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News
$262/Barrel oil? it could happen sooner than you think
Hybrid Vehicle News

(Video) Fisker talks about the company's plug in hybrid car to be built in Delaware (The Newark Post)
More than 450 people turned out at the New Castle County Chamber of Commerce's annual dinner Monday night to hear Fisker Automotive CEO Henrik Fisker talk about the company's plans to convert the former Boxwood plant into the home of the Fisker Nina, a plug-in hybrid vehicle.
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Porsche Confirms That It Plans to Build the 918 Plug-In Hybrid Spyder Supercar (Fast Company Magazine)
Remember that sexy plug-in hybrid Porsche 918 Spyder supercar we drooled over last week? Apparently, we weren't the only ones with eyes for the car. Porsche received such a positive response to the Spyder concept at the Geneva Auto Show that the automaker now plans on mass producing it. Porsche CEO Michael Macht confirmed the news to Autocar UK : Porsche has yet to commit to producing the car ...
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'Look for other incentives for hybrid car firms' (Business Times (Malaysia))
WHILE there is still no decision on whether or not to extend the incentives for fully-imported hybrid cars, other ways to incentivise their promoters can be explored, Deputy International Trade and Industry Minister Datuk Mukhriz Mahathir said.
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Honda CR-Z sporty hybrid: the car that nearly wasn’t (Auto Spies)
The road towards the creation of Honda Motor Co. ’s new CR-Z sporty hybrid is not a smooth one. Engineers didn’t think that it was unique and US executives didn’t like it. There were serious doubts that the CR-Z — a wedge-shaped, two-seat hatchback — would ever make it through.
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Even Ferrari decides to go hybrid (Nanaimo News Bulletin)
Ferrari has revealed a vettura laboratorio (experimental vehicle) based on the 599 GTB Fiorano equipped with an advanced new hybrid transmission.
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More Hybrid Vehicle Fuel News

Ford’s Hybrid Electric Cars – Helping Fleet Operators Achieve Sustainable Mobility
Ford Motor Company recently unveiled the all-electric version of the Ford Transit Connect – the 2010 North American Truck of...
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Toyota Recalls - Your Questions Answered
February 2010 - Toyota's reknowned reliability record has come under the spotlight recently due to a number of recalls to...
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Reporting January 2010 US Hybrid Car Sales
US January sales of Hybrid Cars numbered 17,157 units, showing an increase of 11 per cent...
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Ford Increase EV and Hybrid Car Investments
Jan 2010 - Ford Motor Company have announced it will invest an additional $450 million in...
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Reporting US 2009 Hybrid Car Sales
Us 2009 hybrid car sales figures totalled 292,528 units. The number represents a 6.6 per cent decrease...
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2010 US Government Hybrid Car Tax Credits
With 2010 only a week old many consumers are considering their purchase options with regards to...
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Energy Policy

Energy Department agrees to set new appliance efficiency standards
The Energy Department has agreed to boost energy efficiency requirements for nearly two dozen household appliances and equipment from dishwashers to fluorescent lamps as part of a court settlement after years of inaction. The new standards will be phased in over the next five years. The agreement, filed in the U.S. District Court in New York and announced Monday, settles a lawsuit filed last year by environmental groups, 15 states, including North Carolina, and the city of New York because of delays in improving federal appliance efficiency requirements.
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Md. Toughens Car Emissions
Gov. Martin O'Malley signed into law dozens of bills Tuesday aimed at protecting the environment, including a law tightening car emissions standards and a permanent ban on catching diamondback terrapins. The new law means that by model year 2011, new cars sold in Maryland will have to meet California emissions standards. The change will reduce greenhouse gas emissions coming from cars.
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Arnie sues US government over washing machines
California has filed a lawsuit against the US Department of Energy for failing to allow the state to make its household washing machines more water-efficient. In 2004, California approved rules imposing water efficiency standards for household washing machines that are higher than federal standards. The proposed new standard required washing machines sold after 2007 to use no more than 8.5 gallons of water per cubic foot of washing machine capacity. And by 2010, this figure would have to be reduced by a further 30%. Overall, the new rules were expected to save 303 billion litres of water a year by 2019, but they could only come into effect if approved by the federal Department of Energy. However, the DOE refused to grant California a waiver from less stringent federal standards in 2004.
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The peak oil crisis: Week twelve
For three months now, US gasoline stockpiles have been dropping steadily. Nationwide, gasoline prices jumped 10.2 cents a gallon last week to an average of $2.97 and $3.46 around San Francisco. Last week, US gasoline stockpiles dropped for the 12th straight week by another 1.1 million barrels as US motorists continued to burn up gasoline at a rate 1.6 percent higher than last year. While refinery utilization at 88.3 percent is still well below what is needed to build up stocks for the summer driving season, refiners did manage to produce another 300,000 barrels of gasoline per day which reduced the pace at which gasoline stockpiles have been dropping; 1 million barrels last week vs. the 4 million barrels per week we saw earlier last month. US imports remained the same last week at 1.2 million barrels per day, also well below the 1.5-1.6 required to build up stockpiles for the summer. As has been the case for many weeks, gasoline consumption continues to run above last year, a series of refining problems have kept gasoline output well below the utilization needed to build stockpiles, and the US seems to be unable to find enough refined gasoline on the world markets to make up the difference. There are several underlying problems behind the growing shortfalls, none of which seem susceptible to immediate solution. The automobile is so deeply imbedded into our lifestyles that gasoline will have to go much higher - some say $6+ a gallon - before there will be any significant slackening in demand. Sales of gas-guzzlers probably will continue to drop, but major changes in lifestyles will not come until actual gasoline shortages and gas lines develop. Here in America, there are simply too many other ways to save money before we cut back on driving.
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Get ready for $4 gasoline
Refinery output in the U.S. has been below normal for several months now, after fires and other accidents combined with longer than normal maintenance shutdowns, hurting production. Peter Beutel, an oil analyst at consulting firm Cameron Hanover, noted in a recent report that refineries have not operated above 95 percent capacity since Hurricanes Rita and Katrina in 2005. Before 2005, the refineries, clustered around the Gulf coast and badly damaged in the storms, routinely operated at over 95 percent capacity. Flynn said gasoline stocks have fallen for the past twelve weeks straight and are now at their lowest level for this time of year since 1956. This all comes just as the nation gears up for the summer driving season, spurred by vacationing families and students out of school. Meanwhile, demand has shown no sign of easing. That's despite a nationwide average price of $3.07 a gallon for unleaded regular, a record, according to Trilby Lundberg, publisher of the Lundberg Survey of thousands of stations nationwide. During the winter months gasoline demand grew at about 2.5 percent, according to the Energy Information Agency. Average demand growth is about 1.5 percent. "More and more communities are going to see gasoline that approaches or exceeds $4 a gallon," John Kilduff, an energy analyst at Man Financial in New York, said recently. "Where we're currently at with prices, that's a given."
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