We Obsessively Cover the Green Scene…

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A marketing strategist with the name Sergio Ochoa is on a mission to find his dream job, and that job happens to be working for Tesla Motors. He's got confidence, that's for certain, as you can tell from the way he calls himself the Car Whisperer. He writes:

Hello there Tesla. Although it may seem that I was pieced together in a lab by a team of braniacs with the goal of creating the ultimate whispering machine, I want to assure you, I am human, at least a portion of me is. When the suit and glasses come off I go by the name of Sergio Ochoa, a marketing aficionado with a passion for communicating disruptive products to the world, the universe and beyond.

This information is taken from Ochoa's incredibly subtle "Tesla Should Hire Me" website, where he's also put up his resume and left a way for Tesla folks to contact him. He even produced a seven-minute video about his desire to work for the "Tesla marketing gurus," which he calls, "a perfect fit." Check out his entirely flattering "Car Whisperer" video after the jump.

Here's a new worry for electric car owners: bricking your new, expensive ride.

Using a word taken from the computer world, to "brick" an EV means to make your electronic device inoperable. In the case of an EV, it would mean to run the battery state of charge so far down that nothing works anymore, thus requiring an expensive flatbed tow and an even more expensive battery pack – about $40,000 in a Tesla Roadster.

This is the charge of Michael Degusta, who wrote a detailed post on the matter in which he claims there have been five cases of Roadsters being bricked that he knows about. Since this is the first we've heard about it (and we imagine all those Silicon Valley Roadster owners know a thing or two about Internet communication), we're surprised we didn't hear about this before the alleged problem claimed five non-working cars. Thus, we figure there's more to the story, especially since some people are already poking holes in some of Degusta's statements. We've emailed Degusta and asked him to provide further proof of and details about these bricked cars, but he has not responded yet.

For its part, Tesla has offered AutoblogGreen a fairly noncommittal statement on the matter:

All automobiles require some level of owner care. For example, combustion vehicles require regular oil changes or the engine will be destroyed. Electric vehicles should be plugged in and charging when not in use for maximum performance. All batteries are subject to damage if the charge is kept at zero for long periods of time. However, Tesla avoids this problem in virtually all instances with numerous counter-measures. Tesla batteries can remain unplugged for weeks (even months), without reaching zero state of charge. Owners of Roadster 2.0 and all subsequent Tesla products can request that their vehicle alert Tesla if SOC falls to a low level. All Tesla vehicles emit various visual and audible warnings if the battery pack falls below 5 percent SOC. Tesla provides extensive maintenance recommendations as part of the customer experience.

It's also true that all vehicles will require some attention if they sit unused too long, and people know what happens if you leave your laptop unplugged for two weeks. In the owner's manual for the Roadster 2.0/Roadster Sport, Tesla does say that "Over-discharge can permanently damage the Battery" and that "If storing for more than 15 days, it is strongly recommended that you keep it plugged in" (see the full section on "Leaving the vehicle unplugged" after the jump, or download the manual in PDF here), but it doesn't specify what sort of damage that is, or how expensive it might be to fix it. Tesla spokesman Ricardo Reyes did tell AutoblogGreen that he is working to demystify the situation and will get back to us with more information.

Whether it's Volvo's project SARTRE or Google's driverless car, autonomous vehicles are on the horizon. The question now becomes, what will the view of that horizon look like when they get here.

For now, only Nevada has laws on the books to allow self-driving cars on the road, but Robert Bruegmann, the author of "Sprawl: A Compact History," says that we need to start thinking about what this new technology will do to our environment, specifically: "how will it change the American city? For example, might it allow drivers to commute even farther in relative comfort and safety and thus accelerate sprawl in our urban areas?"

Bruegmann doesn't pretend to know the answer for sure, but he does say that past technological breakthroughs (e.g., the steam railroad, airplanes) had impacts that people didn't really expect when they were new, and that driverless cars will likely follow that trend. He does offer one prediction, though:

What the driverless automobile might do is further break down the distinctions [between public and private transportation]. Suppose an individual can summon a vehicle on demand -- a small capsule like a golf cart for doing errands in the city, for example, or something more like a van to transport a track team to another city -- and that vehicle can go directly from starting point to destination. The flexibility this system could provide might well reduce the incentive for owning an automobile, which has to serve all purposes, is expensive to buy and maintain, and in most cases spends most of its time taking up valuable space in a garage or parking lot.

