The Bio-Bug has been converted by a team of British engineers to be powered by biogas, which is produced from human waste at sewage works across the country. They believe the car is a viable alternative to electric vehicles. Excrement flushed down the lavatories of just 70 homes is enough to power the car for 10,000 miles - the equivalent of one average motoring year. This conversion technology has been used in the past but the Bio-Bug is Britain’s first car to run on methane gas without its performance being reduced. “If you were to drive the car you wouldn’t know it was powered by biogas as it performs just like any conventional car. It is probably the most sustainable car around.” the Bio-Bug is carbon neutral because all of its CO2 would have been released into the atmosphere anyway in the form of methane gas.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/motoring/news/7929191/Bio-Bug-Car-run-on-human-waste-is-launched.html

 Well, Floridians, with your flat landscape, you won’t need to tie yourself to the exercise equipment at the gym anymore- just take a spin around the neighborhood! Watch the video- it actually looks doable!  - Editor
HumanCar, Fred Flintstone wants this car and so should you
Inventors who are willing to wheel and deal in crazy new ideas often get pegged as cranks. However, that should be a compliment for Charles Samuel Greenwood, the creator of the HumanCar, a human-electric hybrid vehicle powered by cranks. Hand cranks, actually. If you and three friends are really cranking it, this sleek little toy can wind up to 60 miles per hour through flat towns and still maintain a cool 30 mph up hills. However, if you don’t have any backseat drivers to help, then the electric plug-in feature can give your handcranking a hand.  The less than 3 minute video is delightful!
http://www.grist.org/article/2010-08-17-fred-flintstone-wants-car-so-should-you/

- The costs of driving cars are huge- if people thought about it, they would really like to get over $8,000 tax-free every year! And how should a city calculate public transportation costs? - Editor
 

Costs to displaced transit riders could outweigh the $47M Pittsburgh needs
The cost of cutting public transit service by 35 percent could far exceed the $47 million that is needed to avoid the cuts, according to various projections.  If the Port Authority loses 15 percent to 22 percent of its ridership after the proposed Jan. 9 cuts, as it predicts, those displaced riders would spend an additional $135 million to $198 million annually to drive and park. The association releases an annual study of the savings enjoyed by transit riders. This year’s report, issued in April, concluded that riders in Pittsburgh save $8,174 each year on gasoline, parking, maintenance and other automotive costs.
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/10231/1081135-455.stm

The Solar Bug is a solar-electric vehicle which travels more than 30 miles on a full charge at speeds up to 35 miles per hour, and can carry two passengers and a small amount of cargo. It has 200 watts of roof-mounted solar power and a proprietary regenerative braking system which converts braking energy into battery storage. The Solar Bug can travel up to 10 miles per day on solar power alone. The Solar Bug is the first commercially available solar powered vehicle in North America.
Very upbeat video- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KHKdFFIuOxA
http://evworld.com/news.cfm?newsid=23794

California will receive about a third of the 4,600 electric vehicle charging stations that Coulomb Technologies plans to install for free around the country. The company Coulomb, based in Campbell, Calif., will immediately start setting up public and private stations in Los Angeles, Sacramento, San Jose and San Francisco Bay Area. The stations will also go up in Austin, Texas; Detroit; New York; Orlando, Fla.; Redmond, Wash.; and Washington, D.C. Once installation launches in the coming weeks, more than 1,000 stations are scheduled to be put in by December, with the rest to be in place by September 2011. A wide network of charging stations is expected to help quell fears that future electric car owners won’t be able to drive far before their batteries peter out. The installations are part of a $37-million project called ChargePoint America, funded partly by a $15-million stimulus grant administered by the Department of Energy through the Transportation Electrification Initiative.
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/technology/2010/06/coulomb-technologies-to-install-4600-free-electric-vehicle-charging-stations.html

The first affordable mass-produced electric vehicles will hit the streets of America later this year. Once the Nissan Leaf begins to make its way from dealerships to consumers, the electric vehicle charging revolution will begin. A new report reveals that there will be an estimated 4.7 million EV charging units in operation worldwide by 2015. Of these 4.7 million units, about 1 million will be located here in the United States. The majority of charging stations in the United States will be located at individual residences. Americans are expected to prefer the convenience of charging their vehicles at home. In contrast, charging stations in Europe, Asia, and other regions will be primarily found in public locations because there will be less access to convenient and easy-to-use residential charging systems. Not surprisingly, the report predicts that countries in the Asia Pacific region, including China, Japan, and Korea, will be the largest electric vehicle market in the world.
http://www.good.is/post/4-7-million-ev-charging-units-expected-by-2015/

The Electric Drive Vehicle Deployment Act of 2010, introduced in Congress this week, has a simple goal to electrify half of all cars and trucks on U.S. roads by 2030, and a basic strategy: focus the might of the federal government on a small number of pilot communities around the country, subsidizing the buildout of charging infrastructure and purchase of electric vehicles.
But when it comes to implementing that strategy, the legislation (which is now up for debate in two slightly different versions proposed in the House and the Senate, H.R. 5442 and S. 3442, respectively) gets somewhat more complicated. Here are 10 things you should know about a pair of proposals that could play a big role in how the nascent electric vehicle market takes shape over the next 20 years.
http://earth2tech.com/2010/05/28/electric-car-bills-on-the-hill-10-things-you-should-know/

- This could lead to a totally different kind of a car if we no longer need “under the hood.” They feel this also increases the available power, as well as improving safety. Let’s get moving! - Editor

Electric wheel hubs our future?
In order to make electric cars a part of everyday life, new vehicle designs and parts are needed. Take wheel hub motors, for instance. One of the advantages of wheel hub motors is that manufacturers can dispense with the conventional engine bay- the space under the “hood” - since the motors are attached directly to the wheels of the vehicle. This opens up a wealth of opportunities for car designers. Researchers are developing not only individual components, but the total system as well. They assemble the components on their concept car, known as the “Frecc0″ or the “Fraunhofer E-Concept Car Type 0″- a scientific test platform. Starting next year, automobile manufacturers and suppliers will also be able to use the “Frecc0″ for testing new components
http://climateprogress.org/2010/05/18/energy-and-global-warming-news-for-may-19th-2010-wheel-hub-motors-for-electric-cars-of-the-future/

- So getting off the fossil fuel merry-go-round is becoming easier. - Editor
Free e-bike magazine
Electric Bike will be the first full consumer magazine worldwide, to the best of our knowledge, dedicated to the fast-growing market in electric-assisted cycles.” The first issue will be out in August 2010 and available online.
http://www.bikebiz.com/news/32118/Eland-to-launch-free-e-bike-mag

South Korea-based company has committed to build a $200 million assembly plant on O’ahu that would turn out two-seat electric cars and other vehicles and employ as many as 400 people. “This is an exciting day,” said Gov. Linda Lingle, who has championed the state’s aggressive pursuit of clean energy and weaning Hawai’i off petroleum. The company’s offerings include vehicles that can be used as a second car for short trips to the market, while others may use it as the primary car for city commuting. “They’re not golf carts on steroids,” White said. “They’re true automobiles.” Buyers of electric vehicles qualify for a federal tax credit, with estimated monthly electricity costs of $10.
http://www.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/20100507/NEWS01/5070353/Hawaii+chosen+as+manufacturing+site+for+electric+mini-cars