General Motors has paired up with venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers to invest $30 million in a small company that produces mass transit buses fueled by electricity. The investment is part of GM's Venture program, designed to support innovation in transportation technology. The company is interested in promoting alternatives to ease the country's fuel consumption and stimulate ideas on the cutting edge of practical environmentally friendly transportation advances. Buses Powered by Lithium Ion Batteries The buses are manufactured by ProTerra, a company based in Greenville, South Carolina. The Proterra EcoRide BE-35 bus gets its power from lithium ion battery packs that can be charged through a receptor in the roof of the bus in as little as 10 minutes. Each cha...

When Toyota first released the Prius hybrid, no one was sure if the half battery,half gasoline powered engine would catch on. Sales figures from the last year indicate that the driving public is getting more and more excited about using electricity to power their daily drivers. Rising fuel costs and improving technology is making hybrids more popular than ever, and hybrid production has been ramped up to meet the skyrocketing demand. European, Asian, and American automakers are all rushing to enter the hybrid market as soon as possible. From Compact to Luxury The Prius offered low fuel consumption in a small package. This year, car manufacturers are putting hybrid systems into all types of cars. The compact car is still the best represented in the hybrid field, but customers can als...

A concept car or a show car as it is also known are very popular in the motoring World. For the general public concept cars will be relatively unknown as the cars themselves will not be on general sale for some years and maybe not at all. The name itself may give away what one actually is but can be quite difficult to understand the reasoning behind why they are made. Concept cars are made to develop and showcase new car styling and new technologies that have be invented. You will see a lot of things at a concept car show and it may be more the cars. You will see engines and all sorts of items to do with motoring. Car manufacturers will have dedicated people inventing new techniques and processes to make cars run more efficiently and smoothly a concept car show is an ideal platfo...

Recently learned, Toyota Motor Corp is planning to launch its hybrid car to take guidelines from the economical hybrid from Honda. This Insight Honda hybrid came to the US not long ago. Toyota has aimed to launch wearing a lower price tag just like Honda hybrid. This Toyota Yaris will be a small gasoline electric car as told by chief engineer of the redesigned, third-generation Toyota Prius, Akihiko Otsuka. Honda, A Cheap Rival It is quite evident from the recent revealed plan from Toyota that it is worried due to Honda’s plans. Honda is a known local rival of Toyota. Probably that is the main reason Toyota is going for a low priced car. Honda’s Insight is priced around $20,000 and has gained a lot of market praise and elevated sales. Even Prius Is Costlier In compari...