The Advanced Technology Vehicles Manufacturing Loan Program is doing exactly what its name says, "funding projects that help vehicles manufactured in the U.S. meet higher millage requirements and lessen U.S. dependence on foreign oil." A few small start-ups complain they didn't get money (GM didn't either) because…

Normal car plus batteries, but without the 10 tons of gasoline a 35mpg car will use over 120,000 miles, that require a lot of machinery to dig up all over the world, transport, and refine. And before you state the obvious about electricity from dirty coal, electricity also comes from natural gas and hydro and solar…

Hey there have you heard about my robot friend?

I don't like knee-jerk condemnation of any vehicle. I've defended GM's hybrid truck/SUV platform many times on this site for your exact reason that the absolute fuel saving going from 17 to 21 mpg is huge; and if I see a solo driver driving a tricked-out Expedition with her knee while juggling a latte and cellphone,…

I watched a documentary of the design challenge between Ford designers and how they came up with the Flex

Close. Porsche tried to acquire all of Volkswagen AG and at one point in 2009 had 51% of VW shares and 74% of VW including options. This resulted in a short squeeze, VW shares trading over 900 euros, a banker throwing himself under a train, etc. Then the financial shenanigans imploded, Porsche was left with huge debt,…

I am not severely underestimating the energy. Here's the study finding it takes about 113 million Btus to make a Prius, equivalent to 1000 gallons. I think that study is flawed because we agree battery production is more energy intensive, but that's where weight enters into it: it's only 120 pounds.

The Prius is a 3000 lb car made out of much the same materials as other cars. It runs on the same gasoline as other cars, it just a LOT less of it. Maybe you're thinking of the upcoming plug-in Prius, which if you plug it in will be cheaper to run for the first ~15 miles and even better for the environment if you live…

I find it hilarious when people here claim a 50mpg car isn't good for the environment, and everyone agrees.

It gets recycled for the valuable nickel. And it's the lead-ACID batteries in conventional cars that are toxic.

It's conventional cars that have lead-ACID battery packs. You're thinking nickel, and even so all the crocodile tears that people pretend to shed over nickel mining are bogus: it's present in the steel and chrome of conventional cars and the Sudbury mine has cleaned up a lot.

Over 120,000 miles, you're still burning 3 tons more gasoline than the Prius (here's the math). 50 mpg isn't slightly better, it's hugely better. The Prius battery weighs ~120 pounds. It doesn't disintegrate at the end of its warranty (10 years/150,000 miles in California) but even if it did, there's no way the…

No, the Hummer produces way more pollution than a Prius. That 2007 study from CNW Marketing was garbage and has been completely and comprehensively debunked. All reputable studies find that 75-90% of the lifetime energy use of a car occurs in its use, not its production, and energy is a reasonable, though inexact,…

Relax, I'm not attacking you, just your rhetorical question.

Selling 1,900 $109,000 electric sports cars is phenomenal.

You just don't get it. If your regular commute is less than ~35 miles, you burn no gasoline. GM says Volt owners averaged 1000 miles between fill-ups last March. That's obviously of no value to you, despite every Republican president for the last 40 years intoning "America must end its addiction to oil", but it's a…

"Hate Liberty City, it's cold and it's damp, and all the people dressed like monkeys...

I remember getting buff to get to 100% with Katie Zahn, then getting chunky for Michelle Cannes, then having to get scrawny for Helena Wankstein. I never did get to 100% with Helena...

Don't forget diving for oysters, triathlons, working out, dating girlfriends, managing your weight (some girlfriends liked you chunky), car customizing, long-distance trucking, biplane stunt races, BMX stunting, motorbike stunting, hovercraft racing, turf wars, bicycle delivery, gun ranges, jump jets, jetpacks, taxi…

"Energi" is the name Ford is giving to its plug-in hybrid variants, starting with the C-Max Energi announced in January.