Recently Tesla CEO Elon Musk took to Twitter dropping some teasing details about a future electric vehicle that he and Tesla are dreaming up. Musk said, “It has always been my dream to produce a low cost, compelling electric car. We are 3 to 4 years away. Wish it could be sooner.” That would put timeframe for Tesla’s next electric vehicle at approximately 2016 to 2017.

Musk then answered another question when people were curious what sort of pricing Tesla was considering for its future electric vehicle. Musk tweeted in response to that question, “$30k in 2013 $.” He also said that the new vehicle would have a 200+ mile range with some “really cool tech that we can’t talk about yet.”

I’d wager that really cool tech will be the hot-swappable battery packs that Tesla recently mentioned in an SEC filing or fast battery changing stations. Musk also tweeted that the vehicle would be about the size of the Audi A4 or BMW 3-series compared to the Model S being sized like the Audi A7 or BMW M5.

Musk even said that he thinks when we consider the savings the vehicle will give you in gasoline, that you can actually cross-shop a $30,000 Tesla EV with $25,000 gasoline-powered vehicles. Tesla could be right to assuming this future technology Musk isn’t ready to talk about has something to do with making it quick and easy to recharge or swap battery packs at a low cost.

SOURCE: Forbes

One of the biggest races where electric vehicles play a significant role is the annual Pikes Peak International Hill Climb. The 2013 version of the race will be held on June 30, 2013 and Mitsubishi has announced that it will be fielding a pair of all electric four-wheel drive prototype racecars at the event. The racecars are called the MiEV Evolution II.

These electric racecars are quite strange looking. Whereas some racecars are incredibly beautiful, I don’t think you can call Mitsubishi’s electric racecars beautiful. Vehicles designed specifically for hill climb racing are often very odd looking with gigantic wings and lots of canards to provide more downforce. The Mitsubishi racecars are open cockpit designs with large rear wings and squared off tail sections.

The Pikes Peak International Hill Climb is held each year in Colorado Springs, Colorado. The race takes drivers up the 14,110 foot summit of Pikes Peak with racers covering an elevation of almost 4720 feet. This event is one of the longest running races in all of motorsports in the United States with the first run held in 1916.

The 2013 race will be the 91st running of the hill climb. Behind the wheel of Mitsubishi’s all electric racecars will be Hiroshi Masuoka and Greg Tracy. The Mitsubishi electric racecar has four electric motors with two in the front and two in the rear providing a maximum output of 400 kW. The battery pack has a maximum capacity of 50kWh. The vehicle’s make extensive use of lightweight technologies including a tube frame chassis and carbon fiber.

SOURCE: Mitsubishi

One of the coolest features of the Hue system at launch was that using an application Philips offers running on your smartphone, you can control everything from the brightness of the light to the color of the light. Philips has now announced that it has launched the next generation Philips Hue app adding in all sorts of interesting new features for users of the lighting system.

The updated application allows users to control the light bulbs using smartphones or tablets and the control is available with more flexibility than with the older app. One of the new and interesting features of the application is a new Philips Hue channel on If This Then That. That channel allows the light system to access any application programming interface on the Internet so the light bulbs can act as informational gateways.

That sounds very complicated, but what it means is that the smart bulbs in your home can be set up to give you visual cues on things such as whether, stocks, sports scores, e-mail, social media, and more. Think about how useful that feature could be. For instance, if the first thing your kids always want to know in the morning is if it will rain today, you could set up a bulb in their room to glow purple if the weather forecast predicts rain and yellow if the forecast predicts Sun. You can also set the bulb to glow your favorite teams color if they won the game last night.

Version 1.1 of the new application also includes a geo-fencing and recurring schedules capability. The geo-fencing feature approximates the location of the smartphone or tablet controlling your system and controls the lights as the user’s smartphone or tablet approaches and leaves the home. That means you get close to your house with your smartphone in the pocket, the lighting system in your home can automatically turn on. It also means that as you walk out of your house the morning on your rush to work, the lights will automatically turn themselves off.

The system also has a new synchronous scenes feature that works in the background to allow large batches of Hue bulbs to change scenes in a smooth an immediate matter. The recurring schedules feature also allows users to schedule timer settings so daily and repeated behaviors of the lights, like waking up or going to sleep are supported without having to reset the bulbs each day. The app also has a new randomized setting to turn the lights off and on an unexpected times while the owner is away from home. The new app is available as an easy to apply update for Apple and Android device users. Individual Hue bulbs can be purchased for $59.

SOURCE: Meet Hue

The sensors are designed to detect a variety of greenhouse gases, including methane and carbon dioxide, augmenting other stations that are already located in various places globally that measure greenhouse gases. These particular sensors are designed to achieve two purposes: monitor the specific carbon footprint effects of large cities, and as a by-product of that information to show whether such large cities are meeting – or are even capable of meeting – their green initiative goals.

Such measuring efforts will be intensified this year. In Los Angeles, for example, scientists working on the project will add a dozen gas analyzers to various rooftop locations throughout the city, as well as to a Prius, which will be driven throughout the city and a research aircraft to be navigated to “methane hotspots.” The data gathered from all these sensors, both present and slated for installation, is then analyzed using software that looks at whether levels have increased, decreased, or are stable, as well as determining where the gases originated from.

One of the examples given is vehicle emissions, with scientists being able to determine (using this data) the effects of switching to green vehicles over more traditional ones and whether its results indicate that it is something worth pursuing or whether it needs to be further analyzed for potential effectiveness. Reported the Associated Press, three years ago California saw 58-percent of its carbon dioxide come from gasoline-powered cars.

