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Dell prepares for plug-ins with solar-powered parking lot

Dell has just completed construction of a Solar Grove from Envision Solar that not only produces carbon-free energy for their corporate headquarters in Round Rock, Texas but can also provide power to parked plug-in vehicles. Connected to the eleven "trees" are two CleanCharge stations which utilize Coulomb Technologies ChargePoints to provide at least part of the answer to that frequent postulation, "Aren't electric cars just really burning coal?" Capable of producing 131,000 kWh a year, the 110.62 kW array is composed of 516 individual ... Read more →

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Frankfurt Preview: Peugeot mixes car with scooter to create the BB1 Concept Jeremy Korzeniewski

If a scooter is too small, dangerous and uncovered for your tastes but you'd still like to have as minimal an impact on your surroundings as possible, Peugeot has just the concept car for you. ...

Frankfurt 2009: Volkswagen calls E-Up! Concept "Beetle of the 21st Century" Jeremy Korzeniewski

Volkswagen promises to release the "Beetle of the 21st Century" by 2013. Those are some of the biggest shoes in the history of the automobile to fill, and VW plans to do just that with a new car ...

Frankfurt Preview: Toyota unleashes the goods on Auris HSD Concept Jeremy Korzeniewski

We've already received a sneak peek at some early images of the Toyota Auris HSD concept, but Toyota was woefully tight-lipped about disclosing on any actual details at that time. No longer, as ...

Ford finds buyer for Wixom plant, will be used as renewable energy park Jeremy Korzeniewski

It's official. Negotiations are reportedly complete and Ford's abandoned plant in Wixom, Michigan, is getting a new lease on life. The factory originally opened way back in 1957 during the glory ...

Romag introduces PowerPark solar carport 7 months ago on Autoblog Green

A new solar carport has just been launched in the UK from a company called Romag Holdings, a firm that produces "specialist transparent composites" including laminated photovoltaic panels. Called PowerParks, these carports would act as a shelter and charging point for electric vehicles. Each unit ...

Porsche green has solar sheen 7 months ago on Autoblog Green

Although Porsche may not employ a lot of green tech in their cars (though that is starting to change), the same can not be said of their facilities. Porsche Cars North America, Inc. (PCNA) has just installed a huge solar array atop their operations in Ontario, California. With design and ...

Sunny Green Box: Heating tires the green way 7 months ago on Autoblog Green

Ever been to an automobile race? If so, you've surely noticed that every team on the grid has a pile of tires just waiting to be bolted on their race cars, and none of them goes on cold. Generally, the stacks of tires are placed inside enclosures that duct hot air directly to the tires, bringing ...

It's Friday: Home-built solar trike boggles the mind 7 months ago on Autoblog Green

Solar technology, while promising, doesn't quite seem ready to power our vehicles. Large solar installations that constantly collect the sun's rays and store them for later use may be an excellent option to power electric vehicles, but even the best photovoltaic cells in the world are not yet ...

Xof1 (Power of One) solar car sets new distance record, reaches LA 7 months ago on Autoblog Green

We've kept you informed about the progress of the Xof1, also known as "The Power of 1," since the vehicle left Buffalo, NY last June (remember the UFO incident?). The original plan was to go from Buffalo, NY to Inuvik, NT (up in the Artic Circle) and back, but the trip has now been extended. But, ...

Should we "Just Say No!" to renewable energy zones? 7 months ago on Autoblog Green

A few days ago, Interior Department Secretary Ken Salazar established a task force to identify zones on public lands where the department can help begin the development of mega-sized renewable resource projects. At first blush this sounds like a great idea, but the plan is meeting with resistance ...

MIT unveils "Eleanor" 2009 World Solar Challenge competitor 8 months ago on Autoblog Green

The World Solar Challenge is back for its tenth outing across the wilds of Australia this October. Students from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology are the only ones to have competed in every single running and Eleanor is their tenth such effort. This Eleanor is nothing like the 1968 Mustang ...

Geneva Preview: Protoscar teases new LAMPO electric sportscar 8 months ago on Autoblog Green

Back in January, Swiss design company Protoscar revealed that it would debut a new electric sportscar called the LAMPO at the Geneva Motor Show. With that date right around the corner, the firm has released a bunch of new photos and details about the concept. The all-wheel drive vehicles uses ...

Solar-powered pontoon boat gets official thumbs up w/video 8 months ago on Autoblog Green

The Sunrider 6,2, a solar-powered pontoon boat by Navgathi Marine Design & Constructions Pvt. Ltd., has received a hearty endorsement from Malcom Moss, president of the Electric Boat Association UK. The 10-passenger craft, currently undergoing trials in India, gave Moss a taste of its charms ...

