We Obsessively Cover the Green Scene…

BMW has created the BMW i sub-brand for its upcoming production plug-in models, which currently include three concepts: the i3, i8 and the i8 Spyder. After keeping that third model away from our eager cameras at the New York Auto Show, BMW finally showed off the i8 Spyder Concept in the metal at the Beijing Motor Show today.

The car itself we've already learned plenty about, but seeing it on stage shows once again that BMW is serious about putting cars like these on the road (toned down from the concept's style, of course, perhaps with something like this). We're more than ready for the through-the-road, plug-in hybrid that packs a 96-kW (131-horsepower) electric motor in front and a turbocharged three-cylinder gas engine offering 223 hp in back. 0-62 in five seconds and maybe 78 MPGe? Yes, please.

BMW is also making official the "eDrive" name, which is the new catch-all name for all of the electric drivetrain components: motor, battery and motor management system. First hinted at in 2008, the eDrive designation will be used "for the drive technology of all future electric and plug-in hybrid cars," so get used to seeing it a lot.

Back in January at the Detroit Auto Show, Volkswagen unveiled a concept car called the E-Bugster. A chopped-down, electric-powered Beetle roadster, the E-Bugster cut a lean, mean, green profile. The only thing that was missing, ironically, was a chance to see the convertible with its top off.

If you're going to make a roadster, at least have the courtesy of showing it off with the roof down, right? Fortunately, Volkswagen has fixed that in time for the concept's Asian premier at the Beijing Auto Show, revealing a cowled rear deck replacing the rear seats inside the chrome bezel surrounding the cabin.

Aside from the open cockpit, the E-Bugster you see here is the same as the Detroit car, complete with its 114-horsepower electric powertrain that can take you up to 100 miles and quick-charge to 80-percent capacity in just half an hour. Scope it out with its hair down in the gallery above and with it up in the gallery below.

Honda has already announced it will bring its gas-electric hybrid vehicles to the Chinese market. Those include the CR-Z, Insight, Fit Hybrid and the Acura NSX as part of a big-picture shift to China that also includes Honda's potential plans to move some design and component sourcing to that country. There's one more piece to the puzzle. With the Beijing Motor Show taking place this week, Honda is announcing it will offer up its hybrid technology to domestic automakers

The Nikkei reports the most likely first recipients of Honda's IMA (Integrated Motor Assist) hybrid technologies will be its joint venture partners Dongfeng Motor Corporation and Guangzhou Automobile Group. As in other markets, Honda's hybrid sales have fallen behind other automakers in China, and Nikkei says this technology move is a way to try and "orchestrate a turnaround." As one unnamed Honda executive told the Nikkei, "We hope that other automakers will use our IMA technologies. We want to set industry standards for hybrid technologies in the world's biggest car market."

What was that about reducing our need for oil?

It's been two years since the Deepwater Horizon oil rig suffered explosions and sank, leading to about 206 million gallons of crude spilling out of the BP well and into the water, marshes and beaches of the Gulf of Mexico. On top of that, around two million gallons of Corexit dispersant were also added, both on the surface of the water and at the wellhead itself. It's all cool now though, right?

Maybe not. To listen to the FDA and the EPA, seafood from the Gulf is safe, and all is well. However, that message is not in tune with what some scientists and fisherman are saying. In some areas it seems, shrimp, crab and fish populations are hugely decreased and what remains show an alarming rate of deformity. Tumors, lack of eyes, and running sores are just some of the visible signs of the impact that the spill is continuing to have on organisms in the region. Officialdom's seeming obliviousness is hardly comforting.

Hit the jump for a video overview of Al Jazeera's in-depth report on the issue, or better yet, read the whole article.

Now, about reducing our need for oil...

It's the 42nd Earth Day today, and we hope as many of you as possible were able to enjoy something natural, something earthy, something outside today. We certainly did, and we just wanted to stop in and make note of the Earth in some way before the day ends. Sure, nature and natural resources are a subtext to a lot of the posts we write – national security folks, this would be your cue to chime in that burning less gas protects more than just the environment – but once a year we like to make it explicit. Plus, we get to celebrate twice today.

When we started AutoblogGreen six years ago, on Earth Day 2006, we had no idea what it would turn into, and we're happy to say that the future has never looked brighter, both for the site and – more importantly – for cars that offer reasonable, reliable, rocking alternatives to pure gasoline. Granted, we're not all the way to where we want to be quite yet and it's clear that the way forward will continue to be fraught with political disagreements about how to get off oil as well as immense technological challenges. But for now, we're just happy to be here – and that we can head on outside once again.

No vehicles? No problem.

That's what one builder of a hydrogen-fueling station slated for Carson City, NV, is saying.