California is looking to reducing its emissions levels to a sub-35-percent level over 1990 by the year 2030, a rather ambitious goal. In 2010, it was responsible for producing 408 million tons of carbon dioxide, which outranks just about every country on the planet, putting it about on par with all of Spain. Thus far into the project, both the United States and France have individually spent approximately $3 million the project.

SOURCE: Associated Press

What the Sherpa 50 is a solar powered recharging kit is designed to allow you to take your notebook computer and other devices completely off the electric grid. This might be the perfect thing for people who like to spend time outdoors camping and doing other things, but don’t want to be without their technology. After a year delay, the Sherpa 50 is finally available to purchase.

The solar recharging kit isn’t cheap at $399.95 (including the inverter), but it offers an interesting mix of portability and power for people on the go. This device isn’t only for the outdoorsy type, it would also significantly benefit business travelers who are away from an outlet for a long time. The device uses an internal lithium-ion battery with a capacity of 50Wh.

The battery pack itself weighs 1.1 pounds and measures 4.5 x 1.5 x 5.3-inches. The device has numerous outputs including a USB port, 12 V output, and a laptop port. It also features something called the sidecar port and can be fitted with an optional AC inverter adding a standard outlet to the connectivity options. To completely charge the battery takes five hours using the included solar panel, depending on the weather. The manufacturer says that once the battery is completely charged, it will charge a laptop in two hours. Recharging the Sherpa 50 battery from the AC outlet in your home or office can be accomplished in three hours.

[via GoalZero]

Of course, Ferrari’s new LaFerrari has a hybrid component, so the company is at least meeting halfway, but an all-electric vehicle will most likely never be built inside of Ferrari’s factories. It’s certainly possible, however, that when a new boss takes over Ferrari, we could see a change in that belief, but for the time being, no electric cars are in the works for the company.

Montezemolo also discussed Ferrari’s production plans for the rest of the year, and it seems they’re going to keep numbers down for the most part. The chairman says that Ferrari will keep its production run below 7,000 cars this year in order to maintain exclusivity, which Montezemolo compared to desiring and waiting for “a beautiful woman.”

While Ferrari plans to make less cars this year, Montezemolo says that the company’s revenues and profits would match last year’s. Under 7,000 cars in one year is quite exclusive, and not one of those cars will sport an electric motor. We suppose most people still love hearing the throaty sound of a V12 gasoline engine.

[via Yahoo]

The good thing about using hydrogen is that when it’s burned it produces no pollutants. The downside to hydrogen is that it’s a volatile fuel requiring specialized storage and there is no hydrogen refueling infrastructure in place in much of the nation. One of the biggest drawbacks to early fuel-cell powered vehicles will be the price.

Toyota had previously said that prototype fuel-cell vehicles cost about $1 million each to produce when they were developed about a year ago. The cost to produce the fuel cell vehicles coming in 2015 is predicted to be around $50,000. That would mean buyers can expect to see sticker prices of under $100,000.

Currently Toyota is planning to sell its new fuel-cell vehicle starting in 2015 in states covered by the California Air Resources Board mandate. The production vehicle is expected to be sized similarly to the Prius and Toyota’s FCV-R concept car unveiled at the 2013 Tokyo auto show. Toyota executives predict that even with the company only selling its fuel-cell vehicle in California and New York it should be able to sell 11,000 units nationwide, which is how many units the company sold of its Prius when it launched in 2000.

[via Autonews]

The car raced around the roughly 15-mile Nordschleife circuit in Germany for about four hours, but the company didn’t reveal lap times unfortunately. However, we’re guessing the car is able to go pretty fast, especially if Aston Martin is confident enough to enter it into the 24-hour race later this month.

The car is powered by a prototype twin-turbo 6.0-liter V12 engine that’s capable of running on hydrogen, gasoline, or a combination of the two, allowing it to go the extra distance on zero emissions. This is the same engine that will be in the production Rapide S that will hit show floors in the next few weeks, but without the hydrogen hybrid feature of course.

While the test laps are impressive, the real test for the hydrogen-powered car will be racing a non-stop 24 hours come May 19-20. Nobody’s really sure how the car will hold up for a straight 24 hours, but if the hydrogen portion of the car does end up failing at some point, at least there’s the gasoline portion that will keep on chugging along.

There are also some companies out there who recaptured the precious metals used in the construction of some electronic devices. Electronics recycling programs in the United States are growing significantly with recycling options for electronics available for consumers in all 50 states. Recently the Consumer Electronics Association published its second annual report on the eCycling Leadership Initiative.

The report notes that during 2012, consumer electronics companies working in the eCycling Leadership Initiative, which is an industry effort headed by the CEA, responsibly recycled 585,000,000 pounds of electronics. That is a huge number of recycled smartphones, computers, and other devices. It also represents a 27% increase in the amount of recycled electronics compared to 2011.

Back in 2011, 460,000,000 pounds of electronics were recycled. The numbers for 2012 look even better when compared to the amount of electronics recycled in 2010 when only 300,000,000 pounds were collected. The CEA also notes that by the end of 2012, 99% of the recycling handled by initiative participants was conducted via third-party certified recycling facilities. The electronics recycling initiative has a lofty goal of responsibly recycling 1,000,000,000 pounds of electronics annually by 2016. It’s a good thing that the Consumer electronics Association and the participants in its initiative are taking the task of electronics recycling upon themselves, because there is still no federal recycling mandate for electronics.