Geneva Preview: Details on Rinspeed iChange concept filter out 8 months ago on Autoblog Green

Last month, we learned that Rinspeed would be debuting another of its crazy concept vehicles at the Geneva Motor Show, now a few more details about the Swiss-designed vehicle, along with a ton of new images, are making the rounds. Concept cars from Rinspeed are always a bit wacky, and this one ...

Chicago 2009: Propane-powered Saturn Vue Hybrid 8 months ago on Autoblog Green

Tucked away in a corner of the Chicago Auto Show was a booth from Shell Gasoline, and included amongst the tuner vehicles was a Saturn Vue Hybrid that was converted to run on propane. Other modifications to the vehicle include a free-flow exhaust system and air filter, a belly pan for improved ...

Aptera design team brings same philosophy to solar-powered boat 9 months ago on Autoblog Green

Using the same high efficiency and "user first" philosophy they applied to the Aptera 2e, Jason Hill of Eleven and Nathan Armstrong of Motive Industries have done the impossible and re-made the pontoon boat into a thing of environmentally-sound beauty. On behalf of the Tamarack Lake Electric Boat ...

DC Auto Show: Destiny 2000 used to be a Fiero, now it's a solar electric 9 months ago on Autoblog Green

There is section of the DC Auto Show, called the Green Car Pavilion, that is intended to highlight alternative fuel vehicles. Before the show officially opens tomorrow, we managed to take a walk around the GCP and saw an interesting collection of vehicles parked there. One was the bright yellow ...

Ferrari goes green with rooftop solar installation 9 months ago on Autoblog Green

What's red, green and Italian all at the same time? That would be the rooftop solar installation that Ferrari has recently installed on its Engine Mechanical Machining facility in Maranello, Italy. The system, created and installed by a company called EnerRay, features a total of 1,075 solar ...

RORMaxx Formula AE looks good on paper 10 months ago on Autoblog Green

What do 18-year-old high school students dream of these days? Superslick eco-friendly sports cars, apparently. The RORMaxx Formula AE is the alternative energy vehicle created by two seniors at Harvard?Westlake High School in California, Rory Handel and Maxx Bricklin, who wanted to create a ...

Honda advertises cars with green hybrid billboards 10 months ago on Autoblog Green

If you are going to bill yourselves as the World's Greenest Automaker, as Honda does from time to time, you'd better be willing to back it up. Luckily, Honda always seems to be looking for a way to do just that. Whether it's by offering the best overall fuel economy in the United States or ...

Toyota denies plans to build solar car 10 months ago on Autoblog Green

I warned you not to hold your breath on that solar-powered Toyota. A recent story from Reuters indicated that the Japanese automaker was developing a solar-powered car although a plug-in car would be an intermediate step along the way. In spite of the excitement from some of our commenters, It now ...

China could get world's largest solar power facility 10 months ago on Autoblog Green

The largest solar power generating station ever might soon be built could be installed at the Qaidam Basin in Northwestern China. China Technology Development Group is planning to build a 1 GW facility comprised of crystalline silicon and thin-film solar cells. The company and partner Qinghai New ...

Toyota developing solar-powered car for the road 10 months ago on Autoblog Green

Don't get too excited yet, but reports are coming out of Japan that say Toyota is developing a solar-powered car. First of all an electric car that draws electricity solely from the sun is still quite a few years off. The first stage is a car that gets some power directly from vehicle mounted solar ...

Project Goldfish: world's first solar-powered submarine 10 months ago on Autoblog Green

Solar energy and submarines might seem like two things that just don't go together very well. But if a tiny Tango EV can plow snow, then why not give underwater solar a try? A new Swiss project is set to prove that nothing is impossible with a good set of batteries and a solar platform. Project ...

London announces that Aston Martin has winning bus design 10 months ago on Autoblog Green

What would a modern take on the old London Routemaster double-decker bus look like? How would it function, and what would power it? One more question: who would design it? The answer to all of these questions has just been answered, and a surprising contender has emerged from an unlikely ...

Solar Taxi arrives at UN Climate conference after 17 months on the road 11 months ago on Autoblog Green

Swiss teacher Louis Palmer is nearing the completion of his round-the-world trip in a solar-powered vehicle. Palmer arrived at the UN Climate Change conference in Poznan, Poland last week in his solar taxi. The two-seat trike has completed 32,365 miles over the 17-month trek, running mostly on ...

