GM offers more insight into their view of hydrogen

GM offers more insight into their view of hydrogen

Like Toyota, General Motors has offered some additional information into their viewpoint regarding hydrogen and fuel cells. As we recently reported, Toyota's Irv Miller called out The Wall Street Journal for bad reporting practices when they quoted Toyota President Katsuaki Watanabe as suggesting that fuel cells were falling off the alternative fuel roadmap. GM's Bob Lutz was also quoted in that WSJ article, and it seems that he may have been misunderstood as well. According to Robert Babik, director of emissions, environment, energy and safety policy at General Motors, the General still sees hydrogen as a possible solution to our energy woes. Maybe it'll take 50 years, but it seems that both Toyota and GM are committed to the technology.

Sebring '08 Preview: Full speed ahead on fuel diversity!

The American Le Mans Series kicks off its 2008 season next weekend with the 56th running of the 12 Hours of Sebring in central Florida. The ALMS has long had the most diverse field of race cars of any major series in North America and this year it's getting even more so as the series makes a push for greener racing. This is the only series that has cars running on three different fuels; gasoline, ethanol and diesel all play a major part. In the LMP1 class, Audi is kicking off its third year running the diesel-powered R10 TDI. They'll get competition this time from Peugeot, which is bringing one of their 908 HDi prototypes to race in the U.S. for the first time. In the production-derived GT1 ranks, the Corvette C6Rs will tackle an Aston Martin DBR9 with all of them using cellulosic E85 fuel. The same fuel will also power an LMP1 Lola entered by Intersport racing. The rest of the field for now will continue using the E10 ethanol/gasoline blend that was used in 2007. As the season progresses and going into 2009, other teams are likely to make the switch to E85 and possibly even diesel. Although Honda representatives were non-committal at the Detroit Auto Show, it appears that they are looking hard at diesel power especially as they are about to introduce a diesel-powered Acura TSX in the U.S. next year. ALMS officials are also encouraging other alternative powertrains, such as hybrids, and they are open to looking at all options. When the 2008 draws to a close at the Petite Le Mans race at Road Atlanta this fall, ALMS will also introduce their first Green Challenge that will measure a variety of sustainability efforts by teams in addition to their on-track performance and fuel efficiency. ALMS officials are working hard to encourage innovation and diversity in the field that can help advance powertrain and fuel technology. For those of us who enjoy motorsports it's by far the most interesting and exciting series to watch and I for one will be among the happy spectators this year.

Chevy TV commercial uses paper SUV to convince children hybrid SUVs are green
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Chevy has two new TV ads for its Tahoe hybrid. First a little background. The Chevy Tahoe hybrid won Green Car Journal's Green Car of the Year award last year. A full-size SUV winning a green car award supplied much comedic fodder for Top Gear (see first video below the fold). Okay, the first new Tahoe hybrid ad (see second video below the fold) begins with a riddle: Which is heaver, a hundred pounds of bricks or a hundred pounds of feathers? If you figured out they are the same weight, then according the ad, you are just as smart as the Chevy Tahoe hybrid, winner of Green Car of the Year award.The second ad (see third video below the fold) begins with children wearing paper car costumes. The small paper cars are uncomfortable and have no room for their "stuff." Just around the corner, however, is a giant paper SUV and when the children see it, they are ecstatic. They throw off their small paper cars and run to the paper SUV. The teacher character in the commercial explains the paper SUV has the same fuel economy of small cars (like the Camry), room for your friends and most importantly, room for all that "stuff" the children are carrying around for some reason. "I guess they like it" the commercial's teacher character concludes.I have to admit, I really like these ads. I think they're the best hybrid ads out there. I might not agree with the message that hybrid SUVs are green but at least these ads have a message. Recent hybrid ads from GM and Lexus are too vague for my taste. These Chevy actually persuade with facts about the Tahoe's fuel efficiency or the CotY award. Besides, SUVs are the only vehicles large enough to carry all my "stuff."