While we've been sitting here drumming our fingers on the table waiting impatiently to get the call from GM to come over to Milford or Warren, the NBC crew swept into town and went for the first media drive of one of the Chevy Volt/Cruze mules. The report that was on NBC's Today show this morning actually tries to put GM in a good light for a change. Matt Lauer and Phil LeBeau visited the tech center and spoke with Volt design chief Bob Boniface and dropped by a local Chevy dealer. The report wraps up with some too-brief footage of the two gentlemen in one of the Cruze-bodied mules like the one that Rick Wagoner drove during his last visit to DC. You can watch the video after the jump, but since this is American network news, don't expect any significant details. Thanks to Nick for the tip!

[Source: Hulu]

As the clock runs down to the official unveiling of Honda's new Insight for 2009, more information is leaking out of Europe, this time directly from Honda. A new brochure covering the entire European lineup, including the Insight, has gone live on the Honda Belgium site. According to the brochure, the new Insight's 1.3L engine is rated at 87 hp in European trim and it's paired up with a 13 hp motor in the IMA system. On the EU test cycle, the new hybrid is rated at a combined 53 mpg (US) while emitting just 101 g/km of CO₂.

We had an opportunity to drive the US-spec Insight just before Christmas but we can't tell you anything else about it right now. For that you'll have to wait until 9am EST Sunday morning. Come back then to read all about the Insight and stick around for our full coverage of the Detroit Auto Show. Thanks to Julian for the tip!

Update: Honda has pulled the pdf file from its site, but you can find it here.

(Source: Honda Belgium]

There is now one less company working on developing hybrid drive systems for trucks and buses. Odyne Corporation has been developing plug-in hybrid systems for medium and heavy duty trucks and buses. Unfortunately, while vehicles like school buses, garbage trucks and delivery trucks have the ideal duty cycle for a plug-in hybrid drivetrain with comparatively small operating area and lots of low speed start-stop operation, the cost premium was simply too much for operators to bear in the current economy.

As a result, the company hasn't been able to generate enough revenue or find a buyer to keep it in business. Two months after hiring Matrix USA to investigate alternatives, the company is calling it quits. Odyne will be laying off its employees and winding down its operations.

[Source: Odyne via GreenCarCongress]

Last September, Peugeot announced that it had built a experimental hybrid version of its 908 HDi Le Mans prototype coupe using kinetic energy recovery system (KERS) similar to those currently being developed by Formula One teams. The 908 HY uses an electric motor/generator and lithium ion battery pack to store electrical energy. Earlier this week, rumors surfaced that the Ferrari F1 team might be working with Peugeot on the KERS development because of technical problems the Italian company was having. The rationale for the move was to circumvent the new testing ban that goes into effect for F1 teams during the race season this year. The idea is that Ferrari would use Peugeot to track test its system. However, Ferrari has vehemently denied the stories. The team claims it would be politically foolish to try to avoid a rule that all teams agreed to. After all, no other race team has ever cheated to try to get an advantage on its competitors, so why would Ferrari?


[Source: GrandPrix.com]

A few months back at the LA Auto Show, where Lexus introduced the world to its latest RX450h hybrid crossover, the automaker was not yet ready to reveal its price or fuel mileage ratings. Things are still a bit hazy on the pricing front, but we do have some preliminary mileage data to share, along with an entire novel's worth of incremental detail changes that all add up to create a better hybrid. First, the mileage: an EPA-estimated 28 mpg city and 27 mph highway (26 mpg for the AWD), which is an 8-12 percent improvement of the old RX400h. We couldn't possibly cover the minutiae nearly as well as Lexus has already done, so check past the break for the entire press release.

The other salient details include a new exhaust heat-recovery system that helps the hybrid perform better in cold temperatures, a new ECO driving mode and a new EV drive mode that allows the RX to run on electricity alone with zero emissions under certain circumstances. All this and a 20 percent boost in power... sounds like a winner so far. Expect to see the new RX450h on dealer lots in a few months time, and look for pricing information closer to the launch date.


[Source: Lexus]

A123 Systems announced today that it has applied for $1.84 billion in loans from the Department of Energy to help contribute to the $2.3 billion required to pay for the construction of battery plants in the United States. In what should be good news for Michigan, the first of the facilities A123 is planning would be located there. If A123 gets the funds, it plans to have enough cell manufacturing capacity in place by 2013 to support 5 million hybrid vehicles or half a million battery electric vehicles. The factories would produce employ 14,000 people when fully operational.