Phylla EV officially unveiled and driven in Turin 11 months ago on Autoblog Green

We first took a look at the Phylla 2+2 electric vehicle back in May. Back then, it was nothing but a series of ideas, plans and renderings. Now, though, it's been realized in the metal (and composites, we're sure) and has been officially unveiled at the Turin Environment Park, and it has also ...

Mazda's outlandish electric racer, the KAAN, wins design award 11 months ago on Autoblog Green

Click on image above for a high-res gallery of the Mazda KAAN and more from the Design Challenge The collection of outlandish green racing design concepts submitted as part of the "Motor Sports 2025" at the Los Angeles Auto Show has been whittled down and we have a winner: the MAZDA KAAN ...

More shots of the 2010 Prius leak out 11 months ago on Autoblog Green

Finally! Some actual interesting images of the new 2010 Toyota Prius, along with a couple of videos that we've pasted after the break. We already had a pretty good idea of what the hybrid hatch would look like, but there are a few more details revealed in these new images. We also get to see ...

SolarWorld offers to purchase Opel, kind of 11 months ago on Autoblog Green

Well, it's not exactly a solar car, but it's a start, right? By now, everyone is aware that General Motors is in a bit of financial trouble at the moment, and those U.S. problems will definitely have an impact on the European automakers also owned by GM, including its Opel subsidiary. A German power ...

Metrocable: solar-power assisted cable car as public transportation 11 months ago on Autoblog Green

Now that winter is coming, some people are getting ready for cable cars rides at ski resorts. But what if a city used cable cars as for public transportation? Such is the case in Medellín, in Colombia, and its Metrocable system. There are currently two aerial cable car lines which are fully ...

Twill Wicked wouldn't be so mean to the environment 11 months ago on Autoblog Green

Vehicles with a single track, i.e. two wheels inline with each other like a bicycle as opposed to a Segway, can go places that their four-wheeled brothers and sisters cannot. Plus, having just two contact patches reduces friction and drivetrain losses, making for a more efficient design. All of ...

Al Gore plan to solve economic, energy and warming crises would boost electric car 11 months ago on Autoblog Green

As most Americans are aware, we are in the midst of several crises. Luckily, this country has people with, not only ideas, but also some clout to help see their ideas come to fruition. One of those people is inventor of the internet 43rd President political punching bag Al Gore and this past ...

UK Petrol Retailers Association suggests solar-powered EV stations 12 months ago on Autoblog Green

We'd imagine that the UK Petrol Retailers Association would have a vested interest in making the business model of the tried-and-true gas station survive. So, we aren't all that surprised to read about the group's suggestion that future gas stations should carry solar roofs that feed power into ...

SEMA 2008: Nissan Altima Hot Rod Hybrid 12 months ago on Autoblog Green

SEMA's tuner crowd and the green culture seem at first to clash. Starting last year, though, and continuing even stronger in 2008 are green performance cars infiltrating the gas-guzzling ways of the typical SEMA show car. A prime example of this green mind meld is the Nissan Altima Hot Rod ...

Solar-powered Power of 1 (Xof1) sets new distance record 1 year ago on Autoblog Green

Way back in 2006, we spoke with Marcelo da Luz about his ambitious project to drive a solar car farther than anyone had ever driven one, about 14,000 kilometers across North America. This past weekend, he reached his goal up in Victoria, British Columbia after cruising over 15,070 km (9,364 miles) ...

Newest electric car to come from... NASA? 1 year ago on Autoblog Green

NASA has been testing its latest rover that it hopes will shuttle astronauts around on the surface of the moon when the agency heads back around 2020. Initial testing is taking place in the Arizona desert, which features a rocky landscape that is similar to what the rover will face when it ...

WTF will racing be like in 2025? 1 year ago on Autoblog Green

The indie rock band The Flaming Lips has a compilation album called Finally the Punk Rockers Are Taking Acid, and if ever there was a collection of automotive concept car designers about which we could say the same thing, it's the folks who designed the race cars in the 5th Annual LA Auto Show ...

Honda Soltec PV panels now available for public/industrial applications 1 year ago on Autoblog Green

Honda's Soltec subsidiary has been selling smaller scale photo-voltaic panels for residential use for the past year. Honda Soltec has just expanded its capacity to build larger panels more suitable for large scale installations like factories and public buildings. As of this week, the large scale ...

Meet the soleckshaw, the solar-powered rickshaws running in Delhi 1 year ago on Autoblog Green

The pedal-powered rickshaw is a time-honored method of getting around in many countries where not every citizen has the means to drive a car. Of course, time marches on, and the classic rickshaws are definitely a step or two behind the times. Still, there is a market for zero emission people ...

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