We Obsessively Cover the Green Scene…

It's a dang shame that the Pontiac Firebird used in the 1980s TV show "Knight Rider" wasn't electric. Otherwise, that creepy voice would've had a lot more to tell the Hasslehoff.

Plug-in vehicle makers like Nissan, Ford and Tesla are equipping their car with top-of-the-line data-collection technology in addition to their advanced electric-drive powertrain systems, the BBC reports. Vehicle makers are using sensors, wireless connections and GPS systems to track everything from charging patterns to driving habits and trip information to air-conditioning and heating use. As Ford's Mike Tinskey told the BBC, "We actually have data now. We know our customer better than we've ever known them before because of these telematics."

Automakers are using the data to better track and share how drivers use the relatively nascent plug-in technology. For instance, Ford says its plug-in drivers typically take four trips a day (three of them all-electric) with the average distance at about 13 miles. Nissan Leaf drivers travel about 35 miles a day. And Tesla has used its data as a "gotcha," disputing claims from a reporter from The New York Times earlier this year after he said he ran out of electric juice in his Model S and had to get the car towed.

So, you can't lie about your driving habits to the folks who made the car, but you can read more details over on the BBC.

First off, before we go any further, the Nissan crossover sold outside of the US that's nearly impossible to spell correctly is pronounced "KASH-kye." Now that we've gotten that out of the way, it looks like Nissan is considering making a battery-electric version of the Qashqai for the European market. So says, UK's Autocar, citing Guillaume Cartier, Nissan's head of European sales and marketing.

Cartier says the Japanese automaker won't consider an electric-drive version of the model "for now," implying that there may be one in the future for Europe. He added that economies of scale are driving battery-electric powertrain production costs down, so Nissan is likely to expand the battery-electric option well beyond models such as the Leaf. Nissan started making the Qashqai in 2007, with a second-generation version debuting three years later. The model is available in both five-seat and seven-seat options and is most similar, in size, to the Nissan Rogue.

Earlier this year, UK-based Severnvalley Motorsport started working on a project that involved equipping a retrofitted Qashqai with the Nissan GT-R drivetrain to provide up to 1,000 horsepower, which sounds like fun. Here's guessing the EV version would have somewhat less juice than that.

When it comes to predicting plug-in vehicle sales during their early years of market availability and how they compare with the early hybrids a decade ago, the forecast calls for...fog. Analysts pointing to higher-at-this-stage-of-the-game sales for plug-ins may be overly optimistic about plug-in sales because of different market conditions and product availability, Plug In Cars says.

The good news is that Americans may buy about 90,000 plug-ins this year, compared to about 35,000 hybrids bought in 2002 (2002 and 2013 represent Year Four of widespread availability for hybrids and plug-ins, respectively). That said, the only two hybrids available in 2002 were the first-generation Toyota Prius and the original two-seater Honda Insight, and neither of those models generated either the level of public buzz or marketing dollars that the Nissan Leaf, Tesla Model S and Chevrolet Volt have. Hybrid sales, which now account for about four percent of total vehicle sales, didn't gain momentum until the release of the 2004 Prius, a time when gas prices started spiking.

Regardless, plug-in proponents can revel in the fact that US plug-in sales through September were up 90 percent from a year earlier, and more plug-in models are on the way.

Aston Martin will not be joining the performance hybrid club currently being championed by the likes of Ferrari, Porsche and McLaren. As evidence, Dr. Ulrich Bez, CEO of Aston Martin, has made some very pointed remarks about the supercar segment's move to hybridization, telling Australia's Drive, "We will not have a hybrid in next year or year after." Instead, the British brand will focus on aerodynamics, engine efficiency and reducing curb weight, all in a bid to boost performance without adding the cost or complexity of hybrid systems. But the strategy extends beyond those simple reasons, with Dr. Bez citing philosophical and practical issues with hybridization.

"I am a purist and I think a sports car should have as low weight as possible. It should be in as minimalistic as it can be and this does not work with hybridization," Bez tells the Australian website. As for his practical oppositions, Bez added, "I think it is great technology, but if you think about the biggest failures in cars these days it is electrical failures. And what we do is make more electrical systems and we believe it will be much better." The outspoken CEO finished by saying, "I think a pure sports car does not need this."