Some of Bruegmann's ideas sound similar to what we heard from Chris Bangle back in 2010, when he posited a vision of the future that includes driverless cars that disassemble into individual components (batteries, wheels, seats, etc.) when they're not in use. Read more about that concept here. We've also heard other interesting ideas about the future from Rohit Talwar: how cell phones will affect EVs, anyone?

From the special cold weather package in the Nissan Leaf to the "sweater and gloves" Chevrolet Volt, it's no secret that battery-powered cars can have some trouble with non-equatorial winter temperatures. The good news is that some of that trouble is overblown fear mongering, as proved by a group of EV fans recently proved in Helsinki, Finland while the temperature was a wee bit chilly.

Called the "coolest experiment on planet," nine electric vehicles spent the day driving from the Helsinki Olympic Stadium to the Senate Square at the front of Helsinki Cathedral, making sure to hit some of the city's major streets and the shore of frozen Gulf of Finland. The drive was organized by the Electric Traffic Helsinki Test Bed project to coincide with the World Design Capital Helsinki 2012 Design Weekend. The vehicles included two Peugeot iOns, a Mercedes-Benz Vito E-CELL, a Toyota Prius Plug-in Hybrid, a Nissan Leaf, an ä-Corolla (a converted Toyota Corolla), a Tazzari Zero, the Electric RaceAbout (which didn't drive) and an Elcat, an "electric minivan that was manufactured in Finland during the 80s and 90s."

Joona Kallio, the group's creative director, told AutoblogGreen that, "It was sunny day, but -26.5 C [-15.7 F] in the morning and keeping temperature below -20 C [-4 F] all day, it was really tough condition for camera equipment and the video crew – but the EVs just kept running without any problems." Aside from the vehicles' ranges being diminished, of course. Check out a video of the event after the jump.

Bob Lutz is keeping up his vocal support for the coming age of the electric vehicle. Speaking to students at the University of Michigan College of Engineering's Center for Entrepreneurship, he said something that most AutoblogGreen readers are likely to agree with (unlike his comment that global warming is a crock): it will be "gradual,: but the electrification of the automobile is inevitable.

The former vice chairman of General Motors said that he expects EVs to sell between one and two million units a year in the U.S. by 2022. Sure, that's quite a range, but it does put plug-in cars at something between 6 and 16 percent of the expected overall market at that time, which some analysts seem to think is quite low (UPDATE: math has been corrected).

Addressing the students directly, he said, "The future is electric, but gasoline will be around for the foreseeable future. That's a future that, any way you slice it, looks a lot of brighter to me for the folks like you." The future looks bright for the Chevrolet Volt, too, he said. Lutz may have made a recent attack on the right-wing attacks on the Volt, but he now says that even though it is too bad the car has become a "political punching bag," he believes "that too shall pass. The Volt will survive and justifiably become a landmark vehicle."

Looks like Newt Gingrich is getting into the right-wing, "let's-all-hate-on-the-Chevrolet-Volt" bandwagon.

During a campaign stop at Oral Roberts University in Tulsa, OK, the trailing Republican candidate said, "Let me start from a simple premise that Oklahomans will understand: you cannot put a gun rack in a Volt," Talking Points Memo reports. It appears that Gingrich is trying out a new attack line, as Raw Story is reporting that he used a similar line at an event in Suwanee, GA. There, he continued, "There is no reason not to believe that we couldn't stabilize with American production by drowning demand in supply the old-fashioned, free market way. There's no reason we couldn't have a stable price around $2 or $2.50 [per gallon]."

Nope, no reason at all, right?

*UPDATE: Well, that didn't take long: a video to prove otherwise can be found after the jump.

