We Obsessively Cover the Green Scene…

We'll give the intrepid personalities over at Fox News a bit of credit for catching themselves mid-mistake, but just take a look at this: While discussing news that GE (note that last letter, please) is buying a fleet of Chevrolet Volt hatchbacks, one of our Foxy friends (Juliet Huddy) said, "All GM employees who get a company car, well, they really don't get a choice. They're going to get a $40,000 electric car." Yes, for a few seconds, the atmosphere was awful: Just look at this pathetic car company that is forcing its own employees to buy its cars. Except, of course, that's exactly wrong. Thankfully, the hosts catch themselves, even though they then continue to bash the Volt. Also, it wasn't just a mess-up by Huddy, since the on-screen chyron clearly says "GM workers forced into Volts."

Of course, this whole GE/GM thing isn't exactly news. GE announced back in November 2010 that it would buy up to 12,000 Volts as part of an order of 25,000 plug-in vehicles. GE has done a lot to promote plug-in vehicles, including working with GM on projects in China and running an "Electric Vehicle Experience Tour" here in the U.S. last year. Check out the video for yourself after the jump.

It's been a good long while since we visited the Whiskey Tango Foxtrot spy photography department. Our favorite snappers at CarPix were busily watching over a supplier test facility when the curiosity you see above inched its way out of hiding to perform one quick lap of the snow-covered track before retreating back from whence it came. The sign on the door clearly marks the vehicle as electric (well, "clearly" if you speak German), though details beyond that are conspicuously scarce. From the looks of things, the car has a significantly wider track up front than it does out back, though it's difficult to say exactly what that means.

Which manufacturer is behind this machine? What kind of drivetrain does it boast? Is it actually headed for production? Is it from a major automaker or a niche proposition? The short answer is we haven't the faintest idea. Place your bets in Comments.

In response to my last column on this subject – Future Fuel Economy Mandates, Part I: 54.5 mpg is going to be hard to reach – commenter TxPatriot wondered why (non-hybrid) modern cars can't deliver the 53-58-mpg fuel economy he says his 1989 Geo Metro does. "I've yet to receive a satisfactory answer to this question," he wrote.

Well, for starters, that 23-year-old econobox did not have to carry the structure and all the equipment necessary to meet 2012 federal safety, damageability and emissions standards, or the suite of comfort, convenience and infotainment features even today's small econocars must have to compete. I'm guessing it probably weighs about two-thirds of what a current 30-to-40-mile-per-gallon subcompact does, and weight is the single most significant factor contributing to fuel efficiency.

As I wrote last time, I interviewed a large, diverse sampling of U.S. auto industry folks at this year's Detroit and Chicago auto shows to get their perspectives on the huge challenge of increasing their fleet's average fuel economy by four to five percent a year for the next 13 years. All agreed that it would be expensive and difficult, yet all were committed to doing it.

Hiccup or death knell?

That's what watchers of California-based automaker Fisker Automotive are trying to figure out after the maker of the Karma extended-range plug-in luxury sedan laid off about 65 workers and contractors in Delaware and California while renegotiating loan details with the U.S. Department of Energy. Fisker, which was to receive a $529 million loan from the DOE, has received less than $200 million of that, with the fate of the balance in question because Fisker's production delays caused the company to not meet certain loan conditions.

Here's the death knell perspective: With the Obama Administration under political pressure to reduce spending, Fisker is unlikely to receive the remaining $336 million, Wunderlich Securities analyst Theodore O'Neill said in an interview with the Boston Globe. Without that funding, Fisker will go out of business, O'Neill said, adding that A123 Systems, which makes lithium-ion batteries for Fisker, will also likely go under.

But no, say others, the problem is temporary. Investment advice site Seeking Alpha, for example, says A123 is a "buy." Fisker also downplayed the issue, with its spokesman, Roger Ormisher, calling the shutdown a "bump in the road" in an interview with The Wall Street Journal. Ormisher said production of the Karma hasn't been impacted – nothing that Fisker has delivered about 250 vehicles – and that the remaining DOE funds are to be used purely for the lower-priced Fisker Nina vehicle.

Fisker said in a statement last week that the company, which most recently received cash from the loan last May, is in talks with the DOE and raised $260 million in equity in late 2011. Fisker is pursuing "alternative funding sources," the company said in a Feb. 6 statement.

