We Obsessively Cover the Green Scene…

Here's some non-news: the Department of Energy Secretary, Steven Chu, supports plug-in vehicles. Want proof? Click here, here or here. Want to know how he can still get headlines? By saying that electric cars that offer twice the range of the Nissan Leaf (so, around 140 miles) while costing $25,000, "is a very real price that we can maybe achieve in a decade." Chu made the statement in a DOE workshop in Dearborn, MI last week.

Is Chu being too ambitious and positive here? Hard to know for sure, but he's been even further out there before. In 2011, he said, "To buy a car that will cost $20,000 to $25,000 without a subsidy where you can go 350 miles is our goal" possibly by 2017.

Chu also admitted in Dearborn that plug-in vehicles are too expensive today, calling out the Leaf for being $10,000 too much for many buyers. Plug In Cars reports that the tone of the speech "suggests that [Chu] believes that plug-in cars with relatively smaller batteries, and a back-up gas engine on board to extend range, might be a more feasible way to bring down costs." The West Coast Energy Secretary Tesla Motors' Elon Musk has other ideas.

Think of it this way: a teenager cruising in a convertible down Pacific Coast Highway will probably be pretty big on smooth roads.

That's sort of the gist of a survey from the Mineta National Transit Research Consortium, which polled more than 1,500 people on their attitudes toward taxation, specifically as it relates to road improvements (get it here).

The 104-page study revealed that, in general, respondents from the West were the most supportive of taxes, while those from the Northeast were the least supportive. Additionally, those in the younger age group (here, 18-to-24-years-old) were the most in favor of either gas, sales or mileage taxes, while the 55-plus group was the least supportive.

What do they want the extra funds to be used for? 58 percent said they'd support a 10-cents-a-gallon tax increase if the money was used specifically for road maintenance, while just 20 percent supported such a tax for general transportation purposes. Additionally, a half-cent sales tax was more than twice as popular as either a 1 cent-per-mile mileage tax or a 10-cent-a-gallon gas tax.

We've heard initial reviews of the Tesla Model S from the media as the "Get Amped" tour – a multi-city test-drive opportunity for reservation holders – kicked off at the company's Fremont, CA factory. But what about the people who really matter? You know, the folks who've been waiting for as long as two years, having plunked down as much as $40,000 for a place in line. What did they think of the shiny new machines?

After reading many first-person accounts and watching a good number of in-car videos, we think it's fair to say they absolutely love it. The sexy fastback looks, the smooth, rocket-like acceleration, the comfortable ride, and confident handling. Love, love, love, and love!

But don't take our word for it. Scroll down for a handful of videos, starting with a relatively short one from Tesla Motors featuring footage from the official launch and customer test-drive reactions (the last in the Tesla Tuesday series), followed by full length (12-13 minutes) clips from individuals.

That didn't last long. In December, the word was that General Motors and BMW would pair up on fuel cell powerplants. Today, it looks like those talks are over and done with. As BMW spokesman Alexander Bilgeri told Bloomberg, "We are still talking to GM, but no longer on the topic of fuel cells."

It sounds like this change is a consequence of the soon-to-be official partnership between BMW and Toyota for "joint projects in hybrid technology, fuel cells, vehicle electronics" and lightweight technology, according to Der Spiegel. BMW and Toyota argeed – also last December – to collaborate on new green technologies. Given the expense of researching and developing better engines, we're not surprised that these sorts of team-ups get talked about ... and then sometimes fall through.

We should get more information on the BMW/Toyota deal after the two companies hold a joint press conference Thursday, June 29.

When a Chevrolet Volt undergoing crash testing caught fire in a delayed fashion last year, the airwaves filled up with (incorrect) reports of how dangerous battery-powered vehicles are. Now, fears of a "catastrophic" explosion involving another gasoline alternative, hydrogen, are putting plans for a new, $3-million refueling station project at San Francisco airport on hold.

