We Obsessively Cover the Green Scene…

Fleet owners in the Netherlands are finding out that you can overshoot the mark by 80 percent in fuel consumption with plug-in hybrid electric vehicles. Leasing company Arval (which is known in the US as major fleet management and leasing company PHH Arval) surveyed fleets leasing the Opel Ampera, Chevrolet Volt and Toyota Prius Plug-in Hybrid and found that they're using, on average, 80 percent more fuel than the fuel economy estimates found in the manufacturers' specifications.

This is happening because fleet managers are tapping into the benefits of local rebates for plug-in vehicles but then not, you know, actually plugging in. Government incentives include no purchase tax, zero percent additional tax liability and no road tax until 2016. Some municipalities are offering thousands of dollars in subsidies for the purchase of a plug-in hybrid. They don't appear to be interested in paying for charging stations to tap into the extended range and fuel consumption cost savings.

If they really wanted to reduce fuel consumption, these fleets could do better by purchasing more fuel efficient internal combustion engine cars. Arval investigated more than 60 Amperas, Volts, and Prius Plug-ins to see how fleets have been using these plug-in hybrids. While the factory standards are promising – the Prius can consume as low as 2.2 liters of fuel per 100 kilometers driven (the equivalent of 107 MPGe, per UK testing) and the Ampera and Volt 1.6 liters per 100 kilometers (147 MPGe), according to the automakers, they're not being utilized as plug-ins to get to these results.

One Ampera owner in the study was at the other end of the scale, getting 7.9 liters per 100 kilometers driven using gasoline only (so, 30 mpg). Another Ampera driver had a very good experience with the plug-in, and has been able to score 0.4 (one liter per 250 kilometers driven) by charging up the battery at work and home.

These cars are starting to see growing sales numbers in the Dutch market. Opel sold 2,500 Amperas and 500 Chevrolet Volts and expects to continue selling 300 per month. Toyota is meeting its schedule and expects to sell 1,500 Prius Plug-in Hybrids this year. Whatever the energy source, these plug-in hybrids are appealing enough to find buyers.

General Motors, which over half a year ago announced an $11,000 price premium for pickup trucks that could run on both gasoline and compressed natural gas (CNG), has started producing those vehicles at its plant in Fort Wayne, IN. The option is now available to customers.

Using a 6.0-liter, V8 engine, the Chevrolet Silverado 2500 HD and GMC Sierra 2500 HD pickups each have a combined range of 650 miles. The conversion to the duel-fueling feature is done by IMPCO. GM in April set the price premium for the bi-fuel option for the Silverado and Sierra HD and said at the time that the option could pay for itself through lower refueling costs in anywhere between one and two years.

There are 527 publicly accessible CNG stations throughout the US, according to the Department of Energy's Alternative Fuels Data Center. By comparison, there are more than 4,700 electric-vehicle charging stations open to the public. Check out General Motors' press release below.

Bridgestone is in an interesting position. On the one hand, the tire manufacturer wants to increase its green credentials with its line of Ecopia products. These are low-rolling resistance tires that improve efficiency by around five or six percent and are now available in 50 sizes that fit everything from hybrids to large SUVs. They're even used on all Nissan Leaf electric vehicles. On top of the Ecopia line, Bridgestone has big goals to reduce CO2 emission from its entire products lifecycle by 35 percent (by sales) and improve tire rolling efficiency by 25 percent by 2020 (compared to 2005 numbers). The company is also researching making tires not just from traditional rubber trees (hevea brasiliensis) but alaso from latex found in a native southwest desert plant, guayule, and Russian dandelions. So, if we look at that hand, the company looks pretty green, right?

The reality is that it's difficult for Bridgestone to make really big changes.

The reality is that it's difficult for Bridgestone to make really big changes. For example, when Bridgestone invited us to visit the future site of its new off-road tire plant in Aiken, SC, we asked if, for example, adding a recycling fee to the sale price of a tire made sense, encouraging more tires to be recycled at the end of life. The problem, we were told, was that competitors might not do that, leaving Bridgestone at a price disadvantage. In short, Bridgestone can lead, but not on everything.