For the future of Aston Martin, Dr. Bez reiterated his support for its twelve-cylinder heritage, saying, "I do believe [the V12] is very dear to us." He adds, "If it comes to a luxury car with emotion, a V12 has something special. This will still be there within the next five to 10 years, but it does not mean it will be six liters - it can be five liters or a smaller one. It will improve with power and fuel consumption."

Dr. Bez's views are interesting, notably because Astons are generally underpowered relative to their competition - the Vanquish has 565 horsepower to the 740-horsepower Ferrari F12 and the Rapide S is outgunned by far more affordable competitors from BMW, Mercedes-Benz and Porsche. Not to be cynical, but we're guessing Bez's position is as much rooted in philosophy as it is in financial reality – Aston isn't exactly flush with cash these days, and developing a hybrid powertrain system sounds significantly costlier than sticking to its knitting. The question is, will the strategy work over the long haul? Have your say in Comments.

Norway is Europe's undisputed electric vehicle leader. It is also Europe's largest oil producer. The way these two facts intertwine is what The Globe And Mail calls "ironisk," the Norwegian word for, well, you can probably guess.

That irony has some interesting highlights. The Tesla Model S was the best-selling car in Norway last month. Meanwhile, in the 70 oil fields in the waters around the Northern European country are producing two million barrels of oil per day (2011 data). Norway exports a lot of oil and puts the money into something called the Government Pension Fund, which is now worth more than $725 billion US. Some of that money is "recycled," as it were, into government subsidies for electric vehicles. Or, as The Globe And Mail puts it, "Norway's present and future rest solely on everyone else in the world not buying Tesla Model S cars or electric vehicles of any sort."

It's not that dramatic, we don't think, but Norway's shunning of and reliance on the oil industry is a story worth investigating. Especially since the EV subsidies are much bigger there than most other places. Reuters said back in March that the total incentives (purchase subsidies, road toll exemptions, free parking, etc.) for EVs can total up to $8,200 per car, per year. We can only imagine what the sales numbers would be in the US if the American's offered something similar.

Fisker, which made the $100,000+ Karma plug-in hybrid until it shuttered its plant 15 months ago, is said to finally have a buyer in an investment group led by Richard Li, one of Hong Kong's richest men. That's according to a new Reuters report, which notes that the the deal remains private since the sale hasn't been finalized finalized.

The US Department of Energy held an auction to sell the automaker's green-energy loan last Friday and reportedly picked Li's group, and now the two parties are working through the final details of the sale. Fisker owes the DOE $168 million and doesn't have the money to pay it off, with the auction planned as part of a last-ditch effort by the DOE after "exhausting any realistic possibility" to recoup the automaker's outstanding balance. A bankruptcy filing was deemed to be a less-attractive option that would wipe out equity investors, Reuters reports. Pending the sale, Li, who was an early investor in Fisker, will be able to restructure the company without being hindered by DOE loan obligations.

A bid of $30 million was required to enter the auction, which surpasses German investment group Fritz Nols AG's offer of $25 million almost two months ago. The DOE reportedly also required bidders to agree to a plan to promote the manufacture and engineering of green cars in the US. Li's group beat Fritz Nols AG and another investment group that included Chinese parts supplier Wanxiang and former General Motors CEO Bob Lutz.

Fisker won a $529 million loan from the DOE in 2009, and had withdrawn $192 million before the DOE halted loan payments citing delays in Karma production. Fisker laid off 75 percent of its employees in April.

Remember when we reported the long-lost-but-found-again Lotus Esprit submarine used in the James Bond film The Spy Who Loved Me had sold at auction in London for $966,560 (well, $863,000 plus a 12-percent buyer's premium)? At the time, the buyer's identity remained a mystery, but Jalopnik has reported and confirmed that the man with money to burn is none other than billionaire Elon Musk, CEO of both Tesla Motors and SpaceX. What's even more shocking (maybe not for Musk) is that he wants to install a Tesla electric powertrain in it and make it transform into a road-going car.

