Japan pushing for 24.1% increase in fuel economy by 2020

Filed under: MPG, Legislation and Policy, Japan

2011 Nissan Micra / March – Click above for high-res image gallery

Japanese automakers will most likely need to boost their fleetwide fuel economy by 24.1 percent by 2020 to meet stringent standards being drawn up by the government, reports the Nikkei business daily.
This isn’t like the recent CAFE increase [...]

Plug-In 2011: Details on Nissan’s 2012 Leaf price increase

Filed under: EV/Plug-in, Nissan, AutoblogGreen Exclusive, Plug In Conference

The 2011 Nissan Leaf is sold out. Long live the 2012 Nissan Leaf.
Starting next week, when Nissan re-opens the Leaf ordering system, all orders placed will be for the 2012 model, which costs more but also comes with more standard equipment than the 2011 did. The problem, [...]

Cobalt Technologies gets $25m to increase biobutanol production

Filed under: Etc., Ethanol, USA

When thinking of biofuels, the usual suspects that pop up first are probably ethanol and biodiesel. That’s not to say, though, that these two are the only biofuels. There’s another non-petroleum fuel that could replace displace gasoline: biobutanol. There are proponents for biobutanol who claim that the fuel is superior to [...]

GM will increase Volt production by 50% – to 45,000 units – in 2012

Filed under: EV/Plug-in, Hybrid, Manufacturing/Plants, Chevrolet, GM, Legislation and Policy, USA

President Obama toured the General Motors‘ Detroit-Hamtramck facility where the automaker will build (can we say “is building” yet?) the Chevrolet Volt today, and as any good PR person will surely agree, you can’t let an opportunity like that go by without making an announcement [...]

GridPoint rep: How battery leases can help increase electric vehicle ownership

Filed under: EV/Plug-in, Green Daily

Th!nk City – Click above for high-res image gallery

Some automakers are toying with the idea of leasing the batteries of their electric vehicles (EVs) when they sell their wares on the market (Think, for example). Others, like Nissan, have decided that this arrangement is too complicated and just want to sell [...]