[via CE.org (PDF)]

The issue with current biofuels is that they are composed a hydrocarbon chains that differ from those of gasoline. Although most of them can still be used in modern engines, they won’t play well with the vehicle and will cause problems, such as poor gas mileage and eventually engine corrosion, resulting in car death or high repair bills. Such limitations have prevented us from producing and using biofuels as a green alternative.

The University of Exeter’s John Love didn’t accept this, and sought to create a biofuel that can be used in the place of gasoline, something he eventually succeeded at. His breakthrough was achieved by taking Escherichia coli bacteria, more commonly called E. coli, and splicing its DNA with genes from bacteria found in soil, camphor tree, and blue/green algae. He then provided the bacteria with sugar, resulting in enzymes.

The E. coli bacteria’s enzymes were then converted into fatty acids, and then the fatty acids were converted to hydrocarbons. What made this different than other projects of a similar nature, however, is that the resulting hydrocarbons are identical to the hydrocarbons found in gasoline. This is the first time such a result has happened, and has left the researcher and his team looking into a solution for mass-scale production of the biofuel.

[via New Scientist]

Hydrogen stations are the gas station equivalent for those who drive fuel cell vehicles. According to the California Fuel Cell Partnership, 68 such stations could be operational by 2016. Such a number of stations could service 10,000 to 30,000 hydrogen cars, although whether there will be that many fuel cell cars on the road by then is still questionable.

According to the CaFCP, current estimates peg the number of fuel cell cars on California roads at 53,000 by 2017, a quantity that will require about 100 stations to sustain. One of the main concerns of those vehicle owners will be access to hydrogen stations, and whether they will be located in such a way that owning a hydrogen car doesn’t prove impossible or highly inconvenient.

Aiming to strike a balance between too may hydrogen stations and too few, as well as avoiding putting them where they’re less needed or likely to thrive, the CaFCP has fingered five locations it calls “cluster communities,” which are comprised of: Berkeley, Irvine, San Francisco’s South Bay Area, Orange County’s coastal area, and Santa Monica. Ideally, each station will feature 5 – 7 gas pumps per one hydrogen pump.

[via Digital Trends]
Image via CaFCP

Wester says that people instead need to discuss “the efficiency of how the battery is charged, since “it varies strongly from region to region, depending on how the energy is produced.” And even while all-electric cars are still in their infancy and have room to evolve, Wester says that not even the best electric car technology is “ahead of the internal combustion engine.”

At this point in time, he does have a good point. You would have to evaluate and consider all that has been done to generate and deliver electric cars, including the emissions that were given off when manufacturing the cars, including the trucks that the cars were delivered on. Essentially, you would have to get to the roots of both energy sources (gas and electric) to find out which one is better.

Of course, it’s possible that Wester isn’t dissing electric cars themselves, but rather just the term “zero emissions,” arguing that making an electric car still requires energy that can give off emissions. Then again, when auto makers refer to “zero emissions,” they’re mostly referring to the emissions (or lack thereof) that the car itself gives off. What do you think?

[via China Car Times]

Image via Flickr

Says Chevrolet, the Cruze Diesel beats out the Jetta TDI automatic in several ways, including with its standard MyLink infotainment system, leather seats, better powertrain limited warranty, maintenance plan, and larger wheels, which measure in at 17-inches. The Cruze Diesel offers 258 lb-ft and a 148 horsepower 2.0L turbo diesel engine, as well as a 0 to 60mph in 8.6-seconds.

According to the announcement, this engine is General Motor’s cleanest passenger car diesel motor, featuring a 90-percent reduction in Nitrogen Oxide and particulate emissions over older diesel engines. Of the 2 million Cruze vehicles sold across the world, Chevrolet says that 33,000 of them were of the diesel variety.

The Chevrolet Cruze Diesel’s Chief Engineer Gary Altman had this to say: “We harnessed generations of diesel expertise to adapt our world-class global engine for the North American market. The Cruze Diesel is the best diesel passenger car out there. Chevrolet is redefining the meaning of great fuel economy with this car.” Price starts at $25,695.

[via GM]

The researcher and his associates have discovered that various forms of zeolites, which are materials commonly used in water purification and for other industrial processes are well suited to capturing methane. According to the researcher, the compound works well because its crystalline structure can be fine-tuned for various gas separation or storage applications. The researchers used computer simulations to search a database of about 100,000 different forms of zeolites.

The process revealed several that are promising and could be used for capturing methane. Maiti told NBC News that a couple zeolite forms his team investigated already exist and have been produced before. However, some of the zeolites are theoretical and have never been produced.

The computer simulation showed that the material could capture low concentrations of the methane that vent from coal mines or piles of manure. The material is able to concentrate the methane up to over 5%. Slightly over 5% is the flammability limit of the gas. Interestingly, one application for concentrated methane is for use in energy generation. That means that this process is not only green in the fact that prevents methane from escaping into the atmosphere, but it can also help produce electricity. The EPA Estimates that about one quarter of the methane released in the US each year is produced by cattle, sheep, and pigs belching.

[via NBC News]

Toyota estimates that its global fleet of hybrid vehicles has resulted in a reduction of about 34,000,000 tons of CO2 emissions. Toyota also says that its fleet of hybrid vehicles have saved owners over 3,000,000,000 gallons of gasoline compared to traditional vehicles. Currently Toyota and Lexus hybrid vehicles make up 70% of the United States auto industry’s total hybrid sales numbers.

Hybrid models for Toyota and Lexus also account for 16% of both companies overall sales. Recent figures show that for the automotive industry as a whole hybrid sales are approximately 3% of the US car market. Currently Toyota and Lexus offer 19 hybrid models along with one plug-in hybrid in 80 countries and regions around the world.