A123 claims to be working with seven different automakers right now on 19 different vehicle programs. Those include General Motors for the plug-in hybrid Saturn Vue and the Chevy Volt and Chrysler with its electric programs through its ENVI division. A123 is also working with Better Place on its charging and battery swap network programs. There's no word so far on when a decision on the application might be made or construction might start.

[Source: A123 Systems, Detroit Free Press]

With congressional leaders and the incoming Obama administration working on a new economic stimulus package, everyone is angling for a piece of the pie. That includes car and battery manufacturers. With politicians pushing hard for even more stringent fuel economy and CO₂ regulations as well as directly pressuring the Detroit car companies to build plug-in vehicles in exchange for financial aid, battery development needs to be accelerated. John Dingell (D-MI) and the rest of the Michigan delegation are preparing to push for at least $1 billion in funding for advanced batteries. Exactly how that will be funded is still unclear. It could come from the existing $25 billion that was allocated in the 2007 energy bill and there have also been proposals to double that funding. In addition to the $1 billion for research and development, additional funds will likely be needed to pay for putting in manufacturing capacity for batteries.

[Source: Detroit News]

Even if not everyone likes the Prius conversion aftermarket results, it can't be a bad thing that there is one more team out there willing to add batteries and a plug to your Prius, right? The WSJ recently profiled Daniel Sherwood and Paul Guzyk of Berkeley's 3Prong Power Inc., which will upgrade your Prius for about $7,000. That seven grand will get you an extra 5 kwh of power from 360 lbs of lead acid batteries (originally designed for electric wheelchairs), enough to go about 10 miles in electric-only mode. They also offer stiffer springs as an option to compensate for the extra weight. For more money (about double), you can choose li-ion batteries. Sherwood told the Journal that, "I don't know if Toyota meant to do it, but they gave us a car that's easy to hack into and easy to improve."

Improve, maybe, but that doesn't mean Toyota is ready to sell plug-in Priuses just yet. The rest of the WSJ article looks at the broader plug-in conversion movement, and we get this from Toyota's Jaycie Chitwood: "For plug-ins to be all encompassing and to replace basic hybrid technology, the electric grid would need to morph into something we don't have yet." The smart grid? A more robust (or green) network?

There's a video from 3Prong after the jump.

[Source: WSJ via EVWorld]

As expectant Aptera buyers are obviously aware, the company failed to meet its self-imposed end of 2008 deadline to start delivering vehicles. In fact it wasn't even close. The company does expect to have a "production-intent" vehicle completed by the end of next week but that one isn't leaving the company. In a letter sent to customers this week, management acknowledged that they waited until far too late in the program to actually give consideration to many of the things paying customers might want in a vehicle; the ability to grab some food from a drive-through window, for example.

Between the real-world compromises and the switch from rear to front wheel drive, management has acknowledged the delays along with the current economic environment. For the next several months, they say, a small number of vehicles will be built for internal testing. Volume production for retail deliveries is now scheduled for October 1, 2009. The company is also asking people who have paid the $500 refundable deposit to voluntarily convert it to a non-refundable deposit. This will let the company better gauge true demand for the vehicle and also give them access to the deposit cash which has been held in escrow until now. People who choose the lock-in option will get an extra $250 off the final retail price when they take delivery. The full letter from the company is after the jump.

Update: Aptera will not be accessing this money, it will remain in escrow.


[Source: Aptera]

While the main storyline for Consumer Reports' February issue revolves around the new Hyundai Genesis and its toppling of the mighty Lexus ES350 as the mag's top-rated entry-level luxury sedan, another tidbit of information regarding next month's rag caught our attention. Apparently, CR purchased a Hymotion L5 plug-in Prius conversion kit from A123 Systems, and testing proved to be a mixed bag. We don't have full details to share regarding the kit's installation or full fuel mileage statistics, but CR's press release indicates that the PHEV managed to increase its mpg rating from 42 to 67 over the first 35 miles of driving. Perhaps this will be an ongoing series from the consumer-oriented publication. While that kind of mileage increase is meaningful, it would take a very long time to recoup the $11,000 purchase price of Hymotion's kit. Still, "the technology itself proved viable," according to CR.