H2 Technologies, which is looking to break ground on the station by July and open the station within a year, says the operation could be profitable even without any revenue from vehicles filling up. That's because the company will be able to sell the oxygen that's created when the station's electrolyzer extracts hydrogen and oxygen from water, according to the Northern Nevada Business Weekly.

In order to create demand, H2 is buying four Toyota Prius hybrids and two Ford Focus cars that will be converted into hydrogen-powered vehicles that will demonstrate the value of hydrogen powertrains. But H2 Technologies' principal, Gary Lord, says his company will have a contract to sell the oxygen to a supplier of industrial gases.

Either way, H2 is set to receive a $1.1 million loan from the state of Nevada for the station. While the per-gallon price hasn't been set, Lord estimates that his company will sell hydrogen at about $10 per kilogram, which will be similar to the per-mile price of gasoline, only without the emissions. The station will create enough hydrogen supply for about 80 vehicles a day.

Late last month, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) said it would fund as much as $2 million worth of research towards hydrogen refueling stations, specifically to find out what kind of components need to be invented or developed to accelerate the build-out of such stations.

Last year, green-technology research firm Pike Research forecast that there would be more than 5,200 hydrogen fueling stations in operation by the end of the decade, up from 200 stations in 2010. In the U.S., there are about 60 hydrogen fueling stations, compared to about 1,000 compressed natural gas stations and more than 7,000 electric-charging stations, according to the DOE.

Electric-drive vehicles are efficient, but not when they are used as video game joysticks. Then they're just silly.

But that's kind of the idea behind EBall, a strange, "hey-look-at-this" promotion for the Smart ED that was held in Germany last year. Footage from the games was just put together to show the world that you can, in fact, play pong with the all-electric version of the Fortwo.

Two driver participants from the crowd were allowed into the game at a time. Flanked by spectators – Smart claims over a half-million people watched 3,000 games during the Frankfurt Motor Show – the drivers went back and forth, controlling little Fortwo-shaped paddles on a giant screen with the car itself. The idea is kind of cool and certainly garnered some attention, but we'll be much more interested when we can play Mario Kart with one of these things. Watch yourself some EBall by scrolling down.

The Google self-driving-vehicle fleet has grown by one. According to Wired, the tech giant has added a black Lexus RX450h to its autonomous stable. The hybrid SUV was spotted out on the road for testing wearing a new roof-mounted sensor array that's significantly more streamlined than the gear found on the company's autonomous Toyota Prius models. Google says it is constantly testing its driving algorithms on a wide range of vehicles in order to refine the technology, and that the RX450h is merely the latest step in that process.

Google first began unleashing its driverless cars onto public streets in 2010 using a fleet comprised of six Prius hybrids and one Audi TT. The company's work has spurred the California legislature to draft a bill requiring the California Highway Patrol to outline safety standards for autonomous vehicles. Wired reports the legislation passed the state's Senate Transportation Committee with an 8-0 vote and is now headed to the Senate Rules Committee. Nevada has already passed a similar law.

Don't count Nissan among automakers looking to crank up some new diesels anytime soon. Instead, the company will continue to push for plug-ins.

Nissan is expecting annual U.S. sales of its battery-electric Leaf to jump sixfold between 2011 and 2013 but is downplaying the possibility of selling a diesel-powered vehicle, Car and Driver said, citing company executives.

The Japanese automaker, which sold just under 9,700 Leafs last year, may more than double sales to 22,000 units this year and may surpass the 60,000-vehicle mark in 2013, according to Al Castignetti, a Nissan vice president and general manager. Nissan also said it was looking into plug-in hybrid-electric powertrains, but no specifics about timeframe or model were given.

As for diesels, Nissan once said (in 2007) that it would start selling a diesel-powered Maxima in 2010, but it is no longe likely to pursue that type of powertrain because of government restrictions and cost concerns, Pierre Loing, Nissan vice president for product strategy and planning told Car and Driver.

German automakers such as Volkswagen, Audi and Mercedes-Benz have relaunched diesel sales in the U.S. in recent years after decades of improving their performance in Europe. Meanwhile, General Motors said last year that it will introduce a diesel-powered Chevrolet Cruze to the U.S. next year. So far, Americans seem to be enjoying the option.

Ford is looking to put a new twist on the term "old money."

The U.S. automaker may add old, shredded, out-of-circulation U.S paper currency to its list of recyclable materials that may be used for cushions, insulation and other components.

With about 10,000 pounds of paper money being shredded per day, Ford is exploring adding it to a list of recyclable or reclaimed materials that includes soybeans, denim and plastic bottles.

Ford has cut its petroleum use by about 5 million pounds a year by using soy-based material for foam that is installed in seat cushions and head restraints. And each Ford Fusion is built with the denim-equivalent of about two pairs of blue jeans that's used for sound-dampening purposes.

Ford started looking into using recycled materials about ten years ago as a way to cut use of petroleum in components that usually require plastic. At that time, oil cost about one-seventh of what it costs now.

