A hydraulic hybrid is a high-mpg propulsion system that eliminates the need for batteries. Basically, a small diesel motor powers a hydraulic pump that fills an accumulator, which in turns sends fluid pressure to pump motors that power the wheels. Then, regenerative braking grabs back as much as 70% of the vehicle’s stopping energy to charge the system back up. The result is a 50% increase in fuel efficiency.  So far, hydraulic hybrids have been limited to commercial vehicles and military applications–UPS plans on adding hydraulic hybrids to its delivery fleet this year, and a company called Hydra-Drive has developed a hydraulic-hybrid Humvee and is planning to supply the US Army with more vehicles. But now,  Lightning Hybrids, a contender for the Progressive Automotive X Prize, is developing a 100 mpg passenger car prototype for the open market, the first-ever attempt to put hydraulic hybrid technology in a civilian passenger vehicle. The ride has a pretty decent quotient of retro-styled cool, with a carbon-fiber body intended to evoke the ‘63 split-window Stingray, and it opens up like a clamshell in a manner reminiscent of the Saab Aero X concept. Keep an eye on this build–it looks like it’s going to be pretty cool when it’s done. More pics below the jump, and check out Wired to read more.

If you’re going to kill yourself—which is generally not a good solution for anything—it’s only polite to do as little damage as possible on your way out. Otherwise, you could really ruin some innocent person’s day. Seriously, check out what an errant jumper did to this poor car. Anyway, here’s the news:

• The new 370Z employs a system called "SynchroRev Match," which matches engine and tranny speed automatically, and eliminates the need for heel-toe shifting. And while I’d still like to master the old technique, I have to admit it sounds pretty cool. What isn’t cool? According to this article, only 15% of people know how to drive a stick. Lame. LA Times
• As we all know, it’s a tough time to be a CEO at one of the Big Three. And while a government bailout might help things, maybe there are other solutions worth exploring—like a good old fashioned bake sale! Jalopnik
• While auto plant closures are sure to be painful everywhere, and least one expert thinks the neighbors to the north will get screwed first. Blame Canada! Automotive News
• A wind-powered sports car? While the idea sounds like complete fantasy, Ecotricity founder Dale Vince thinks it can be done. Here’s hoping he pulls it off. Motor Authority

By Rob Einaudi

Editor-in-Chief

SEMA took a small step forward in the green category this year. Some of the top "green" vehicles were the Hi-Pa Drive F-150 (via Truck Trend), the E-85 X Prize Fox Body Mustang, the John Deere Smart, the Electric Blazer and of course the Vertical Doors Prius. Which is your favorite?

By Jen Dunnaway

Editor

The Progressive X PRIZE, a race to build a functional 100 mpg, 100 mph-capable vehicle, is getting some serious traction at the SEMA show this year. This ‘85 Blazer, built by Physics Lab of Lake Havasu, is powered by dual electric motors and draws some of its power from regenerative shocks—energy is generated every time they bounce, and it’s then stored in an accumulator under the truck. The Blazer retains its original 4WD drivetrain, and is heavy as hell—it started life at around 5500 lbs, and currently tips the scales at over 7000. Right now it tops out at 80 mph, and needs to gain the 20 that’ll make it a true contender for the prize.  But owner Jim Stansbury wouldn’t have it any other way: part of his mission with this project is to prove that plug-in EV technology is possibe even with a heavy vehicle. It’s some pretty innovative technology he’s working with, and he’s had to do it on a serious budget, funding a lot of the project with personal savings. The next step, in addition to gaining speed, is to figure ways to harness solar-thermal and waste heat to help power the motors. The Blazer is a work in progress, and Jim’s only got until September to finish it. See more pics after the jump, and check out his site.

By Jen Dunnaway

Editor

In the midst of an extravaganza that tends to emphasize eye-flattening horsepower and gratuitous fuel consumption, it was pretty funny to run across a whole corral of green vehicles under the cringe-worthy banner "Making Green Cool." While it’s a header that seems at first to protest too much, there were actually some pretty cool rides on display which fit the bill—sorta—for eco-friendliness. The two major themes were green racing performance—like this E98-fueled, NASCAR-engined ‘68 Camaro, finished in water-based primer, which will take a crack at the Bonneville land-speed record on E98 ethanol—and gigantic alt-diesel trucks, like the "Vegistroke" Superduty, which runs entirely on waste vegetable oil. Of course, the underlying message is that you can go "green" without sacrificing anything, which is a nice sentiment. Hell, it’s not like anyone’s ever tried to say that SEMA’s about being realistic! There was also a decent showing by the Progressive Automotive X PRIZE 100 mpg challenge cars, like this fox-body Mustang—more on those later. See more green machines after the jump.