Bridgestone's current Aiken tire plant is a mid-size operation, one that can make up to 25,000 tires a day, in sizes from 15 to 20 inches. At that rate, operating 24-7, the plant uses 1,000 pounds of rubber every minute. Most of the plant's raw rubber – which is the sap from the trees, so someone called it "perhaps the most sustainable part of a car" – comes from Indonesia and Liberia. GM is the biggest customer for the finished products, but Toyota, Honda, Ford, Chrysler and Hyundai all get tires from there. Walking around the plant, you see massive machines (mixers that are three stories tall and require 4,000 horsepower to run, for example) and lots of storage space (425,000 tires can be stored in the attached warehouse). It's a big plant, and an expansion is scheduled to be in operation by 2015 to increase capacity. The big news, though, is the off-road plant that Bridgestone is building just up the road.

We've already spent time behind the wheel of the 2013 Volkswagen Jetta Hybrid, but when VW invited us to the high hills of Santa Fe to drive it again, we quickly accepted. After all, this is supposed to be a hybrid without compromise, and that means it should be a car that's fun to drive.

On our first drive – in the wintertime, in Germany – we got to experience the mild-mannered fun that VW promises. This time, at elevations between 5,000 and 8,000+ feet above sea level, we were impressed once again with the Jetta – and that's what this is, a Jetta, first and foremost – that's a little bit heavier than the standard (by 221 pounds) but performs so well you don't notice the hybrid bits, most of the time. If you've got energy in the li-ion battery pack when you fire up the car, it will start off in electric mode, and you don't notice the switch to gas power unless you're looking for it.

We got 40.4 miles per gallon on a 31-mile trip. That's not quite the 45 mpg that the EPA says the car will get, but that kind of miles in thin air seems pretty good to us. Other journalists with us in New Mexico were recording anywhere between 38 and 47 mpg. Not Toyota Prius numbers, but VW's okay with that.

Here are a few other thoughts and bits of information:

• With the Jetta Hybrid – VW's second hybrid, after the Touareg, which debuted in the fall of 2010 – the German automaker seems to be acknowledging that it needs to compete seriously in the gas-electric space in the US. A slide shown in Santa Fe pointed out that hybrids make up three percent of the US market, while diesels make up just 0.85 percent. VW is also using JD Power numbers that predict a six-percent market share for hybrids in the US in 2020. VW also said, "Jetta Hybrid will allow VW to attract new customers who don't consider TDI as a legitimate rival to hybrids."
• That said, VW expects the hybrid to make up around five percent of all Jettas sold in the US.
• VW says that the median age of hybrid buyers is 61 years old. The median age? That kind of surprised us.
• Speaking of the Touareg, the hybrid powertrain in the Jetta doesn't share bits with the Touareg hybrid. This is a new system developed for this car.
• The 1.1-kWh battery offers up to 1.2 miles of all-electric operation. Normally, you can go up to 37 miles per hour in EV mode, but if you hit the E-Mode button, this increases to 44 if there is enough power in the pack and the battery temperature is in the right range. In practice, we didn't ever feel like we got that much benefit from E-Mode, but we assume that there will be a few late-night homecomings where this will be beneficial.
• The small print in the promotional materials say that the base Jetta Hybrid will be available by special order only. First impression, that sound like a bait and switch, so VW can advertise the car at a low price, but when you go to the dealer, that low price is nowhere to be found. We were told that there will be base models in each of VW's sales regions in the US, so anyone who wants the cheapest Jetta Hybrid will be able to test drive one or get it delivered with a day's notice.
• The Jetta Hybrid requires premium unleaded fuel. Bummer.

The made-in-Mexico Jetta Hybrid goes on sale before the end of the year, starting at $24,995, plus destination. That's more than the TDI (which starts at $22,990), but it is what it is.

The Toyota Prius has pretty much ruled the hybrid roost since popularizing the super-efficient market segment over the last decade, but that doesn't mean other automakers aren't trying to catch up. Ford, in particular, has been dabbling with gas/electric drivetrains for some time – think Ford Fusion and Escape hybrids – and now has its own dedicated hybrid model: the C-Max.

