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As fuel prices rise, Automotive companies are now turning their focus onto fuel efficiency. Auto manufacturers are coming out with new vehicles that are gas-electric hybrids which reduce gasoline consumption and boost miles per gallon. While that is fine for people who want new cars, others may be very happy their current vehicles and just wish they got better mileage and were kinder to the environment. APMC fills this gap by offering alternate propulsion, gas-electric hybrid conversion systems for existing vehicles.
A conversion to an alternate propulsion drive system will reduce our customer's fuel expenses, reduce harmful emissions and help reduce our dependence on foreign sources of oil.
Click here to learn how this technology works
Other benefits of owning a
hybrid vehicle:
Besides the fuel cost and the environmental improvements, there are some other perks to owning a hybrid vehicle/conversion.
Some states offer major tax deductions for owning a hybrid/EV car. Check your local tax laws to find out how much you can deduct by owning an EV. Hybrid cars are more expensive than conventional vehicles because of their costly batteries, and because there are two separate engines under each vehicle's hood. New tax credits go a long way toward closing that cost differential.
Many states allow use of the HOV lane for drivers of a hybrid vehicle, regardless of how many passengers. Another component of the Energy Policy Act is the Federal Hybrid HOV Waiver, which allows states to open their high-occupancy vehicle (HOV) lanes to hybrid cars that get at least 50 percent better fuel efficiency in the city and 25 percent better in combined city-highway miles over conventional models. So far 12 states Including NY, NJ, and CA are participating and many others are sure to follow.
Beyond these new federal incentives, 36 states offer some kind of rebate, incentive or benefit to encourage consumers and businesses to go hybrid. Even some businesses are voluntarily getting in on the act. Search engine giant Google is offering $5,000 to each employee toward the purchase of a new hybrid. Travelers Insurance also has pledged to start giving a 10 percent discount to its auto insurance customers who drive hybrids.
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Alternative Fuel News  | GM Opens a Battery Research Lab for the Volt | | Posted on: 2009/06/11 | | Submitted by:: | 
This week, GM officially opened a 3,000-square-meter battery lab at its technical center in Warren, MI. The lab is being used to test battery cells and packs for the forthcoming Volt plug-in hybrid vehicle, which the company says it will continue to develop, in spite of its recent bankruptcy filing.
The new battery lab is part of GM's strategy to develop its own battery packs, just as it now develops its own gasoline engines. Indeed, the battery lab occupies space once devoted to internal combustion power-train development.
As GM's engineers develop a battery pack for the vehicle, one of the key remaining questions is how durable the batteries will prove. The lab will allow the engineers to test the packs under extreme conditions to determine whether they will last for the life of the car. |
| World's first battery fuelled by air | | Posted on: 2009/05/21 | | Submitted by:: | | Scientists say the revolutionary 'STAIR' (St Andrews Air) battery could now pave the way for a new generation of electric cars, laptops and mobile phones.
The cells are charged in a traditional way but as power is used or 'discharged' an open mesh section of battery draws in oxygen from the surrounding air.
This oxygen reacts with a porous carbon component inside the battery, which creates more energy and helps to continually 'charge' the cell as it is being discharged.
By replacing the traditional chemical constituent, lithium cobalt oxide, with porous carbon and oxygen drawn from the air, the cell is much lighter than current batteries. |
| Electric Hummer gets 100 mpg — more or less | | Posted on: 2009/05/21 | | Submitted by:: | A Hummer that gets the equivalent of 100 miles per gallon or more? That's something even President Barack Obama could live with — not to mention California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, the unquestioned celebrity champion for Hummers.
A company that says it's done just that — running the full-size SUV on batteries — is showing off its Electric Hummer H3 on Capitol Hill on Wednesday. But whether it really gets 100 mpg depends on just how far and hard it's driven. |
| How green can California's cars go? | | Posted on: 2009/05/19 | | Submitted by:: | | US President Barack Obama gave California's environmentalists cause to celebrate when he took a step closer to backing the state's plans for strict vehicle emissions standards.
The BBC's Rajesh Mirchandani looks at whether the technology required is feasible and if drivers would pay for it.
Driving is a way of life in California: the state has more cars than any other.
But the authorities think they are a major contributory factor to global warming and should be targeted in attempts to reduce greenhouse gases. |
| Obama moves to curb car emissions | | Posted on: 2009/05/19 | | Submitted by:: | | US President Barack Obama has announced tough targets for new fuel-efficient vehicles in order to cut pollution and lower dependence on oil imports.
Describing the move as "historic", Mr Obama said the country's first-ever national standards would reduce vehicle emissions by about a third by 2016. |
| Dealers Nervous About Electric Cars | | Posted on: 2009/05/15 | | Submitted by:: | | Car dealers are nervous a shift from gas to electric cars will mean that they don't see their customers as often as they currently do.
The design of the electric car is really simple. There's not a lot of parts, so there won't be much need for maintenance says Mark Perry, Nissan (NSANY) Americas' head of Product Planning. When he said that, was speaking to a group of dealers at an event in New York to show off Nissan's upcoming electric. (We stood outside the circle of dealers and listened in.) |
| 220MPH Solar-Powered Bullet Train on Arizona Horizon | | Posted on: 2009/05/12 | | Submitted by:: | | Travelers going from Tucson to Phoenix may soon be blazing across the desert in speeding solar bullet trains propelled by the sun’s rays. Hot on the heels of President Obama’s plan for High Speed Rail in the US comes the news that Arizona-based Solar Bullet LLC is proposing a new 220mph bullet train that will be entirely powered by the sun and will make the trip in 30 minutes flat. |
| Why Chrysler Chose A123 Batteries | | Posted on: 2009/04/14 | | Submitted by:: | 
This week, Chrysler announced that it will use batteries from A123 Systems in its planned electric vehicles and plug-in hybrids, the first of which will be available in small demonstration fleets by the end of the year. The automaker will use a modular battery system that the two companies developed together over the past three years.
Chrysler chose A123 in part because the company was looking for a supplier based in the United States, says Lou Rhodes, the vice president of advanced vehicle engineering at Chrysler. A123 is based in Watertown, MA, and is building factories in Michigan. The company's battery cells--the basic components of a battery pack--met Chrysler's performance and safety specifications, and the company was developing battery modules that could be easily adapted to fit different vehicles. This was important, Rhodes says, because the automaker plans to start selling several different electric vehicles at around the same time. |
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