OUR 'GREEN' FUTURE : HYBRIDS, HYDROGEN-FUELED FUEL CELL ELECTRICS, PLUG-IN HYBRIDS, EVs AND MORE!

HONDA'S ASIMO ROBOT TO LEAD DETROIT SYMPHONY; WE FIRST MET HIM WHEN HE (IT) COULD BARELY WALK!

Here's a press release we recently received from Honda: Honda Motor Co.'s remarkable robot Asimo will conduct the Detroit Symphony Orchestra at a special performance for young people on May 13 that will feature superstar cellist Yo-Yo Ma. Asimo will open the evening by conducting the orchestra in a performance of the song, "The Impossible Dream." (Editor's note: Impossible Dream, like Andy Williams' rendition of Moon River, are both much-loved by the Japanese public, apparently fraught with all sorts of deep meanings which a drunk Japanese recognizes more easily than his or her drunken American friends. It's not unusual to hear either song being sung, always loudly and usually badly, on Japan's late-night streets and in restaurants, and, of course, in the estimated 50 million karaoke bars throughout the country).

The 4-foot robot, able to speak English and Japanese, is the latest generation in a line of Asimo robots developed in 2000 by the Japanese automaker.

Honda has teamed up with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra to offer music lessons to students in Detroit and has provided more than $1 million to create The Power of Dreams Music Education Fund.

As part of the program, Paris-born cellist Yo-Yo Ma will teach a master class on May 14 for a group of students selected from the Detroit School of Arts. (Photo --- Guest-starring in a corporate video seen at the 2008 Los Angeles Auto Show, Asimo demonstrates features of the company's "FCX Clarity" hydrogen fuel cell family sedan).

"Honda hopes Asimo's appearance will draw attention to the Detroit Symphony Orchestra's nationally acclaimed youth music programs, and particularly Detroit Symphony Orchestra's effort to encourage and support involvement of children in Detroit," Honda said in a statement.

Asimo, which stands for Advanced Step in Innovative Mobility, made his first appearance in the United States on Feb. 14, 2007, when he rang the opening bell at the New York Stock Exchange. (End of Honda press release).

Asimo is conducting ... in Detroit?! Boy, those folks at Honda really know how to rub it in, don't they? Other recent Asimo happenings:

"Honda demonstrated its unique robot, ASIMO, at the Kennedy Center JAPAN! culture + hyperculture festival in Washington D.C. from Thursday, February 7 - Sunday, February 17, 2008.

The robot performed live (?) 15-minute demonstrations several times daily throughout the festival. Visitors will experience the most sophisticated robotics technology and see how robots like ASIMO will someday assist people. The free demonstrations will be held in the Nations Gallery at the Kennedy Center."

And ...

"Honda Motor Co., Ltd. has further advanced intelligence technologies enabling its advanced humanoid robot ASIMO to act autonomously and perform uninterrupted service to office guests. (Photo Below --- If Asimo replaces hostesses at Japanese companies, what will the women working there do? Gosh, maybe they'll let them have real jobs!)

Honda developed an intelligence technology that enhances smooth movement by enabling ASIMO to choose between stepping back and yielding the right-of-way or continuing to walk based on the predicted movement of oncoming people ("Out of the way, Asimo!", "Yes, master," or, "Hai, sensei." At least we hope that's what happens ... Just imagine the other possibilities). Honda also developed a new intelligence technology related to ASIMO's ability to perform tasks such as carrying a tray and pushing a cart. In addition, a newly added function enables ASIMO to automatically charge its battery when its remaining battery level falls below a certain level. Furthermore, a new comprehensive system was developed so that multiple ASIMOs can share tasks by adjusting to the situation and work together in coordination to provide uninterrupted service. For example, if one ASIMO is idled while recharging, other ASIMO robots will step in and perform assigned tasks.

Honda will begin test operations of two ASIMOs equipped with these newly developed technologies December 12, at the second floor lobby of Honda's Aoyama, Japan headquarters."