Additionally, the Orange County Register reported last week that a Fisker investor is suing the company for fraud. The plaintiff, Daniel Wray, invested $210,000 in Fisker and said the company informed him in January that he had to invest another $84,000 or risk losing the rights he gained with the original stock purchase. Ormisher told the newspaper at the time that he wasn't aware of the lawsuit.

In an effort to spur sales, Toyota seems willing to try just about anything to promote its hybrid lineup. Whether that's a Monopoly-themed booth at the 2012 Chicago Auto Show or a new twist on nature-spotting safaris with the new Prius Kingdom website, the Japanese automaker is certainly letting its promotion teams be creative.

The idea behind the "Kingdom" site is that Priuses are special creatures that have evolved to survive and create a legacy. They're so special, in fact, that we should happily rejoice whenever we see one. The fuel-saving message is present, too, as the voiceover says a one point, "Hurry! It could be many weeks before it drinks again." You can see Toyota's "Kingdom" video after the jump and visit the site here.

Other recent Prius ads include the People Person one, a bit of Harmony and a Vishnu touch. Talk about evolution.

Faithful readers of AutoblogGreen may be well aware of the high-performance abilities of electric drivetrains on the drag strip (see White Zombie, Black Current and Lawless Rocket for examples) but sadly, many others haven't yet gotten the torque-rules memo.

Enter Stuntbusters. Finding some time in their busy Cadillac-crashing, gas-bomb-car-flinging schedule, the Speed program decided to conduct a couple experiments that might help spread the word. They throw up a Porsche Carrera S against a Tesla Roadster in a one-on-one race to represent the modern era. A second contest puts a classic 1969 Camaro against the battery-powered Type 65 coupe replica from SSI Racing.

Now, perhaps this isn't the most scientific test, but winning over the masses isn't about dry facts and figures. It's about emotions. And there's nothing like a little drag strip drama to help stir it up. So, which cars win? All you've got to do is hit the jump to find out.

If you have a hate on for automakers that take government money then it may be time to upwardly revise your feelings towards Chrysler. The pentastar brand had originally sought up to $7 billion from the Advanced Technology Vehicles Manufacturing (ATVM) loan program, though since its original request in 2007, it had reduced that amount downward to a more reasonable $3.5 billion. Now, it has withdrawn its application completely.

Apparently, the terms sought by the DOE were too restrictive for Chrysler's needs – something PHEV-maker Fisker is all too familiar with. While we don't think the decision will impact the launch of the company's only announced battery powered vehicle, the Fiat 500 EV, big kahuna Sergio Marchionne is clearly unimpressed with the whole process. Says the Chrysler-Fiat CEO, comparing its position to its Detroit-based competitors,
U.S. Representative John Dingell (D-MI) issued a statement that he's disappointed in the situation, saying he, "regret[s] that DoE and Chrysler were not able to come to an agreement that clearly would have benefited American workers and manufacturers." Read the whole thing after the jump.

"The future is now" may be well-worn cliche, but when it comes to Tesla Motors' stock price performance, "now" is all about the future.

The high-end electric-vehicle maker said Wednesday that its fourth-quarter loss widened 59 percent from a year earlier as research and development expenses surged in advance of this year's debut of the company's Model S sedan and the development of the Model X crossover set to launch late next year.

Tesla's net loss widened to $81.5 million, up from $51.4 million a year earlier. While sales rose 8.5 percent to $39.4 million, R&D expenses rose faster – at a 63 percent clip – to $61.2 million.

Still, investors didn't seem to mind, as Tesla stock was up about 1 percent in Nasdaq trading at about 2:30 Eastern time Thursday. That's because the company said 2012 sales will be between $550 million and $600 million, with deliveries of the Model S expected to be in the 5,000-unit range. Analysts in a Thomson Reuters poll forecast Tesla's 2012 sales to be $521.5 million.

Tesla's Model S is set to start deliveries by July. The sedan is touted to have the longest range between charges of any mass-produced electric vehicle when it goes on sale, and will be offered with three range options: 160 miles, 230 miles and 300 miles. Prices start at $57,400 (before federal tax credits) for the 160-mile version, with a premium of about $20,000 for the 300-mile version.

Meanwhile, last week, Tesla unveiled its Model X crossover electric vehicle at its Southern California design studios and said the CUV would start production late next year. The Model X, which has the much-discussed "falcon-wing" rear doors similar to those of the old Mercedes-Benz gull winged doors, is expected to have a base price similar to the Model S and will be able to go from 0 to 60 miles per hour in 4.4 seconds, or 0.2 seconds quicker than a Porsche 911.