The story of the submersible Lotus' journey from movie star to prized possession of the eccentric Musk is remarkable. After filming ended in the '70s, the car was shipped to Long Island, NY and placed in a storage container that was paid in advance by the studio for 10 years. After the money ran out, the contents of the container were sold off Storage Wars-style in 1989 and won by an area couple. It was shown in public on occasion throughout the years, but its value remained a mystery until the gavel fell in London last month. While far from the most valuable Bond car to be auctioned off (that honor goes to the Aston Martin DB5 used in Goldfinger and Thunderball, which sold for $4.6 million at auction in 2010), the Lotus submarine is definitely the most unique.

Also worth noting is that the Lotus sub is more than just a prop. Without the aid of CGI, the film's producers needed an actual submarine that looked like a Lotus Esprit, and so they hired a company called Perry Oceanographic in Florida to build it and hired former US Navy Seal Don Griffin to pilot the sub during the film.

"By 2070, the passenger road market could be nearly oil-free." That's the key line (for us, anyway) in a report out from Shell titled New Lens Scenarios. The oil giant is trying to understand the future (who isn't?) and to do that, it envisioned two possible futures, one called "Mountains" and the other "Oceans."

The two scenarios have some things in common: the idea of a world population at nine billion by 2050, increased prosperity and global energy demand. Given those situations, what's the world going to come to? No one knows for sure, but here are Shell's guesses, in short:

"Mountains" implies "a strong role for government" that is not afraid to implement "far-reaching policy measures." These measures mean that cities will develop in more compact ways and "new policies unlock plentiful natural gas resources – making it the largest global energy source by the 2030s – and accelerate carbon capture and storage technology, supporting a cleaner energy system." That sounds like it has some potential, but the problem is that, "nevertheless, the global average temperature rise overshoots the current 2°C goal."

"Oceans," on the other hand takes place in "a more prosperous and volatile world." This is the scenario where solar overtakes natural gas as the world's largest energy source as "power is more widely distributed and governments take longer to agree major decisions." Oil and coal power stick around, but they're slowly replaced by renewable energy. This, too, isn't an ideal solution, since "these measures are not sufficient to address environmental concerns, as greenhouse gas emissions follow a pathway towards a high degree of climate change."

You can get the full 48-page PDF here and see a short video below. A key prediction comes on page 20, in a section called "A Changing Transportation Infrastructure." The long-term view is that:

By 2070, the passenger road market could be nearly oil-free and towards the end of the century an extensive hydrogen infrastructure rollout displaces oil demand for long haul and heavy loads. By this time, electricity and hydrogen may dominate, and affordable, plug-in, hybrid hydrogen vehicles offer the ultimate in flexibility and efficiency.

2070 is a looooong way away, and we're not going to put money on Shell's predictions quite yet. It's still interesting to think about, though, and we'd like to hear your views in the Comments.

This isn't your father's electric vehicle. In fact, it belongs, in part, to "Ma Bell."

It was revealed at the GigaOM Mobilize 2013 in San Francisco yesterday that the network powering the connected features in the Tesla Model S is from AT&T. Actually, the AT&T connection is in every Tesla model with an infotainment screen, according to Forbes, so we'll assume that means the upcoming Model X will also talk to the AT&T Death Star for its data needs. Model S drivers won't notice any difference from behind the wheel, since the deal has been in place for a while, just without any AT&T logos anywhere. As before, some functions of the car can be remotely accessed and Tesla can track driver statistics and where the car is, in case it gets stolen.

It is AT&T's machine-to-machine (M2M) solution that let's Tesla CEO Elon Musk snag information about a particular car that's been in the news, due to a fire, say, or a range-depleting drive. Forbes says M2M is "increasingly strategic to [AT&T's] growth." The telecommunication company also works with the Ford Focus Electric, General Motor's OnStar network and will make most new GM car's WiFi hotspots by the 2015 model year.