[Source: Consumer Reports]

With 4 of the worlds top brands now boasting mid-size sedan hybrids in their line ups, the chaps over at Car and Driver decided it was time to rustle them all together and see how they stack up. If you've been torn over whether to buy a hybrid in the shape of a Toyota Camry, Ford Fusion, Nissan Altima or Chevy Malibu, this is the comparo that can save you days of visiting dealerships and conducting your own set of test drives. To save you even more time, we break down their observations into a handful of bit-sized chunks, from worst to first.

The Chevrolet Malibu hybrid was the "mild hybrid" of the bunch. While its appearance has been praised by some, its engineering earned few accolades from the C&D crew. They found the start/stop system rudely abrupt and the electric assist seemed to surge off and on with a mind of its own while under way. It not only came last in mileage (19.8 mpg city! Dude!), it also came last in acceleration. The can of tire inflation product in lieu of an actual spare only adds insult to injury. Let's hope GM puts more effort into the Volt. A lot more. Hit the jump to see how the others contestants fared.


[Source: Car and Driver]

Toyota has announced that all of its 12 production plants in Japan will be shut down for 11 days in February and March thanks to the recent sales drop. Toyota sold about 20,000 fewer Priuses in 2008 than in 2007. According to Automotive News Europe (subs req'd), Toyota already reduced the number of vehicles it will build this business year by almost a million units and this round of closures means there will be even fewer Toyota's built in the coming year. The last time all Japanese Toyota plants were shut at the same time was in 1993. Considering that all Priuses are made in Japan (that Mississippi Prius plant never got off the ground), the Prius supply will be reduced over the 11 days of quiet. The big question is if it'll be down enough to meet demand without excess.

[Source: Automotive News Europe (subs req'd), AP]

We've already taken a look at the 2,555 hybrids that GM sold in December and the 14,439 hybrid vehicles it sold in 2008, but what about the other major automakers? Not every automaker reports their sales the same way (most don't break out hybrid numbers, for example), but we can still compare GM's results to Honda's and Toyota's.

Toyota reports that, for all of 2008, it sold 15,200 Lexus RX 400h luxury hybrid SUVs and 19,391 Highlander Hybrid gas-electric mid-size SUVs. For the year, Toyota and Lexus sold 241,405 hybrid vehicles. That includes 158,884 Priuses, compared to 181,221 in 2007. That 12.6 percent drop in hybrid sales is better than the drop in overall sales in the industry.

There is something interesting going on with the Honda numbers. The sales numbers say that 1,036 Civic hybrids were sold in December (31,297 in all of 2008) compared to 3,223 in December 2007 (32,575 in all of 2007). That was expected. The discontinued Accord hybrid managed to sell 198 units in 2008 (vs. 3,405 in 2007). The interesting part comes in the FCX Clarity section. Apparently, Honda sold five of them in 2008. I thought the only way to get an FCX Clarity was to lease one.


[Source: Toyota, Honda]

The world can be a leaky place, especially since the internet makes it easy to spread any early information in an extremely rapid manner. Such is life for automakers at the moment. The latest victim (or beneficiary, if you consider a leak to be free advertising) is Honda, which saw a Japanese brochure for its upcoming Insight hybrid hatchback leaked out to the internet just last week. This was followed up by the leak of what appears to be a European brochure that offers us tons of sneak peeks at details such as the new Euro-spec Insight's head lamps, tail lights, grille, wheels and dash. Overall, the car looks pretty similar to the concept that was introduced last year in Paris, gaining cleaner lines overall and losing unnecessary show car bits in the process. As much as we all like to see these early shots, we only have a short wait until January 11th when the car will get its official debut at the Detroit Auto Show. Until then, enjoy these early teasers.


[Source: Carscoop]

All things considered, it appears that we think of GM's 2,555 hybrid sales in December a success. GM's press release (posted after the jump) certainly makes it all smell like roses. The 2.5k deliveries are up from the 1,957 hybrids the General sold in September. At that time, GM was averaging about 1,000 hybrids a month for 2008, and the trend has been upward since then, and for all of 2008, GM sold 14,439 hybrid vehicles. Here's how December's hybrid sales broke down:

• 981 Chevrolet Tahoe
• 442 GMC Yukon
• 306 Cadillac Escalade
• 454 Chevrolet Malibu
• 34 Saturn Aura
• 338 Vue

For those of you keeping score against the HUMMER brand, sales in 2008 were down 50.9 percent compared to 2007. The General sold 55,986 H1, H2, and H3 models in 2007 and 27,485 in 2008 (including just 692 units of the new H3T model).


[Source: GM]