Since the unveiling, Tesla said it generated more than $40 million in advance sales for the Model X through more than 500 pre-orders, making the CUV the fastest-selling Tesla model to date. Model S reservations also jumped 30 percent after the unveiling.

Tesla last year stopped production of its battery-electric Roadster in the U.S., though last month said it would make final versions of the model available this year in Europe, Asia and Australia, where the company's Model S sedan is not yet available. Tesla has sold more than 2,100 Roadsters in 31 countries since debuting the $109,000 model in four years ago.

The Ford Focus Electric, which started sales in select east and west coast markets (read: California and New York/New Jersey) in November, won't be available to other U.S. markets until September, Ford Global Electric Vehicle Infrastructure associate director Mike Tinskey told MLive.

Tinskey, speaking after a panel discussion at the Automotive Megatrends USA 2012 conference in Ford's hometown of Dearborn earlier this month, said that the Focus Electric will be available to almost 80 percent of the country by this fall.

Ford, which hadn't set a deadline for when the Focus EV would debut outside of the coasts, started taking orders for the Focus Electric in November for initial market customers, and said at the time that it would expand sales to 15 other markets, including Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Detroit, Houston, Seattle and Washington, D.C., by the end of 2012.

Ford, which has estimated that hybrids and plug-ins may account for as much as 25 percent of its vehicle sales by the end of the decade, has said that the Focus Electric has as much as a 100-mile single-charge range and estimated in December that the model will have a 100 miles-per-gallon-equivalent (MPGe) rating. That would make the Focus Electric the second-most "fuel efficient" production vehicle in the U.S. – Mitsubishi's battery-electric i has a 112 MPGe rating – and would put the Focus Electric's rating slightly ahead of the Nissan Leaf EVs' 99 MPGe rating.

Ford is starting pricing for the Focus Electric at $39,200, giving the car an out-of-pocket cost of as low as $31,700 once the $7,500 federal tax credit for electric vehicles is factored in and making it about $4,000 costlier than the Leaf.

The University of Tennessee has just come up with a theory about China electric vehicles that may have some believing that there was a little too much of the local whiskey involved in the process.

According to a report released by the university, EVs in China are more environmentally harmful than gas-powered vehicles when factoring in how electricity is produced. The study claims that, when calculating "well-to-wheel" emissions, EVs can be just as harmful as – wait for it – diesel buses. The study, which calculated five types of vehicles and their effect on air quality in 34 Chinese cities, factored in all particulate matter produced in the electricity production process, including dust particles, metals, organic chemicals and acids. Because more than three-quarters of the electricity produced in China is from coal, EVs that depend on such electricity are more harmful than gas-powered cars, according to the report.

"An implicit assumption has been that air quality and health impacts are lower for electric vehicles than for conventional vehicles," said Chris Cherry, assistant professor in civil and environmental engineering at the University of Tennessee, in a prepared statement. "Our findings challenge that by comparing what is emitted by vehicle use to what people are actually exposed to. Prior studies have only examined environmental impacts by comparing emission factors or greenhouse gas emissions."

The report is sure to further stoke the argument over whether EVs are more harmful than conventional vehicles when factoring in energy production, especially given that, according to Pike Research, China consumers will be buying twice as many plug-in vehicles as Americans by 2017. Most other studies find that EVs beat gas-powered cars by a long shot. Take, for instance, a 2009 study conducted by Dvice, which estimated that, even when assuming that all of the electricity used by an EV is sourced from coal, EVs would still produce 60 percent fewer pollutants than gas-powered vehicles. And this week, Green Car Reports quoted a U.S.-based Nissan Leaf owner who calculated that, even if all of his Leaf's electricity came from coal-fired plants, it would still produce 15 percent fewer pollutants than a gas-powered Nissan Versa.

Think if them as the Air Jordans of minicars.

Daimler's Smart division will start selling special-edition versions of its ForTwo in Europe starting in May, as the German automaker looks to jump-start sales of the brand.

The new version, dubbed the Sharpred for its contrasting red-black color scheme (hence the shoe reference) will sold in both hard-top and convertible versions, each having a 71-horsepower and 84-horsepower gas engine option, Daimler said. Daimler will make 1,800 units of the Sharpred, which will also have wider tires and 15-inch wheels. The Sharped will be priced from 14,490 euros (just under $19,000 U.S. at today's exchange rates) for the smaller-engined hard-top to 18,150 euros ($23,700) for the larger-engined convertible.