Airport director John Martin wrote a report to airport commissioners in which he advocated cancelling the project. Specifically, he wrote: "A hydrogen explosion in close proximity to active runways and a highway could be catastrophic and result in significant loss of life. ... These risk factors portend an incompatibility for a hydrogen fuel station near active runways and major roadways." Well, yeah.

It's good to be careful, but an hydrogen re-fueling station explosion like this hasn't happened. Also, remember that, in a June 2010 report from the National Fire Protection Association (PDF), "In 2003-2007, U.S. fire departments responded to an average of 287,000 vehicle fires per year," and we're pretty sure airplanes burn fuel. Still, the region does have some experience with explosive hydrogen. Earlier this year, in Emeryville, a hydrogen fuel tank at a bus yard leaked and caused a small fire, forcing evacuations.

SFO will likely stop plans for the H2 station since Linde, which was supposed to build the station, "rejected airport officials' demand to accept full legal responsibility for any mishaps on the wedge-shaped site near Millbrae Avenue," writes the Mercury News.

When Nissan wants to set a speed record, you'd expect it to use the GT-R to get there. Or maybe one of its myriad racing cars – it does, after all, power the bulk of the LMP2 racers on the grid at Le Mans, not to mention the experimental DeltaWing. But the Leaf? Sure, maybe for emissions-free motoring, but not for speed.

Yet it's the Leaf in which Nissan will attempt to set a new Guinness World Record at the upcoming Goodwood Festival of Speed. And not the Nismo RC version, either, though that will be on hand for the festival as well. No, Nissan will attempt a world record in a bone-stock electric Leaf... in reverse.

Because EVs like the Leaf power their wheels directly from their electric motors, they should – in theory at least – be able to drive just as fast in reverse as they do moving forward. To test that theory, Nissan is bringing the Leaf to Goodwood where its stunt driver Terry Grant (the same guy who drove a Juke on two wheels up the hill at the event last year) will attempt to drive the entire course backwards.

In the process, Nissan hopes that Grant and the Leaf will set a new record for the fastest time over a distance of one mile in reverse. And considering the twist, turns, peaks and dips of the Goodwood circuit, that likely won't prove too easy. But we sure look forward to seeing how it turns out – if it works this time. Nissan tried to do the backwards stunt last year, but was denied for being too risky. Read more in the press release below.

Big Sky, bigger news.

Idaho and Montana could provide an additional supply for the rare earth metals that are required for electric-vehicle motors, mineral exploration company U.S. Rare Earths Inc. said.

Some rock samples yielded rare earth percentages of as high as 26 percent in Idaho's North Fork region, said the company, which owns claims to more than 16,000 acres of exploration land in the Rocky Mountain states. Exactly what that means is unclear, as the company didn't disclose further details on the amount of rare earths found or the time frame on making them useful for electric-motor production.

Still, the news gives hope to U.S. business proponents because about 90 percent of the world's rare earth metals production is controlled by China. In fact, in March, President Barack Obama said he would go through the World Trade Organization to address what he said was China's limitation on rare earth exports in order to make it easier for U.S. manufacturers to make electric motors.

With supply likely to remain constrained in the near term, Honda said in April it would try to recycle rare earth metals from the nickel-hydride batteries in its hybrids. Also, earlier this year, Toyota said it was developing a way to make electric-drive powertrains without using magnets that require pricey rare-earth metals.

Stay tuned...

Twenty years ago, Car and Drive wrote about "the emergence of the minivan as the new family car." If you believe Elon Musk, twenty years from now will be a lot more fun.

Flush with the success of the first production Model S deliveries, the Tesla Motors founder said most new vehicles will be battery-electric by 2032, and that the age of EV majority rule could come sooner than that, Reuters reports. Specifically, he said, "In 20 years more than half of new cars manufactured will be fully electric."

