Salt Lake City in May, 2008. (more…)

By Chuck Squatriglia, Dec. 11, 2007
Source: TheWired.com
http://www.wired.com/cars/futuretransport/news/2007/12/eflex

General Motors has launched what it calls the auto industry’s first design studio focused exclusively on electric plug-in vehicles. Its first order of business is getting the Chevrolet Volt on the road by 2010.  The E-Flex Design Studio will employ 45 designers, engineers and scientists to develop vehicles featuring plug-in hybrid technology.  The ambitious program offers the strongest evidence yet that the world’s largest automaker is serious about its campaign to improve fuel efficiency, embrace hybrids and develop alternative-fuel vehicles. (more…)