If human beings suddenly start flying out the windows of the upper stories of Honda's HQ, then we'll know ASIMO may have a problem or two ... But plugging-itself in when the battery gets low? Working in conjunction with other robots? Serious stuff, my friends (as John McCain might say, just like the used car salesman he is).

Hey, Uncle Car Nut, tell us about the time you first saw Honda's robot, Asimo, climb down a flight of stairs! (Photo --- Asimo at rest. It shrinks quite a bit when "off;" gaining height as it powers-up. Latest-generation Asimo is now four feet tall).

Well, sure kids ... Now gather round! And in spite of Honda's efforts (and who can blame them) to have  everyone anthropomorphize Asimo, like a favorite, gentle pet, let's keep in mind that "he" ( or "she" --- and who decides? Mrs. Asimo?) is quite literally a bucket of bolts. Very smart bolts and all the rest, but bolts nonetheless.

It was a cool, wet afternoon at Honda's Research and Development Center on Tochigi, Japan, about 50 miles north of Tokyo, in the lowlands surrounding the mountains where, if you cared to drive up, one would find the Twin Ring Motegi Race Track. Honda, at the time, had some 5,000 engineers working at the Tochigi R&D Center, none of them, they told us, over 40 years old. I bet a like-number of them were women, too, but I digress, kids ... You have to remember, "When in Rome, Do as the Romans Do" ...

Click below to read more about Honda's car-building, orchestra-conducting, and potentially union-bashing robot, Asimo!

$10 MILLION AUTOMOTIVE X PRIZE ANNOUNCED AT NY AUTO SHOW

In the same week in which futurists and all people across the globe (and who-knows-where-else) said goodbye to the incredible Sir Arthur C. Clarke, age 90, it was on March 20th at the New York International Auto Show, that the X PRIZE Foundation and Progressive Insurance jointly announced the $10 million dollar Progressive Insurance Automotive X PRIZE. "Let the race begin!" said X PRIZE Chairman and CEO Dr. Peter Diamandis. Sir Arthur was no doubt pleased, wherever he was when the announcement was made. (Photo - Tesla, their roadster pictured here, and whose cars went into production this week, according to the company, have entered the X Prize competition for autos).

Long after the Raptors, the Corvettes and Challengers and Murcielagos and those ubiquitous Hemi engines (doesn't the newly-private Chrysler Corporation make any other engines?) at this week's New York Auto Show are forgotten (like, next week), it's quite possible that the winning vehicle, and those who created it, in the $10 million Ansari X-Prize competition for vehicles, will be well-remembered many decades from now. Here's the basics, taken directly from the prize's website:

    The Ansari X PRIZE was modeled after the $25,000 Orteig Prize, offered in 1919 by wealthy hotelier Raymond Orteig, to the first pilot who could fly non-stop between New York and Paris. The prize was finally won in 1927, by an unknown airmail pilot named Charles Lindbergh. Lindbergh won the hearts of a nation, and his world-changing achievement spawned a $300 billion aviation industry.  (Photo - Richard Branson has been active in the X Prize contests on land and in the air, well, in space, actually).

    The X PRIZE Foundation began a revolution in private spaceflight with the $10 million Ansari X Prize.On October 4, 2004, the Mojave Aerospace Ventures team, led by famed aircraft designer Burt Rutan and financed by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen, captured the Ansari X PRIZE. The world took notice of this great achievement and the winning SpaceShipOne is now hanging in the Smithsonian National Air & Space Museum.

     The X Prize Foundation, best known for its competitions promoting space flights, is offering $10 million to the teams that can produce the most production-ready vehicles that get 100 miles per gallon or more.

     More than 60 teams from nine countries have signed up for the competition so far, including California electric carmakers Aptera Motors and Tesla Motors, German diesel carmaker Loremo and a team
from Cornell University (where Carl Sagan studied and taught for many years).

