March 23, 2008 by Rob.

If been an H2 doubter for a while and my son’s 2007 science fair project showing a fuel cell’s power curve only confirmed that they are not efficient enough (sub 30%) to justify use in cars.  The auto makers seem to be lining up behind batteries (again).  Here’s more commentary for you:

Posted “GM, Toyota Dismiss Fuel Cells for Mass Use” on 3/7 by the Energy Blog:

The Wall Street Journal reported this week that executives from General Motors Corp. and Toyota Motor Corp., at the Geneva Auto Show Tuesday, “expressed doubts about the viability of hydrogen fuel cells for mass-market production in the near term and suggested their companies are now betting that electric cars will prove to be a better way to reduce fuel consumption and cut tailpipe emissions on a large scale.”

Posted in Green Tech, EV News | 1 Comment »

March 23, 2008 by Rob.

A friend sent me a link to VW’s 70 MPG (yes, 70) diesel hybrid. He was excited that it does not have the “signature ugly” look that high MPG cars seem to always adopt. I was excited too, but sad that we’ll have to wait two years for them to enter the US market.

I’m always pleased to find that there is serious interest in US consumers for high MPG cars. In this case, this new VW was the main talk at our school bus stop the other day (no, I did not bring it up). Everyone seemed to have read/heard about it lately. If a car like this pops up on radar of a diverse group of professionals then I would argue that it has broad market appeal.

Posted in EV News | 1 Comment »

March 23, 2008 by Rob.

I was enjoying my family vacation at Copper Mountain this year when I was assaulted by some amazingly bizarre typically American marketing double think. Chevy signed up as a major sponsor and got to spray their “gas friendly to gas free” (GF2GF) marketing tag line all over Copper Mountain’s trail maps and signs. Chevy has some right to make this claim based on their (shipping) Aveo and (in development) Volt products.

That’s all well and good until they park a sample of their “GF2GF” products at the mountain base. The Suburban and Avalanche may be some of Chevy’s best selling vehicles, but they are not remotely gas friendly even burning unethical E85. How typical for Americans to want a green feel good marketing headline so we can keep buying those gas guzzlers!

Even more rant: Copper Mountain has signs everywhere falsely claiming to be 100% wind powered. It took me a while to find a brochure with small print explaining that they buy wind power offsets. They may be able to stretch the truth and make this claim, but I think it’s misleading. On the upside, they consider that their customers value green power enough to put it on hundreds of signs.

Posted in Rants | No Comments »