In 2009, Ford UK dealers collected 23,000 ruined bumpers from cars that had been in accidents. Why would they do this? In order to do a bit of recycling. Some of the material from those bumpers is now back in action, having been turned into bumpers – and other plastic parts – used in new Ford models like the Ka. Those 23,000 bumpers translate into 70 tons of landfill (giving each bumper an average weight of 6.8 pounds, since 70 long tons, used in the UK, are equivalent to 156,800 U.S. pounds).

The dealers aren't doing this solely because it helps the environment. They used to have to pay to have the bumpers hauled away in the trash. Now, because of the Ford Motor Company-sponsored bumper collection bins, they get to save that money. Ford's announcement about the program today gives the example that one dealer, Ford Ringways, saved around £15,000 last year.



[Source: Ford]

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Car sharing company Zipcar has responded to the Toyota Prius recall by shutting down rentals of that particular model until the "brake concerns have been addressed appropriately by Toyota." How many Priuses are there in Zipcar's fleet? All told, Zipcar has around 6,500 cars, and less than one percent of them are Priuses. Earlier, Zipcar stopped rentals of 2009 and 2010 Toyota Matrix models because of a safety recall.

In other car sharing news, Frost & Sullivan has calculated that, in America between 2007 and 2009, membership in car sharing organizations jumped up 117 percent. The future looks even better for car sharing groups, with total membership reaching 4.4 million in North America and 5.5 million in Europe by 2016.

What are the reasons for the increase? Frost & Sullivan estimated that each vehicle in a car sharing fleet "replaced 15 personally owned vehicles in 2009 and carsharing members drove 31% less than when they owned a personal vehicle." This means CO2 emissions were reduced by 482,170 tons. The analysts predict that a person who "drives 12,000 miles a year at an average driving speed of 30 miles per hour can save $1,834 by shifting to a carsharing service." City commuters, take note.

[Source: Frost & Sullivan via Treehugger, Boston.com]

Better Place has been signing deals to install its battery swapping and electric vehicle recharging station network around the world, for example, in Denmark, Tokyo and Canada. Not everyone is a fan of Better Place's methods, but now people in the company's home turf of Israel can get a closer look at what the deal is with the opening of the company's first electric vehicle (EV) demonstration center in Israel. To make the point totally clear that plug-in vehicles are a way to get off oil, the center is built inside a refurbished oil tank (pictured above). The center includes a 1.5 kilometer (one mile) test driving track for visitors to drive an EV on. The center opens February 14th.

As part of the center's opening, Better Place announced that it has so far signed up 92 corporate fleet owners and a new partnership with Dor Alon, one of Israel's leading gas station operators, to install battery switch stations. There was a number included in the Better Place release that we hadn't seen before: the company's new partners "have agreed to convert a portion of over 45,000 internal combustion engine cars to electric vehicles from Renault when commercially available in 2011." 45,000 conversions? Hmmm.

[Source: Better Place]

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Members of the StreetCar car sharing service in the UK now have the option to rent a BMW from as little as £6.95 per hour. Like ZipCar and other similar services, StreetCar is a membership program that allows participants to rent cars by the hour, day or week and not have to pay for fuel, insurance or parking. Members get a smart card to remotely unlock cars they have reserved. The cars can be reserved online or over the phone using an iPhone application that also shows you where the car is.

Both the 1 and 3 series are now available from StreetCar and all models are equipped with BMW's efficient dynamics technologies like brake energy recuperation and automatic start-stop. The 1 series costs £6.95 (about $13) per hour while the 3 goes for £8.95 (about $16.83).



[Source: BMW]

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Nothing says style like the blah color of grey, right? Usually, grey is a step up from beige, but the new Smart Fortwo Edition Greystyle, the latest special edition Fortwo from Daimler, actually makes grey look pretty good. Kind of Batman-esque. The new Batman. Not old school Batman like the Batsmart from the 2008 SEMA show.

What turns a Smart into the Greystyle? On the outside, an exclusive matt dark grey paint with odd lime green mirror caps are key, as are the 15-inch six-spoke alloy wheels. Open the door and you can find nappa leather – just like on some Mercedes-Benz models – on the seats and a three-spoke steering wheel. The Greystyle comes in both coupe and cabrio flavors. Under the hood, the Greystyle offers either a 52 kW (71 horsepower) engine that has micro hybrid (start-stop) capability or a standard 62 kW (84 hp) engine, as is common in the Smart Passion trim line. The Greystyle is now available in Germany for €16,135 ($22,129 at today's exchange rates). More information after the break.



