Cars & Transportation

Will Stimulus be Enough to Bring High-Speed Rail to America?

Rail station in Shanghai, China (photo via thetransportpolitic.com)

About a year ago, TreeHugger interviewed Andy Kunz, an urban designer, New Urbanist and rail advocate.

Mexico City to Require Students to Take School Bus To Reduce Traffic and Pollution

Photo credit: Vivir Mexico

Mexico City's minister of the environment, Martha Delgado, announced Friday that in August a pilot project requiring students to take school buses instead of private vehicles to school at 10 private schools would commence.

Ford Re-Opens Cleveland Plant to Build 'EcoBoost' Engines

Part of Ford's "Green Strategy"
Ford is trying to adapt to the new car market (what's left of it, anyway) by bringing over European cars like the frugal Fiesta, and by building new more efficient engines which it calls "EcoBoost".

Private Cars in China Up 28% in 2008

That's a Lot of Tailpipes
It wasn't so long ago that we wrote about China's 168 million motor vehicles (if you count everything), or about how taxes went up on big vehicles (though fuel is heavily subsidized, encouraging waste).

Bill Clinton Denied Tesla Roadster Ride by Secret Services

"President Clinton announced he was eager to take the Roadster for a ride"
On President Day, Bill Clinton was at a luncheon moderated by Paul Hawken in the only LEED platinum-certified airplane hangar in the world in Burbank, California, to discuss how "clean technology and “green collar” jobs could kick-start our sputtering economy." The 42nd president of the US expressed interest in taking the Tesla Roadster electric car tha

Mini E Won’t See Commercial Production, Field Trial Results Destined For 2010 Electric BMW

photo: Mini USA

You probably heard or read about last week’s announcement that applications for the Mini E field test had been opened and that 500 people in the Los Angeles and New York metro areas would be participating.

World’s Fastest Electric Superbike: 125 MPH & No Carbon Emissions

photo: The Guardian

If you live in the United States, you may have missed the announcement made last Thursday, that the world’s fastest all-electric superbike has been unveiled.

4,000 Electric Vehicles To Be Leased by US Army

photo: Native American Biofuels

Considering that many of its higher profile vehicles really suck fuel like there’s no tomorrow, you may not think that the US military concerned itself much with reducing fuel usage, but based on a recent announcement that’s apparently not the case.

Michelin Unveils Active Wheel in Affordable Electric Car

Image: Michelin

The Holy Grail of Eco-transportation
Could this be the technology that revolutionizes transportation? Will the company that invented the air-pressure tire trump that achievement by making electric cars affordable and practical?

Is This What Life With the World's Highest Gas Prices Looks Like?


A freakishly quiet moment on Istanbul's roads.

Despite the difficulties involved in comparing gallons to liters and converting from one currency to another, the price of gas in our respective countries somehow seemed to come up frequently as a topic of conversation in my Turkish clas

Brad Pitt Lends His Voice to e2 Transport

Image source: Season 3 e2 Transport

Brad Pitt continues to lend his talent on this 3rd season e2 for their latest installment titled "Transport." Episodes begin streaming on the web November 24 and then will air on PBS later this winter.

Election Day A Boon For Mass-Transit

Mass-Transit Gets Funded to the Tune of $75 Billion
November 4th was a good day for democracy in general (most of the voting went off without a hitch) and Democrats in particular.

2009 Fuel Economy Guide: Toyota Prius First, Lamborghini Murciélago Last

2009 Fuel Economy Guide
The U.S. government's 2009 Fuel Economy Guide (pdf) is out and there hasn't been much movement at the top once again this year.

Bike Share Programs Becoming Increasingly Popular on College Campuses

Bike Sharing Has Gone Global
Bike Sharing--programs that enable multiple users to rent bikes and return them at stations scattered around a city or campus--has truly gone global.

Electric Porsche 911 by RUF: "Emotions without emissions"

Electric Porsche 911
Ruf Automobile GmbH, a German automotive company that has been tuning Porsches for a long time, will make an electric version of the Porsche 911 called the eRUF Model A.

Under the hood, a 150kW (201hp) brushless three phase A/C electric motor that can generate an impressive 480 lb.-ft. of torque and a lithium-ion iron-phosphate battery pack made of 96 160Ah Axeon cells and a sophisticated monitoring system to make sure it doesn't overheat.

Photos of New 2010 Prius Hybrid Leaked, Confirmed by Toyota

Finally, Redesigned 2010 Toyota Prius
A member of the PriusChat forums has posted 5 shots of the new redesigned 2010 Toyota Prius, and Toyota has confirmed on its official blog that it was the real deal, though without any other details.

More photos below the fold....

Solar-Powered Electric Cycle Rickshaw Debuts in Delhi

Solar-powered rickshaw photo: Cleantech

While it is easily possible to argue about the human rights aspect of pedal-powered rickshaws (there’s certainly a bit of difference in the type of people involved in the biz in India compared to their limited use in the United States...), there’s no denying that from an environmental perspective they’re a better form of transport than burning fossil fuels.

Plug-in Hybrid and Electric Vehicle Owners Struggle to Find Places to Charge Up

Plug-In Hybrids and Electric Vehicles--Lots of Talk, Little Action
For all the talk and excitement about plug-in hybrids (PHEVs) and electric vehicles (EVs), it is still extremely rare to come across one of these cars on the highways.