Hybrid Vehicles

WASHINGTON - Advocates for the blind want the government to set minimum sound standards for new cars and trucks, pointing to potential safety hazards for blind pedestrians who can't hear silent gas-electric hybrid vehicles. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration held a daylong hearing yesterday to discuss the issue, which has been raised by organizations that represent about 1.1 million legally blind Americans. "For us, these cars are invisible," said Deborah Kent Stein of the National Federation of the Blind.

Toyota Motor Sales USA Inc. said Tuesday that its April U.S. sales rose 11.6 percent on continued demand for the Camry sedan and Prius family of hybrid vehicles. The company said consumer confidence was improving and it expects "sustained industry growth in the months ahead. " BY THE NUMBERS: Toyota sold 178,044 cars and trucks last month, compared with 159,540 in April 2011. Adjusted for 3 fewer selling days last month, the company said the average daily selling rate rose 25.5 percent.

WASHINGTON -- Hybrid cars now seem to be a good bet for tax breaks in 2006. The new year will bring more savings for buyers of at least 13 gas-electric vehicles. Those showing the most improvement in fuel efficiency will secure bigger tax breaks for their new owners. The breaks will come in the form of tax credits, and they range from $3,150 for buyers of the Toyota Prius to $250 for Chevrolet's Silverado pickup truck, according to an analysis by the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy.

Massachusetts is becoming the second state in the nation to outfit electric and hybrid vehicles with special license plates that will protect public safety workers responding to accidents, officials said Monday. Mark Sylvia, commissioner of the state Department of Energy Resources, said in a phone interview that the first run of about 17,600 of the plates are now available at Registry of Motor Vehicles branches across the state. Only Hawaii offers similar plates in the United States, Sylvia said, and current electric vehicle owners in Massachusetts can swap their existing plates...

Massachusetts is becoming the second state in the nation to outfit electric and hybrid vehicles with special license plates that will protect public safety workers responding to accidents, officials said Monday. Mark Sylvia, commissioner of the state Department of Energy Resources, said in a phone interview that the first run of about 17,600 of the plates are now available at Registry of Motor Vehicles branches across the state. Only Hawaii offers similar plates in the United States, Sylvia said, and current electric vehicle owners in Massachusetts can swap their existing plates...

CHIBA, Japan -- The usually futuristic "concept cars" at the Tokyo auto show are taking on an all-too-real immediacy this year amid soaring oil prices, with ecologically friendly autos grabbing the limelight. The overriding message at the Tokyo Motor Show, opening Saturday, is that gas-guzzlers must make way for green cars that pollute less and rely less on shrinking supplies of fossil fuels. Reporters got a preview yesterday of the show's offerings of experimental ecological cars, including a vehicle that switches back and forth between an electric motor and a hydrogen-powered...

Toyota Motor Sales USA Inc. said Tuesday that its April U.S. sales rose 11.6 percent on continued demand for the Camry sedan and Prius family of hybrid vehicles. The company said consumer confidence was improving and it expects "sustained industry growth in the months ahead. " BY THE NUMBERS: Toyota sold 178,044 cars and trucks last month, compared with 159,540 in April 2011. Adjusted for 3 fewer selling days last month, the company said the average daily selling rate rose 25.5 percent.

TOKYO -- Toyota , which dominates the hybrid-vehicle market with more than a million sold over the past decade, has developed a new type that plugs into a home socket for a longer ride as an electric car -- raising the stakes in the plug-in race. The Toyota Plug-in HV received government approval yesterday to run on public roads for tests, the first time a manufacturer has received such certification in Japan, Toyota Motor Corp. said. Toyota plans tests for the United States and Europe.

Zipcar Inc., the Cambridge-based car sharing system, said it is teaming up with the City of Boston to help the city's fleet of vehicles gain efficiencies and savings. Under a program called "FleetHub," a number of city-owned vehicles will be equipped with Zipcar's proprietary car sharing technology for use by city employees. Through the program, the city will be able to combine vehicles that were once dedicated to individual city departments and create an interdepartmental fleet that city employees can share, in part by using Zipcar's...

General Electric and General Motors Co. agreed Thursday on a pilot installation of electric vehicle charging stations in Shanghai, the latest step in the automaker's plan to develop infrastructure in China to support sales of its Chevrolet Volt electric car. As part of the agreement, GE also agreed to buy the extended range electric cars for use at its corporate campus in Shanghai. GM plans to launch the Volt in December in China, where it has made electric vehicles a core part of its strategy for expansion despite doubts Chinese consumers will snap up such cars.

