Ford is requiring dealerships selling its EVs to meet environmental and expertise guidelines as the Focus Electric appears in more showrooms.

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We all know that to minimize the impact of global climate change we need to drastically reduce our combustion of fossil fuels. We can do that in a number ways including: increasing our use of renewables for electric power generation, moving to some other way of powering our automobiles, and embracing the use of systems thinking as we design our infrastructure moving forward. What I like about today’s story is that it combines all three of these.

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March sales for the Volt were 2,289 vehicles, an increase of 123.8 percent over February – and stronger than the third best non plug-in gasoline-hybrid vehicle.

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The Fisker Karma, a high performance luxury plug-in hybrid electric vehicle, broke down in the parking lot of Consumer Reports before they could conduct quality tests on it.

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“Any Motor manufacturer without a compelling line up of electric vehicles [by 2025] is signing its death warrant.”

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At the VerdeXchange Marketmakers Conference that took place in downtown Los Angeles this week, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa gave a keynote speech to an audience of about 500 industry leaders working to build and shape the green economy of Los Angeles and the nation. In his presentation, Mayor Villaraigosa explained how his focus on developing Los Angeles’s clean technology market is helping him address some of the biggest challenges facing the city.

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The level of drama associated with the unveiling of a new model of car is something to behold – especially for someone who’s not particularly into cars.   At the crack of dawn this morning, with appropriately dramatic pomp at the North American International Auto show in Detroit, Ford CEO Alan Mulally and his team revealed several [...]

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We’ve been following along with Ford’s answer to the Nissan Leaf for some time, and not just because we like butterflies.  The all-electric version of the Ford Focus is expected to be the first five-passenger electric vehicle that will exceed “100 MPGe” – a measurement that allows better comparison of electric and gas vehicles. The Focus [...]

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Design strategy and Innovation are preparing businesses for survival. Many aspects contribute to a business succeeding. I believe these include intuition, speed, and agility.

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Ford is introducing a new range of electric, hybrid and plug-in hybrid passenger vehicles for 2012, which the company says will mean a third of their vehicle lines will feature a model with 40 miles-per-gallon, or more, next year. A 100% electric version of the latest generation Ford Focus, will initially go on sale in [...]

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By Sarah Blackhouse Future360 motors to Irvine, California to explore the latest in green transportation. We see how two technologies — Fisker Karma and Pulse Plug — are cutting carbon and driving sustainable transportation forward.

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With its first mass produced all electric vehicle, the i3, BMW has completely redesigned the EV concept. Instead of taking a car and simply swamping out the combustion engine for an electric drive system, BMW has rethought and redesigned the entire vehicle based on it’s most promising application – as an emission-free urban mode of transport that’s just as intelligent as it’s owner is likely to be.

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Makers of electric vehicles (EVs) still have some kinks to work out when it comes to charging the battery. The biggest kink is taking an EV from something you can only drive around town to a car you can use on long trips. Tesla Motors, the only American all-EV car manufacturer, is working on a [...]

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The car rental market is one market that is constantly getting greener, offering a growing number of green services from the newest electric cars to car sharing programs. Yet surprisingly, none of the major car rental companies, until now, have published a sustainability report. Well, that was true until last week when Enterprise Holdings (which [...]

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Having endured a painful restructuring, Chrysler Group LLC is on the path towards recovery, and released its first ever sustainability report last week.

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Apple Skin Skies examines the idea that our atmosphere is thin relative to the size of the planet and the number of humans on its surface. A connection is drawn between the thickness of an apple skin relative to its diameter and how with this simple mental exercise it becomes more clear how human activity could bring about global warming.

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IBM’s signing on as a member of EcoGrid EU, a consortium of companies that is planning a European Union (EU) smart grid that will source at least 50% of its electrical power from renewable sources, such as wind, solar and biogas. Smart grids are central elements in making the transition from fossil fuel-based to clean, renewable energy systems. It will take massive investments in electrical power infrastructure and may take a decade or more to make the transition worldwide. The EcoGrid EU project is likely to speed up the process substantially.

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With each passing year, our ability to lead more environmentally conscious lives continues to grow. But one area of life that the green movement seems to have left behind is the world of investments. Investments are a part of daily life. This is how many make their living and how many more than that earn their retirement. However, the ability for an environmentally conscious individual to invest in a purely green exchange traded fund has been a dream up until now.

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Earlier this year, Ford announced its ongoing commitment to vehicle electrification. The automaker will be sticking to expansions in four-wheel offerings, but, surprisingly they’re also also turning their attention to two-wheelers: E-bikes. While this change represents a radical departure from the company’s core offering, it’s a logical move nonetheless. Vehicle electrification might be the sort [...]

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For decades we’ve taken advantage of our natural supplies and just ignored the fact that one day, we will run out. Now, we seriously need to find a renewable and green power source to continue the evolution of the car. But what fuels have been overlooked since the motorcar was invented?

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“Let’s Roll” were the last recorded words from Flight 93 which crashed in Pennsylvania on September 11, 2001, and they were spoken because the Americans on board fought to their death on behalf of their country. Isn’t it past time for the American consumer to take up this rally cry to support our country’s job [...]

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When auto makers get serious about developing a performance car, they invariably take a trip to Germany’s fabled test track, the Nürburgring Nordschleife, to gather data to engineer a true drivers car. The track is a popular test ground since it offers 40 left-hand bends, 50 right-hand bends with extreme gradients to fully put a [...]

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This week the Volvo announced a strategic partnership with Siemens to work on the development of electrical drive technology, charging technology, and battery management.

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In an interview with the Financial Times, Jurgen Leohold, Volkswagen’s head of research, revealed that a new electric-powered, experimental car will be announced on September 8.

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Auto companies with electric vehicle offerings are increasingly taking the opportunity to build links between their vehicles and renewable energy. Perhaps in response to those who say (incorrectly) that EVs do nothing to help mitigate carbon emissions – due to a prevalence of coal-fired electricity generation – manufacturers are forging strategic partnerships with solar companies [...]

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Last week, the National Summit on Energy Security took place in Washington DC. Government, military and business leaders gathered to address America’s reliance on foreign oil. Part of the proceedings involved a war-game like simulation called the “Oil shockWave.” First run in 2005, the simulation serves to generate a number of destabilizing geo-political scenarios, forcing [...]

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In January, I wrote a piece for Triple Pundit prompted by President Obama’s State of the Union address, in which he outlined a goal to put a million electric vehicles on the road by 2015. I asked the question – is there is enough lithium supply to meet Obama’s EV goal? Since lithium-ion and lithium-polymer [...]

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Sales figures for the Nissan LEAF and the Chevrolet Volt are being closely watched. Since both cars represent a new breed of vehicle, the relative success of either one may possibly represent the dominant technology for years to come. Whereas the LEAF is an all electric vehicle, the VOLT is a plug-in hybrid (more on [...]

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Among the talking points we heard repeatedly last week at the Forward with Ford trends event where that the soon-to-be-released Ford Focus electric will get better mileage than a Chevy Volt and will charge faster than a Nissan Leaf. That’s exciting news for a brand new car we haven’t yet seen on the road. It [...]

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A number of articles published this week paint a negative picture of electric cars based on a British study published earlier this month. The study attempts a comparative life-cycle assessment (LCA) of conventional, hybrid and electric cars and prompted “downer” headlines such as, “Electric Cars May Not Be So Green After All” and “More Bad [...]

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