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Gore-Backed Car Firm Gets Large U.S. Loan By JOSH MITCHELL and STEPHEN POWER WASHINGTON -- A tiny car company backed by former Vice President Al Gore has just gotten a $529 million U.S. government loan to help build a hybrid sports car in Finland that will sell for about $89,000. The award this week to California startup Fisker Automotive Inc. follows a $465 million government loan to Tesla Motors Inc., purveyors of a $109,000 British-built electric Roadster. Tesla, like Fisker, is a California startup focusing on high-end hybrids, with a number of celebrity endorsements that is backed by investors that...

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – The Prius hybrid automobile is popular for its fuel efficiency, but its electric motor and battery guzzle rare earth metals, a little-known class of elements found in a wide range of gadgets and consumer goods. That makes Toyota's market-leading gasoline-electric hybrid car and other similar vehicles vulnerable to a supply crunch predicted by experts as China, the world's dominant rare earths producer, limits exports while global demand swells.

Conservation: The Chevy Volt is said to be able to get 230 miles per gallon. That's if it's continually plugged into a fragile and overburdened power grid. Where will you be when the lights go out? Since most U.S. electricity generation is not carbon-free, the Congressional Research Service agrees. The "widespread adoption of plug-in hybrid vehicles through 2030 may have only a small effect on, and might actually increase, carbon emissions," it observes. "If you are using coal-fired power plants and half the country's electricity comes from coal powered plants, are you just trading one greenhouse gas emitter for another?"...

Alternative Energy: A government report says reliance on electric cars will do little to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and may merely shift our dependence on foreign sources from one set of dictators to another..."If you are using coal-fired power plants, and half the country's electricity comes from coal-powered plants, are you just trading one greenhouse gas emitter for another?" asks Mark Gaffigan, co-author of the GAO report. The report itself notes: "Reductions in CO2 emissions depend on generating electricity used to charge the vehicles from lower-emission sources of energy."

UYUNI, Bolivia: In the rush to build the next generation of hybrid or electric cars, a sobering fact confronts both automakers and governments seeking to lower their reliance on foreign oil: almost half of the world's lithium, the mineral needed to power the vehicles, is found here in Bolivia - a country that may not be willing to surrender it so easily. Japanese and European companies are busily trying to strike deals to tap the resource, but a nationalist sentiment is building quickly in the government of President Evo Morales, an ardent critic of the United States who has already...

One perk of driving a hybrid vehicle in the city of Los Angeles — free parking — will come to an end next month, under action taken today by the Los Angeles City Council. Almost a year ago, the council approved an ordinance allowing drivers with a state Clean Air Vehicle decal on their vehicle to park at city meters at no cost. Less than a week after that approval, however, the council moved to reconsider the issue in light of the city's financial problems. The council unanimously agreed to eliminate free parking for drivers of Toyota Prius, Honda Civic...

Rumblings in the automotive world suggest that Honda killing its Accord hybrid may have been just the canary in the over-hyped hybrid coal mine. Honda’s decision raises the question: Are hybrids just a fad -- a short-term solution to a long-term problem? Until now, the big reason why people bought hybrids was the dual promise of frugal fuel consumption and zero emissions — save your money, save the Earth. Trouble is, the media has generated enough hybrid hype that dealers are reluctant to negotiate on the purchase price. Beyond the current get-‘em-while-you-can government rebates, zero per cent financing or cash-back...

Hollywood star Leonardo DiCaprio sent out a message about global warming at the Cannes Film Festival. The heartthrob has made a film, the 11th Hour, warning that human beings face extinction as a result of the environmental crisis. At a press conference in the South of France following the screening, The Blood Diamond actor, 32, attacked US President George Bush, saying: "It's very simple. He's done very little for the environmental movement." The Titanic star's latest film, which he narrates, follows another environmental warming documentary by former US Presidential candidate Al Gore, shown at the Cannes Film Festival last year....

by Mark Finkelstein July 11, 2006 Here at NewsBusters, we keep close tabs on the MSM. That's why I can say with considerable certainty that this morning, the Today show ran its . . . nth segment on 'soaring gas prices.' The template is time-honored: reporter standing in front of gas pumps with scary-high price placard in background. Cut to clips of regular folks filling up, expressing varying degrees of outrage. Bring in an 'oil industry expert' for some words of wisdom. Back to reporter at pump, warily wondering just how much higher prices can go. Conclude with hosts back...

Toyota hybrids have hit the ceiling - the tax break ceiling. The limit of 60,000 cars was surpassed already, BUT, because of some funky law, buyers have until Sept. 30th to buy a Prius and still qualify for the $3,150 government tax credit. After that they can only get half a credit. Qualifying for the credit is easy -- finding a Prius is the hard part. I got an email from a fellow in Canada who says they have a bunch of them just sitting around. Would anybody like to fund bringing them here to the Bay area of San...

A Camry hybrid costs about $5,000 more than it's nonhybrid brother, or is it sister? If a driver goes 15,000 miles a year with an efficiency of 39mpg s/he will save about $500/yr. Easy math. It will take 10 years to get your money back. The good news is a Toyota will last 10 years and 150,000 miles. The bad news is Americans won't drive the same car for that long. But then neither will anybody else in any other country. The Japanese will change cars every 3-5 years. This is one of the reasons why the hybrid market only...

