Archive for June, 2008

AutoblogGreen Q&A: Tesla Motors Chairman Elon Musk Pt. 3 – Lessons and WhiteStar hints

Posted by Sam Abuelsamid on June 26th, 2008
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Filed under: EV/Plug-in , Manufacturing/Plants , AutoblogGreen Q & A , Tesla Motors , AutoblogGreen Exclusive In the first two parts of our discussion, Tesla Motors Chairman Elon Musk described how he came to be a part of Tesla Motors and how he influenced the development of the Roadster. It’s important to note that he never described himself as the designer or creator of the Roadster. Rather he considers himself the co-architect of the sports car. With production of the Roadster now sort of underway and the updated drivetrain hopefully coming soon, it’s time to look forward. As the self-declared Product Architect, Musk is playing perhaps an even bigger role with the next product, a sedan that we’ve known for some time by the code name WhiteStar. We had hoped to see WhiteStar this spring but that obviously hasn’t happened yet. In the conclusion of our discussion, Musk gives out some hints about what to expect and what Tesla has learned over the past five years. Read on to learn more about what’s coming next. Make sure you read Part 1 and Part 2 . Continue reading AutoblogGreen Q&A: Tesla Motors Chairman Elon Musk Pt. 3 – Lessons and WhiteStar hints AutoblogGreen Q&A: Tesla Motors Chairman Elon Musk Pt. 3 – Lessons and WhiteStar hints originally appeared on AutoblogGreen on Wed, 25 Jun 2008 20:02:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink | Email this | Comments

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AutoblogGreen Q&A: Tesla Motors Chairman Elon Musk Pt. 1 – In the beginning

Posted by Sam Abuelsamid on June 24th, 2008
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Filed under: EV/Plug-in , AutoblogGreen Q & A , Tesla Motors , AutoblogGreen Exclusive , Green Daily Among the readers of this site, one of the cars that elicits a lot of passion is the Tesla Roadster. The battery-powered Roadster and its provenance have elicited a great deal of discussion over the past nine months, in particular since the demotion and ultimately the departure of co-founder Martin Eberhard . This is a complex tale involving passionate entrepreneurs with that all-too-common but in many ways necessary human frailty known as ego. When humans interact, they often see the same results through their own mental filters. People can see exactly the same thing and interpret it in many different ways. Unfortunately in today’s media landscape, particularly on television, but also in blogs we often see a very cut-down sound-bite version of things. Sound-bites by definition are taken out of context. In and of themselves they often lead to incorrect or at least inaccurate conclusions. With all of that in mind I was recently contacted by Tesla Motors Chairman Elon Musk. Musk wanted to discuss his role at Tesla, and hopefully fill in some of the gaps in the story. What follows after the jump is the phone conversion that I had with Musk recently as well as some comments from Martin Eberhard via e-mail exchanges. Eberhard’s version of events is italicized. Update : Just to be clear Elon Musk contacted me immediately after a previous article where I called into question his role in the development of the Roadster. He wanted to clear up what he felt were misconceptions of his role rather than to pitch a story idea about him. Continue reading AutoblogGreen Q&A: Tesla Motors Chairman Elon Musk Pt. 1 – In the beginning AutoblogGreen Q&A: Tesla Motors Chairman Elon Musk Pt. 1 – In the beginning originally appeared on AutoblogGreen on Mon, 23 Jun 2008 20:22:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink | Email this | Comments

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Pilot commercial algae to biofuel plant announced in Israel

Posted by Xavier Navarro on June 19th, 2008
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Filed under: Biodiesel , Diesel , Carbon Capture Inventure Chemical and Seambiotic have announced a joint venture to create a pilot commercial plant which will use algae to produce an array of chemicals and biofuels. The plant uses CO 2 as feedstock for the algae. Inventure Chemicals comes into the partnership with knowledge about second-generation biofuel manufacturing, as it has facilities in operation in Seattle, and Seambiotic brings its newly developed strains of microalgae. These microalgae were developed a process that they call “algae CO 2 sequestering” in which the strains were fed with exhaust fumes from their power generator’s fumes, giving important yields in algae rich in carbohydrates and fatty acids. The carbs can be used to produce ethanol while the fatty acids can be made into biodiesel. This allows Seambiotic to state that their process not only produces biofuels but also can help coal-fired power generators to meet CO 2 reduction mandates. This method could potentially use the self-generated biofuel to make these generators work, closing the loop. [Source: Seambiotic ] Pilot commercial algae to biofuel plant announced in Israel originally appeared on AutoblogGreen on Thu, 19 Jun 2008 17:53:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink | Email this | Comments

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Jealous? Here’s a list of European sport diesel coupes the U.S. can’t have

Posted by Xavier Navarro on June 10th, 2008
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Filed under: Diesel , Audi , BMW , Mercedes Benz , Volkswagen , Citroen , Peugeot , Europe/EU , Germany , Alfa Romeo Like cabrios , the “sport coup

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MiTo convertible coming to the US in 2010?

Posted by Domenick Yoney on June 9th, 2008
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Filed under: Europe/EU , UK , USA , Alfa Romeo The rumors say that, if the Alfa Romeo MiTo makes it to America in 2010, there should be several different configurations available. Besides an estate and a three door, there could very well be a convertible quite similar to the snappy rendition shown above. Based on the Fiat Grande Punto platform, the drop-top would give the Mini convertible some competition for buyer’s euros dollars. Early word is all four motor options, including a diesel, will be turbo-charged and capable of churning out 90 to a 155 galloping horses. No word on what kind of mileage figures to expect yet but we think it’s safe to assume that it will meet and probably exceed those of it’s BMW-built Mini competitor. [Source: AutoExpress ] MiTo convertible coming to the US in 2010? originally appeared on AutoblogGreen on Mon, 09 Jun 2008 14:16:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink | Email this | Comments

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Trees can capture 20 percent of a country’s carbon emissions

Posted by Xavier Navarro on June 3rd, 2008
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Filed under: Carbon Capture , Green Daily , Europe/EU Figure of the day: In a country where half of the surface is covered by forests (such as Spain), trees capture 20 percent of that country’s CO 2 emissions. This nice information masks two facts: we still have 80 percent of those emissions still to reduce and that the group that is currently spreading this information, the FBYCC (Forum of Forests and Climate Change) is asking for forest owners to be compensated. Seventy percent of Spanish forestsare held in private hands. The FBYCC states that trees play a very important role in fighting combat change. Species such as eucalyptus and pine trees are the fastest growing, so they capture carbon more efficiently. Also, if you have some spare land available, bear in mind that you can offset a compact car’s annual carbon emissions with the following: 0.39 ha of beech trees (about 1 acre), 0.14 ha of poplars (0.34 acre) or 0.19 ha of pines (about half an acre). [Source: FBYCC via Madrid+d ] Trees can capture 20 percent of a country’s carbon emissions originally appeared on AutoblogGreen on Tue, 03 Jun 2008 09:21:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

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