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There’s more than just the Nissan LEAF and Chevy Volt as all-electric options for your next car.  Ford, one of my favorite auto makers (because they didn’t take government bail-out money), is planning to triple it’s electric vehicle production going into 2013.

Offering more options translates to better deals for consumers.  Ford will begin rolling out more than 100,000 units in 2013, more than tripling it’s current output.  More models are coming too.  Ford plans to sell the Focus Electric, an all-electric version of it’s popular compact car.  It will also produce the Transit Connect Electric Van, a great option for small businesses that previously had no super-clean options.  Thirdly, it will offer a C-Max vehicle that comes with two drive options, an all-electric and a hybrid.  Lastly, it will offer a new hybrid model, not yet known.  Can you say F-150 maybe?  They recently scrapped their plans to offer a clean diesel in their smallest (full-size) truck line.  I’d buy an electric truck that was made commercially.

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GM Announced it would be placing a 516 Kilowatt solar array on it’s property in Detroit.  This move will save GM approximately $15,000 annually in electricity costs.  The Detroit-Hamtramck plant is responsible for the production of the Chevy Volt, the second greenest car out there.  The conversion will include 6 acres of solar arrays behind the plant.  Of course, GM will be reaping the benefits of this choice by co-marketing alongside the Volt.

A second GM plant being built in Maryland will pull 9% of it’s energy from a large solar array on the roof.  This plant will make electric motors, and various hybrid and conventional transmission systems.

This move suggests GM is riding the green bandwagon of tax credits and consumer opinion.  Although they’re making the second greenest car, it’s better than nothing, right?  The truth is that big American business will not change behavior until it is more profitable than the status quo.

Courtesy of EcoGeek

Here at Hippie Magazine, we like to cover cool gadgets designed and built by new, visionary companies steeped in the concept of sustainability and environmental awareness. It’s the way of the future, if we hope for a bright one.

But realizing a sustainable future depends just as much, if not more, by old, stodgy big-footed industries like, say, car rental companies.

This is all by way of saying that Enterprise Rent-A-Car has recently announced availability of the Chevy Volt EV for rent. People wouldn’t expect a car rental company to be particularly focused on offering alternative-type vehicles. But Enterprise has consistently shown a commitment to sustainability and alternative vehicle market leadership.

Not the kind of corporate-speak you’d expect from a Hippie, but I’ve had the opportunity to chat on several occasions with members of a team devoted to – dare I say it – corporate responsibility. In particular Lee Broughton, director of corporate sustainability for Enterprise.

From the largest fleet of hybrid and alternative fuel cars to a well-received voluntary carbon offset program, corporate fleet management and ride sharing services,  now to the Chevy Volt EV. Enterprise continues its market leadership.

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It sounds crazy, but researchers have determined a new way to design city streets that increases safety and efficiency by redirecting left-turners in a funny way.  Although the shortest distance between two points is still a straight line, and distance covered by turning directly left onto your preferred street is still the shortest, there is a new method in town.

Researchers from North Carolina State University found that using a “Michigan Left” or “Superstreet” design allows for safer, faster travel.  In a nutshell, the design uses one-way streets and a series of one right and two lefts to accomplish the goal.

Despite the assumption that more stops equals a longer wait, researchers actually found the opposite conclusion.  The sum of waiting tends to be less with the Michigan Left system.  The system also prevents having to stop all four directions in order to allow left turns.

The ability to cycle intersections more rapidly with now cross-traffic turns has translated to less wait time and less idling which is a bonus for the environment and MPGs.

This is a great solution for high-traffic, busy intersections, much like roundabouts are.  They take some initial investment and re-tooling but pay off with smoother, safer and more efficient traffic flow.  Cities adopting this type of intersection can assume they’ll run into frustrated drivers who don’t know how to work the new model.  As in most cases, once people learn to use the new system, they appreciate the benefits.

I could get used to make a Michigan Left easily.  Plus it’s fun to say.

Via Ecogeek and Smithsonian

I’ve focused a lot on the Nissan LEAF and the Chevy VOLT as the most market-friendly plugin-in electric cars on the market.  But now there’s a new option built on a trusted framework.  There is now a smart car powered by electricity.

The first SmartCar ForTwo was delivered to a consumer in Maryland, a long time EV supporter.  250 of the vehicles will be released in the U.S. this year.  Barely a drop in the bucket, but better than nothing.

The slogan for the Chevy VOLT drives me nuts “It’s More Car than Electric”.  What the hell is that supposed to mean?  I take it to mean: “Don’t feel so bad about driving an electric car, it’s really just a normal car and your friends won’t know you’re driving an electric car”.

