We Obsessively Cover the Green Scene…

The new firmware update for the Tesla Model S has arrived, bringing with it a few changes to how the all-electric car operates. The new features we find listed include the ability to connect to WiFi networks and to tether, a Tow Mode (for when the car is being towed, not to tow something using your fancy EV), a Screen Cleaning Mode and the ability to control the radio presets via steering wheel controls. There are also enhancements to the maps, driver profiles and "improved creep performance."

But perhaps the biggest news that the latest over-the-air update brings is what Tesla calls "Improved Power Management When Not In Use," or, as some know it, sleep mode. If this is anything like previous sleep mode updates in the Model S, the range should increase some. At the very least, we know some features of the car (Bluetooth, 3G) will take a bit longer to start up than they did before. There's an interesting "feature" to the maps change, too. Tesla admits that, "Note that the map labels will not adjust as the map rotates so they will be upside down when you are driving south."

Firmware 5.0 already has a bug tracker and you can see screen shots (some blurry) of the software on Flickr thanks to a Model S owner in Texas who discovered his new car came with the updated code installed.

Not to be outdone by Lexus and its new LF-CC racecar, Honda is also bringing a little more excitement to the Japanese Super GT racing series with its NSX Concept-GT. Yes, just like the original NSX, this racecar will wear the Honda badge in its home market when it replaces the current offering in that series, the non-production HSV-010 GT, which itself replaced the NSX in the series back in 2010.

Looking exactly how we'd imagine a race-prepped 2015 Acura NSX to look, this racer is mean and sexy at the same time, and it will be powered by a racing hybrid system with a turbocharged four-cylinder mounted behind the driver. No word on power output, but it will compete in the GT500 class, which restricts power output to 500 horsepower. Unlike the Lexus racecar, the Honda NSX Concept-GT will being competing this season starting with this weekend's race at the Suzuka Circuit before running the full 10-race 2014 season. Scroll down for the short press release.

Volvo is introducing a new engine family based on its new Drive-E philosophy, which encompasses "all innovations made to reduce the impact on the environment," the automaker says. Less cylinders allows for less environmental impact, so the new engines are all four-pots. They also were designed to pair easily with Volvo's upcoming hybrid drive system, which "will reach power figures in the V8 territory" and play a "dominant part of the top end of [Volvo's] range," says Derek Crabb, Vice President Powertrain Engineering. Volvo also says we can expect "power curves that give exciting drivability compared with engines with more cylinders."

Volvo says some versions of the engine were designed targeting best-in-class fuel economy. There are both gasoline and diesel options, but the latter of which isn't scheduled for US consumption. Instead, the US will be offered two states of tune of the gasoline Drive-E engine for front-wheel-drive vehicles. Some of Volvo's current all-wheel-drive powertrains will remain available in the US until the company has transitioned solely to the new, fuel-efficient inline-fours.

The two levels of tune to be offered are T6 and T5. The T6 is turbocharged and supercharged with 302 horsepower and 295 pound-feet of torque. The T5 is turbocharged only and has 240 hp and 258 lb-ft. They're between 13 percent and 26 percent more efficient than Volvo's current offerings, and they're smaller and lighter as well. Volvo says that a high-performance Drive-E engine is lighter "by nearly 100 pounds," but doesn't specify what it is being compared to. Drive-E engines will be paired with a new eight-speed automatic transmission, have friction reduction measures (we like the fully electric and variable-speed water pump) and feature stop-start and brake regeneration technologies.

The inline-fours are part of a $11 billion, multi-year investment by Volvo that includes engine development, Scalable Product Architecture and infrastructure and facility upgrades aimed at keeping the automaker technologically independent. Take a look at the press release below for more detailed information on the new engine family.

Chevrolet is playing the electric vehicle price competition game with a twist. The company not only says you will save $9,000 in fuel costs over five years if you buy a 2014 Chevrolet Spark EV, but you'll be able to use all that money to buy some really cool stuff!

The Spark EV gets a combined city/highway equivalent of 119 MPGe on its 82 miles per charge range. Compared to average new vehicle, the fuel savings could mean $150 per month in saving over five years, according to the automaker.

The Chevrolet press release teases car shoppers with a few creative ideas on how to spend that $9,000. As for perks to consider, how about 6,425 Starbucks tall-size coffees of the day, airfare for a trip around the world or six pairs of Google Glasses? There's more in the press release below, along with an infographic of cartoony ways you can spend money. The MSRP for the Spark EV is $26,685 MSRP (before the federal tax incentive), and is being sold now in California and Oregon. Later on, it rolls out to Canada, South Korea and Europe. Of course, the gas-powered Spark starts at $12,185.