In January, the company said it would use recycled plastic bottles from the North American Auto Show in Detroit and the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas to create part of the polyester fiber used in the Ford Focus Electric's seats.

Looks like we got the name wrong, or at least the English version. Instead of Qin, as we noted yesterday, the new plug-in vehicle that BYD is going to unveil at the Beijing Motor Show next week will be called Chin. That's it in the picture above.

BYD says the Chin will "Lead the EV way" with the new Dual Mode II system that beats the old F3DM "in efficiency, power and energy-saving." BYD says that the the Chin gets roughly 120 MPGe (specifically, BYD says it takes two liters to go 100 kilometers, or .53 gallons per 62 miles). The press release also says that the Chin "requires just 16RMB of energy per 100km," which is a slightly confusing (because RMB is the abbreviation for China's currency) to say that it costs around $2.50 U.S to go 62 miles. To go with the electric car, BYD is also going to unveil its "Bi-directional Inverter Charging and Discharging Technology" that will allow energy from the battery pack to be used for offboard power.

BYD will also display the second-generation F3, called the F3 Plus. This car doesn't have an alternative powertrain, but it does have "world-leading Remote Control Driving technology," which turns the car into a life-size RC vehicle. To wit:

With the key in his or her hands, the driver can make the car start, move forward and back, turn left and right, and travel at a restricted speed all by itself, without the driver even being in the vehicle. It is a perfect solution when the parking space is not wide enough for the driver to exit the car once parked. In windy and rainy weather, drivers can even remotely move the car to his or her side without getting wet.

This certainly something worth investigating, if only to understand the limits of what it can do. Mostly, we're interested in seeing if we can get the F3 to rush to our side like the Batmobile.

Ah, election season...

Former Fisker Automotive Chairman and current investor Ray Lane is blaming Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney for the delays in procuring federal loans that have been earmarked for the maker of the extended-range plug-in Karma and the upcoming Atlantic, according to Delaware Online.

In an e-mail, Lane said Romney is mistakenly grouping the Fisker loan from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) with money given to failed companies like solar-panel producer Solyndra. Lane, managing director at venture-capital company Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, said in the alleged e-mail that he's planning to contact Romney, whose father George Romney was once president of American Motors Corp.

The Fisker issue is particularly acute in Delaware, where the automaker had planned to expand employment and build a production version of the Atlantic sedan (a.k.a. Project Nina) shown above at a former General Motors factory. Those plans have been put on hold as Fisker sorts out its financial situation. Delaware Online reported late last week that Fisker had laid off 12 more workers at the factory, which was characterized as "absolutely empty."

The company was set to receive $529 million in federal loans but has only received a fraction of that and hasn't received funding since last year.

More states may follow the Golden State in plug-in vehicle quotas, which could make auto executives see red.

Earlier this year, California approved a rule – known as the ZEV Mandate – requiring more than 15 percent of new cars to be so-called zero-emissions vehicles (ZEV) by the 2025 model year. That rule, which was first drafted more than 20 years ago, would require about 270,000 ZEVs to be sold in the most populous U.S. state each year. Automotive News reports that as many as 10 states could follow California's lead in creating a plug-in and fuel-cell vehicle quota in an effort to improve air quality.

New Jersey and Maryland are among the other states that could adopt similar requirements. If all 10 states adopted similar requirements, automakers would need to sell more than 800,000 ZEVs by the 2025 model year, a prospect that could be disconcerting to automakers, according to the publication. Of course, the "over-compliance" loophole could be used to minimize that number. In 2011, Nissan and General Motors sold about 17,000 battery-electric Leafs and extended-range plug-in Volts, combined.

Yes, Elon, there's a new way to buy Teslas on eBay.

The world's biggest online auction company has launched a new site dedicated all things alt-fuel in an attempt to attract more car shoppers feeling stung by rising gas prices.

eBay's "Green Driving" site lets the anti-gas-guzzler set break down their shopping attempts by categories such as electric, hybrid, diesel, "high MPG gas," ethanol and compressed natural gas (CNG) – and find links to related auctions on the eBay Motors site.

Moreover, users can check out the "compare fuel types" page, which does side-by-side comparisons measuring things like petroleum use, emissions and annual fuel cost. For instance, users can find out that electric vehicles have the least emissions and incur the lowest refueling costs. The site says that, when it comes to lowest petroleum use, CNG wins out.

eBay Green Driving "combines tools and resources, as well as eBay's unique green vehicle and parts inventory, into one comprehensive, informative, and idea-rich shopping experience," the company said on the site. And, by the way, the site links to online auctions for three used Tesla Roadsters, including one priced at a cool $144,900.

eBay has sold cars on its eBay Motors site since 2000, though the company doesn't break out how much revenue it generates from the site.