Musk, whose company plans to deliver 5,000 of the Model S battery-electric sedans this year, said in a press conference that he feels "quite safe in that bet," according to the wire service. Earlier this month, Musk forecast Tesla vehicle sales of 20,000 units for next year. The Model S base model starts at about $57,000, or about $50,000 less than the base price of the Tesla Roadster convertible that debuted in 2008. Venture-capital executive and Tesla investor Steve Jurvetson received the first production Model S, while Musk received the second, Reuters said. Nissan, which introduced its battery-electric Leaf to the U.S. in late 2010, has estimated that as many as 10 percent of new cars will be battery electric by 2020.

Meanwhile, speaking to BusinessWeek, Musk said that the advance of the electric vehicles will continue no matter who's in the White House. "Romney [winning] would have a minor impact. There's such momentum behind electric vehicles, and Model S is going to ensure that that happens."

Last week, the EPA give the Model S a miles-per-gallon-equivalent rating of 89, putting it 29 MPGe behind the Honda Fit EV – which has the highest rating among all U.S. cars – and 10 MPGe behind the Leaf. Tesla has estimated the single-charge range of the Model S to be 265 miles, which would be the longest of any production EV.

Here's an interesting way to look at hydrogen fuel cell vehicles, courtesy of the California Fuel Cell Partnership. In a new blog update, the CaFCP says, "Nothing like a little exhaust from a fuel cell electric vehicle ... water so clean you can drink it."

Well, that's the picture text, any, the blog post says that this isn't really the case. After all, "It's clean, distilled water, but it will have traces of the catalyst. Plus, the tailpipe is a little dirty." Then there's this:

A fuel cell doesn't produce enough water to fill you glass. When we drink tailpipe water for a camera, like Ben is doing in the picture, it's not more than a few drops. If fact, fuel cells produce about the same amount of water as gasoline vehicle – about 1/3 cup for a full day of driving.

Not much there we didn't know already, and we've seen similar demonstrations before (see video below, starting at min. 5), but it's still interesting, no?

This Tesla-Fisker tit-for-tat thing could get fun.

Last week, Fisker launched its first national advertising campaign for its extended-range plug-in luxury sedans in the form of a multi-page ad in the Wall Street Journal on the same day Tesla unveiled its all-electric Model S, Hybrid Cars reports.

Fisker, which has generated more than $100 million in revenue through sales of its Karma sedan, included a statement in the ad from company founder Henrik Fisker that noted that the automaker's path "wouldn't be easy" and that the company "set out to redefine and reshape how the world thinks about cars."

Additionally, the California-based company said it widened its European distribution network after granting Guanieri, which operates BMW, Ferrari and Porsche dealers in Spain, exclusive rights to import the Karma to Spain, Portugal and Morocco. Fisker is also opening an Oslo showroom in an old shipyard and added that, in the Netherlands, the Karma has outsold the Audi A8, Mercedes S-Class and BMW 7-Series through the first four months of the year.

As for the U.S., the production date for the less-expensive Fisker Atlantic has been delayed in part because the U.S. Department of Energy froze most of the $529 million in loans earmarked for Fisker. Fisker first showed off the Atlantic at the New York Auto Show in April.

Price an electric vehicle right, and they'll beat a path to your door.

That statement was proved in spades by Citroen last week when the French automaker made 200 C-Zero battery-electric vehicles available for 23-month, 20,000 kilometers (about 12,500 miles) leases for the low, low price of 90 euros a month ($112 U.S. at today's exchange rates). The 200 EVs in the program were all gone in 24 hours, reports Technologic Vehicles.

There's a catch, of course. Citroen, along with partner Zilok Auto, runs the car-sharing service Multicity. As best as our French language skills and reading of the unclear English on Technologic Vehicles can make out, in order to lease the vehicle for just 90 euros a month, you have to register your EV with Multicity. Then, each time someone rents your car, you get 40 percent of the amount they pay, and Citroen and Zilok Auto split the rest. Technologic doesn't cite any sources, but says that "Citroen recommend a price of 30 € / day." That seems out of whack with the monthly cost of 90 euros, doesn't it?