With all the news coming out recently about the small claims lawsuit over the Honda Civic Hybrid, readers may have forgotten the name behind a long-running legal issue over Toyota's hybrid system: Paice. The latest development is that Paice and the Abell Foundation (an investor in Paice) have sued Hyundai and Kia over the gas-electric technology used in the Optima and Sonata hybrids (pictured), which shares some parts with Paice says infringes its patents, just as it says Toyota's Hybrid Synergy Drive does. Read up on the details of Alex Severinsky's story here.

Paice claims that Hyundai and Kia should have known that Toyota was dealing with legal issues – especially since Paice has been contacting Hyundai about the issue – and says that the Korean automakers are infringing three patents that Paice owns. Toyota and Paice settled their long-looming hybrid patent infringement case in 2010 after eight years, during which time the courts routinely rejected Toyota's request to dismiss the case. Toyota paid royalties to Paice for the Prius, Highlander Hybrid and Lexus RX400h models it sold.

It used to be that we couldn't even find a picture of the U.S. Army's Clandestine Extended Range Vehicle (CERV) but times have changed.

At the 2012 Chicago Auto Show, the Army's Tank Automotive Research, Development and Engineering Center (TARDEC) is displaying the CERV, which uses a diesel-hybrid "Q-Force" powertrain from Quantum that Quantum says, "saves taxpayer dollars and – most importantly – saves Soldiers' lives."

With a top speed of 80 miles per hour and a "run-silent" range of eight miles (we assume this means all-electric range?), the CERV prototype can produce over 5,000 foot-pounds of torque and go up hills will up to 60 percent grades. It does all this while using 25 percent less fuel, Quantum says, and that's hugely important when you go invading countries and have to pay up to $400 a gallon to do so. The Army says that today's soldier uses an average of 22 gallons of gasoline a day. In World War II, it was one gallon a day.

We'll give the intrepid personalities over at Fox News a bit of credit for catching themselves mid-mistake, but just take a look at this: While discussing news that GE (note that last letter, please) is buying a fleet of Chevrolet Volt hatchbacks, one of our Foxy friends (Juliet Huddy) said, "All GM employees who get a company car, well, they really don't get a choice. They're going to get a $40,000 electric car." Yes, for a few seconds, the atmosphere was awful: Just look at this pathetic car company that is forcing its own employees to buy its cars. Except, of course, that's exactly wrong. Thankfully, the hosts catch themselves, even though they then continue to bash the Volt. Also, it wasn't just a mess-up by Huddy, since the on-screen chyron clearly says "GM workers forced into Volts."

Of course, this whole GE/GM thing isn't exactly news. GE announced back in November 2010 that it would buy up to 12,000 Volts as part of an order of 25,000 plug-in vehicles. GE has done a lot to promote plug-in vehicles, including working with GM on projects in China and running an "Electric Vehicle Experience Tour" here in the U.S. last year. Check out the video for yourself after the jump.

In an effort to spur sales, Toyota seems willing to try just about anything to promote its hybrid lineup. Whether that's a Monopoly-themed booth at the 2012 Chicago Auto Show or a new twist on nature-spotting safaris with the new Prius Kingdom website, the Japanese automaker is certainly letting its promotion teams be creative.

The idea behind the "Kingdom" site is that Priuses are special creatures that have evolved to survive and create a legacy. They're so special, in fact, that we should happily rejoice whenever we see one. The fuel-saving message is present, too, as the voiceover says a one point, "Hurry! It could be many weeks before it drinks again." You can see Toyota's "Kingdom" video after the jump and visit the site here.

Other recent Prius ads include the People Person one, a bit of Harmony and a Vishnu touch. Talk about evolution.

Speaking at the Economic Club of Chicago during the Chicago Auto Show last week, the president and COO of Toyota Motor North America, Yoshi Inaba, laid out his company's near-future plans, and made about as strong a case for hybrids as you're likely to hear this month. This is to be expected, since Toyota is going to launch 19 new or updated vehicles this year (including some from the Scion and Lexus brands) and, Inaba said, "nearly half will be hybrids or electric vehicles."

