Pollution-Free Hydrogen SUV Hits the Driveway

Like many of her neighbors, Maria Recchia-O'Neill has a sport utility vehicle sitting in her driveway in Rye Brook, just north of New York City. She drives it to work and around town to run errands. But although her vehicle looks like any other SUV, her Chevrolet Equinox gets excellent gas mileage -- and it doesn't emit any pollutants or climate change-promoting carbon dioxide. That is because it is a hydrogen fuel cell electric vehicle -- one of 40 such automobiles that U.S. carmaker General Motors provided for motorists to road test. [ScientificAmerican.com, 20 Mar 2008] Read more

Prototype Plane Uses Composites in New Way

In a high-security compound where some of the world's most exotic aircraft were born, engineers and technicians are building a prototype for a new Air Force cargo plane that may change aviation. Lockheed Martin is building the first military cargo jet in which the craft's structure will be made of fibers, resins and epoxy, replacing metals such as aluminum and titanium that have been in use in aircraft for decades. [USATODAY.com, accessed 24 Mar 2008] Read more

Most Vehicles Will Be Hybrid by 2020

General Motors vice chairman Bob Lutz said today that the automaker would have produce 80 percent of its vehicles as some type of hybrid by 2020 in order to meet new tougher fuel economy standards. "Ultimately by 2020, we figure that 80 percent of vehicles are going to require some sort of level of hybridization," Lutz said in an interview today. "We cannot get to 35 miles per gallon with anything resembling the current product portfolio with conventional technology." Automakers must average a combined 35 miles per gallon by 2020 for passenger cars and light trucks, a 40 percent increase. Lutz said in order to meet the first increases in the requirements, GM would build about one-third of its vehicles as hybrids by 2015 -- when new fuel economy standards "really start to bite." [Detroit News (online), 19 Mar 2008 ] Read more

Big Incentive for Fuel-Efficient Vehicle

The X Prize Foundation, best known for its competitions promoting space flights, is offering $10 million to the teams that can produce the most production-ready vehicles that get 100 miles per gallon or more. The foundation was to announce the size of the purse and its sponsor, Progressive Casualty Insurance Co., on Thursday at the New York International Auto Show. More than 60 teams from nine countries have signed up for the competition so far, including California electric car-makers Aptera Motors and Tesla Motors, German diesel car-maker Loremo and a team from Cornell University. [Chicago Tribune (online), 20 Mar 2008 ] Read more