   Teams will be able to sign up through mid-2008, when applicants will be narrowed to those who can prove they would build production-ready, consumer-friendly cars. Those that qualify will race their vehicles in cross-country races in 2009 and 2010 that will combine speed, distance, urban driving and overall
performance.

    The purse will be split between two categories: mainstream and alternative cars. Mainstream cars must carry four or more passengers and have climate control, an audio system and 10 cubic feet of cargo space. They also must have four or more wheels, hit 60 miles per hour in less than 12 seconds and have a minimum top speed of 100 miles per hour and a range of 200 miles.

   Alternative vehicles will be required to carry two or more passengers and five cubic feet of cargo, have a top speed of at least 80 miles per hour and have a range of at least 100 miles.

The Santa Monica, Calif.-based X Prize Foundation, which was founded in 1995, gained fame in 2004 when it awarded $10 million to the first private vehicle to fly into space. The foundation since has launched a $10 million prize for rapid human genome sequencing and a $30 million prize for sending a robot to the moon.

GM COMES ON STRONG WITH E-MACHINES AT LA AUTO SHOW; ARE THEY FINALLY TAKING THE LEAD?

GM wins the "MPG Wars" at the Los Angeles Auto Show (2007 edition) ... Be sure to visit all our "Photo Albums", where you'll find our exclusive opinion and analysis on all the green-ish vehicles from Tokyo to SEMA to Los Angeles ...

To see our "2007 Los Angeles Auto Show Photo Album #1", and read our 'take' on each and every car/truck/crossover we thought important, scroll down in the left-hand margin or just 'click' anywhere on this line.

And for our 2007 LA Auto Show Photo Album #2, scroll down in the left-hand margin until the you see the album listed, or simply 'click' anywhere on this line.

Also, be certain to let us know what you think of our opinions ... Leave us a "comment" or two by clicking on the "comment" tab below or e-mailing us from this page after viewing the photo albums. And when in the photo albums, be sure to 'click' on the thumbnail shots to enjoy them in full-size, large format ... And do the same on this site's pages.

First, a look at the 'winner' in the "non-green" class: A foreign (not US) magazine put Nissan's GT-R on an engine dyno and managed to get near 475 horsepower from it ... Very close to the manufacturer's claims, which is a bit of news in itself. Nissan's all-new 2008 "Skyline GT-R" (photo above) will be known worldwide as "Nissan GT-R", losing the 'Skyline' name (much as the familiar Nissan sports car called, "Nissan Fairlady Z", is titled the "350Z" in the US, the numbers reflecting its engine size). The $79,000-or-so, (almost) 480-horsepower, all-wheel drive, twin-turbo'd, 3.8 liter V6 Nissan GT-R will be sold in a batch of 1,500 units per years in the US ... A car called 'Skyline' is still sold in Japan, and it is the rear-wheel-drive-only, non-turbo'd version of the GT-R; there are a huge number of other differences between the two cars. The latest iteration of the 'regular' Skyline coupe now being sold in Japan and some other markets is very closely related to the "Infiniti G37" sold in the US, with a 3.7 Liter V6; there is also a "370GT TypeSP" available in Japan, with some performance enhancements over the base Skyline.

While some of the cars (Honda's fuel cell FCX sporty car, but now with its fuel cell technology showcased in LA in a production-ready car Honda calls "Clarity", and will begin leasing soon to Southern California residents, for $600 per month; GM's fuel cell Equinox crossover, Nissan's GT-R, above) and light trucks at the Los Angeles Auto Show we had seen just a few weeks ago at the Tokyo Motor Show and at SEMA (the Camaro convertible, Toyota's 2009 Matrix and Corolla models, both built in Fremont, California, at New United Motors Manufacturing Incorporated (NUMMI), a plant shared by GM and Toyota), there's still nothing like the LA Auto Show to get the blood boiling about classic Detroit iron ... And it's also become 'the' place in the US for car-makers from around the world to display their "green-ness". Some of these manufacturers build millions of cars, others, like Tesla Motors, have a hard time getting even one single car to production and into customers hands.