Now, it's clear that Toyota wants to increase sales of it's most popular hybrids, the Prius family models. In Chicago, Inaba made the point that increased Prius sales would benefit the U.S. by reducing the amount of gasoline we need. In fact, he said, studies show that "if everyone in the U.S. drove a Prius, we could reduce our dependence on foreign oil by 70 percent."

Inaba talked up all the Toyota brand's hybrids, including the Highlander SUV, and gave that gas-electric a U.S. connection by announcing that it will soon be built in America. To date, all the Highlander hybrids have been built in Japan, even though some non-hybrid versions are built in Princeton, IN. Following a $400-million investment in that plant, Toyota will be able to make 50,000 more Highlanders there each year, some of them hybrids. Inaga said this will directly create 400 jobs as well over 1,000 indirect "spin off" jobs.

We first encountered the "regenerative acceleration" system from Thane Heins years ago. You might think that seemingly impossible ideas like this would go off somewhere and never be heard from again, especially in this age of honest-to-goodness EV from major OEMs. But you'd be wrong.

Thus, we present, without too much comment, a new video that purports to show Heins' ReGenX tech applied to a Myers Motors NMG and undergoing its first test drive. From the sound of the official text used in the YouTube page (posted after the jump), it appears that Heins' Potential Difference Inc. (PDI) is working with Myers on the ReGenerative Acceleration Generator Integration project.

We won't pretend we understand what Heins says is going on here or that we honestly imagine there is any way that an EV can constantly recharge its own batteries as it drives down the road (absent some external power source, like this), but Heins claims that his system:

create[s] a repelling magnetic field until the generator's rotor magnetic field is top dead center to the coil. At this time (TDC) the ReGenX generator coil produces a delayed repelling magnetic field which repels the rotor's magnetic field with additional force which is now already moving away from the coil. The result is a reversal of the electromotive force induced inside the ReGenX generator from a counter-electromotive force to complimentary-electromotive force.

Got that? Good. Because the claim is that, once an EV gets up to 10 kilometers an hour (6 miles per hour), it can generate energy. The current goal is to beef up an EVs range by 30 to 50 percent, but as you can hear Heins say in the video, he's hopeful the system can "keep recharging [the batteries] from then on, right throughout the use." Read more about it here.

Watch the video (plus a bonus clip of a ReGenX generator being tested in a scooter) after the jump.

As a candidate, Barack Obama promised to try and get a million plug-in vehicles on U.S. roads by 2015. In his State of the Union address in 2011, he repeated that number and proposed turning the $7,500 tax credit into a point-of-purchase rebate. That hasn't yet happened, but in the President's proposed budget that was released this week, Obama took another stab at promoting plug-ins: upping the maximum credit to $10,000. To go along with pushing PHEVs, the budget calls for cutting more subsidies that Big Oil currently enjoys. Of course, the President's political opponents quickly called the proposal nothing more than a "campaign document" that would divide America. Others are proposing that the PHEV tax credit be eliminated entirely.

Getting to a million plug-ins in four years will be tough. Last year, the top two plug-ins, the Chevrolet Volt and the Nissan Leaf, sold just 17,345 units, combined. Add in sales of the Tesla Roadster and the new Mitsubishi i, and that leaves 980,000 or so to go. Do you think an extra $2,500 off the price of the car – plus more models to choose from – will do the trick?

Let's see, thus far, we've had aliens, drive thru fast food employees, "Morning in Hamtramck" and that guy who's got to urinate try to sell us the Chevrolet Volt. Now, apparently, it's time for "Just The Facts."

That's the tag for Chevy's latest Volt commercial, which you can watch after the jump, and, well, it's pretty self-explanatory. In 30 seconds, we hear Tim Allen gently tell us that the car is safe, has won a bunch of awards, is safe, its battery has been tested for over 395,000 hours and is safe. We can see that, after trying all those other routes, Chevy's advertising team figures the straightforward sell is the way to go, but did they really have to end the commercial with "Hard to argue with the facts"? Don't they know that some people can argue about anything and everything to do with the Volt?