Archive for the ‘plug-in hybrids’ Category

High Occupancy Vehicle lanes help reduce traffic congestion by encouraging carpools. In states like California and Virginia, they're also used as incentives for green car buyers, since drivers of approved hybrid and electric vehicles can cruise the HOV lanes even when traveling solo. Now comes news that Ontario is trying out a similar policy with its new "green vehicle" license plates. At first we were concerned that the tags might cause some backlash against hybrids (hey, it's happened elsewhere), but we hear that Canadians can be really polite about such things. [Gas2.org]

In any normal vehicle, a slight drain on the battery is no big deal. But if you have a hybrid—or, for that matter, if you have a finicky old British roadster in the garage that needs to be hooked up to a trickle charger all the time—you want to minimize what's tapping into your power. That's why LoJack has announced a new self-powered stolen-vehicle recovery system, aimed at hybrid vehicles, collector vehicles, and future electric models.

Though it's not yet clear what the energy source will be for the "self-powered" system, LoJack says that this next-generation system—set to become available late next year—will allow more flexibility in...

General Motors first revealed the production version of the 2011 Chevrolet Volt in September of 2008 and ever since the original unveiling the car has appeared in the same silver exterior with an emerald hue. This will be the color of first batch of production Volts but now GM needs a name for it.

Starting today, GM is launching an online contest that asks for color name suggestions, with three finalists to be flown to Los Angeles this December to compete for a final chance to be among the first to test-drive a pre-production Volt.

The contest will award three finalists and a guest roundtrip airfare to Los Angeles, two nights standard...