If you've ever wondered how the domestic newcomer stacks up against the ensconced champion, wonder no more. Motor Trend has taken Toyota's super-sized Prius V and put it up against the new Ford in a head-to-head video comparison. Not only that, they've had fun doing it.

"Fun in a hybrid?", you ask quizzically. "Yes", we reply, "fun." While the C-Max has inherited the sportiness of the Ford Focus chassis that underpins it, the Prius V has also improved driving characteristics, proving that gas-sipping doesn't necessarily have to come at the expense of ride experience. No, they still aren't canyon-carving sports cars, but they certainly aren't your grandparents family haulers either.

Besides fun, MT also gets down to the serious business of fuel economy. Driving in the style of host and senior features editor Jonny Lieberman (somewhat spiritedly, we imagine) returned mile per gallon figures that were slightly lower in the V than what Toyota advertises, with a bigger drop in the C-Max: 39 and 37 mpg, respectively.

Scroll below to move beyond performance numbers on a sheet and see how the two really stack up against each other. Watch 'till the end where Mr. Lieberman lets slip a sweet little hint about what one might expect from the next Prius.

A recent study of new car registrations by Edmunds reveals that some big car-buying states aren't as interested in electric or gas-electric hybrids as other states.

It's no surprise that California – the Number One car-buying state – is the top green car buyer as well. A large number of "early adopters," strong local incentives and access to High Occupancy Lanes with a single person in the cab likely tilted a large number of buyers into alternative power trains, experts said.

Through August, Californians bought 11.1 percent of all of the vehicles sold in America. They also bought 32 percent of all electric vehicles sold and 24.7 percent of all hybrids, according to retail registrations tracked by R.L. Polk and examined by Edmunds. Edmunds estimates that electric and hybrid vehicles make up 3.4 percent of the total mix of vehicles sold, a full percentage point higher than last year.

"Mainstream car buyers have been slow to accept hybrid and electric vehicles, but the numbers are trending up, and you can almost hear a sigh of relief from automakers who made big bets on these vehicles," said Edmunds senior analyst Jessica Caldwell in a statement. "As more alt-fuel vehicles come to the market and as prices for these cars become more affordable, we expect a higher percentage of shoppers will at least consider an alternative fuel vehicle the next time they're buying a new car."

However, the study also points out that residents in places like Michigan, who buy up 3.7 percent of the total vehicles sold, only bought 1.8 percent of the hybrids sold.

Caldwell says that low gas prices, fewer traffic problems and smaller urban areas – resulting in fewer places to charge electric vehicles – creates little incentive for car buyers to switch to an electric or plug-in hybrid.

However some anomalies do make sense. For example, Tennessee is the ninth ranked state in the list of who buys electric vehicles, buying 2.9 percent of all electrics, even though the state is 19th in total volume at 1.7 percent. Tennessee is home to Nissan's US headquarters and builder of the Leaf.

Scroll down to see the top 10 states in electric vehicle sales, hybrid sales and overall market sales.

Mercedes-Benz may have branded the Smart Car, but Ford is trying hard to lay its own claim to that title.

The US automaker is announcing an energy-efficiency feature for its plug-in vehicles where the vehicle's GPS system helps it "learn" common routes, and ways to save fuel.

Called EV+, Ford's new feature combines the GPS data with certain algorithms to program powertrains to use its limited electric power most appropriately. For instance, the closer the vehicle is to a frequent destination, the more the vehicle is directed to operate in electric-only mode. In other words, if you're about to arrive home and there's juice in the pack, the car shifts into electric mode. The patent-pending feature is available on Ford's Fusion and C-Max hybrids as well as its C-Max Energi and Fusion Energi plug-in hybrids. Check out Ford's press release below.

Ford must be hoping advancements like this more than compensate for what Plug In Cars notes are some design shortcomings when it comes to storage capacity for the automaker's new plug-in vehicles. The C-Max gives up about 20 percent of its storage space (compared to the hybrid version) and the Focus Electric EV's storage space is a whopping 40 percent less than the conventional Focus.

Last month, Ford more than doubled it's October 2011 alt-fuel sales, selling a monthly-record of 118 Focus Electrics and recording its first sales of the C-Max Energi PHEV.