Following the death of the Routan minivan, Volkswagen is in desperate need of a three-row family hauler, and our best guess is that void will be filled by a production version of the Cross Blue Concept (shown above) we saw earlier in the year at the Detroit Auto Show. Unfortunately, it sounds like a decision has still yet to be on a Cross Blue-based crossover.

According to TheDetroitBureau.com, the decision might have to wait until beyond the first quarter of next year, and the delay is two-fold. First, VW is still "fine-tuning" the business case decision for the vehicle, which seems like it would be a no-brainer considering the abundance and popularity of three-row CUVs in the US. More importantly, there is still the question of where to build this new model. TDB says that it would be built at VW's facility in Chattanooga, TN, but VW's Mexico plant was also mentioned in the article.

Detroit's bankruptcy is still a fresh wound, and it's slowly but surely becoming infected as people start looking for something – anything – to sell to pay the city's debts. While the sale of the Detroit Institute of Art's collection of paintings has been well publicized for those of us that live in the area, another collection is under threat due to the city's lack of funds.

Automotive News reports on the state of the Detroit Historical Museum's car collection - a 65-vehicle fleet that includes a 1924 Hupmobile Roadster and a rare, pre-production 1963 Ford Mustang (yes, a 1963 Mustang).

The story goes beyond recounting the state of the Historical Museum (not to mention the genuinely world class DIA). It looks at why the car, the very thing that the DHM is seeking to protect, contributed to the collapse that the city is going through at this moment. Click through for the full story from Automotive News on the case for the car dooming Detroit.

There's been a subtle, but increasing, push towards cars that run on compressed natural gas over the years. Honda has been the largest proponent, offering its first CNG-powered Civic GX in 1998. And while the take rate has been slow, it's been enough that the Japanese manufacturer has continued production and sales to non-fleet customers.

Now, Volkswagen is getting into the game with its TGI engine technology. As Automotive News points out, VW was largely responsible for the diesel revolution of the early 1990s, thanks to its direct-injection turbodiesels. Now, its eye is turned towards CNG, with a bi-fuel Golf that's capable of covering 420 kilometers (260 miles) on CNG and a further 940 klicks (584 miles) on gasoline.

The appeal of CNG is that it produces less CO2 relative to petrol or diesel, with some estimates claiming its emissions are 25-percent cleaner. The other bonus is that CNG cars require less investment to net those CO2 improvements than ultra-efficient hybrids and plug-in vehicles. Then there's the issue of peak natural gas. While peak oil remains a talking point, AN spoke to a top scientist for Shell, Wolfgang Warnecke, who said, "The global resources [for natural gas] are enough for at least 250 years."

These factors are a large part of VW's push to lower its fleet CO2 levels to just 95 grams per kilometer by the end of the decade. As part of that, there are plans to offer TGI technology in every model, with the Golf TGI already at dealers. A five-door wagon will follow that model, with sales due to start in the fall. Finally, once VW's new modular transverse architecture comes online, both the Passat and Polo will get the switch to CNG.

What do you think of VW's push into natural gas? Have you driven a vehicle powered by natural gas? Let us know in the comments.

As we noted earlier this week, electric vehicle charger company Ecotality, Inc., may be joining a club – companies serving the EV business filing for bankruptcy or considering doing so.

To repeat, the US Department of Energy has put Ecotality's request for more stimulus payments on hold after the charger company admitted that it's having trouble getting financing and may have to declare bankruptcy. Ecotality fessed up to its problems in its latest Securities and Exchange Commission 8-K filing. Ecotality is exploring options including restructuring or sale, but may be forced to file for bankruptcy, the company said in its SEC filing.

Ecotality has counted on DOE funds for its growth. The company has received more than $100 million in federal funds, $99.8 million of which has gone into the construction of EV charging stations primarily through the DOE-sponsored EV Project. 12,000 of the company's chargers may need to be recalled, too.

The federal funds were squeezed in 2011 when the Securities and Exchange Commission investigated Ecotality for insider trading. Ecotality had also been under investigation by the US Department of Labor for possible violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act and the Davis-Bacon Act. However, the charging company continued receiving federal funds until recently.

Last week, the DOE announced it was suspending EV Project payments while it investigates the situation and that it comes from Ecotality's inability to secure financing. Ecotality said that it hired restructuring firm FTI Consulting to help find financiers. Ecotality joins the ranks of other companies like Fisker Automotive and formerly-named A123 Systems in surviving the challenges of DOE-backed companies breaking in to the alternative energy marketplace.