In the United States, Toyota and Lexus offer 12 hybrid models. A few of those 12 hybrid models are actually manufactured in North America including the Camry Hybrid, Avalon Hybrid, and RX450h. Toyota currently plans to build a fourth hybrid model in North America, the Highlander Hybrid. Toyota intends to introduce 18 new hybrid automobiles between now and the end of 2015. The automaker also expects to increase its sales of hybrid vehicles to at least 1 million units per year during the same period.

[via Toyota]

The car features a twin-turbo 6.0-liter V12 engine that’s capable of running on hydrogen, gasoline, or a combination of the two. This is the same engine in the production Rapide S that will hit show floors in the next few weeks (without the hydrogen hybrid feature). Aston Martin is hoping that the race car will be able to run a full lap on zero emissions with only water emitted from the exhaust.

The Hybrid Hydrogen Rapide S uses a hydrogen fuel rail, storage tanks, and a proprietary engine management system to make things work, and the four hydrogen holding tanks are made from high-strength carbon fiber, which allow the tanks to hold a total of 7.7 pounds of hydrogen at over 5,000 psi. Two of the tanks are located next to the driver and the other two are in the trunk of the car.

As for the car’s speed, the Hybrid Hydrogen Rapide S can reach 190 mph and accelerate from zero to 60 mph in just under five seconds, which is fairly impressive, especially since it won’t be burning as much gasoline as the other cars in the field. Of course, the car that burns the least fuel isn’t the one that wins the race, but it’s always great when cars don’t have to use as much fuel.

[via European Car]

The problem is that most LED light bulbs are either too dim or too expensive for me to justify. Finally, LED light bulbs are beginning to come down in price and increase in brightness to the point where you can use them in your average light fixture. Home improvement center Lowe’s has a new line of LED bulbs sold under the Utilitech brand that are surprisingly affordable.

The company offers several different watt ratings under the Utilitech name including a 100 W equivalent. That 100 W equivalent bulb consumes 23 W of power and produces a warm white light color in the 3000K range. The bulbs are rather odd looking with a very large finned heatsink and the yellow protrusion where the LEDs are actually housed.

I’d like to see the bulb in a fixture to get an idea of how much of that is going to stick out or if it’s approximately the same size as a traditional bulb. With looks aside, the 100 W version sells for $34.98. That’s still pretty expensive, but it has a 25,000 hour lifespan meaning you won’t have to replace this bulb for years, in fact the manufacturer says 22 years. Perhaps even more appealing than the 100 W equivalent is a incredibly cheap 40 W equivalent sold under the same brand name that costs $9.98. That isn’t much more expensive than the small florescent lights on the market and you shouldn’t have to wait for an LED bulb warm-up the way you do a florescent bulb to get full light strength.

[via Lowe's]

According to the report released this week, Apple has increased the renewable energy use at Apple corporate facilities worldwide by 114% between fiscal 2010 and 2012. Over the last three years, Apple’s now-75% global corporate facilities using has risen rapidly from the 35% it was three years ago. One example Apple is using as a key location where they’ve made significant progress is in Maiden, North Carolina.

Above: The nation’s largest end user-owned solar photovoltaic array providing renewable energy to Apple’s data center in Maiden, North Carolina.

Apple notes that their data center in Maiden is the only data center facility of its size and type to have earned full LEED Platinum certification. According to Apple, they’ve implemented the following in their Maiden data center location for the furtherance of energy efficiency and green building:

• A chilled water storage system to improve chiller efficiency by transferring 10,400 kWh of electricity consumption from peak to off-peak hours each day
• Use of “free” outside air cooling through a waterside economizer operation during
night and cool-weather hours, which, along with water storage, allows the chillers
to be turned off more than 75 percent of the time
• Extreme precision in managing cooling distribution for cold-air containment pods,
with variable-speed fans controlled to exactly match air flow to server requirements
from moment to moment
• Power distributed at higher voltages, which increases efficiency by reducing power loss
• White cool-roof design to provide maximum solar reflectivity
• High-efficiency LED lighting combined with motion sensors
• Real-time power monitoring and analytics during operations
• Construction processes that utilized 14 percent recycled materials, diverted 93 percent
of construction waste from landfills, and sourced 41 percent of purchased materials
within 500 miles of the site

It would appear that Apple is moving in the right direction when it comes to environmental and “green thinking” concerns, especially when you compare the raw numbers they present. The one significant up-turn that can be seen in their fiscal 2012 report is in electricity usage by business unit, with their Corporate segment staying essentially equal to fiscal 2011 while both Data Centers and Retail Stores, moving from 138 million kWh to 217 million kWh for the former and 122 to 159 for the latter.

Apple has also reported that the commute their employees take on the way to work has continued to decrease both for worldwide employees and for intercampus employees. Apple offered a transit subsidy for U.S. employees in fiscal 2012 that offered employees up to $100 USD a month for carpooling, also offering them special carpooling parking spots as a bonus. Over 11,000 Apple employees took part in this program in 2012.

This report also shows that Apple has achieved the fabulous 100% renewable energy usage goal in the following locations: Austin, Texas; Elk Grove, California; Cork, Ireland; Munich, Germany – and most Apple facilities across Australia. Apple’s Infinite Loop location in Cupertino also, of course, runs on 100% renewable energy at this time.

Head in to our massive Apple hub right this minute to get more information on the goings-on in the Apple universe and stay tuned as the 2013 product range comes raining down over the next few months – we’ll let you in on it all from top to bottom! Also make sure you have a peek at Apple’s Environment Pages to see what they’re up to in the green universe.

