It’s the same stuff that causes violent food poisoning.  Texas A&M chemical engineering professor Thomas Wood has genetically engineered a profile of E. coli that produces 140 times as much hydrogen than is produced in a naturally occurring process. Best of all, it’s very easy to isolate...

It’s the same stuff that causes violent food poisoning. Texas A&M chemical engineering professor Thomas Wood has genetically engineered a style of E. coli that produces 140 times as much hydrogen than is produced in a naturally occurring process. Best of all, it’s very easy to isolate...

Johnson Controls and Saft Advanced potential Solutions have opened what they shout the world’s first factory committed exclusively to manufacturing lithium-ion batteries for electric and hybrid vehicles. The plant, in Nersac, France, will produce 5,000 batteries annually to start, but company...

Hyundai has unleashed both of its planned Super Bowl spots. Narrated by Jeff Bridges, the subdued videos try to hammer domestic the letter that Hyundai is indeed bringing big-car luxury at small-luxury prices. At that it does a good job. But for us, we’re dismayed that the car in the commercials...

So you want an electric sports car but don’t have $98,000 to drop on a Tesla Roadster? Never fear, the ZAP Alias is here. nearly. ZAP says it will start producing the, um, strange three-wheeler by the middle next of year. That seems optimistic, given the company only recently invited suppliers...

The company’s U.S. sales had dwindled to virtually nothing. More importantly, the two models Isuzu currently sells stateside, the Ascender SUV and i-series pickup (both manufactured by General Motors), will no longer be built. Some Isuzu dealers had hoped that a surprise announcement for a new...

Laps around California’s Mazda Laguna Seca Raceway in the stupendous new Lexus IS F sedan and, at the other end of the range, a relaxed week behind the wheel of the more sensible (but still engaging) IS250 (pictured above), has me contemplating the IS we don’t get — Europe’s...

Recently I was scheduled back-to-back in a new Mercury Sable AWD — in the new Premier trim level — and a Chrysler 300C AWD. Besides a big difference in price and engine sizes, the two large family sedans serve pretty much the same aims, and I thought it might be interesting to see how...

Tesla Motors made news recently when the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration exempted the company???s new all-electric Roadster from its advanced airbag requirement for three years. How does a car manage to get an airbag exemption? Not easily, but Tesla makes for a different example. After...

Isuzu began notifying its dealers Wednesday that next year the Japanese automaker will stop selling its entire lineup, including the midsize Ascender SUV derived from the Chevrolet Blazer and the midsize i-290 and i-370 pickup trucks derived from the Chevy Colorado. One source said he wasn’t...

We’ve been following the HumanCar Imagine for awhile now and know you’ve all been dying to form out when you can get one. The wait is by - the human-powered hybrid electric car will launch on soil Day. It’ll set you back $15,000, but who cares when it includes what the company calls...

Uncle Sam has increased his bet on cellulosic ethanol as the cure for our oil addiction, doling out $114 million to four pilot refineries and hinting that it might distibute another $86 million in the months to come. The agency of Energy said it was supporting the four small-scale biorefineries considering...

Mike Hanley, David Thomas and Joe Wiesenfelder recently spent a lot of quality instance in three large, luxury SUVs and had the tough task of determining which one topped the bling-obsessed heap. Besides tackling those big, bold SUV grilles, the trio additionally factored in cargo usability, interior...

In the ideal world, our plug-in vehicles will recharge overnight when demands on the electric grid are low. In the real world, a sizable percentage of electric cars will be sucking down potential in the middle of hot summer days when air conditioners are pushing the electric gird to capacity. So V2Green...