Let’s face it, folks, our cars STINK.

Fast food, sweaty feet, coffee, and everything else add up to make a pretty unpleasant smell in the car.  That whole “new car smell” doesn’t last any too long once you drive it off the lot, and car air fresheners are a joke.  In some places they’re even illegal!  You can’t have stuff hanging off your rear view mirror! How ridiculous is that?

Well, the folks out at Target have a solution, and for a whole twenty bucks, you too can make your car stop smelling like a stadium restroom.  The Ionic Pro Car Ionizer plugs into your car’s cigarette lighter (seems like most everything does these days), and helps recirculate air through a field of negative ions, which in turn neutralizes a lot of the hydrocarbons in the air that cause a stink.

At least I think that’s how it goes; I’m really stretching my electrochemistry history on this one.

But still, for twenty bucks at Target, this isn’t a half bad idea.

Tags: air freshener, car gadget, car ionizer, ionic pro car ionizer, new car smell, smell

The Aptera 2e, that all-electric car that has made consumers’ minds roll on what is really the score with the whole design will be delayed. This was learned after Aptera announced that the Aptera 2e will start production in 2010. Originally, this vehicle was to start production this year but apparently some money considerations has stalled the vehicle from breaking ground. The forefathers are contending that they can shell out the cash to kick off things but want to avail of the financing program before making any hasty decisions.

This means that the 4,000 people who have placed pre-orders will have to wait some more before the Aptera 2e really goes into production. Hopefully though the long wait will be worth every penny that they had deposited for the said vehicle.

(Source) Slashgear

Tags: 2e, aptera, breaking ground, consumers, electric car, ev, financing program, forefathers, hasty decisions, long wait, money considerations, score

Now, I don’t know how many of you have ever gotten stuck in the mud or in snow while driving, but I can tell you this much–I certainly have.  And I would have absolutely loved to have a gadget like this while trying to get myself OUT.

It’s the Foldable Traction Mat, and they’re essentially piece of high-density plastic gadget that can withstand weight and preposterously cold temperatures to give your tire a surface to grab onto that isn’t made of snow, ice or mud.

You just slip the end under your tire–in the mud or snow or what have you–and then you drive onto that.  Get out of the sticky item in question, then go back and recover the mat when you’re on safer ground.

This gadget definitely is a smart idea, great for winter and late fall / early spring when mud is prevalent.  And forty bucks for a traction mat is a lot cheaper than a tow would be.

Tags: car gadget, foldable traction mat, ice, mud, snow, traction, traction mat

We all know the dangers of driving after dark in the months of, roughly, October and November.  With deer season starting and the deer in rut as well, there’s a lot more of them out and a lot more of them moving than there were.

And we’ve all heard about plenty of products that purport to keep deer away, one of these we’re talking about today, the electronic deer alert system.

This one operates by sending out a series of sonic and ultrasonic pulses, audible only to deer and other animals, which in turn warns them to stay away from the road.  Being that it’s electronic, rather than wind activated, it gives an extra measure of reliability, or so it says.

The problem with devices like these is that it’s tough to prove their value.  If I offered to sell you a rock that keeps tigers away, on the basis that you don’t see any tigers near that rock, would you buy it?  That’s why I have my doubts about this one too, but if it worked, it’d be a great gadget.

Tags: car deer, car deer collision, deer, deer season, electronic deer alert, electronic pulses

Considering the Hummer’s reputation for guzzling gas is nothing short of infamous, it is hard to believe that the Humvee will soon become electric. Yes, it is true, as EnerDel is joining up with the U.S. Army to create a green Humvee. And by green, I mean good for the environment electric, not the color.

EnerDel plans to test two types of battery chemistry that include lithium-manganese spinel and lithium-titanate. They also plan to have a “stealth mode” that will kill the diesel generator completely, and so it will run silently with a low thermal signature. To make it even more amazing, this Humvee is also planned to be used as a mobile power plant.

So is this the age of the e-Humvee? We shall see.

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That’s right, twenty million dollars in tax credits went from the beleaguered former auto giant state into the hands of a US-French partnership set up to build lithium-ion batteries for Ford.

The twenty million in tax credits will be handed out over the course of three years to Johnson Controls, a subsidiary of Parisian firm Saft Advanced Power Solutions.

But this cash isn’t just going to be lost–Saft et al intend to invest about eleven times that figure in the state and add just under eleven hundred jobs to the sagging state of Michigan by hiring at a plant in Holland.

Electric batteries, folks…seems more and more we’re getting away from the gas car and getting closer to a day without gas.  Hopefully, also, we won’t be surrendering a speed anywhere near fifty five miles per hour, either.

Tags: Ford, johnson controls, Paris, saft, us-french partnership

The world wide auto industry is making the push towards greener and more fuel efficient vehicles. One of the key components currently used in these green vehicles are lithium-ion batteries which are currently manufcatured all over the world.

Today, a country that you probably wouldn’t expect to be a key player in the game has announced that they will be producing their own lithium-ion batteries by 2018. That country is none other than Bolivia.

The purpose of producing their own lithium-ion batteries is so they could bypass the costly expenses of imported batteries made elsewhere. Smart, huh?

via laht

Tags: batteries, bolivia, lithium ion

Today, a new world record has been made for fastest speed for a battery-powered vehicle: 313 miles on a single charge. The drivers were Simon Hackett and Emilis Prelgauskas, and the car was a 2008 Tesla Roadster.