Daimler, which debuted the Smart as the smallest production car in the U.S. in 2008, is trying to boost Smart sales amid increased competition from models such as the Chevrolet Spark and the Scion iQ. Globally, Daimler sold about 102,000 Smart vehicles last year, marking a 4.6 percent increase from 2010 but which was just 7.5 percent of all Daimler cars sold last year.

Smart recently upgraded the car's look slightly with a bolder emblem, an updated fascia and a new grille, as well as adding a few more options for wheels, though the engines weren't upgraded. The brand, which sells five option packages, will start selling the upgraded ForTwo in the UK in April, followed by the launch of the 2013 model year version in the U.S.

Speaking at the Economic Club of Chicago during the Chicago Auto Show last week, the president and COO of Toyota Motor North America, Yoshi Inaba, laid out his company's near-future plans, and made about as strong a case for hybrids as you're likely to hear this month. This is to be expected, since Toyota is going to launch 19 new or updated vehicles this year (including some from the Scion and Lexus brands) and, Inaba said, "nearly half will be hybrids or electric vehicles."

Now, it's clear that Toyota wants to increase sales of it's most popular hybrids, the Prius family models. In Chicago, Inaba made the point that increased Prius sales would benefit the U.S. by reducing the amount of gasoline we need. In fact, he said, studies show that "if everyone in the U.S. drove a Prius, we could reduce our dependence on foreign oil by 70 percent."

Inaba talked up all the Toyota brand's hybrids, including the Highlander SUV, and gave that gas-electric a U.S. connection by announcing that it will soon be built in America. To date, all the Highlander hybrids have been built in Japan, even though some non-hybrid versions are built in Princeton, IN. Following a $400-million investment in that plant, Toyota will be able to make 50,000 more Highlanders there each year, some of them hybrids. Inaga said this will directly create 400 jobs as well over 1,000 indirect "spin off" jobs.

Washington State's senate has passed a bill that would impose an annual fee of $100 to electric-vehicle drivers in an effort to compensate for the gas taxes that EV drivers don't pay, the Associated Press reported.

The fee, which doesn't apply to hybrids or neighborhood-electric vehicles, will be used for road services that would be otherwise paid through gas taxes. Washington charges 37.5 cents a gallon in fuel taxes. The bill, which passed by a two-to-one margin, will next be voted on by the state's house of representatives, the wire service said.

Senate Bill 5251 was introduced about a year ago by Mary Haugen, the Senate's transportation committee chairwoman, as a way to compensate for the fact that EVs put the same wear and tear on state roads as conventional vehicles do. The fee is about half of what a typical Washington state driver pays in gas taxes, and would add as much as $1.9 million to the state's budget by 2017.

Many cash-strapped states are trying to figure out how to ensure that more consumer interest in electric vehicles won't translate into lost state revenues because of less gas taxes. Some Arizona legislators earlier this month proposed taxing EV drivers as much as 1.43 cents per driven mile. That state in January repealed an emissions program that incentivized more alt-fuel vehicle use after just one year. Oregon and Kansas are among other states looking at EV-related fees.

We first encountered the "regenerative acceleration" system from Thane Heins years ago. You might think that seemingly impossible ideas like this would go off somewhere and never be heard from again, especially in this age of honest-to-goodness EV from major OEMs. But you'd be wrong.

Thus, we present, without too much comment, a new video that purports to show Heins' ReGenX tech applied to a Myers Motors NMG and undergoing its first test drive. From the sound of the official text used in the YouTube page (posted after the jump), it appears that Heins' Potential Difference Inc. (PDI) is working with Myers on the ReGenerative Acceleration Generator Integration project.

We won't pretend we understand what Heins says is going on here or that we honestly imagine there is any way that an EV can constantly recharge its own batteries as it drives down the road (absent some external power source, like this), but Heins claims that his system: Got that? Good. Because the claim is that, once an EV gets up to 10 kilometers an hour (6 miles per hour), it can generate energy. The current goal is to beef up an EVs range by 30 to 50 percent, but as you can hear Heins say in the video, he's hopeful the system can "keep recharging [the batteries] from then on, right throughout the use." Read more about it here.

Watch the video (plus a bonus clip of a ReGenX generator being tested in a scooter) after the jump.