[Source: Daimler]

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It would seem that Toyota has an interesting and hitherto unknown concept vehicle up its sleeves, judging by a European patent that L'Automobile in France was somehow able to dig up. Despite our best efforts, we weren't able to locate the actual patent filing ourselves, so you'll have to head on back after clicking here to see the rest of the associated images.

So, what do you think? Judging by the absolutely minuscule engine compartment and Toyota's well-earned position at the top of the hybrid vehicle food chain, it would be a reasonable assumption to conclude that this is some kind of new hybrid vehicle concept. It does seem to share some design cues with the 2007 1/X concept, though it could also be an all-electric, fuel cell or conventional engine design.

L'Automobile seems to think that this vehicle may wear a Lexus badge and could possibly debut at the upcoming Geneva Motor Show, but we can't say for certain. In any case, it's an intriguing design that shows what styling direction the Japanese giant may take with future people movers.

[Source: L'Automobile (translated)]

Ford's electric vehicle (EV) naming scheme is becoming clear: add the word "electric" to a vehicle's standard name and presto, you've got the name of your new EV. Example Number One: the Ford Focus Electric. Example Number Two: the Ford Transit Connect Electric, which will get its official North American debut at the Chicago Auto Show this week. The 2011 Transit Connect Electric will go on sale into production later this year and will offer a range of 80 miles per charge and a top speed of 75 miles per hour. The van's 28 kWh battery recharges in six to eight hours.

Businesses that like the style and practicality of the the Transit Connect but don't necessarily think a plug is the way to go can choose a Transit Connect version that is powered by Ford's engine prep packages that burn compressed natural gas (CNG) or propane (LPG, or liquefied petroleum gas). This model, too, will arrive later this year. More details after the jump.




[Source: Ford]

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In the least surprising announcement of the day, Toyota has officially announced that it would recall 2010 model Priuses and Lexus HS250h models in globally along with the Toyota Sai in Japan to fix an issue the performance of the brake system. The latest in a series of safety-related problems with Toyotas became public last week when Toyota acknowledged that customers of the third-generation hybrid had complained of a loss of stopping power at low speeds.

Toyota also acknowledged that it had developed a software update to improve the blending of the regenerative and
friction braking systems and implemented into new production models sometime in January. The automaker did not, however, order a recall of vehicles in the field until more than a week after reports of the issue turned up in the media.

The Prius, Prius PHEV, HS250h and Sai (a Toyota-badged version of the Prius sold only in Japan) are all being recalled for the update. In total, about 400,000 vehicles are involved in this recall. First- and second-generation Priuses are not included since they have a different braking system.

In the same release, available after the break, Toyota also announced that it would recall about 7,300 2010 model Camrys to inspect a power steering hose that may sit to close to a brake hose and cause it to wear through.



[Source: Toyota]

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Could the apparent braking problems reported on the Toyota Prius – which Toyota admits was an issue on the current model prior to being resolved earlier this year – extend past the recently released 2010 model? According to TheDetroitBureau.com, the answer is a resounding... maybe.

The third generation of the popular hybrid hatchback hit the market in 2009 as a 2010 model, and some 300,000 vehicles are thought to have a software glitch that could cause the car to lose braking power for up to one full second under certain circumstances. Apparently, though, reports of braking issues have been pouring in since 2005 or even earlier. If true, over a million second-generation Prius hybrids could potentially be affected.

Perhaps it's worth mentioning that previous electronic issues have also been reported, such as headlights that burn out too quickly and malfunctioning traction control system. As pointed out by TheDetroitBureau, "ABS, traction control, electronic stability control and various other technologies all rely, at least in part, on braking to improve the stopping, handling and stability of today's cars, including Prius."



[Source: TheDetroitBureau.com]

Now that the Super Bowl is over and the Audi Green Police commercial has aired without harm, one of the companies peripherally connected to the ad, T3 Motion, is proudly proclaiming their product's use by said police force. The product is the T3 Series electric trike, which has sold over 2,000 units and is used by police and security forces around the country (we've featured the trike on these pages before). The T3 Series can go up to 20 miles per hour and uses swappable batteries. Now, what's up with the company's CT3 personal commuter vehicle?

Back to the Audi ad. We also think there's a GEM electric vehicle that the Green Police use, which means Audi likes Chrysler EVs. As for what the anteater-like critter sniffing cars in the roadblock scene is, we'll leave it up to the zoologists out there to let us know. Watch the ad after the jump.

[Source: T3 Motion, Inc.]

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