Shams Power Company has opened the new Shams 1 concentrated solar power station that has a capacity of 100 MW and can power up to 20,000 homes and save up to 175,000 tons of CO2 every year, which according to Shams, is the “equivalent to planting 1.5 million trees or taking approximately 15,000 cars off the road.”

The Shams 1 CSP plant uses over 258,000 parabolic mirrors that collect sunlight and concentrate it onto oil pipes that flow through the center of the mirrors. This heats the oil, and after being moved on to a heat exchanger, the heat creates steam that powers turbines that generate electricity. The entire plants covers just over 1.55 square miles.

Of course, this isn’t the first CSP plant to be built. These types of solar power plants date back to the 1980s where the first ones were built in California in the US. However, it wasn’t until today when the Shams 1 plant took the crown for the world’s largest CSP plant. Of course, we’ll most likely see larger ones being built in the future as green tech becomes more popular.

[via TreeHugger]

Google Doodles are always a fun surprise during the holidays, or other celebratory events. The idea of Google Doodles existed even before Google went corporate. The first Google Doodle was unveiled in the year 2000 for Bastille Day by Dennis Hwang, an intern at Google. The doodle was so well received that Hwang was promoted to “Chief Doodler” (not kidding). Doodles has gone a long way since then, and there is now a whole team behind the division. The team has already created over 1000 doodles.

St. Patrick’s Day comes around every March 17th. It originated back in the early 17th century as an official Christian Feast Day. It celebrates St. Patrick and him bringing Christianity to Ireland. He’s said to have established around 300-350 churches in Ireland. However, St. Patrick’s Day isn’t strictly a religious holiday (as well all know), but also a celebration of the Irish culture.

People all around the world celebrate by wearing green and drinking as much as their wallets (or their alcohol tolerance) allow. Drinking starts in the early afternoon until late night, and there are usually parades and festivals happening all around the world. If you’re going to go out drinking today (on a Sunday no less), make sure to stay safe and never drive drunk. Spending $10-$20 on a taxi is much better than getting yourself a DUI.

The five workers were dispatched to clean up the spill, which had leaked outside of the plant. The worker who died was not wearing a full hazmat suit or a gas mask. The other four were wearing hazmat suits, and gas masks, but still sustained damage from the exposure. They were hospitalized and have made a full recovery. Because of Samsung’s delay to report the leak, the company was fined $900 by the local law enforcement.

Kwon Oh-hyun, Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman, stated that the company will revoke its application for its Hwaseong plants to be certified as “green” operations, at least for another 5 years. Kwon also stated that they will make sure incidents like this are prevented in the future. He stated, “We plan to overhaul the system in a bid to better make environmentally-friendly workplaces.”

There were a total of seven people arrested for the incident. Three of the individuals were officials of Samsung Electronics. They were charged with negligence due to the fatal accident. Yonhap also reports that the semiconductor plant in Hwaseong was designated “green” by the government in 1998, dismissing them from any future government check-ups. The government is currently reviewing the application Samsung submitted back in August that would re-certify its “green” status.

[via Yonhap News]

The machine is called the Diebold 429 and this ATM is specifically designed for urban and rural areas in India. Many of these areas within India don’t have consistent power. Normal ATMs could have an unacceptable amount of downtime, keeping customers from being able to get their money. The 429 on the other hand has three different types of power that it can choose from at any given time.

The machine has a solar panel, internal battery, and can operate off the normal power grid. This particular ATM is also designed to be very green consuming 40% less energy than the previous generation ATMs. The machine also supports small volume currency deposits, and bill payments.

The 429 supports all major security features for major credit card companies and has integrated biometric technology inbuilt security cameras. The device meets regulatory requirements for the industry. The manufacturer says that the ATM can last up to four hours on the internal battery alone.

Ford has announced that its plug-in hybrid Fusion Energi has been approved for use in California HOV lanes. To qualify to use the California HOV lanes, the vehicle has qualify for tax rebates through the California Clean Vehicle Rebate Program overseen by CARB. The Fusion Energi is eligible for $1500 in tax rebates through that program in addition to the $3750 federal tax rebate.

The Fusion Energi is the third Ford vehicle to qualify for those incentives. The California rebate program also stipulates that the vehicle has to offer at least 45 mpg on the highway and be certified as a super ultra-low emissions vehicle by the US EPA. Ford says that having access to the carpool lanes can reduce the time spent behind the wheel and emissions released into the atmosphere.

The Fusion Energi also has an electric only mode allowing the user to drive up to 21 miles without using gasoline. Buyers of these vehicles in California do have to have the HOV lane sticker applied. Presumably, the draw that having a vehicle such as this that can access the HOV lanes comes in the fact that you can do it without having passengers that would be required in a normal vehicle. Ford isn’t clear on that aspect, so anyone who lives in California and is familiar with this rule let us know if that’s accurate.

[via Ford]

The company’s entire 2013 Zero line feature Bluetooth capability. That Bluetooth capability combined with a new smartphone application allows owners of these motorcycles to interact with their bike for the first time using a smartphone. The smartphone application is available for both iOS devices such as the iPhone and Android devices.

The app gives users the ability to control the performance characteristics of the motorcycle. The main feature of the app is the ability to give riders a customizable dashboard for statistical data about their bike. The app can show statistics such as the percentage of charge in the bike batteries, torque, drivetrain component temperatures, battery amps, and more.

The app also allows users to access statistics showing them how much money they’ve saved in gasoline and how much CO2 they have prevented from being released to the atmosphere. The app also allows users to send diagnostic reports to the technician for easy review if they are having a problem or concern. The app is available at no cost to owners of Zero Motorcycles.

