Transportation

Audi is joining other German automakers in the effort to eliminate exhaust emissions, promising to bring an electric model to market in the next 10 years.

Rupert Stadler, Audi's chairman and chief executive, said in an interview with German weekly Welt am Sonntag published Sunday that he expects battery technology to dominate in the coming five to 10 years.

"By then we will offer cars without exhaust emissions," Reuters quoted Stadler as saying. "Electric cars offer great opportunities, which we have already seized on."

Reducing vehicle emissions is a chief concern for automakers in Germany. … Read more

General Motors is opening its pocketbook to get ethanol to the pumps and into its cars.

The auto giant on Thursday announced a partnership and an undisclosed investment in cellulosic-ethanol company Mascoma. The Cambridge, Mass.-based start-up is developing a biochemical approach to converting wood chips and agricultural wastes into ethanol.

It's GM's second investment in a cellulosic ethanol company. Earlier this year, it formed a partnership and took a stake in Coskata, which will be testing its fuel at GM facilities.

For GM, the investments are part of its strategy to prime the pump for ethanol that … Read more

SAN FRANCISCO--General Motors' CEO Rick Wagoner braved protesters in San Francisco Thursday at an event designed to lay out GM's strategy for addressing global warming and energy security. During the event, entitled "Can GM really be Green Motors", Wagoner discussed the various alternative-fuel and advanced drive-train products that GM is working on including hybrids, ethanol-powered cars, fuel-cell vehicles, and plug-in electric vehicles including much-hyped Chevy Volt plug-in vehicle. Wagoner also defended GM's opposition to California's proposal for stricter emissions standards (which include a 30 percent reduction in tailpipe emissions by 2016), but stated that "… Read more

The U.S. Department of Transportation issued a ruling today that will let passengers carry approved methanol fuel cells and up to two spare fuel cartridges in their carry-on bags.

Since fuel cells for phones and other devices won't likely hit the market until next year, the ruling technically doesn't affect anyone. That is, except for people like Peng Lim, CEO of MTI Micro Fuel Cells, who travels the country showing off prototypes of fuel cells for cameras and phones. (Peng's got a great collection of toys. See video here.)

Still, the ruling helps clear the way for the industry and consumer acceptance. … Read more

The idea of personal planes may conjure up dark visions of Blade Runner, but the first batch of two-seater aircraft to fly on electricity rather than fossil fuels could reach more than a dozen buyers by year's end.

And if some fans of experimental air travel have their way, that's a step closer to a gridlock-free future when relatively ordinary folks will hop to work in small, carbon-neutral planes.

A cozy crowd of several dozen engineers, venture capitalists, and members of clean-tech companies plotted the potential at the Electric Aircraft Symposium held Saturday in San Francisco, sponsored by … Read more

A123 Systems has created a Web site where Toyota Prius owners can preorder a battery to convert their cars to plug-in hybrids capable of getting well over 100 miles per gallon.

The switch from hybrid to plug-in hybrid doesn't come cheap, though. The battery and installation costs $9,995, plus an extra $400 "destination fee" and taxes.

The battery, called Hymotion 5, is designed to fit into the spare tire slot underneath the trunk of Prius model years 2004 to 2008. The company didn't say when the batteries would be available.

A123 Systems said the extended-life … Read more

The Truth About Cars blog posted commentary on the next generation Toyota Prius today. The car is supposed to debut at the 2009 Detroit auto show, but a few details have come out in Edmund's Auto Observer. The new Prius will be 3 inches to 4 inches longer than the current model and it will get a 50 horsepower boost. Along with all that, it will get better fuel economy than the current model. The last update was in 2004, so this new version is definitely due. There's also talk of another model in the Prius line, and … Read more

France's Fetish and the Great Britain's Lightning GTS promise to be two of the fastest cars on the market. That is, as soon as the companies can get them out of the factory.

The Fetish, an all-electric sports car touted by France's Venturi for the last several years, won't be hitting the market until 2009, according to Autoblog Green. It was supposed to come out this month, and before that reports circulated that it would come out in 2005. Venturi first showed off the concept--the "first desirable electric vehicle" according to the company--at the … Read more

Hybrids aren't just for eco-conscious soccer moms.

General Electric on Tuesday said that it has tested a hybrid version of a haul truck, the kind of giant dump truck that's used at a mine or to haul away mountains of dirt.

The system works just like a Toyota Prius, more or less. The engine feeds electricity to a battery that runs the drivetrain. During braking, the spinning wheels act as a generator for the battery.

The batteries in the hybrid off-highway truck is the same sodium-based battery used in GE's locomotives, according to the GE Research blog. … Read more