NEWBURYPORT - The new electric car charging station is right out front at Massachusetts Audubon's Joppa Flats Education Center. But on this sunny March afternoon, sanctuary director Bill Gette asked a visitor to follow him around back to a spot people don't ordinarily go, to see the center's electric meters. "This is the meter for the photovoltaic cells on the roof. You see it's turning really fast? This is recording the kilowatt hours that are being generated right now," Gette said.

Zipcar Inc., the Cambridge-based car sharing system, said it is teaming up with the City of Boston to help the city's fleet of vehicles gain efficiencies and savings. Under a program called "FleetHub," a number of city-owned vehicles will be equipped with Zipcar's proprietary car sharing technology for use by city employees. Through the program, the city will be able to combine vehicles that were once dedicated to individual city departments and create an interdepartmental fleet that city employees can share, in part by using Zipcar's...

SAN FRANCISCO - Seeking to influence other states and Washington, California air regulators passed sweeping auto emission standards yesterday that include a mandate to have 1.4 million electric and hybrid vehicles on state roads by 2025. The California Air Resources Board unanimously approved the new rules that require that one in seven of the new cars sold in the state in 2025 be an electric or other zero-emission vehicle. The plan also mandates a 75 percent reduction in smog-forming pollutants by 2025, and a 50 percent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions from...

General Electric and General Motors Co. agreed Thursday on a pilot installation of electric vehicle charging stations in Shanghai, the latest step in the automaker's plan to develop infrastructure in China to support sales of its Chevrolet Volt electric car. As part of the agreement, GE also agreed to buy the extended range electric cars for use at its corporate campus in Shanghai. GM plans to launch the Volt in December in China, where it has made electric vehicles a core part of its strategy for expansion despite doubts Chinese consumers will snap up such cars.

WASHINGTON - Advocates for the blind want the government to set minimum sound standards for new cars and trucks, pointing to potential safety hazards for blind pedestrians who can't hear silent gas-electric hybrid vehicles. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration held a daylong hearing yesterday to discuss the issue, which has been raised by organizations that represent about 1.1 million legally blind Americans. "For us, these cars are invisible," said Deborah Kent Stein of the National Federation of the Blind.

TOKYO -- Toyota , which dominates the hybrid-vehicle market with more than a million sold over the past decade, has developed a new type that plugs into a home socket for a longer ride as an electric car -- raising the stakes in the plug-in race. The Toyota Plug-in HV received government approval yesterday to run on public roads for tests, the first time a manufacturer has received such certification in Japan, Toyota Motor Corp. said. Toyota plans tests for the United States and Europe.

DETROIT -- For hybrid vehicles at this year's North American International Auto Show, the "wow" factor is over. Nine years after Toyota Motor Co. introduced the first gas-electric hybrid, automakers expect to sell 200,000 hybrid vehicles this year in the United States, said Anthony Pratt, an analyst with J.D. Power and Associates. Since 2000, hybrid sales in the United States have grown at an average annual rate of 88.6 percent, according to Michigan-based R.L. Polk & Co. But to keep posting those kinds of gains, automakers must keep improving hybrid engines and keep hybrid prices down.

OSHKOSH, Wis. -- At the top of a 10-foot mound of dirt, Gary Schmiedel takes in the silence. The military truck he's driving barely hums just before it careens down a steep incline into a muddy pool. Normally the vehicle -- a heavy expanded-mobility technical truck, or HEMTT -- would be so loud the occupants wouldn't be able to talk to each other, said Schmiedel, vice president of product engineering for Oshkosh Truck Corp. But this version is about as loud as a standard sedan, with a smooth ride, splashy computer screens, and a comfortable interior.

OSHKOSH, Wis. -- At the top of a 10-foot mound of dirt, Gary Schmiedel takes in the silence. The military truck he's driving barely hums just before it careens down a steep incline into a muddy pool. Normally the vehicle -- a heavy expanded-mobility technical truck, or HEMTT -- would be so loud the occupants wouldn't be able to talk to each other, said Schmiedel, vice president of product engineering for Oshkosh Truck Corp. But this version is about as loud as a standard sedan, with a smooth ride, splashy computer screens, and a comfortable interior.

WASHINGTON -- Hybrid cars now seem to be a good bet for tax breaks in 2006. The new year will bring more savings for buyers of at least 13 gas-electric vehicles. Those showing the most improvement in fuel efficiency will secure bigger tax breaks for their new owners. The breaks will come in the form of tax credits, and they range from $3,150 for buyers of the Toyota Prius to $250 for Chevrolet's Silverado pickup truck, according to an analysis by the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy.