The other winning videos include some kissing carpoolers, kids who help green up a car and a driver flirting with the GPS unit. They're also available after the jump.

[Source: Drive Smarter Challenge]

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This isn't the first time we've heard rumblings of a possible sporty two-door Prius coupe from Toyota, but the rumor that just won't die is once again being trumpeted by Autocar in the UK. The British motoring magazine also contends that an MPV (think downsized minivan) version of the well-loved hybrid hatchback is also in the works.

Interestingly, Autocar claims that the purported Prius MPV would theoretically go up against a production version of the Honda Skydeck concept that was just shown off at the Tokyo Motor Show – this despite the fact that Honda has yet to announce any sort of production plans for a hybrid MPV of its own.

In any case, the rumored Prius coupe would reportedly come with the same 1.8-liter four-cylinder powerplant and Hybrid Synergy Drive as its five-door counterpart, and it would be based on the same chassis that underpins the current model. Thoughts?



[Source: Autocar]

Over the last several years, many of the fans of battery-powered vehicles here on ABG have asked quite vociferously why it's taking companies like General Motors so long to bring cars like the Volt to market. Many of you seem to think you can convert an existing platform and have it on the market in six months. While it is certainly plausible for individual conversions to be done in that time frame, mass production is a very different matter. Media guru Jeff Jarvis even recommended that automakers follow the Google model of just releasing cars as betas and fix them as they go along. We've already denounced that idea, but GM-Volt founder Lyle Dennis recently learned the hard way the down side of this approach.

Dennis is one of 500 Americans selected to test drive the MINI E for a year. He has had recurrent problems with the shift lever popping into neutral and, ultimately, BMW replaced an electronic control unit to "fix" the problem. It mostly went away until he hit a pothole recently that caused the car to go into neutral and stay there permanently. After the car was hauled away on a flat-bed, a similar solution rectified the problem but only after several days. Undoubtedly, this is an excellent way for BMW to learn the pitfalls of EV use in the real world and they have always maintained that the MINI E fleet is meant to do just that. In fact, BMW is planning to expand the trials to Australia.

This is the sort of issue that is normally found and fixed in the hundreds of thousands of miles of durability testing done before a car is put on sale. All of this applies to every new vehicle regardless of powertrain. Is this public beta testing really what you want automakers to do? Or would you rather be patient and have the car come to market right? I think most people would opt for the latter.

[Source: GM-Volt.com]

One of BYD's problems is that it F3DM plug-in hybrid is not exactly super popular. Another, according to a report in the Wall Street Journal, is that the upcoming e6 all-electric car – due to go on sale of the U.S. next year – is currently "rough" and "squishy." These are the thoughts of an unnamed "tech chief of a global automaker" who recently drove the car. He added that he was "truly astonished that they plan to sell such a half-baked car" in China later this year. This might just have been a business opponent trying to talk down a competitor's product, but the WSJ noted that, "BYD doesn't have a good track record in keeping promises on product launches, and some industry observers suspect there may be technical glitches plaguing its green cars." Is this the kind of car people will want to spend $40,000+ on?

[Source: Wall Street Journal via HybridCars]

Oh, how times are changin'. Gone are the days of stuffing a Ford Racing crate motor into any and every Blue Oval show car at SEMA. It's all about the boost now... or at least EcoBoost. As part of their "Driving Green" initiative at this year's SEMA Show, Ford will be displaying a 1934 3-Window Coupe fitted with the twin-turbo V6 to create a blend of classic styling with modern performance and efficiency.

Built by Detroit Street Rods, the '34 Coupe is actually the first rear-drive application of the EcoBoost motor. The dual Honeywell turbochargers had to be repositioned to allow the 3.5-liter V6 to fit into the engine bay, but the rest of the motor is in production trim and pumps out 400 horsepower and an equal amount of torque. An all new replica steel body ensures that the coupe is quite a looker and you can read more details in the press release after the jump, and check back next week for live photos of the car as part of our full SEMA coverage.




