Hy-Wire was awesome, I hope GM returns to it. Their fuel-cell Chevy Equinox (from 2007, getting old!) are very conventional. The Volt's big T-shaped battery preventing a fifth passenger and its conventional engine lump fall way short.

The Mercedes-Benz joystick control on the 1996 F 200 concept.

The Tesla Roadster has aggressive regenerative braking tied to the accelerator. Let up and the motor doesn't just cut off, it segues into generating electricity. Apparently that makes it a blast to drive with one pedal and you rarely press the brake pedal to engage the mechanical brakes. (Still doesn't have the safety…

In-wheel motors. Remember the QED Mini with 640 horsepower and monstrous torque at each wheel?

Research continues at many car companies... Mercedes-Benz and Hyundai both claim they'll have "affordable" hydrogen fuel cell vehicles by 2015, and will have them for sale *IF* the hydrogen infrastructure is there. But...

BMW i8 plug-in hybrid AWD turbodiesel! Let us pray it'll retain most of teh awesomeness of the Vision concept.

Because if you're going to run the engine, it's more efficient to mechanically connect it to the wheels, particularly if it's going through an e-CVT so you can still run it at one specific speed. Using the engine to charge the batteries to turn the wheels is a waste, unless you're banking power for later delivery,…

You can pay ~$2000 for a roof on the Prius and others that can run the A/C to keep the car cool and give a slight top-up to your battery. It's standard on the Fisker Karma and I think it will become a common option as prices drop. Currently photovoltaic coatings are too expensive for the tiny energy generated, but…

Saturns had those panels, owners loved it, what happened? Before that I think Porsche (when they were offering engineerng services) developed an unscratchable, un-dingable panel, but it had an orange peel texture, and car makers believed customers wouldn't go for it. Back in the 80s plastic sills were cool, remember…

Also Mazda developed a Wankel that could run on hydrogen.

The Peugeot 3008 HYbrid 4, BMW i8, Audi e-Tron, Porsche 918 Spyder are all upcoming plug-in AWD hybrids with an engine and motor(s) powering separate ends of the car, at prices ranging from expensive to $845,000. The Audi A1 e-Tron concept EV has a Wankel engine as a range-extending generator, though there's been no…

Folks, help me out. There was a magazine ad, I think for Ralph Lauren Purple Label men's clothing, that had a closeup B&W picture of his two McLaren F1s parked nose to tail. Sublimely beautiful! Surely some well-dressed fashionista Jalopnik can help me find the ad. I offer a reward, seriously.

The Electric DeLorean has a C64 in the glove box to run its motor controller and remaining battery charge algorithms. So if you know BASIC you can reprogram its performance characteristics. But I worry about the long-term reliability of the Commodore 1530 Datasette loading programs off tape!

Yes, power is power, it's not like relating mpg to electricity use or power to bulb brightness. Google for "260 hp in kW", it returns 193.881967 kilowatts. The only asterisk is some EV powertrains can only deliver their peak power for short bursts.

I like my leather seats and milk, but cows aren't green. The first problem is we cut down forests and displace lots of animals to grow the feed that most livestock is partly fed on. Then, most cows AREN'T a renewable resource without a lot of water and fossil fuel inputs to grow those crops. It's far better for the…

I know you think you're being funny, but "The sheer quantity of animals being raised for human consumption also poses a threat of the Earth's biodiversity. Livestock account for about 20 percent of the total terrestrial animal biomass. ... Grazing occupies 26 percent of the Earth's terrestrial surface, while feed crop…

Not just Audi. The BMW i8 will supposedly be a similar turbodiesel plug-in hybrid, the Peugeot 3008 HYbrid4 on sale now in Europe is a diesel, the Porsche 918 Spyder is a gas plug-in hybrid. All are through-the-road hybrids with electric powering one end of the car and an engine the other (the Porsche has a third…

You forgot GTAIII: Liberty City Stories and GTAIII: Vice City Stories, and GTA: Chinatown Wars and Grand Theft Auto Advance that remain hand-held only. All released in the four year gap between San Andreas and GTAIV.

Great car, good game designer (though Yu's no Shigeru Miyamoto) fine (though hard) arcade game.

IIRC, Thailand began by requiring local assembly of cars, so car companies would ship knock-down Mercedes-Benz kits, and assemble them locally with just some crappy locally-made vinyl seat covers. Over time the local parts industry grew and companies transitioned to local manufacture and even for export, primarily…