AT&T's Chris Penrose, senior vice president of emerging devices, did say that the Model S could get an additional feature soon. "We think that you should have the ability to turn your car on as a mobile hotspot for your trip, even if you haven't subscribed to a data plan," he said, according to GigaOM.

There's more bad news for the auto industry about Millennials – members of the 16-to-34 year old generation really don't want to buy cars and there are lots of them. Dave Mosher, projects editor for Popular Science, looked into a camera for his "rant" and gave five reasons why he and his peers are more than willing to find other ways to get around. Mosher admits up front that he should be someone addicted to cars – since he grew up spending a lot of time in his father's auto shop in Kettering, OH. Years later, as a boy scout he earned his Automotive Maintenance merit badge with ease.

Why would someone so fascinated with the inner workings of a car not be willing to buy one? Simple, he says: automakers aren't building the cars he wants to buy. He's speaking for his peers – about 90 million Millennials makes up the largest demographic group in the country, "and the auto industry's biggest headache," he says. Mosher has the statistics to back it up – young people drove 23 percent fewer miles in 2009 than in 2001; only two thirds of 16-to-24 year olds have a driver's license – the lowest rate since 1963; nearly a third of them live in cities and can ditch their car for a train, bus, cab, bike, or being a pedestrian.

Mosher offers five ways to get Millennials like him to buy a car, including making driverless cars available. "I'd rather sit in the back with some toddlers watching Finding Nemo for the 100th time or take a nap with the dog," he says. Second, use environmentally friendly parts and components when making the car. The metal, plastic, fuel and other materials have to originate somewhere, and that typically has negative ramifications for the environment. Mosher knows that even electric vehicles have a ways to go, since "the mining and toxicity of elements in their batteries are dubious at best," and need to be improved to get young people to care. You can see his other three points in the video below or over on PopSci.

At Le Mans this past summer, Nissan unveiled the first prototype for the ZEOD RC, a new hybrid racecar which it intends to field at the famous French endurance race next year. Four months have passed since then, totaling eight month of development, and now Nissan has revealed the final form at the headquarters of its Nismo racing division.

The updated Nissan ZEOD RC benefits from a more streamlined shape with optimized cooling and improved aerodynamics. Although billed as an electric vehicle and not a hybrid, the ZEOD RC pairs a 1.6-liter turbo four with a pair of electric motors. Its regenerative braking system is derived from the Leaf RC, and after 11 laps, it's said to be capable of taking another around the Circuit de la Sarthe under electric power alone, making it the first racecar capable of doing so. Nissan has further stated that it hopes the lessons it garners from this project will help in its development of a new LMP1 to challenge for overall victory at Le Mans in the near future.

The ZEOD RC will be on display at Fuji Speedway this weekend during the six-hour FIA World Endurance Championship race there, after which it will continue its development at the hands of former GT1 champion Michael Krumm and gamer-turned-racer Lucas Ordonez, who will be getting it ready for (and possibly drive it at) next year's 24 Hours of Le Mans. There it will compete – faster than most GTE sportscars, says Nissan – in the Garage 56 spot that once was awarded to the DeltaWing, which Nissan sponsored and to which the ZEOD RC looks conspicuously similar.

Head on down below for a pair of videos and the full press release, and check out the fresh batch of high-resolution images above for a closer look.

The list of finalists for the 2014 Green Car of the Year has been announced, and in a genuinely bizarre twist, there's only one hybrid and no electric vehicles among the five contestants, despite the arrival of cars like the BMW i3 and Tesla Model S. Taking the place of the EVs are a pair of diesels, repping a technology that last won a Green Car of the Year award in 2009, when the Audi A3 TDI took the title. No diesel was in the running for last year's award.

Naturally, both of the diesel finalists are fielded by the Germans - with BMW's 328d and Audi's A6 TDI getting the nod. In the case of the 3 Series, BMW installed a 2.0-liter, turbodiesel, capable of delivering 180 horsepower and 280 pound-feet of torque, while returning 45 miles per gallon on the highway. Audi and its larger, 3.0-liter, V6 turbodiesel produce quite a bit more grunt, with 240 hp and 428 lb-ft of grunt, but net a very impressive 38 mpg on the highway in the A6.

