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Honda has developed a car that runs on diesel fuel and get more miles to the gallon that a hybrid.  The car maker says that the car runs on “clean” diesel and expects it to be in the US by 2010.  The new car gets about 63 miles a gallon while looking and driving like a Honda Accord.

The car can run on regular diesel fuel, which is commonly found at gas stations.  It can also run on biodiesel, a form of fuel made with vegetable oil or other fats.  With that in mind, it would be a cleaner car than the Prius.

Honda showed the car off earlier in the month at a trade show. The show was in California, where the state has passed strict bills limiting fuel emissions.  It is also a very big market for “cleaner cars”.

Google, who Monday announced plans for a new electric car, has also announced that they will promise $10 million to help jump start the electric car market.

The development of an electric car can be terribly expensive, considering the price of the advanced electronics and parts involved with a plug-in hybrid.  It is estimated that the big car companies can be spending tens of millions of dollars for their plug-in cars. General Motors is the only big car maker that has announced plans for a plug-in.  The GM car will arrive around 2010.
“Google is not going to get into the business of building and selling hybrid electrics. Our focus is on accelerating their developing through research, testing and investment,” says Google.org’s Dan Reicher.

The federal government has pledged $28 million in plug-in development in FY 2008.

Experts say that the technology is here for the plug-in electric car, it’s just up to auto makers to step up development.  Google’s new commitment along with the fed’s funding may be the jump-start needed to get the electric car running.

Yesterday Google.org (related to google.com) launched a new project for a new kind of car.  The smart energy vehicle would plug in to the electric grid and be powered by solar energy.  While plugged into the grid the car would send power it doesn’t need back to the grid, making the owner some money or credit on their bill.  This process is called vehicle-to-grid (V2G) technology.  You can read more about V2G here. The car would get about 70-100 miles per gallon.

One of Google.org’s core missions is to address climate change.  Transportation in the US contributes to about a third of all of the greenhouse gas emissions.  Right now Google engineers will be running a small fleet of these cars.  They will also add an extra battery for longer drives and possible run the car on biofuel instead of gasoline.

When Bob Teixeira decided to help stop our addiction to foriegn oil and convert a car to run on vegetable oil, he didn’t expect to get nailed with over $2,000 in fines.

The musician and guitar instructor from Charlotte, NC bought a converter kit for about $1,200 to make his 1981 Mercedes run on vegetable oil.  The would then buy 5-gallon jugs of soy bean oil from a local wholesale warehouse store to run the converted car.

Since last Fall he’s been running the car with that oil and now faces a $1,000 state fine for not paying motor fuel tax.  Authorities have told him that he can expect another $1,000 fine from the federal government.  Why?

In North Carolina you have to post a $2,000 bond to use alternative fuels in your car.  So legally he can’t be running his soy bean Mercedes without the bond.  So by saving money, reducing pollution, and not depending on oil from other countries it will cost you.
The $2,500 bond is getting revisited for small do-it-yourself users of alternative fuel.  The state legislature may be worried by these moves, however.  With a 29.9 cent per gallon gas tax the state generates $1.2 billion a year in revenue for road construction.  That’s a lot of beans.

A recent summit of Silicon Valley Leadership Group Alternative Energy Solutions (or SVLGAES for short) and the Pacific Gas and Electric Company showcased a prototype solution called the Vehicle-to-grid (V2G). The V2G would allow an electric car to plug in to the electrical service grid and provide energy back to the grid during peak times of the day.

So essentially your electric car (if you had one) could server as a power storage station, increase the reliability of the electric grid, reduce the need for foreign oil, fight evil, and cook a nice French toast breakfast on Sunday morning. OK I lied about the last two.

If this new technology gets passed the demonstration stage one could, in theory, use their car to grab power at night (when it’s cheaper) and sell it back during the day (when demand is high).  I’m sure the electric companies have already figured out ways to reduce the “buy back” rate of their power which would then blow my theory out of the water.  But still it’s another reason to buy and electric car.

With all of the talk about hybrid, diesel, and electric cars out there one may think those are there only options.  But they are wrong.  A “zero pollution” compressed air car is ready to hit the market.

The Indian car manufacturer, Tata, is about to start production on the MiniC.A.T. a simple car made of fiberglass made for urban environments.   The car is not glued, but molded using fiberglass to save on weight.
The inside of the car has a computer that brings you speed, voice recognition, GSM cell phone connectivity, GPS, and tons of digital media.

Under the hood is an electric engine that uses one cable to control the car.  The rest is handled by tiny radio transmitters for control every other aspect of the car, like lights and turn signals.

What about fuel efficiency?  The MiniC.A.T. costs about 1/10 the cost to run than a gas.  It will also run twice as long as an electric car.  You can also get up to 68  mph in the car as well, not bad for a car that runs on air.
You can fill up in about 2 to 3 minutes at a filling station.  Designers also say a small air compressor can be put in the car that can be connected to an air tank giving you much further distance.  That air tank can take 3-4 hours to fill.

Seems simple enough, right?  Here’s a quick list.

Wanna see a fast car?  Wanna see an electric car?  Check this out.