We'll it ain't quite 50,000, but they're getting there

Nissan says it has sold 42,700 all-electric Leafs worldwide and won't slow down its efforts to broaden sales of zero-emission cars. That's what Plug In Cars reports, citing Nissan Chief Operating Officer Toshiyuki Shiga, who also said that Japan accounts for 19,000 of all those Leafs.

The Japanese automaker is looking to boost Leaf sales and, late last month, unveiled its first global ad campaign. Nissan pitched features such as being able to use the car as a back-up power supply for homes in addition to the no-pollution, no-gas angle.

US Leaf sales, lagging for much of this year, perked up recently. Last month, Nissan sold 1,579 Leafs here, a 76-percent jump from October 2011, in what became the second-best sales month ever in the US.

Whether you spell the word "rumor" in the US or "rumour" in the UK, this one's a good one.

Tesla Motors is looking to make its upcoming version of its Roadster all-electric convertible faster than the original when it debuts to the public in 2017, UK's Auto Express "reports," citing unsorted rumors, or, er, rumors. The California-based automaker will also likely call the car – wait for it – the Model R.

Tesla produced about 2,500 Roadsters between 2008 and 2011. The model, made with Lotus parts, started at $109,000. Auto Express says the new version will share the same platform as the Model S sedan (out now) and the Model X crossover that is set to debut in 2014, but we think it is more likely to use Tesla's smaller, third-generation platform.

Last month, Tesla started a buyback program allowing Roaster owners to trade them in for credit against the purchase of a new Model S sedan.

Lithium-ion battery maker A123 Systems continues to be a source of drama and intrigue, from bankruptcy and court filings to investor relations and national security.

Two US Senators want the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS), led by Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, to review an acquisition deal to make sure military and taxpayer interests in A123 are protected. China's Wanxiang Group Corp. wants to acquire bankrupt A123, and has been locked in a battle with US-based Johnson Controls Inc. to buy A123. Wanxiang was granted permission to offer a loan to A123 by a federal bankruptcy judge.

US Sens. John Thune of South Dakota (R) and Chuck Grassley of Iowa (R) think that if Wanxiang is allowed to buy A123, the Chinese company would have access to the company's military contracts and grid storage technologies. Along with lithium-ion battery systems for electric cars, A123 had two contracts worth more than $4 million to develop batteries for the Air Force, one of which is still in process.

To acquire A123, Wanxiang needs approval from the Chinese government and from CFIUS, a US inter-agency panel that analyzes foreign investment deals for security concerns. A123, which was awarded a $249-million grant from the Obama administration, continues to be something of a political football.

A123 has been granted permission from US Bankruptcy Judge Kevin Carey to borrow $50 million from Wanxiang. After the initial bankruptcy filing, JCI made a bid to buy A123 assets for $125 million, and Wanxiang stepped forward last week saying it wants to be the lead bidder at auction for the assets.

Carey has been hearing testimony from objectors, including Fisker Automotive, which want to extend the bid deadline, auction date, and deadlines in the bidding procedures request, at least 30 days. Fisker has been deeply embedded in A123's technology and wants to see the legal process carried out thoroughly.

Electric vehicle drivers in New York and New Jersey have been able to avoid some of the post-superstorm Sandy apocalypse – waiting in long lines just to find out the station is out of gasoline.

Tom Moloughney, owner of the Nauna's Bella Casa restaurant in Montclair, NJ, and an all-electric BMW ActiveE, doesn't mind his 100-mile daily round trip to his home in Chester, NJ. In the storm's aftermath he witnessed something like a scene from The Walking Dead, where 100 people ran down a street in Montclair. They carried gas cans and heard there had been a gas station a half-mile way that had received a fuel delivery.

Like many of the locals, Moloughney's neighborhood was blacked out by trees taking out power lines. With home charging temporarily unavailable, he would use a public charging station nearby that still had power. He also used a 110-volt charger at home powered by a natural-gas generator. Gas stations have been hard hit by running out of gasoline and power failures turning off the gas pumps.

Moloughney also charged up at his restaurant, which has three 240-volt chargers installed for customers. One problem he couldn't avoid was his restaurant's delivery drivers running out of gas, suspending home deliveries.