Finalists for this year's awards include two diesels, three gas-powered cars and a plug-in hybrid.

This year's awards are a coup for gas-powered vehicles, as well. Both the Toyota Corolla and Mazda3 are finalists, with jurors citing the Mazda's i-ELOOP and Skyactiv technology, which allow the handsome car to net up to 41 mpg. The Corolla, meanwhile, offers a new Eco trim, which can return 42 mpg from its 1.8-liter, naturally aspirated, gas engine.

Rounding out this year's crop of finalists is the Honda Accord, which is available in gas, hybrid, and plug-in hybrid variants for the first time. The Accord Plug-In is capable of 115 mpge, while the Accord Hybrid returns 50 mpg in the city and 47 on the highway.

This is the first time in several years that the awards haven't been dominated by electrified vehicles of some ilk. 2013 was won by the Ford Fusion, and saw two other hybrids and three gas-powered cars. 2012, meanwhile, marked a victory for the natural-gas-powered Honda Civic, against two pure electrics, a hybrid and a diesel model. 2011 saw the excellent Chevrolet Volt crowned champion, beating out an EV, two hybrids and a gas-powered model.

This year's awards will be handed out at the 2013 Los Angeles Auto Show by Green Car Journal. We'll be on hand, live in LA, for the awards. Until then, be sure to let us know what car you think deserves the crown in Comments. Scroll down for the official press release from Green Car Journal.

One of the problems with designing an electric vehicle is figuring out where to fit the battery pack. Volvo – as a part of a European Union research project – is working on a way around this issue by replacing standard parts with lightweight components that double as batteries on both conventional and plug-in vehicles. The image above shows one such piece on a Volvo S80. While looking like nothing more than a carbon fiber plenum cover, the piece is actually a battery pack that can store and supply enough energy for the car's entire 12-volt power system.

The parts are made by sandwiching super capacitors (which can charge faster than standard batteries) in between layers of carbon fiber. They can then be formed to replace numerous body panels such as the decklid, roof or door panels. Volvo says that the replacing the body panels and batteries with these nano batteries can help reduce the vehicle's weight by as much as 15 percent. It has taken more than three years just to design the batteries, so there's no telling when, or if, we'll ever see this technology used on a production vehicle. Scroll down for a video and press release on Volvo's innovative battery technology.

Tesla is not the only automaker that makes money selling California zero-emission vehicle (ZEV) credits (Nissan has joined the party) but it does sell more of them than anyone else. That's the word from BusinessWeek, which says the California-based automaker sold 1,311.52 ZEV credits between October 1, 2012, and September 30, 2013. BusinessWeek says that the second-highest seller of credits generated by ZEVs was Suzuki, with 41.199.

But let's clarify that a bit. The general idea of the ZEV credits is that "large" and "intermediate" automakers who sell cars in California (see the list here) have to make a certain percentage of ZEVs (the number gets bigger over the years) and, if they don't make enough cars, they can buy credits from companies who make "too many." It's not as simple as one electric vehicle equals one credit (a Tesla Model S can be worth up to seven, for example) and the credits are a confusing number based on "units of grams per mile Non-Methane Organic Gases (g/mi NMOG)." Seriously. There's more information here (PDF).

Anyway, Toyota actually sold more ZEV credits last year - 507.5 - than Suzuki did but those were generated from sales of Toyota's Advanced Technology Partial-ZEV vehicles (i.e., the Toyota Prius Plug-In). Nissan sold 25 PZEV credits. And if you're wondering what vehicle it was that Suzuki was offering, we're actually not sure, but we do know that automakers can bank credits for years and the CARB ZEV program started in 1990. The biggest buyer of ZEV credits was General Motors, with ZEV a total of 876.365 (that's 368.865 ZEV and 507.50 AT PZEV), followed by Chrysler with 551.197 (526.197 ZEV and 25 PZEV).

CARB won't say how much the ZEV credits go for since they're traded privately between companies, but CARB spokesman Dave Clegern told BusinessWeek that all of the automakers involved in the program are "in compliance and that to us is the goal."