As some readers noted, there is a meme growing that all electric vehicle companies fail, especially those that get government money. Granted, there are many troubled plug-in-vehicle-related companies, but some are successful. And if it's just failure we're interested in, then there are plenty of gasoline and automotive companies that are no longer in business, even when they got government subsidies. That's not really news, but it's worth repeating.

It may be small, but the 2013 Smart Fortwo ED recently managed to score four stars overall in new National Highway Traffic Safety Association tests. That score includes four stars in the Frontal Barrier Crash, four in the Rollover test and five in the Side Barrier test, showing that Daimler's Tridion Safety Cell technology manages to get top results, at least some of the time.

The NHTSA first tested the gas-powered Fortwo when it came to the US in 2008. The agency's tests were different then, but in some of them, the car got just three stars. It's not a direct comparison, but the ED did better overall, scoring lower than four stars in just one category, the Side Pole test. You can watch three videos of the crash tests below.

The Smart ED is now available for the low, low price of $139 a month if you lease. That price includes the Battery Assurance Plus plan, which guarantees that your new battery-powered car will not suffer capacity loss and also includes free annual battery maintenance.

We were not the only ones to have trouble reaching 47 miles per gallon in the 2013 Ford C-Max Hybrid. A lot of people did, and complained about it. Ford heard those messages, and today officially announced it is lowering the official EPA mpg number for the car from 47 across the board to 43 mpg combined, 45 in the city and 40 on the highway.

To make it up to C-Max buyers, Ford will issue rebates. The amount isn't much – $550 to buyers, $325 to lessees – but it is better than nothing. In a conference call with reporters, Ford's Raj Nair, group vice president for global product development, said he did not know the total amount the rebate would cost Ford, but that 32,000 C-Max Hybrids have been sold, so that means the number paid out to customers will be somewhere between $10.4 and $17.6 million.

The reason that the C-Max got such a high, inaccurate number is because of something called the general label rule. Nair said:

These general label rules date back to the 1970s and they were created by the EPA to provide a means to generate fuel economy labels without having to test every single vehicle in the industry, which would have been impractical. The rules work like this: automakers generate a fuel economy label for a family of vehicles that share common characteristics, such as the engine and transmission and weight class. Tests of the projected highest sales configuration within that family, as specified by the EPA rules, are used to generate the general label.

The general label rules are a standard means of generating a fuel economy label and they are the source of most mpg label stickers on the road today. So, we used the general label rules to generate the fuel economy label for the C-Max Hybrid. The label was initially based on testing of the Fusion Hybrid, which was the highest volume vehicle as defined by the rules. This is why the C-Max's 47 miles per gallon label was the same as the Fusion Hybrid's 47 mpg label.

Given that the real-world results for the C-Max are so much lower, Ford decided to take another look at it and, voila, 43 mpg. So far as we can tell, no changes will be made to the 47-mpg rating of the Fusion Hybrid. Official press releases from Ford and the EPA are available below.

Talk to utility grid operators and, for the most part, they will tell you that electric vehicles pose little-to-no threat to the electric grid in the US. Except, sometimes, EVs can make the power go out. Not from the simple act of plugging in and charging, but from a more traditional danger: crashing. Someone alert Stephen Colbert and the Threatdown.

A Tesla Model S recently crashed into a utility pole in Murfreesboro, TN, and managed to black out local power for a few hours. The driver was taken to the hospital but there are no reports of injuries.

We know, this is a thin story, but the irony caught our eye. What's more interesting is seeing how EVs, still new and pretty rare in some areas, are approached in an accident situation. On that front, local radio station WGNS says utility workers knew how to fix the downed wires, but emergency personnel were slightly slowed by the Model S. The first responders had to both check out the Tesla website and also contact the company directly:

Before police could release the electric vehicle to be loaded onto the flatbed wrecker, they had to secure information on how to turn off the Tesla Model S. Officials received technical instructions, and the all electric 4-door car was shut down.

Learn something new every day.

*UPDATE: WGNS now says driver is now charged with a DUI.

Aaaaaand that's that. After lawsuits and more lawsuits over the fuel economy rating for the 2013 Ford C-Max Hybrid, Ford will officially announce tomorrow that it will drop that rating. The company has tried software updates to try and get the C-Max Hybrid MPG level to where it was supposed to be, but has now admitted defeat in that fight in what Automotive News calls "a rare and potentially costly move." Ford is currently not making any statements on the issue but we should know a lot more tomorrow morning. For what it's worth, there isn't any specific mention of the Fusion Hybrid, but there's certainly a chance that car will also be down-rated.

