The idea of a carbon tax has been floated for over a decade now as a way to more accurately represent the true environmental cost of energy. Many automakers have advocated switching from the current tax on each gallon of gasoline and diesel to a…

Renault Zoe Z.E. concept – click above for high-res image gallery
At the Frankfurt Motor Show back in September, one of the four electric vehicle concepts shown by Renault was this Zoe which the company now tells us was developed in collaboration…

Dow Corning Toray has developed a new process for infusing carbon electrodes with silicon to help increase the current capacity of lithium ion batteries. While researchers have been working with silicon for some time, the results have been limited.…

Click on the SmartGauge empower display for a high res gallery
When the new Ford Fusion and Mercury Milan go on sale early next year, everyone from basic commuters to the most avid hyper-milers should be able to get what they want out of the new…

This week, the bombing of an oil pipeline in Yemen by saboteurs and a suicide bombing targeting lawmakers in Afghanistan spooked world oil markets. Those overseas events combined with rising demand and falling supplies in the US to drive oil price…

The only thing that seems to be certain about Audi's hybrid plans is that absolutely nothing is certain. Just since the Los Angeles Auto Show in November, Audi officials have said they will build a Q7 hybrid in 2009, then at the Detroit Auto Show in…

According to Auto Motor und Sport, BMW will add two new small cars to slot below the current 1 Series by 2014. One of those vehicles has already been publicly confirmed by the automaker, the Megacity, an urban commuter BMW is developing as a…

During the recent British Motor Show, GM Europe boss was expecting to get deluged with questions about the precarious financial situation at the home office in Detroit. To his surprise he found that the subject most of the European media were…

The website Daily Fuel Economy Tip recently ran a poll of their readers to find out if the current run up in gas prices has impacted their behavior. With prices in my part of the world having gone from a low of $1.85 /gallon to a current average of…

Aside from Tesla, the electric vehicle startup company that has gotten the most attention over the past year is probably Phoenix Motorcars. Phoenix's big claim to fame is the first use of the Altairnano lithium titanate battery pack which is claimed…