Last December Straightline did a posting on the remarkable Rinspeed sQuba (Rinspeed's sQuba: a submersible car with zero emissions), which if you recall, is a James Bond-like under-water/above-water sports car/submarine. This is a vehicle that can travel at a submerged depth of 33 feet, and can drive on land at speed up to 75 mph. It is powered by a series of electric motors, and therefore is considered a ZEV.

More information on this amazing vehicle, along with full specs can be found here.

Ford is the first automaker to join Climate Registry, which is an organization that keeps tabs on greenhouse gas emissions.

Ford’s willingness to join the registry will allow it to allow it to focus on reducing greenhouse gases as opposed to be concerning itself with reporting standards that vary around the globe.

The hope here is that Ford will voluntarily measure, verify and report greenhouse gas emissions annually and members of the public will be able to see these figures, meaning Ford will have to make a concentrated effort to reduce greenhouse gases in order to keep public opinion in its favor.

Full story here.

General Motors President Fritz Henderson (left) and Mascoma Corp. Chairman and CEO Bruce Jamerson announce a strategic relationship to develop cellulosic ethanol using Mascoma’s single-step process of converting non-grain materials into low-carbon fuel. GM will have an equity investment in Mascoma.

“Demonstrating the viability of sustainable non-grain based ethanol is
critical to developing the infrastructure to support the flex-fuel
vehicle market,” said GM President Fritz Henderson.

This announcement is not really too surprising given all the time and effort GM is putting into E85-friendly vehicles.

Full story here.

Here's AutoObserver's take: Biofuels Stakes Rise for GM and the Nation

The Model T Ford celebrates its 100-year anniversary this year. As such, Ford is having student contest in which the aim is to come up with the next new Ford that would have the same impact on transportation as did the original Model T.

One of the students who participated, Dong Tran, a 24-year-old junior at the College for Creative Studies in Detroit, came up with a solar-powered vehicle. Now I know there is research being done on solar-powered vehicles, but I'm surprised that more work is not being done in this area, as it seems to be the direction that has the least negative impact on natural resources.

Full story here.

Love the name! "No More Gas!" What a great marketing idea! The name alone should sell tons of these little buggers!

The "vehicle"—a motorcycle, as it has only three wheels, and therefore not a car—is tiny, and is suitable for only one person. It has a range of 25 – 30 miles, which should be enough for most commutes.

Full story here.

We managed to snag a little face time with Nissan super boss Carlos Ghosn here in Beijing. As we expected, he talked mostly about business stuff given that he runs two of the world's biggest automakers, Nissan and Renault. He did, however, spend a few minutes talking about Nissan's electric vehicle program, and it's clear he sees it as a must-have technology for the future survival of the company.

His basic premise? There's a huge chunk of the world population that doesn't currently own cars, but they want to own one eventually and nobody is going to stop them. That means millions of additional cars on the world's roads in the coming decades, a situation that makes zero-emission vehicles absolutely essential.

That leaves two paths: pure electric cars and hydrogen fuel cells. As far as Ghosn is concerned, pure electric is the way to go. The infrastructure is already there with no need for new fueling stations, transport systems or training for consumers. Everybody already knows how to plug stuff into the wall; it's too simple to ignore.

According to Ghosn, Nissan will have an electric vehicle in the U.S. by 2010 followed up by a pilot program in Israel in 2011 and worldwide sales in 2012. He says his confidence in the program comes from the fact that the engineers working on it know they have a shot at changing the very nature of the industry.

Of course, good intentions only go so far, but as Ghosn also noted, "We are spending a lot of money on this program." We'll see if it's enough in a couple years. -- Ed Hellwig, Lead Senior Editor, Inside Line

American engineering firm Scuderi claims their new split-cycle engine to be among the most efficient internal combustion engine designs ever. Most combustion engines are 33% efficient, which means that they use about 1/3 of the power available in the fuel they burn. The Scuderi engine improves this figure to almost 40%.

This engine design splits the strokes of the four-stroke cycle over a pair of dedicated compression and power cylinders, meaning that the design of each cylinder can be independently optimized to perform the separate and distinct tasks of compression and power. That means that engines can be designed in ways that were previously impossible.

Full story here.

Volvo, as in Volvo "Truck," not Volvo "Car," is testing diesel-electric hybrid trash trucks. They are hoping to sell hybrid trucks next year. When you think about it, a trash truck is perfect for hybrid duties. The speeds are usually very low, which means the electric motor aspect is most often in use. It shuts it self down when it comes to a halt like hybrid cars, which trash trucks do a lot of. It recharges when braking, again, something trash trucks do a lot of.

Here's Green Car Advisor's take: Volvo Truck Talking Trash About Hybrids

There's an article over on wired.com (here) about as to whether a 100 mpg car is possible—or for that matter, even practical. GM's Bob Kruse, who is their executive director of global engineering of hybrids, electric vehicles and batteries; had a few interesting things to say on this subject:

"We will be using internal combustion engines for awhile. The 100-mpg car can be thought of as the Volt, (and) it will achieve this operating on a combination of electric and ICE propulsion."

"We are not competing in the X Prize. I have all of my resources focusing on mainstream high-volume programs like the Chevrolet Volt."

"Like much new technology, a Catch 22 develops. Will we invest in hydrogen delivery for vehicles that do not exist, or will we create vehicles that you cannot buy hydrogen for? This is where government leadership can help."

Here's a related story on the Chevy Volt, and its production status from Green Car Advisor: Volt On Track for Late 2010 and 40 Miles on Batteries

The Vectrix ZEV (Zero Emissions Vehicle) Electric Scooter can go from 0 – 50 in 7 seconds, and has a top speed of 62 mph. It's a plug-in electric bike with a range of 50 miles, making it ideal for urban commutes. The cost is just under $12K. Pretty neat if you ask me.

Full story here and here.