The current rating for the car is 47 miles per gallon, across the board, something Ford was happily trumpeting over and over in the public space, comparing the car to the Prius V. Of course, we've heard complaints since at least October 2012 that 47 mpg is an unlikely number to hit from various sources. Also in 2012, Kia and Hyundai admitted it, too, had inflated MPG numbers. The companies said "honest mistakes" and "human error" during in-house testing caused those problems. We assume we'll hear some sort of reason for the C-Max's problem numbers from Ford tomorrow. The big question is: what will the new numbers be. Any guesses?

Let's start by stating that even the EPA admits that the US may have hit the blend wall, the point where we just can't use any more biofuel, despite laws that require biofuel producers to keep on making it. In fact, when the agency announced the 2013 level for the Renewable Fuel Standards – 16.55 billion gallons – it said that it may try to get the Clean Air Act changed so that biofuel producers in the US aren't making more than we can use. The biofuel level has consistently increased by around 1-2 billion gallons a year the last five years.

But now here comes Big Oil (represented by the American Fuel & Petrochemical Manufacturers and the American Petroleum Institute), ready to fight to reduce the trend. Instead of getting to 18.5 billion gallons in the 2014 (aka RFS2 standards, as will ge required, the oil industry is petitioning the EPA to instead set the level at just over 14.8 billion gallons. Ethanol Producer calls this a "significant" decrease. Big Oil says it's just smart, and that the lower level is "necessary to avoid the severe economic harm that will result from exceeding the 10 percent ethanol blendwall." The joint PR statement, available below, also says that higher concentrations of ethanol are "incompatible with today's engines, vehicles and the multi-billion dollar infrastructure in place throughout the nation." Thus, "The negative impacts of the RFS will be extreme and will undoubtedly hurt consumers."

They even put a number on that hurt. The two groups say if the "unrealistic requirements" of the RFS take effect, domestic fuel supplies will decrease and, "large increases in transportation fuel costs will ripple through the economy and impose significant costs on society. Unless the RFS volumes required by statute are waived, NERA predicts a $270 billion decline in GDP in 2014, which will grow to $770 billion in 2015."

"It is time that oil companies and special interests stop worrying about maintaining their monopolistic practices and allow competition and choice in the marketplace."

The biofuel industry point out that Big Oil is on thin ground here, saying that neither the AFPM or API have standing to petition the EPA, since the Clean Air Act, "clearly states that waiver must be filed by a state government or an obligated party to prompt EPA action. As trade organizations, neither the AFPM nor API fits that definition." Growth Energy CEO Tom Buis went further, telling Ethanol Producer, "It is time that oil companies and special interests stop worrying about maintaining their monopolistic practices and allow competition and choice in the marketplace. Not only should we provide consumers a choice and savings at the pump, we must stop putting our eggs in one basket when it comes to a national energy policy."

Ever since superstar engineer Gordon Murray left McLaren after years spent heading the company's motorsports efforts, designing the McLaren F1 supercar and, later, building the Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren supercar, he has been hard at work designing two novel city cars. The T.25, powered by a three-cylinder petrol engine, and the T.27, an electric vehicle, have been seen in prototype forms a handful of times over the past few years, but Murray has announced on his blog that his company, Gordon Murray Design, has sold the T.25/T.27 concept to an unnamed customer who will begin producing the cars in 2016.

Both city cars offer 1+2 seating, so the driver sits up front and center, and up to two passengers sit side-by-side in the back, similar to the McLaren F1. They only have one door, which swings up to allow the driver and passengers entry and egress. The gasoline-powered T.25 weighs a bit over 1,200 pounds, while the T.27 weighs in at 1,500 pounds due to its heavier electric drivetrain. Still, the T.25 and T.27 both weigh much less than the 1,800-pound Smart ForTwo.

The vehicles employ GMD's iStream assembly process, which means the tubular steel and composite chassis and all of its components are put together separate from the body, which is married to the chassis near the end of the assembly process. This process streamlines production, and the resulting car has performed well in crash testing.

GMD now has four contracts for iStream products, and two more projects not related to the new assembly process are also in the works, so the company recently hired 30 new staff members to facilitate its expansion. Murray notes in his blog that he can't yet mention who is involved with the contracts or who will build the T-series cars, but that we'll find out more soon.