Clean Fleet Articles

Electric Car Sales Increase 228%

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Model year 2012 is the year of the green car, with record fleet fuel economy, record high hybrid sales, and a 228% increase in plug-in electric car sales. While it’s true that plug-in electric car sales still represent a very small fraction of total auto sales, model year 2012 saw about 38,000 Americans buying plug-in cars. The Chevy Volt, often described by critics as a failure, falls right in the middle of the pack, outselling half the cars, trucks, and SUVs on the market.

Nissan Leaf

Personal: Electric Car Drivers Free of Range Anxiety

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The 50,000 electric car owners in the United States are discovering more range from their electric vehicles. Range anxiety is real, but over played due to 2 car households, public charging, business model and battery innovation, and especially due to the convenience of plug-in hybrids.

2013 Lincoln MKZ Hybrid with Best Premium Car MPG

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The new 2013 Lincoln MKZ Hybrid delivers more miles per gallon than any luxury luxury hybrid car in America with an EPA-certified 45 mpg across the board – city, highway and combined. It doesn’t cost a dime extra to get the MKZ as a hybrid. The 2013 Lincoln MKZ Hybrid starts at $35,925 for this richly appointed sedan. The price is the same whether you buy it as a 45-mpg hybrid or with a 2L EcoBoost engine. Other competitors charge a premium for their hybrid models.

2013 Scion iQ EV

Flash Drive: Scion iQ EV

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As I drive Toyota’s sporty new electric car, sun streams through the red and yellow fall colors that grace Denver’s downtown. This is the new 2013 Scion iQ EV, Toyota’s fourth electric car that joins the Prius Plug-in Hybrid, FCHV, and the RAV4 EV all-electric SUV. This iQ-EV is a micro-compact all-electric city car.

Recent Advances in Eco-friendly Transit

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The past decade has been a pretty incredible time for advances in sustainable transportation. All over the globe, scientists and engineers have worked harder than ever to create greener ways to get around. In looking back, three developments stand out in particular.

What if You Could Choose Your Fuel?

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Gas prices in California are finally starting to drop after a series of record highs, following a fire at a Chevron refinery and a power outage at an Exxon Mobil facility, hurting Californians at the pump, and leading to calls for investigations into price manipulation. Of course, you’ve read this story many times before. Now, imagine the same series of events, but with a crucial difference ― your car has the ability to run on multiple fuels. What if, instead of just driving around for the gas station that has the least painful price, you could choose between fuels, and switch to an alternative when the price of gasoline goes through the roof?

Vehicle-to-Grid: Utility Giant PG&E Gets Fast ROI from 190 Electric Trucks

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At utility giant PG&E, 190 electric trucks are now used to keep things running. If a neighborhood has a power outage, a troubled truck rolls in. A technician is lifted high in the air to look at a transformer on a pole. Auxiliaries can be run for hours including test equipment into a communications. These plug-in trucks can be used twice as many hours per day as diesel trucks with legal noise restrictions. By switching from diesel to electric, PG&E pays for the electric trucks in 2.5 years according to Dave Meisel, Director Transportation for Services for PG&E.

2012 Toyota Prius

Toyota Plans 21 New Hybrids and New Electric Cars

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By 2015, Toyota will be selling 21 hybrids globally. The Prius family will expand beyond the current four models: Liftback, Compact C, Crossover V, and Plugin. I was once asked, “Why would anyone buy a hybrid when you can’t cost-justify the premium?” I paid about a $4,000 premium to buy my 2002 Prius, and then sold it seven years later for a $3,000 premium. The Prius had saved me over $5,000 in gasoline when gas was cheaper than today.

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