TV Review: This week's target? Hybrid drivers First off, did anyone notice the change to the final group shot of the town at the end of the South Park opening credits? I wondered if Chef would still be included in that shot and so I used the ol' freeze frame on my DVR to check, and laughed at what I found: He's still sort of there, but he's been completely blacked out, and is more just a Chef shape now. Hmm, even as I type this though, I wonder if on closer examination, he'd resemble the Darth Chef from last...

On Comedy Central's South Park cartoon last night, the world's environment is threatened by the impossible smugness of those driving hybrid cars. (The smug clouds are biggest over San Francisco, naturally.) The danger passes only when the people of South Park mash their hybrid cars into little aluminum cubes. And, just for fun, the animators named their hybrid the "Pious," a knock on Toyota's "Prius." Funny enough, but then this morning on NBC's Today, reporter Tom Costello was lauding the wonders of efficient, low emission hybrid cars (as opposed to those awful SUVs) when he showcased a smug driver who...

It's Earth to "South Park" when an all-new episode premieres tonight, Wednesday, March 29 at 10:00 P.M. on Comedy Central Episode replays midnight tonight, Thursday at 10:00 P.M. and midnight, Friday at 11:30 P.M. and Sunday at 11:00 P.M. A disaster of epic proportions threatens the town and Stan is to blame in an all-new episode of “South Park” titled "Smug Alert!" premiering Wednesday, March 29 at 10:00 p.m. on Comedy Central. Stan is the driving force who gets the citizens of South Park to buy hybrid cars. Just as everyone starts to feel really good about what they’re doing...

Jefferson City, MO – Ford Motor Company today announced a research project that can help significantly decrease foreign oil imports -- the first E85 compatible hybrid. The flexible-fuel hybrid Escape was unveiled at today’s Washington Auto Show. “As a leader in both hybrid vehicles and in vehicles capable of operating on ethanol-based fuels, Ford is the ideal company to bring both technologies together for the first time,” says Anne Stevens, executive vice president, Ford Motor Company, and chief operating officer, The Americas. Ford currently manufactures two additional hybrid vehicles: the gasoline powered Escape and Mercury Mariner. The company expects to...

Drivers of fuel-efficient hybrid vehicles soon won't have to pay as much at city parking facilities. The program, which applies to select hybrids including the Honda Civic Hybrid, the Honda Insight and the Toyota Prius, will net drivers an average of $55 in savings a month, officials said Friday. There were 1,514 new hybrid vehicles registered in the Baltimore area in 2004, an increase of about 80 percent compared with the year before, Mayor Martin O'Malley said. Officials do not expect the parking discount to make an immediate dent in the $18.6 million in annual revenue from the city's garages....

Brazilians aren't waiting for high-priced hybrid cars. Drivers are fighting rising gasoline prices by buying "flex" or "flexible fuel" cars that slurp more alcohol. Alcohol made from sugar cane is becoming the fuel of choice in Brazil, and other countries - so much so that global sugar prices hit a seven-year high this week. Regular car engines will run fine on a 10 percent blend of alcohol and gasoline. But by using computer sensors that adjust to whatever mix is in the tank, flex car engines run on either ethanol, gasoline, or any combination of the two. And they have...

City rallies around futuristic car Plug-in hybrids will help environment, economy and security, supporters say. By Stephen Scheibal AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF Tuesday, August 23, 2005 It is something like a capitalist's dream: Citizens petitioning to buy a product, governments setting aside money to help them pay for it, business leaders talking about the economic benefits, environmentalists proclaiming the earth's gratitude for every purchase. There was, perhaps, only one problem with the mass shopping spree that Austin officials imagined with great fanfare at City Hall on Monday: The product doesn't, per se, exist. The invention is known as a plug-in hybrid vehicle....

Cadet Ben Smith, age 15 Millersburg Military Institute The United States of America is facing an energy crisis of potentially huge proportions. Gasoline prices are rising steadily and it will not be long before the prices will reach $3.00 a gallon! I'm old enough to start driving but I can't afford to buy gas at these prices. In looking for a solution, I've been exploring hybrid cars. Hybrid cars run off a rechargeable battery and gasoline, rather than just gasoline. Hybrid batteries reduce fuel emissions because the hybrid engine draws on the battery and not gasoline when accelerating. Hybrid gasoline...

Imagine what would happen if Al Qaeda were to hit the giant Ras Tanura terminal in Saudi Arabia, where a tenth of global oil supplies are processed every day. Prices could soar past $100 a barrel, and the U.S. economy could go into a tailspin. As it is, high oil prices provide money for Saudi Arabia to subsidize hate-spewing madrasas and for Iran to develop nuclear weapons. Both Democrats and Republicans know this, but neither party is serious about solving this growing crisis. Democrats who couldn't tell the difference between a caribou and a cow grandstand about the sanctity of...

Cops: California Hybrid Car Drivers Can't Use Car Pool Lane SACRAMENTO -- Hybrid car owners in California won't be able to use the car pool lanes when driving alone after all. The state had planned to reward buyers of the high-mileage vehicles with permission to slip into the car pool lanes. But the federal government hasn't OK'd a waiver, so it may be months before the Toyota Prius, Honda Civic and Insight can cruise solo and still zip past backups. Proponents of the waiver fear thousands of single-occupant hybrid car owners will slip into car pool lanes without knowing it's...