General Motors came away from the LA Auto Show the clear "winner" in developing the necessary "oil-less" tech needed to save this planet. And I can't imagine any motoring journalist writing that, even as recently as one year ago. Chevrolet has been named the company's official "green" division, and they displayed their Volt (photo above), which can achieve, they say, 640 miles on a single 12-gallon tank of gasoline (which runs a generator used to recharge the on-board batteries). Volt can do its first forty miles on E-power only, after that the generator kicks-in to re-charge the batteries. Most people would say that "Green Car of the Year" is an award which would never go to a Chevy truck; "Green Car Journal", an industry magazine documenting the use of alternative fuels and technologies, gave the Chevy Tahoe full-size SUV its "Green Car of the Year" award, the second year the magazine has given this award (last year it went to the Toyota Camry hybrid, which was the obvious, logical choice).

Also to be available in the GMC Yukon as well as Chevy's and GMC's badge-engineered full-size pickups, the "dual mode hybrid" system uses "Active Fuel Management" to switch the 6.0 Liter V8 between 8 and 4 cylinders, seamlessly, as needed, and two 60-kilowatt electric motors packaged inside an all-new automatic transmission which can be fitted into, as of now, large cars and trucks, and eventually into smaller vehicles. A 300-volt battery is also used, and regenerative braking and the V8 both recharge the battery pack as needed. They can run, GM says, on all-electricity, all-gasoline, or a combination of the two and can as much as double current V8-only mileage. This new transmission was "borrowed" by GM from their medium truck and bus division, and tinkered-with for three years, mostly in Europe, by GM, BMW and (what was then) DaimlerChrysler.

GM also displayed the Malibu "mild hybrid", which turns the gas engine off when the car is stopped, then instantly starts it up again as soon as the driver hits the gas pedal. They also showed the latest version of their Equinox, which uses hydrogen pumped through fuel cells to create electricity which powers  electric motors on the vehicle's wheels, and everything else on-board (like air conditioning) which needs power.

Some vehicles displayed by the Former Big Three are moderated a bit by the use of gas/electric hybrid powerplants  ... but just what exactly is the "Hybrid Hemi" from Dodge supposed to be?

Chevy also displayed a trio of three fuel-sipping "concept" cars, all designed at GM's design studio in (sit down for this one) Inchon, South Korea. That's right, apparently GM's purchase of Daewoo gave GM the idea of letting "The Company Which Used To Be Known As Daewoo" design many of GM's small cars for The General, similar to the relationship Toyota has with their small car specialist, and wholly-owned company, Daihatsu. One of the three cars, the Beat (seen below), is headed for sales in overseas markets sometime in 2009, but whether or not it will be sold in the US has yet to be decided ... but GM execs at the show made strong statements favoring sales in the US by 2010. With its 1.2 liter turbocharged engine powering the front wheels, it's probably a kick to drive, but whether enough Americans would buy the Beat to make sense for Chevy dealers to put it in their showrooms remains to be seen. (Photo - GM's "dual mode hybrid transmission" whch contains two 60-kilowatt electric motors and is being used in GMC's and Chevy's full-size SUVs and pickups).

Was "Green Car Journal" out of their minds to present their prize to Chevy's Tahoe? Well, perhaps ... I've known its founder and editor, Ron Cogan, for over 20 years, and also did at times question his sanity (that's a joke, Ron, calm down!) but the facts are that large sedans and light trucks (SUVs, CUVs, minivans, etc.) are going to be with us for a long period of time, even after people who don't actually need them stop buying ridiculous behemoths like Hummers, because businesses are still going to need them for the purposes they were originally developed: Work.

By the way, GM also announced at the LA Auto Show that Hummers will be available in Europe and Asia (though only Japan was named; but they'll be sold in Korea and China, too, as GM needs new markets to make-up for the inevitable loss of Hummer sales in the US as newer and more-restrictive mpg and emissions numbers begin hitting their stride in the market place).