In any case, last year, Citroën added the C-Zero to the vehicle rental service and Multicity itself was started in 2011. The C-Zero is the sister vehicle to the Mitsubishi i, which was rated by the EPA to go about 62 miles on a single charge. That model, which debuted as the i-MiEV in Japan in 2009, started sales in the U.S. in late 2011 with a base price of $29,125. Through the first five months of the year, Mitsubishi has sold 300 i vehicles in the U.S., including a monthly-record 85 last month.

Given that the 2013 Avalon shares a platform with the new Lexus ES, this news should come as no surprise: Toyota's largest sedan is getting its own hybrid variant for the first time ever. Judging by these first photos, carspotters will have to squint hard to tell that they're looking at a hybrid, as there are only a few small badges and blue-tinted lenses as a tip-off to this vehicle's gas-electric motivation.

As with its luxury-minded sibling, the Avalon Hybrid will arrive under the spell of a 2.5-liter Atkinson-cycle four paired with a duo of electric motors juiced by a nickel-metal hydride battery pack. Total system power is stated at 200 horsepower, but the meatier number is an EPA fuel economy rating of 40 miles per gallon city and 39 highway.

Also like its Lexus relation, Toyota is touting a trio of operation modes that includes pure EV (only good for one mile at speeds up to 25 mph), Eco, and Sport, the latter of which tweaks both steering weight and throttle response.

Toyota hasn't released any dynamic performance figures or pricing information, but the new Avalon Hybrid will be in dealers this fall, where it will square off against the Buick LaCrosse eAssist and soon-to-be-replaced Lincoln MKZ Hybrid.

Electric vehicle fans the world over can get a kick out of Gísli Gíslason, a leader in Iceland's push to take the bountiful renewable energy that country produces and stuff it into as many EVs as possible. When he was recently pulled over for speeding in his white Tesla Roadster for going 124 kilometers per hour (77 miles per hour) – the first time an EV has been pulled over in Iceland – he told local media that, "I forgot myself in good weather," and encouraged other drivers to be careful. He also recognized the incident as something bigger than one man's lead foot, telling AutoblogGreen it was, "A great marketing stunt."

The charismatic Gislason, CEO of Northern Lights Energy, is even more excited about a bigger piece of news, though – he calls it "the hottest news in Iceland" – which is that the bill to reduce the high "value added tax" (VAT) rate on electric vehicles has passed. He shared the news that at 22:15 on the last day that the Parliament was in session before summer vacation, the bill was accepted. As we reported earlier, this bill does completely remove the VAT (currently set at 25.5 percent for vehicles, which Gislason calls "the highest in the world"), just on the first $45,000 of the price of EVs. Thus, electric vehicles like the Nissan Leaf and other smaller cars will be VAT free. The NLE staff, which is working to import and sell EVs in Iceland, celebrated with champagne and, as Gislason put it, "Let the games begin."

Toyota has already made it abundantly clear the company intends to scale back production in Japan in an attempt to combat the ever-strengthening Yen, and now it looks as if we know one of the ways the automaker plans to do so. Toyota has announced it will manufacture U.S. and Canadian-spec Yaris models in its Onnaing-Valenciennes facility in France. The plant has been producing the Yaris hatchback for European buyers since 2001, though this marks the first time in Toyota history that the automaker has built a vehicle in Europe and imported the model to the States.

North American-spec Yaris models differ slightly from their European counterparts. In addition to using different fascia designs front and rear, the NA model comes available with an automatic transmission and a market-specific 1.5-liter four-cylinder engine. There is some differentiation in safety equipment between the two models as well.

Japanese automakers have recently revealed that building cars in Japan and exporting them around the globe is quickly becoming a money-losing proposition. Honda has made it clear the company is seeking alternatives to producing models like the Fit and CR-Z in Japan due to the high costs associated with exporting the vehicles.