Archive for July 6th, 2008

Toyota plans to install solar panels on the new Toyota Prius hybrid as a response to a “growing demand for green cars,” reports Reuters. The panels will be supplied by Kyocera and would be able to power part of the air-conditioning as a “symbolic gesture” as it’s “very difficult to power much more than that… »

Filed under: EV/Plug-in, Tesla Motors

The gang from Tesla left their Silicon Valley home base to pay a visit to the vicinity of the Big Apple this week. Part of the purpose of the trip was to spend some time with some of the people in the area who’ve plunked down cash toward a Roadster… »

Filed under: Etc., Ford

Last year, Ford introduced a new capless direct filling system on the Explorer and has since started spreading it to other models including the new Lincoln MKS, the Ford Flex and the Escape. The system has a number of advantages including the convenience of not having to mess around with the cap…. »

Filed under: Emerging Technologies, EV/Plug-in

We spoke with Ener1 Chairman Charles Gassenheimer back in December at the EVS23 expo and at the time he was quite bullish on his company’s prospects for 2008. So far this year, there has been quite a bit of good news for the company. Ener1’s li-ion battery subsidiary, EnerDel,… »

Filed under: Solar, Transportation Alternatives

When imagining the future of carbon-free air travel it seems strange that so many of us overlook the obvious; super speedy solar-powered flying turtles. No, not like that famous flying turtle from Japanese cinema (Gamera doesn’t sport solar panels, silly), but rather an airship with a rigid hull that derives power… »

Filed under: Green Culture, MPG, Green Daily

High fuel efficiency is a hot topic today, but people have been tinkering with miserly vehicles for a long time. Take GreenPeace, which started working on the “SmILE-Project” in the mid ’90s. GreenPeace thought that if it was going to have to be cars that we use for transportation,… »

Filed under: Ethanol, Hybrid, Ferrari, Lightweight
In the past year, Italian high performance icon Ferrari has increasingly showed signs of succumbing to the pressures of the modern world of transportation. At the Detroit Auto Show in January, the Ferrari displayed what was labeled as an E85-fueled F430 Spyder and last year showed a mock up of… »

Those of you who have been Jalopnik regulars for a while most likely have a pretty solid grasp of the concept behind the Down On The Street series, but what about newcomers to the site? We don’t want DOTS to feel like some sort of in-crowd-only deal, so here’s the Down On The Street FAQ:
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Filed under: Emerging Technologies, Hybrid
When the Technology Strategy Board received funding in May for various eco-projects, one of the items on the TSB’s list was a flywheel-based hybrid drive system. Connected automakers Jaguar, Land Rover and Ford are part of this project (along with Flybrid Systems, Ford Motor Company, Prodrive, Ricardo UK Ltd, Torotrak plc,… »

newVideoPlayer(”/BatmobileSilverstone_gawker.flv”, 506, 423,””); We told you this past week the Batmobile would be taking some laps at Silverstone, with Panasonic Toyota Racing’s Formula 1 car team spending some time this weekend running alongside at the track. Now we’ve got the video to prove that still shot wasn’t some kind of hallucination. Don’t expect a… »