By the way: Have you seen the latest Hummer ad campaign for Christmas season, 2007? In attempting to justify sales of Hummers to soccer moms and their file clerk husbands, GM shows Hummers helping to fight fires and save lives during all manner of catastrophes which might afflict one's neighborhood. It reminds us of Ralphie, the kid in the classic Jean Shepherd written, Bob Clarke directed movie, "A Christmas Story".  Ralphie justifies his need for a "Red Ryder BB Gun (with a compass in the stock)" by telling his parents he'd be able to use the gun to ward off crooks and bears, living as they were in the suburbs of Chicago. (Photo below --- Chevy Tahoe, "Green Car of the Year").

Chevy also showed-off their all-new Malibu, and the hybrid version of the car took center-stage at the large Chevrolet exhibition area. The Malibu hybrid, which is on-sale and for under $23,000, uses a "mild hybrid" system with one electric motor, used to re-start the engine after it automatically stop at red lights or when the vehicle is stopped for any period of time; the engine starts-up again immediately as soon as the driver lifts off the brake or taps the gas pedal. That electric motor can also add a bit of power to the gas engine, and the system utilizes the energy created when the brakes are used to help recharge the motor's battery pack (a technology called "regenerative braking" and already used on most hybrid car and truck systems). Essentially the same system has already been used in Saturn's Aura and VUE. Now we'll watch how sales of these "dual hybrid" trucks do, and how they perform in the 'real' world.

Honda announced at the LA Auto Show that their FCX hydrogen-fueled fuel cell car will go into "production" soon and will be called "FCX Clarity". First displayed at the 1999 Tokyo Motor Show, all the cars will be hand-built in Japan. Honda says that for a $600 a month lease (similar to what GM did with their wonderful little 'EV1' electric car which was leased from Saturn dealers), up to 100 Americans, most of them in Southern California, where Honda says there are several facilities where Clarity drivers can "fill 'er up", will have their own personal experiences with driving an early fuel cell car. Most importantly to Honda, and to the future of the technology, the company will keep a keen eye on how the cars are operating in the "real" world. Each of the cars will cost Honda hundred of thousands of dollars to build, perhaps even one million dollars or more.

Honda also displayed what could be a major part of every country's infrastructure by the middle of this century, the latest version of a refrigerator-sized contraption (photo) which they call their "Home Energy Station". Honda says it can hook-up to the natural gas line coming into almost every house and building in America, and separate the hydrogen from the natural gas, thus allowing fuel cell car-owners to literally make their own hydrogen fuel, at home and/or their office. With this system, Clarity buyers will be able to make their own fuel, and it's more than possible that homes, businesses and even entire cities could eventually be powered by hydrogen being converted to electricity. It's how the astronauts got to the moon and back. And this and other similar systems are being tested in businesses, factories and even private homes in Japan.

GM was definitely not left-out of the "fuel cell" game at the LA Auto Show, exhibiting the latest version of their Equinox, a vehicle we've seen in different iterations at auto shows in Los Angeles, Detroit and Tokyo over the past few years. GM announced at Los Angeles that 60 people in Southern California, and up to 100 nationwide, will be "road testing" Equinox vehicles, gaining the corporation real world experience with their fuel cell vehicles. Several Equinox vehicles will also be loaned to the Disney Company and used as staff shuttles. Visitors to Disneyland and Disney World might remember the days when the newest GM vehicles would be displayed near the ticket booths for those parks, emphasizing a feeling to the Disney parks' guests that both Disney and GM are great American companies. Chevy, which is taking the lead for GM in alternative fuels and fuel cell development, also showed their Volt plug-in hybrid at the LA Auto Show.

To see 2007 LA Auto Show Photo Album #1, scroll down in the left-hand margin until the you see the album listed, or simply 'click' anywhere on this line. And for our 2007 LA Auto Show Photo Album #2, scroll down in the left-hand margin until the you see the album listed, or simply 'click' anywhere on this line. And remember --- Please be sure to let us know what YOU think, too! And now, enjoy!