Texas teenager Lucas Laborde will be driving to school in an all-electric car that he built all by himself. No, we are not kidding when we say that he will drive to school in it as the guy is still only 17 years old. While most teens would spend the summer away doing far more attractive and far less productive stuff, Lucas spent it converting his gas-guzzling old car into an all-electric vehicle with no emissions. So how many hundreds of thousands of dollars did he spend on it? Lucas just spent around $ 10,000 in making the revamp!

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Just as we were getting excited about the Tesla Roadster and its wonderful mix of form and function, we have another all-electric vehicle that is stealing the spotlight from the Roadster with some panache. Unveiled at the Paris Motor Show, The Venturi Volage is all about taking the all-electric car to a whole new plane and it does so with ease. The space-age looking Venturi uses Michelin’s Active Wheel technology, encasing two electric motors within its wheels. This gives the car a whole new dimension indeed.
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Everybody confronts a problem while choosing a car. Many questions pop up about which one to buy, mileage, efficiency, power and the list is endless. Out of the wide range of cars available, how would anyone decide which is the best? The latest fad that is in is a preference for hybrid cars. MINI Cooper Clubman is just one of them which costs $19k. Read the full story »

Design:
Venturi Eclectic is the first energy autonomous electric vehicle released as a concept at the 2006 Paris Motor Show. A newer and improved adaptation of it is out now. While the older version looked like a golf cart, the newer one is compact, costs less and is more aerodynamic. It is a 3-seater passenger urban car with a roof-mounted solar panel, a 300watt wind turbine, an electric motor and a special attraction- the optional doors. Its large front window gives a panoramic view to the passengers.

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The way crude oil prices are shooting up and the markets are shooting down across the planet, it seems only logical that companies like Chrysler are trying to go the ‘small electric car’ way. The Peapod has been around for long and many of its users feel that the little car is wonderful for green urban commuting. Chrysler have gone a step further and created the Peapod Gem. The new version of the Peapod has cool new features and the same old engine. While that is a bit of a damp deal, it still is a green step forward for a company known for making giant gas-guzzling vehicles.

GEM stands for “Green Eco Mobility” and this is Chrysler’s new promise when it comes to the new Peapod. The car has an integrated iPhone dock and flashy new interiors to go with the electric engine. Since the engine configurations remain unaltered, it will still have a range of around 35 miles and one full charge will give you exactly the same. The top speed of 25 mph is not really a thrilling deal, but as a daily urban commuter, an adventure is not your priority.

Chrysler’s new GEM is a cool new electric vehicle that might struggle with the better electric cars that are all set to roll out as competition. All that competition is pretty good new though for us who want to see emission-free roads one day.

Via:� igreenspot

With soaring crude oil prices it seems that more and more people are inevitably turning towards alternate fuel. This is more or less an expected phenomenon and the green products industry is cashing in on the trend big time. More gadgets and chargers are coming out each day which either use solar power or wind energy. With automobile industry embracing changes both rapidly and effectively, we are hopefully heading towards clean and emission-free roads.

Following that trend is the new Solar Battery Charger from Coleman. The Coleman Solar Battery Charger rests on the dashboard or any part of the car where it can harness solar energy and trickle charge into the battery. Just leave it where there’s visible light and let it do the trick on your hibernating vehicle. The Coleman Solar Battery Charger is currently priced at $29.95.

The best part of this is that you can just park your car and by the time you are ready to go back home from work, you have completely replenished battery! This truly is a wonderful little gadget that should get popular pretty fast.

Via Goodcleantech

With the kind of troubles Tata is having in its own country, right now relocating to Norway completely seems a better option for Tata! Not that they are going to do it, but the way much famed Nano is struggling to get past the political hurdles, it is wise indeed of Tata to try and expand its international market with a new green car. Tata intends to soon sell an ‘all-electric’ car exclusively in Norway and the car is rumored to be based on the design of the Indica V2, which is already in use and powered by fossil fuel.

Tata previously announced that they were looking for ways to electrify the Nano. And concurrent with the Indica announcement, they also brought forward plans to create another electric car, the Ace, but details were scant. The Indica is being developed by Tata and a Norwegian firm. The car will be sold solely in Norway first, but Tata has plans to sell it in India as well at some point of time.

The car though will have the already pretty common Lithium-Ion technology at its heart and promises close to a range of 200km and an 8 hour charge period. While this might not really shatter any existing electric car records, it is nice to see a clean new car for the tranquil environment of Norway. At the end of the day, every ounce of Carbon emissions saved is a boon to an ailing planet!