[via Zero Motorcycles]

While it was New York Times reviewer John Broder that did the review of the vehicle, not Margaret Sullivan, it’s Sullivan who is tasked with a bit of cleanup here at the start of the second week of this PR massacre. In a rather lovely response to the situation made in the form of a Public Editor article on the web, Sullivan explains the lengths to which she (and the New York Times) went to figure out the best course of action in the situation. In other words: she speaks about what she did to figure out who was wrong, if someone was wrong, and what to do about it.

As it turns out, after having “read hundreds of emails and reader comments” on the situation, having talks with her brother (a “physician, car aficionado and Tesla fan”), Broder, Musk, two “key” Tesla employees, the tow-truck driver charged with picking up the vehicle after Broder’s review (and his dispatcher), other NYT journalists, and more, Sullivan found there to be a problem with precision and judgement. Sullivan notes specifically that Broder, in his review, didn’t use good judgement from start to finish.

It wasn’t that Broder “hoped the drive would end badly”, but instead that he didn’t precisely follow the rules, so to speak. Having not had a proper overnight charge the night before charging the vehicle in Norwich, Connecticut, for example, and keeping rather “casual and imprecise notes” through the drive, allowed Broder to be criticized heavily. Musk too, Sullivan found, made some rather “damaging (and sometimes quite misleading)” comments using these logs as they compared to the digitally recorded driving logs (as shown in the link earlier in this post).

The end result – or what could be expected to be the end result, if not final chapter in this particular saga – is Musk tweeting a simple acknowledgement of the article. “Appreciate thoughtful @Sullivew article” it stated, “Faith in @nytimes restored.” Sound alright to you? Have a peek at the timeline below regarding the extended saga to see more details throughout.

[via Engadget]

Researchers at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) have ended up making major strides in powering mass transit systems over wireless protocols. The systems are called On-line Electric Vehicles (OLEV), and are actually already being tested on Korean roads today. If all goes well, they may switch to the new system permanently.

The technology uses inductive charging to wirelessly transmit electricity from the ground to coils underneath the floor of electric vehicles. The ground has embedded power cables that transmit electricity to the pick-up coils. So far during testing, engineers have recorded an 85% transmission efficiency with the cables and coils.

The technology is similar to what Utah State University is currently doing. Back in December, they introduced an inductive charging technology that involved the same wireless method, which would allows city buses to quickly charge up while waiting at a bus stop, an initiative that would cut down the amount of fuel needed drastically.

[via Txchnologist]

Currently, New York City has 100 public charging stations and 120 stations for the city’s own fleet of electric vehicles. Under this new proposal from Bloomberg, 30 more stations would be added for government electric vehicles. Of course, the effort will no doubt run into some hurdles, thanks to building codes, permits, and negotiating.

However, other major cities around the US are joining on adding charging stations throughout their areas. San Francisco and Texas are adding charging stations, and the west coast is also seeing an increase in places to charge up electric vehicles. Plus, Tesla is working to add charging stations along the east and west coast, and will eventually add some in other places around the US.

Under the mayor’s new proposal, New York City would also conduct testing of curbside charging that would be able to fill batteries in just 30 minutes, as opposed to the traditional few hours that it normally takes. The testing would involve two charging stations in the city that would be able to charge vehicles over lunch. Here’s to hoping that, within seven years, we’ll see a charging station on every corner.

[via Transportation Nation]

The Monash University group speaking on a new technique this week say that current methods for carbon capture aren’t as ideal as they could be. Speaking on how a new carbon sponge overcomes many of these difficulties with a sunlight release element, the Monash University Department of Checmical Engineering spoke of the photosensitive metal organic framework (MOF). With this MOF, the current technique (which includes liquid capture technologies heated to release resulting build-up) can be done away with entirely.

Also according to the release from Monash University, MOFs can be described in simplest terms as groups of metal atoms that are linked together with organic molecules. Massive amounts of gas can be stored here due to the high internal surface area of each group. With the solution proposed this week, this newest MOF was created with groups of azobenzene molecules of the light-sensitive variety.

So like a sponge you’ve got a material that easily collects matter then releases it when you like – simple and effective. At the moment it would appear that sets of researchers are working to make this MOF optimized in a way that allows for industrial environment-level efficiency – that’d be where we want to go for the big-time workplace.

According to Science Recorder, this study’s findings can be found in the scienc journal Angewandte Chemie. Be sure to let them know, when you get there, that we’re excited to see these miracle-workers in action soon!

UPS has deployed these 100 electric trucks in areas in Sacramento, San Bernardino, Bakersfield, and Fresno. Thanks to the 75-mile range from a single charge, the 100 trucks are said to help cut down diesel fuel use by about 126,000 gallons per year. In total, UPS operates over 2,500 alternative fuel vehicles in the US.

However, UPS isn’t the only package delivery company that’s deploying electric vehicles. Last year, Federal Express said that it was more than doubling its all-electric fleet to 43 vehicles. That’s certainly not as many as UPS has, but we definitely have to give anyone willing to switch to eco-friendly vehicles an “A” for effort.

It’s not said exactly when UPS or FedEx may switch full-time to electric trucks, but given that UPS already has 2,500 of them, it shouldn’t take long until the company replaces their entire diesel fleet. However, electric vehicles are still in their infancy, so it may take a while until we see them hit the road in larger quantities.

[via Autoblog]

Image via Flickr

Since the database is crowdsourced, it also includes stations not owned by either of those companies. Any station an EV owner puts and is included in this database. Some of the information in the database includes photographs, reviews, and check-ins from EV owners that use the charging stations.

