From Green Right Now Reports:

Tesla Motors Inc. has been approved for about $465 million in low-interest loans from the US Department of Energy to help speed production of its own and other company’s electric cars.

The California company will use $365 million of the money toward producing its Model S - an all-electric family sedan that could carry seven people and travel up to 300 miles per charge.

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From Green Right Now Reports

San Francisco residents are more likely to go for a green vehicle than drivers in other cities, according to new research from Nielsen. The Nielsen Claritas’ PRIZM Market Potential Report found that households in San Francisco are 60 percent more likely to buy a green vehicle than the average U.S. home.

Washington D.C. was second (44 percent more likely) and New York City finished third (31 percent more likely).

The research looked at the national ownership rates of high-mileage vehicles including the Honda Fit, Toyota Prius, Toyota Yaris and Mini Cooper. Using auto registration data from RL Polk and Nielsen’s PRIZM segmentation, the percentage of each segment owning these vehicles was calculated. Individual market potential then was calculated based upon the segment composition of each market.

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By Ashley Phillips
Green Right Now

The friendly skies are getting cleaner thanks to efforts made by Continental Airlines in partnership with Boeing, GE Aviation/CFM International, and Honeywell’s UOP. In early January of this year, Continental Airlines conducted the first biofuel demonstration flight by a commercial carrier in North American. Wednesday, Continental Airlines announced their analysis of this flight in a statement.

The 90-minute test flight, taking off from, and then returning to, Houston, successfully completed many necessary flight operations. Engine 1 operated on 100% jet fuel, while Engine 2 of the Boeing 737-800 operated on a blend of 50% jet fuel and 50% biofuel. The biofuel was made from a combination of algae and jatropha plants, which do not impact food harvests, water resources or contribute to deforestation.

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From Green Right Now Reports

Myers Motors LLC, the Ohio company that makes a unique one-person electric vehicle, is getting a $250,000 investment from JumpStart Ventures.

The company, based in Tallmadge, Ohio, builds the NmG (”No more Gas”), which is classified as a motorcycle according to the Department of Transportation because of its three wheels. The all-electric vehicle, which sells for $29,995, goes 60 miles on one charge and is recharged using the same alternating current (AC) available in household outlets. The NmG can be used on highways, where it reaches speeds of up to 75 miles per hour.

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From Green Right Now Reports

American Airlines Flight 63 will depart from Paris this Thursday morning, headed for Miami but — the airline hopes — it will land in history.

This flight aims to prove that trans-Atlantic flights, a source of many global CO2 emissions, can be operated a bit greener and leaner.

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From Green Right Now Reports

Amsterdam will install 45 ChargePoint charging stations for electric vehicles as part of a two-year pilot project. ChargePoint is a product of Campbell, Calif.-based Coulomb Technologies.

The City of Amsterdam plans to deploy 200 charging stations before 2012, and the charging stations are expected to fuel 10,000 electric cars by 2015. Energy company Nuon will provide renewable energy for the charging stations and Coulomb’s international partner 365-Energy will manage the ChargePoint Network for subscribers.

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From Green Right Now Reports

Enmeshed in the worst business conditions in decades, America’s auto companies are trying to envision the coming world of transportation. For Ford and Chrsyler, the future is atarting to look electric.

Both companies are pushing for federal funds to develop new elctric vehicle programs. Chrysler LLC has submitted a $448-Million plan to the U.S. Department of Energy for the rapid development and manufacturing of electrified vehicles. And Ford has also proposed to the DOE a national pilot project to promote the use of electric vehicles.

Chrysler LLC said yesterday that it has applied for two initiatives established by the DOE — the Electric Drive Vehicle Battery and Component Manufacturing Initiative and the Transportation Electrification Initiative. Both are designed to speed development, demonstration, evaluation and manufacturing of electric vehicles (EVs) and plug-in hybrid-electric vehicles (PHEVs). The program would be a 50/50 partnership with $224 million coming from Chrysler and its partners, combined with a matching $224 million from the DOE.

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From Green Right Now Reports:
Today, the Obama Administration announced unprecedented new auto emissions and mileage standards that would streamline all states under one federal guideline, raise the fuel economy of cars made and sold in America and significantly curb greenhouse gas pollution.
The new rules will raise the required fleet average mileage to 35.5 mpg in [...]

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From Green Right Now Reports

How do cars pollute? In two main ways, through inefficient mileage (guzzling a gallon of gas every eight or 10 or 14 miles) and through tailpipe emissions.

There’s the pollution associated with manufacturing, also, but to keep it simple let’s stick with emissions and mileage. Obviously, both affect the air. Think of mileage as a measure of your car’s pollution volume over time - if a gallon of gas doesn’t take you very far, you have to burn a lot more gas — and emissions as the chemistry of that pollution; if the mix is particularly noxious, your car will be a bigger offender than one with better tailpipe controls.

So if you want to buy the cleanest car you can — in the price range you need — you’ll look at both factors. Fortunately, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has already done this work, assigning a “greenhouse gas” score to most models. Find it at the EPA’s Green Vehicles website.

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By Melissa Segrest
Green Right Now

Paul Dorn knows that getting Americans to ride a bike to work instead of driving a car is quite the uphill battle. Even on a good day, he says, only a tiny percentage of the nation’s commuters use pedal power to get to their jobs.

He remains undeterred.

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From Green Right Now Reports

Cars.com recently released its second Green Cities Index, ranking cities on their interest green vehicles. The list was calculated by evaluating the number of hybrid searches as a percentage of overall car searches in each market, then ranking them.

West Coast buyers, particularly the Pacific Northwest, showed the greatest interest in hybrid vehicles. Eight of the top 10 cities on the list are in Oregon, California or Washington, with Eugene, Ore.; Portland, Ore.; and Santa Barbara, Calif., taking the top three spots.

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By Barbara Kessler
Green Right Now

When Rachel Ray chooses a saute pan, cooks take note.

So American car shoppers, here’s the equivalent: Sokolis Group, a fuel management and consulting company, has selected the 2010 Ford Fusion Hybrid to be its company car.

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