[Source: Ford]

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At the Business of Plugging In expo in Detroit last week, attendees were treated to a bit of history in the shape of the 1916 Woods Dual Power Model 44 Coupe. This car was moved by both a set of batteries that powered an electric motor and a gasoline-drinking 4-cylinder internal combustion engine. Wikipedia tell us that the silent electric powertrain moved the car unti it got to 15 mph, and that the gas engine took over up to the Coupe's top speed of around 35 mph.

The man behind Woods Motor Vehicle Co. – and the previous company, American Electric – was Clinton Edgar Woods who "wrote the first book on electric vehicles." Woods Motor Vehicle Co. was founded in 1899 and built 30 models, including pure electric vehicles and these dual power vehicles between 1911 and 1918. The hybrids cost around $2,700.

Barcelona's green transportation options have recently expanded to include rental bikes and hybrid buses. A new memorandum of understanding between Barcelona and the Renault–Nissan Alliance – in which they promise to "work together to identify areas of co-operations in promoting the use of zero emission vehicles in the city" – will also bring zero-emission vehicles to the Spanish city. It's the latest of many MOUs the Alliance has signed with governments around the world. For Barcelona, the MOU is another step in a sustainable mobility program that aims to make all-electric vehicles a feasible alternative. The program offers EV tax breaks and special benefits for EV drivers and will also install almost 200 EV charge points in Barcelona by 2011. Also in 2011, Renault will build electric vehicles (as well as traditional gasoline sippers) at its plants in Castille and León. CEO Carlos Ghosn said recently that the Alliance is thinking of making electric vehicle batteries in France as well.

[Source: Renault-Nissan Alliance, Automotive News (subs req'd)]

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There are a lot of fanciful renderings out there that try to imagine what kind of vehicles we'll be driving in the coming decades. The renderings from Yanko Design are some of the strangest, including the latest, the Audi Avatar Concept. The ultralight, three-seat Avatar is supposed to be reminiscent of the unreal vehicles from racing video games. The wheels are apparently hidden in the thin "legs." Oh, and it's purely electric, although we imagine there are some technical difficulties to work out before anyone can drive one. The 2032 Avatar is theoretically powered by four in-wheel motors and could reach 62 mph in 2.9 seconds and has a top speed of 224 mph. Click through the gallery to see what might be coming in 20+ years.


[Source: Yanko Design]

Could it be that Tata is expecting to move lots of Indica Vista EVs when they bring them to the market, beginning with Norway later this year? If the tea leaves are being read properly, then yes. A short press release from the American offices of the South Korean battery maker Energy Innovation Group Ltd. (EIG) announces that they will supply their lithium polymer cells to Miljøbil Grenland AS, the Indian giant's Norwegian subsidiary until 2012. The agreement anticipates as many as two million of the large formats cells being shipped in that time frame which, we think, translates to thousands of cars.

Of course, Electrovaya is already a battery supplier to Miljøbil Grenland but according to that company they need a bit more time to put up a new factory in Norway where Indica gliders are currently being shipped for drivetrain integration. Eventually, at least some production of the car will shift to the UK which recently granted (after taking its sweet time) Tata a £10 million loan to enable it to build the car there. The EIG press release awaits your scrutiny after the break.

[Source: Green Car Congress]

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Bright Automotive is proud of the work they've done on the IDEA van, but the company has always intended to make the vehicle just one method of bringing greener transportation to the masses. As we learned from Bright's VP Corporate Strategy, Michael Brylawski, the company will also offer plug-in hybrid conversions and, this week, Bright announced Bright eSolutions, a way for Bright to work with "original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and other customers worldwide to develop vehicle and component electrification and efficiency strategies." Basically, Bright will tell interested customers where and how to save weight, make things more aerodynamic and other ways to implement the company's green vehicles principles.

The first eSolutions customer is the U.S. Army's TACOM, which is partnering with Bright on a "low-cost plug-in hybrid electric solution for non-tactical military vehicles." The contract is worth $1.4 million and also contains a project to "demonstrate the ability of plug-in hybrid vehicles to deliver power to the grid."


[Source: Bright Automotive]

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