This data is being integrated into the MyFord Mobile smartphone application to make it easy for electric vehicle owners to find a place to plug in and charge up when on the road. That application also allows owners of electrified vehicles to control some aspects of their car remotely. Another interesting feature of the app is that users can monitor the charge status of their vehicles batteries.

Drivers are able to seek out charging stations using the station finder component of the mobile application. The app also allows the vehicle owner to search for locations near the charging station for other needs. The app has also recently been updated to allow users to keep their own trip and charge log allowing the driver to track their efficiency and use.

[via Torque News]

According to DragTimes, the The Model S Performance edition managed a 12.371 quarter mile at 110.84 mph, going 0 to 60 mph in just 3.9 seconds, winning handsomely over a Dodge Viper SRT10 without any problem. Granted, the 12.371-second run was the best out of several runs, and the car was on a full charge. Still though, even without a full battery, the Model S ran 12-second runs regardless.

Even after a 78-mile trip driving at 70 mph, the Model S ran back-to-back 12.6-second runs at 108 mph. The car as roughly a 350-mile range on a full charge, so the battery wasn’t low by any means, but after a quick road trip, the car can still pump out torque like it’s nothing, which is impressive to say the least.

The Tesla Model S features a 416HP engine, and the entire car weighs in at 4,700 lbs., so it’s fairly surprising that it was able to go from 0 to 60 mph in less than four seconds. Back in November, the car was named Motor Trend’s 2013 Car of the Year, beating out the Cadillac ATS, Toyota Avalon, Porsche 911, BMW 3 Series, Ford Fusion, and the Subaru BRZ.

[via DragTimes]

Ford is also bragging that the EPA certified the plug-in hybrid for up to 92 MPGe on the highway giving it a combined rating of 100 MPGe. Ford says that those economy figures to help customers save as much as $6850 in fuel costs over five years. Ford also took the time to talk about projected sales for Q4 2012 for hybrid and electric vehicles.

Ford is predicting that it will sell over 19,000 hybrid and electric vehicles during Q4 2012 making it the best quarter for hybrids ever. Ford predicts that over half of all its hybrid vehicle sales for the year will come during Q4. There is a bit of a dark shadow over Ford and its fuel efficiency claims.

The EPA is currently reviewing both the hybrid Fusion and the C-Hybrid over questionable fuel economy claims. Independent reviewers and owners of the vehicles alleged that fuel economy is significantly different in the real world compared to the claims Ford makes on window stickers.

This machine is made to be rugged, prepared to stick with you be it in your own home for an emergency or out along with you camping. You’ve got connectivity with radio along AM and FM as well as all seven NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) weather band stations – and an “Alert” system to boot! This “Alert” function, when activated, automatically has your unit broadcasting emergency weather alerts from your area.

The turbine is quoted as giving between 10 and 15 minutes of radio and flashlight use per one minute cranked – and we’ve generally found that to be entirely accurate. If you’re in an area where you’ve got your own supply of AAA batteries, you can feel free to use those too – and if you’ve got a wall socket, this machine takes in DC power via mini-USB. This machine also has the ability to “dump charge” your smartphone with its own USB port – plug your own microUSB cord in and let it pump up!

You’ve got the ability to play the radio stations as a standard radio would or you can choose to play tunes through the machine’s AUX-input. This means that if you’ve got your smartphone and an audio cord, you can plug in and blast the tunes out through the FRX3 like a pro! There’s also a 3-LED flashlight that can shine straight-up white or blink red, and all of the buttons around the entire device are illuminated. The area around the solar power panel is also glow-in-the-dark.

You’ve got a small display in the center of all this that shows you what you’ve got turned on or off, which radio station you’ve got on, and if you’ve got an alarm set up – yes indeed you can set this machine up to be your alarm clock, too. The display is back-lit so you can see it in the dark, and the whole device measures in at 7.875 H x 7 W x 3.5-inch D. You can pick this machine up at fine electronics stores near you for right around $60 USD, and it’s worth every penny.

Ford notes that the C-Max outsold the Toyota Camry Hybrid cumulative 7300 sales during its first two months of availability in May and June of 2006. Ford is also claiming that it’s C-Max Hybrid and C-Max Energi are selling three times faster than the combined launch sales of the Toyota Prius and Honda Insight back in 2000.

The automaker says that the best ever electrified vehicle sales month came in November with 7157 units sold. Ford also predicts an all-time record quarter for hybrid vehicle sales at the close of December with more than half of its hybrid sales for the year expected to come in Q4. The C-Max hybrid is pointed to as the driving factor for the record electrified vehicle sales month of November.

Interestingly, Ford says that C-Max Hybrids are drawing new users to the Ford brand and the Toyota Prius is the number one competitive trade-in followed closely by the Honda CR-V. It helps that the C-Max hybrid is one of the cheapest hybrid vehicles on the market today.

Ford and EnerSys teamed up with Bigfoot and outfitted the monster truck with 36 EnerSys batteries, as well as a 350HP electric motor, and has claimed to be the first ones to build the first proper EV monster truck. The result is a much quieter car-crushing machine, which takes away a little of the fun, since half of the entertainment is listening to those crazy-loud engines.

The video shows the new all-electric Bigfoot in action, and while it does appear that it doesn’t have quite the torque of a true gasoline-powered monster truck, it still has the same crushing power thanks to the immensely-large tires and the weight of those 36 batteries. And while the truck isn’t completely silent, you have to admit that it doesn’t make a lot of noise compared to traditional monster trucks.