For Frank Streng, a Nissan Leaf owner who lives in Cortlandt Manor, NY, and works in White Plains, NY, charging his 60-mile roundtrip at a White Plains train station has been the most viable option. Without power or a generator at his house, Streng has had to access the train station charger a couple blocks from his office. He would prefer charging at home, but that was taken away from him. The White Plains site cost him $10 for an all-day charge. "The best deal is when you're charging at home," Streng said. "It's pennies."

For Manhattan resident and Tesla Roadster owner Nicky Dawda, the storm's aftermath proved that knowing where the best Midtown and Lower Manhattan charging stations are based was a benefit. Dawda had less trouble getting electricity in blacked-out lower Manhattan than most New Yorkers had getting gas.

EV battery packs offer another post-disaster remedy – vehicle-to-home (V2H) and vehicle-to-grid (V2G) energy storage. In the aftermath of the devastating earthquake and tsunami last year in Japan, Mitsubishi used 15 of its i-MiEV electric vehicles as an emergency power supply at its headquarters after the blackouts. Electric vehicles are proving their benefits for mobility and storage capacity following inclement weather.

The biggest problem that Wheego was having the last time we looked in on the company was getting the Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) to sign off on temporary exemption to Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards Regulations (FMVSSR) for its two-seat, all-electric Wheego Whip LiFe car. NHTSA granted the small electric vehicle company a waiver for an Electronic Stability Control (ESC) system that is good until the end of the year. Wheego is in the process of developing an ESC for the little car. And with that, things are moving forward.

Wheego's Leslie Nolen told AutoblogGreen that around a dozen rolling chassis landed in Long Beach in the first shipment earlier this fall, and the plan was for Wheego to start building them into the LiFe EVs at its Ontario, CA location as soon as they made it through customs. This assembly process includes putting in the battery, battery management system and dash. The goal is to build 100 by the end of the year and Nolen said almost all of them are spoken for by dealers. Wheego has 30 dealers around the country.

There have been no major changes to the LiFe since the last time we took a look, but Nolen said the engineers have "tightened some stuff up" in the production process That includes things like having the appropriate wiring harness installed in China, where the chassis are built, rather than having the wrong one put in just so Wheego can take it out in the US.

Looking further down the road, Nolen said Wheego is working on R&D for a small, all-electric SUV. The plan is to show this off at the New York Auto Show in the spring of 2013 and have it available for sale by the end of that year.

Aerovironment has installed 10,000 residential chargers in the US. On top of these, there are many at Nissan dealers and more at BMW dealers that offered the ActiveE (around 70). Soon, possibly, there will be some at US Fiat Studios. Aerovironment's Tom Carney, director of automotive sales and EV solutions, recently told AutoblogGreen that more news will be coming from Fiat on the deal with Aerovironment, most likely at the upcoming Los Angeles Auto Show where the 500E will take a bow.

While AeroVironment is Nissan's preferred vendor, Nissan dealerships have the discretion to choose the brand of charger they install. Nissan makes a 44kW DC Quick Charger unit that is sold by AeroVironment and costs under $20,000.

The Fiat deal came about in an interesting way. Nissan had asked AV to put together a dealer package so that when people buy a Leaf they also have an easy way to get a home charger. Since this package was still on the books, AV recently took it to Fiat in preparation for 500E sales. We should know more in a few weeks.

It looks like Jaguar made the most of its home-course advantage.

The UK-based automaker's XJ_e plug-in hybrid won two awards in the Royal Auto Club's (RAC) Future Car Challenge, including Most Energy Efficient Luxury Car and the Technical Panel's Award of Merit.

The Jag, which competed with cars from automakers such as Renault, BMW and General Motors' Vauxhall unit, achieved a 112 miles-per-gallon-equivalent on the 63-mile jaunt from Brighton to London. The Renault Zoe electric vehicle won the overall award for most energy-efficient vehicle.

The XJ_e pairs a 2.0-liter turbocharged four-cylinder engine with a 69-kilowatt electric motor and a 12.3-kWh lithium-ion battery pack. Jaguar has said the car can go 25 miles in electric-only mode and gets 61.2 miles per gallon, per the more-lenient European driving cycle.

Check out the RAC's press release on the event below.