The place was Austrailia as part of the Global Green Challenge. By the way, there was 3 miles left on the battery at the end of the run.

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It doesn’t really look good to win your own sponsored race, but at the same time, if you can’t manage to win the race you set up you end up looking pretty incompetent.

Thus, it’s not exactly a huge surprise that the Suzuki Alto is out in front and looking pretty good on its fuel consumption.

The Alto Green Challenge is sort of, from what I can tell anyway, a hybrid car race.  Both a race for hybrid cars and a two-pronged car race.  Cars are not only trying to clear the track first, but they’re also trying to do it with the least amount of fuel consumed.

For instance, that Suzuki Alto?  It’s burning through about a gallon of fuel for every fifty miles it travels, or 3.99 liters per one hundred kilometers.

I don’t care what country you’re in–fifty miles per gallon is pretty sweet.  So here’s to the Alto, the current frontrunner in its own contest.

Tags: Alto, Alto Green Challenge, car race, hybrid, hybrid car race, Suzuki Alto

What you see there is the concept 2009 Honda Skydeck, which we may never see. Something that we might see is some more hybrids from Honda. Supposedly the company is working on “developing its proprietary Integrated Motor Assist hybrid platform so that it can once again be used to power larger vehicles like the Accord”.

There is even a rumor saying that Honda wants to put this hybrid power into a minivan before 2011. We will see.

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For those who don’t know about California’s “cool cars” regulations, itis a policy that requires auto manufacturers to install windows that prevent 45 percent of the sun’s energy from entering a vehicle by 2014, and then 60 percent by 2016. Yeah, you got to love Calli-forn-ia (how the governor says it) and its stringent environmental laws.

Oddly enough, the Jeep Wrangler soft-top is exempt from this rule because it has flexible plastic windows. Otherwise, they probably wouldn’t be allowed to sell it in the great state of California. Nice.

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It’s a strange dilemma China has on its hands.  And most Chinese will probably never even see this blog due to the massive censorship on its hands.

We all know that China’s so polluted that their air makes Los Angeles smog taste like a crisp mountain stream.  So naturally, they’re really putting the push on to go green and get some more electric cars on the market.

Well, they’re not the only ones there, but China’s got a SERIOUS problem.  Where most of us have been driving cars for a long time, and are starting to seriously think about going green just by ourselves, the Chinese have not had cars all that long.  Well, not INDIVIDUAL Chinese, anyway.  Individual Chinese haven’t had cars all that long and now that they’ve got them, they mean to keep them.

Now along comes the government telling them, oh, yeah, I know you’ve had this car like all of six weeks but we need you to give it back to the state.  Oh, don’t worry–we have electric cars coming out.  When?  Um…soon.  And they’ll only cost as much as what you paid for the last car!  Subsidies?  Um…look…just get back to work, okay?  Or we’ll kill your children.  You know how this works by now.

It’s a tough road China’s got to drive to get its citizens to go green, and there are plenty of ruts and bumps in it.

Tags: china, Chinese, electric cars, Gas, gas cars, going green, green cars

From the Much Ado About Nothing department, the Progressive Automotive Insurance X Prize committee has announced that the next round of competitors for the big ten million dollar prize has moved on to the next rank.

Only forty three out of the original one hundred eleven teams are still in the running for this title, in which teams are competing to develop a mass production capable car that gets a hundred and ten miles per gallon.  Turns out that this isn’t the only X Prize out there, but this is the one we care about.

Check out some of the project’s goals for winning that ten million:

Safety, Emissions: Vehicles must be designed so that a production vehicle would likely be able to meet U.S. safety standards and U.S. emissions standards.

Manufacturability, Cost: Vehicles must be capable of being manufactured in quantities of 10,000 per year, with vehicle production costs within levels consistent with historical examples of comparable vehicles.

Features: Vehicles must be desirable, addressing the most important features and factors consumers consider when purchasing an automobile.

Business Plan: There must be a credible plan to manufacture, sell, and service 10,000 vehicles (or conversions) per year by 2014. The plan must show that the national fuel infrastructure will support the vehicles, especially if any non-standard fuels or fueling-methods are to be used.

We’ve got a ways to go yet, so keep it here for all the latest X Prize news.

Tags: auto insurance, progressive, progressive insurance, ten million, X Prize

How can I tell?  Well, considering that they’re planning a massive new set of tax initiatives targeting anyone who buys or operates a vehicle, it sure SEEMS like they don’t want you driving anywhere.

How massive, you ask?  Well, in terms of US dollars, you can figure that they’re planning to add roughly FIVE GRAND in taxes to the cost of every new car.  Of course, that particular tax is being phased in in installments over the course of the next eleven years, but still, five grand?  That’s no small feat.

And as if that weren’t horrendous enough, they’re also planning an increase in the gas tax, which will make gas cost, roughly, three pounds per liter, or in US money, roughly thirteen bucks a gallon.

This egregious push is being dubbed “essential” in order for Great Britain to meet its greenhouse gas emissions targets, but critics, not surprisingly, are saying that this is all a push to treat drivers like the government’s own personal piggy bank.

This is, of course, nightmarish in its extremity, and hopefully will drive Brits into the streets to protest this sickening abuse of power.

Tags: Engalnd, gas prices, great britain, Law, taxes

I don’t know if this comes as any surprise, but the Toyota Prius has won the car of the year at this year’s Tokyo Motor Show. Considering that this is the 30th anniversary of the show, the Prius was lined up with the winners from all previous years including last year’s winner, the Toyota IQ.

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