In all, the truck’s 36 batteries add an extra 1,375 pounds, and while the system includes on-board battery chargers, there is no word on how long such a job would take, or how long the batteries last on a single charge. Don’t expect this new monster truck to be in competitions anytime soon — it’s mostly just for show for the time being.

The facility will manufacture battery components to be used during the ramp-up of production for the all-electric 2013 Nissan Leaf EV early next year. Nissan says that the new plant will only be the third of its kind in the entire world operated by a major automaker. I can’t help but wonder why Nissan is ramping up production of its Leaf when sales of the vehicle have been less than stellar.

Nissan says that since December of 2010 it sold over 18,000 Leaf EV’s to customers in the United States. Nissan also brags that it has sold 46,000 of the fully electric vehicles around the world. While Nissan has struggled to meet its sales goals in the United States, the company claims that the Leaf is the most successful completely electric vehicle in history.

Nissan says that the first batteries produced at the plant have completed the required aging process and are now ready to be charged for the first time. The battery factory is capable of producing up to 200,000 batteries annually depending on the market demand for the vehicle. Nissan says that the batteries produced at the plant can also be used for future vehicles added to its electric vehicle portfolio. Nissan says that the battery plant could add up to 1000 additional jobs depending on demand.

What this application does is present you with an amazingly simple-to-use interface that shows categories of recycling, first of all. What you’re seeing above is the chart that pops up on the iPhone 5 (full-screen, yes!), it showing you a set of 12 categories: Automotive, Batteries, Construction, Electronics, Garden, Glass, Hazardous, Household, Metal, Paint, Paper, and Plastic. From there you’ll go to secondary categories.

In Metal you’ll have everything from Aerosol Cans to Lawnmowers to Vehicle Donation – and yes, there is some double-posting of secondary categories to make sure you get to where you want to go even if you select Metals instead of Automotive to recycle the metal in your vehicle. Once you select this secondary category, you get a screen that uses your current location (or a location of your choice) and gives you all of the nearby locations that recycle the product you’ve chosen.

Once you’ve found the one you want, you get a display with information including a phone number, the ability to visit the institution’s website, a link to Maps (Apple Maps if you’re on the iPhone or your choice of maps if you’re on Android), a checklist of other materials accepted, Restrictions, and additional notes. Of course each of these items only appears if the location has that information readily available – sometimes all you get is a location.

There’s also a Share button in the upper right-hand corner when you get to a location screen and everything connects as it should. This app is so easy to use and so helpful when we want to recycle our wares that it’s almost amazing that it’s free. Thanks to Earth911 though, it certainly is free, and it’s certainly worth a download – grab it!

A prototype of the bus, called the Aggie Bus (named after the school’s nickname) is already on the road being tested as we speak. The folks behind the project plain to have a commercial vehicle on the market soon, but no specific timeline was given. The bus uses the same wireless charging principle as an electric toothbrush or a wireless smartphone charger. The only difference is that it’s optimized for a vehicle.

Induction charging, in this specific instance, allows for smaller batteries on the electric bus, which frees up room for more interior space, as well as reduces downtime and allows for lower battery costs. Utah State University will be the first college campus in the US to debut such a bus sometime in 2013.

Of course, this isn’t the first time we’ve heard of wireless charging used in vehicles. Last month, Qualcomm kicked off a new wireless charging trial called “Halo” that’s all about testing different ways to bring inductive charging to everyday driving. Unlike current electric vehicles, which have to sit overnight to recharge, Qualcomm’s initiative plans to have the highway itself be the charging pad. Of course, we won’t see this kind of technology for a few more years, and it’ll still be in the slow rollout phase by then.

Maglev trains, or more commonly known as “bullet trains”, travel on superconducting magnets under the tracks to levitate the train and allow it to travel with much less friction, allowing the trains to achieve much higher speeds, while also providing passengers with a smoother and quieter ride than conventional trains.

It’ll obviously be a very long time until the new trains get put into full service. The first line won’t be ready until 2027, and the Central Japan Railway Company plans to expand the route to serve Osaka by 2045, and will cost around $102 billion. The new trains will have 14 cars plus the cab car, which can accommodate 24 passengers, while the other cars will hold 68 each for a total of just over 900 passengers per train.

Currently, Japan’s maglev trains travel around 150 MPH and it takes around an hour and a half for the current-generation trains to complete the journey between Tokyo and Nagoya, but the new trains will be able to complete the trip in over half the time. Japan is looking at its train technology’s export potential, and says that there’s currently a maglev train system operating in China. However, no word on whether or not the train technology will spread to other parts of the world.

[via Phys.org]

For the 2013 year model, the vehicle gets significant updates for powertrain, styling, and new features. One of the key new features is more power from the new lithium-ion battery pack that improves the performance of the vehicle and its EPA fuel efficiency ratings. The hybrid drivetrain system in the car uses a 1.5-liter four-cylinder 16-valve single overhead cam engine with intelligent Variable Valve Timing and Lift Electronic Control. That system allows the engine to produce more power.

The power of the electric motor has been increased to 2013 from 10 kW to 15 kW thanks to a high-voltage lithium-ion battery pack. The CR-Z is now able to deliver a combined peak output of 130 hp at 6000 RPMs and 140 pound-foot of torque for manual transmission versions with CVT models offering 127 pounds-foot of torque.

Despite the extra power, the EPA city/highway/combined efficiency rating is up by one mpg to 36/39/37 mpg for CVT models. Six-speed manual models have ratings of 31/38/34. The vehicle also gets a number of other changes for 2013 including a revised front fascia, 16-inch alloy wheels, a new rear diffuser, a new Plus Sport System, revised interior trim, available two-tone seats, standard Bluetooth, standard rearview camera, and lots more.