GreenBriefs: GM's Electric Plans; NYPD Going Green; Prius PHEV Goes to School
By John O'Dell August 19, 2010Electric Future: General Motors will invest "heavily" in developing electric and hybrid-electric vehicles over the next two years and plans to develop awe plug-in hybrid-electric vehicle (PHEV) in 2012, the automaker said in its Securities and Exchange Commission Filing for a prospective initial public offering.
GM didn't specify a make or model for the PHEV and said its Chevrolet Volt and Opel Ampera are its only two extended-range plug-in hybrid electric vehicles presently under development. The new PHEV will use GM's two-mode propulsion system, in which an electric motor will exclusively be used at low speeds and a combination of a combustion engine and electric power will be used to increase fuel efficiency at higher speeds.
Green Police: The New York Police Department this week started using the first 30 of the 102 Ford Fusion Hybrids it plans to add to its fleet in an effort to help cut the city's carbon footprint by almost a third within the next seven years.
NYPD, which also has 76 Nissan Altima Hybrids, is looking to replace its 3,000 Chevrolet Impalas with more fuel-efficient vehicles, the newspaper said. The Fusion Hybrid's EPA-rated fuel efficiency of 41 miles per gallon is more than double that of the Impala.
Plug-In U: Syracuse University is among the upstate New York entities that will receive Toyota Prius Plug-In Hybrid vehicles as part of a testing program with the Energy Department's Clean Cities Program.
Clean Communities of CNY will receive six Prius plug-in hybrids, which will also be used by Syracuse Center of Excellence and nonprofit car-sharing service CuseCar. Toyota is running a demonstration and testing project with about 150 Prius PHEVs in the U.S. and about 600 globally.
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