The ForTwo is a real electric car.  Something you could be proud of driving.  According to Inhabitat: “The Smart ForTwo Electric Drive, like its gasoline counterpart, is meant to be an urban car and has a small engine and diminutive size. The car has a range of about 98 miles and it takes about 8 hours for the it to charge on a 220 volt socket. The car can be 80 percent charged in a little over 3 hours.”

The social impact of this is more important than any electric vehicle.  By that I mean the more vehicles that are available for consumers, the more innovation will be encouraged and the more options will come to consumers.  The more options there are, the more technology advances and prices drop.

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Is there anything worse for an environmentalist than to receive a package and find enormous waste in packing?  First you cut through the tape, open the thick cardboard box, and find crumpled paper in the best circumstances and styrofoam peanuts in the worst circumstances.

What are you supposed to do with that packaging besides send it to some unsuspecting sucker that you ship something to?  Not that reusing is a bad option, but wouldn’t it be better to not have it at all?  Yes.  Remember the order: reduce, reuse, recycle.  When possible, reduce or remove the consumption altogether.

This new cardboard packaging conforms to virtually any shape to reduce or eliminate the filler inside.  As Inhabitat reports, this could really save on shipping because of all the saved space.  That being said, consideration should be made for the efficiency of storing square shapes and the potential for zero wasted space (if you don’t count the wasted space inside the box).  However, if a square package is needed, the material can be folded into square or rectangle shapes.

The packing is comprised of triangle perforations which allows it to flex to various shapes without compromising strength.  In fact, triangles are stronger than squares and rectangles so without definitive strength studies, it could be predicted this packaging is even stronger than a cardboard box.

The packaging system, designed by Patrick Sung, is called UPACS or Universal Packaging System.  No, it has nothing to do with the existing shipping company UPS.  I love this green innovation because it takes an existing consumption standard and turns it on its head.  Plus it’s an easy way to change waste without changing behavior.

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One of the best features of hybrids, besides the economic and environmental benefits, is that they don’t make much sound.  It’s nice to not hear the growl of an engine.  However, President Obama made his opinion known by signing the Pedestrian Safety Enhancement Act of 2010 which will eventually require hybrid vehicles to make a sound so that children, the visually impaired and all pedestrians will have the ability to hear hybrids as they approach at slow speeds.

It is a very obscure and flexible law, merely directing the Secretary of Transportation to “study and establish a motor vehicle safety standard that provides for a means of alerting blind and other pedestrians of motor vehicle operation.”  As I read it, this means the Secretary has the freedom to explore this as an option at some point, with no firm deadline.

Here’s my two cents, what if hybrid manufacturers had to choose from a set of pre-approved classic rock songs to play?  Then you could be walking down the street and hear ACDC’s Back in Black coming down the road and know you shouldn’t step out into the street because a hybrid is coming. Source

A new service that is being invested in by Google Ventures is combining the excellent car sharing market with the rental market.  Right now, with services like ZipCar, you can pay a small fee for access to a vehicle on a very part time basis.  This works great for urban folks who really only need a car casually and for specific trips.

RelayRides is beginning a new service that connects car renters with car owners who want to make a few extra bucks.  This is a great option for those who pay an arm and a leg for parking in the city.  Although I don’t have this problem, I can see the value.

I don’t think this is actually an eco-friendly service unless you consider how people who normally might buy a car will get away with not buying one.  Other than that, this is just one more way to use fuel and burn carbon.

Drivers can rent a RelayRide for as little as $6, which is shared between them and the owner.  Personally, ti sounds like the owner is taking all the risk.  I would want to know people are covered by insurance before I let them use my ride.  And maybe not even then.  For now, the service is only available in San Francisco and Boston, two of the busiest cities in the nation with some of the worst traffic.  After spending the weekend in DC, I would suggest they become the next expansion market due to the number of [bad] drivers on the road.

Overall, this is still a valuable service that could help a lot of people out and keep some cars off the road.  In my book, that’s a point for the environment.

With $99.8 million in Department of Energy grant funding along with private funding, a company called EcoTality will be installing EV charging stations across 6 states.  The EV stations will be used to charge electric vehicles (duh) but also to gather data on driver behavior, charging needs and infrastructure demands.  This is an excellent project because it will give us insight into the true needs of the exploding EV community.

The project will bring 15,000 charging stations to public places, businesses, Nissan Leaf owner homes, and other locations meant to truly gauge the need.  We need more roll outs like this, and then we’ll know what it will mean to have a truly green, EV transportation network.

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