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 starting 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.

“These initiatives represent how government and the automotive industry are answering the challenge of reaching common goals and demonstrate how rapidly this type of advanced technology can be brought to market in a collaborative environment,” John Bozzella, senior vice president of External Affairs and Public Policy at Chrysler, said in a statement. “Without U.S. innovation and production capacity, we will simply trade batteries for oil in the pursuit of transportation energy.”

If approved, Chrysler said it plans to use funds to build a test fleet of more that 365 PHEVs and EVs, as well as create a new-vehicle electrification technology and manufacturing center located in Michigan. The proposed vehicles include a Dodge Ram 1500 plug-in hybrid, a Chrysler Town & Country plug-in hybrid and an electric version of the Chrysler Town & Country.

Chrysler said it has established more than a dozen partnerships with city and local governments, research and development authorities, utility companies and universities to test the new vehicles. Through a partnership with the U.S. Postal Service, Chrysler plans to deliver 165 Chrysler Town & Country electric cargo minivans for daily mail service in four regions throughout the country.

Ford’s proposed national pilot project for electric vehicles includes a request for a grant under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act to support the project.

The automaker plans to supply a group of utility companies with plug-in hybrid electric vehicle and battery electric vehicles for use in daily operations. The utilities would develop and install “smart” charging facilities for the vehicles. The data from the vehicle use and charging systems will be shared and used to help shape the future power infrastructure needed to meet consumer needs.

From Green Right Now reports

The 2010 Ford Fusion Hybrid will launch this month as Ford shoots for an expanded share of the mid-size sedan market. The U.S. mid-size sedan market is one of the largest segments in the automotive industry, second only to the small cars.

Ford says the all-new Fusion Hybrid will achieve a class-leading 41 mpg rating in the city and 36 mpg on the highway, topping the Toyota Camry Hybrid by 8 mpg in the city and 2 mpg on the highway.

The Fusion Hybrid employs a 2.5-litre Atkinson-cycle I-4 Hybrid engine with advancements in processor technology that Ford says will offer seamless transitions from gas to electric mode. The Duratec I-4 engine delivers 175 horsepower and 172 lbs./ft. of torque. Fuel economy is improved by the Fusion Hybrid’s ability to reach up to 47 mph on power from the electric motor alone, according to Ford.

Don’t be fooled. Gasoline prices won’t be bumping around $2 a gallon for long. Driving a car with good fuel economy still makes sense. Higher mpg means lower operating costs for the household budget and fewer greenhouse gas emissions.

Happily, car shoppers today have a myriad of options among fuel frugal 2009 cars. You can find something getting 30 mpg or better on the highway at nearly every dealer lot. In some cases, you’ll have to settle for a trim line with a smaller engine and manual transmission to hit the 30 mpg mark.

Here are 30 with 30 mpg:

Audi TT

Gorgeous lines, 200-horsepower and a crisp six-speed manual transmission make the Audi TT a swell sports car. The fuel economy of the base 2-liter model makes it an earth-friendly sports car.
EPA estimated mpg: 22 city/30 highway

Green Car Journal editors have chosen the five finalists for the 2009 Green Car of the Year award. They include two “clean” diesels — the BMW 335d and Volkswagen Jetta TDI — the Ford Fusion Hybrid, the Saturn Vue 2-Mode Hybrid, and the Euro-bred smart fortwo. The winner will be announced Nov. 20 at the Los Angeles Auto Show.

According to the Journal’s experts, the five models are important milestones for their manufacturers. The VW and BMW clean diesels signal the advent of highly efficient, advanced diesel sedans that meet emissions requirements in all 50 states. Ford’s Fusion Hybrid is the American automaker’s first hybrid sedan. Saturn’s Vue 2-Mode represents the first time GM has used its two-mode hybrid system in a V-6 front-drive platform. The smart fortwo is fuel efficient micro car from Europe that just made it to the U.S. in recent months.

Video: See the five finalists

“This is an exciting year for ‘green’ cars because of the many innovative and advanced models now emerging,” Ron Cogan, editor and publisher of the Green Car Journal, said in a statement. “In fact, this year’s selection of nominees was more challenging than in years past because of the auto industry’s greater emphasis on greener vehicles and the number of potential vehicles to consider. For the first time, we’ve also seen a pair of clean diesels and a small gasoline model giving hybrids serious competition.”

Fuel efficient diesels have long been popular in Europe, but the engines have only recently been re-engineered to meet tough U.S. standards. The BMW 335d gets 33 miles per gallon and features a complex three-piece emissions system. VW uses a system developed in cooperation with Audi and Mercedes-Benz that temporarily captures particulate emissions before burning them off in a later part of the engine cycle.

The 2009 Green Car of the Year will be selected by a jury that includes Carl Pope, executive director of the Sierra Club; Frances Beinecke, president of the Natural Resources Defense Council; Jean-Michel Cousteau, president of Ocean Futures Society; automotive expert and Tonight Show host Jay Leno; and automotive icon Carroll Shelby.

Jennifer Drukker expected people would stare at her new car. What she didn’t expect was this: “I was at the first stop light after I’d driven off with the car. It was literally the first time I came to a stop after driving off with the car,” she recalls. “The driver of the car next to me rolls down the windows and starts shouting questions.”

If it seems an extreme response to a Chevrolet Equinox, a fairly mainstream SUV, consider that the paint job includes the word “fuel cell” on the sides.

Fuel cell vehicles that turn abundant hydrogen into electricity are one promising alternative to gasoline-burning, toxic-fume-spewing internal-combustion engines. Widespread availability of such cars – which emit water vapor instead of greenhouse gases and stuff that’s flat out unhealthy – is years in the future.

But for Jennifer Drukker, Jamie Lee Curtis (yes, that one) and a handful of other drivers, the future is now.

General Motors has 100 Chevrolet Equinox Fuel Cell SUVs on the highways as part of “Project Driveway,” an extended research program that puts regular drivers behind the wheel of these costly cars for a few months.

Honda this summer began delivery of the FCX Clarity through a special leasing program expected to put another 200 fuel cell cars on the road over the next three years.

When you boil it down, fuel cell vehicles (FCV, for short) are electric cars. The juice comes from that single-proton gas once used to make zeppelins float. Hydrogen and oxygen are used in a chemical reaction that creates electricity. Think of it as the flip side to the electrolysis experiment you did in high school.

“We’re using hydrogen to store electricity,” says Mark Vann of General Motors.

For drivers, that means an electric car with the range of a conventional automobile. The range of the Equinox FCV is 160-200 miles between fill-ups. The Honda FCX goes about 270 miles.

Hydrogen as a fuel offers several advantages over gasoline. When used in fuel cells, the byproduct is water. It’s abundant. Industrial volumes of hydrogen are produced from natural gas and used to refine petroleum. Enough hydrogen is now produced globally each year to replace 56 billion gallons of gasoline, according to the National Hydrogen Association.

And hydrogen is a fairly cheap fuel. “The cost of operating the fuel cell Equinox is equivalent to getting 40 miles per gallon and paying $2.50 a gallon for gas,” say Vann.

The high amount of torque an electric motor offers compared to an internal-combustion engine means even an SUV like the Equinox is delightfully quick off the line.

“It goes faster than you legally need to go,” says Gates Clark, another Project Driveway participant. “There are no performance compromises.”

Quick and quiet. Low impact and low operating costs. Why can’t I have one now?