Via Fashionfunky / Cleantech

There is one thing about DIY and it is that they are pretty appealing when you look at the final product but are most often a lot more messy when you actually get down to do them. While we have come across many DIY projects and there are many car kits out there which actually give your chrome most likely a new chrome look, few compare to this one. This DIY car called XR3 Hybrid Vehicle is a two-passenger car that looks rather like a futuristic sports car.

The car is not just been build out of the blue but it has been a project and a commercial venture that was slated to hit the market almost a year back. This DIY car called XR3 Hybrid Vehicle is a two-passenger car that looks rather like a futuristic sports car. The futuristic XR3 Hybrid Vehicle though comes to you at a very heavy price of $ 28,000 and that is if you already have an existing car that is fit for getting redone!

The car though is propelled by an electric engine and is green with zero-emissions. The designer claims that the car is especially efficient, delivering a performance of 25 miles per gallon, because it’s lightweight at just 700kg, when not in the electric mode. The XR3 uses a lithium-ion battery pack that takes merely 1.5 hours for an 80 percent recharge. While there are many concept cars around that look cool this one is actually something that will hit the road on a pretty large commercial scale very soon and that makes it unique. Hopefully the XR3 will have takers.

Via Goodcleantech

The good aspect seen in relation to bad things like global warming, carbon emissions and climate change is the rapidly increasing awareness among both producers and consumers. Catching on with the popularity of hybrid, electric and other eco-friendly cars among the present day eco-savvy people is the latest trend of Eco-insurance. The latter was first started by a UK based insurance company CIS for those clients that purchase a hybrid car. The company offsets 20% of your car’s carbon dioxide emissions and gives discounts on insurance for low-emitting cars in case you are one of those who already have a hybrid car or are planning to buy one in near future. CIS also offers a CO2 tyre footprint calculator, which can be used to map the carbon footprint and efficiency of these hybrid cars. Also it has developed a recycling repair shop network to assist the long run sustainability models.

A couple of years ago, all this would have sounded rather weird but now, it’s not only a reality but also slowly acquiring the dimensions of a necessity! Today, many car insurance companies are actively developing eco-friendly policies to woo their green clientele. Most of them have now joined the Eco-insurance club. Another car insurance company

‘More Than’ is now, offering customers a “free carbon offsetting” for their first 3000 miles (in case the customers purchase the policy online!). Also, electric cars and hybrid vehicles are now being offered with up to 15% discount. Very interesting deal I must say! Just a piece of advice before you make up your mind to go for such green-insurance schemes- all these eco-friendly policies are competitively priced so do look carefully, at the premium payments and other conditions apply* sections.

Via ModernEcoHomes

The scene is going to change on roads in a couple of years. In 2011 one will see Pivo 2, a robot-assisted, electric car on the streets of Portugal. Nissan showcased the PIVO2 Electric Concept Car earlier this year at the Geneva Motor Show. The cute looking somewhat bubble shaped car in sparkling blue color was first introduced in the year at the 2007 Tokyo Motor Show and seen then, the company has refined the car design and its capabilities to its present day state. Now, with last week’s announcement it seems the car will finally be launched commercially in Portugal in 2.5 years time by Renault and Nissan. The country has agreed to pep up its efforts in installing up a large network of electric charging stations for the yet to be launched bug-like car.

Pivo 2 is a 3 seater with lithium-ion batteries that infuse power in this electric vehicle. The car is fully rechargeable off household current and possesses regenerative braking system. Its cozy-looking passenger cabin can rotate whole 360 degrees as also the wheels, which can turn a full 90 degrees to facilitate flexible maneuvering during parking.� Robot assisted Pivo2 can thus be sneezed in the tightest of all parking lot corners!

A single entry/exit door along with the rotating cabin allows the passengers to exit from the side of the vehicle. While what I love the most in Pivo 2 is its design, I’m amazed to learn that through a communicating robotic instructor the driver can control the car’s different functions. The robotic instructor uses voice and feature recognition technology to sense the driver’s mood! Now hold on guys before you become a green-eyed monster getting jealous over the luck of Portuguese people, Nissan wishes to sell electric cars globally by 2012. The company is embracing green technology and is thus launching an aggressive drive to produce and popularize electric vehicles amidst concerns of global warming and skyrocketing gas prizes. Well, I’m impressed. What about you?
And by the way, there’s another version of blue Pivo2. It’s a white one! Check it out here.

Via TreeHugger