By Jen Dunnaway

Editor

So, we were all betting that no one would show up in a Prius this year, but over in the hilariously-named "Making Green Cool" section, I found this completely unapologetic example of every enthusiast’s favorite car to make fun of. Whoever built it pulled out all the stops: lambo doors, yellow-tinted windows, reflective headlight surrounds, and an interior done entirely in a shiny, carbon-look material. It’s running 19" CCE wheels wrapped in 35-series tires. Yeah, I can’t help myself—it’s awful, and I kind of love it. See more after the jump.

I had a feeling the eBox would win our "greenest" track car trophy, but I didn’t realize it would be so reliable throughout the day, and so fast. Josh took me on a quick drag run (and this is after the car had been beat on all day) and I can attest firsthand that this electric Scion is quick! It pulled happily all the way to 90mph before Josh backed off, and all the while the car was totally quiet.

The AC Propulsion conversion, done to first generation Scion xBs, costs close to $50k. But the car has a range of 150 miles and the recharge time is quite short. AC Propulsion didn’t do anything special to prepare for the track event. Other than the electric conversion, this is a bone stock xB, including the suspension. It helps that Josh (a vehicle product engineer for AC Propulsion) is a very skilled driver–he normally pilots an M Coupe track car.

Between sessions Josh took the eBox back to his little tent, plugged the car in and ran the AC to bring the battery temps down. Then he’d go back out onto the track and flog the little car some more. It ran in all four sessions, then Josh charged it up once more, hopped in and drove home to Monrovia, which was about 130 miles away.

What did the other racers think? Everyone loved it, and Josh got a big cheer when he got up on the podium to accept his trophy (he also scored third place in Shop Junior Varsity).

So how exactly did it win the "greenest track car" trophy? Well, we had John Fabijanic from Cal Poly on hand to determine the winner, and I have his full methodology after the jump.

Scoring is a very high-level methodology based on vehicle weight, power and fuel. Vehicles are scored relative to a baseline track car, a production 2009 Dodge Viper (3450 lb. dry weight, 600hp 8.4L V10 gasoline). The scoring method attempts to consider the total life cycle cost (LCC) which encompasses the energy to extract and produce the basic materials, to produce the vehicle, consumed during operation and for disposal. True total LCC is a relatively new way of evaluating vehicles and as such is still very much under development.

The green scores are weighted heavily (30% vehicle weight, 20% material weight reduction) to the overall vehicle weight. For a track car the number of miles driven can vary from miniscule if the car is tailored to the track to the same as a daily driver. This scoring model does not attempt to score this distinction and considers the total mileage driven to be very small compared to a daily driver. The great majority of energy consumed and therefore greenhouse gas released occurs during the actual production of the vehicle and again for its disposal. Therefore a lighter vehicle, i.e. less material, will require less energy to produce. Additionally, a lighter car is desirable as it requires less power to accelerate and decelerate. It is assumed that all cars are production based and have a similar material content proportion. A ‘bonus’ score is available for those who reduce the weight or change the construction of a production vehicle significantly. The score is based on the CO2 or energy required to produce the material compared to the replaced material.

The next greatest driver in the greenness of a vehicle is the amount of power produced. Less power equals less fuel. The power component of the scoring is weighted 30% of the total score. Finally, except for extremely long haul vehicles, is the choice of fuel. The relative CO2 production is determined based on fuel choice and relative engine power and is weighted 10% of the total score. The choice of fuel will also drive the amount of fuel and weight of fuel carried for equivalent power and duration. This additional fuel weight is accounted for and weighted 10% of the total score. All electric vehicles have a slightly modified scoring system with a fixed CO2 value, weighted for power output, based on Argonne Laboratory GREET results and no fuel weight penalty is levied as the battery weight is constant and is accounted for in the overall vehicle weight.

All scores are "bigger number is better." The material weight reduction score was zero for each car at this competition.

So here’s how it scored compared to the E85-powered WCM Ultralite, our fastest "green" track car:

Weight

xBox: 5
E85-powered WCM Ultralite: 39

Material

xBox: -
E85-powered WCM Ultralite: -

Power

xBox: 60
E85-powered WCM Ultralite: 17

Displacement

xBox: -
E85-powered WCM Ultralite: -

CO2

xBox: 75
E85-powered WCM Ultralite: 17

Fuel Weight

xBox: 0
E85-powered WCM Ultralite: 15

Total

xBox: 140
E85-powered WCM Ultralite: 89

It took a bit of poking and prodding, but we managed to round up four "green" track cars for the Grassroots Motorsports Ultimate Track Car Challenge on Sunday. We have two Jetta TDIs–the Chili Pepper Racing TDI and the Kerma TDI. We’ll also have the AC Propulsion eBox, which currently holds the 1/8th mile record with the National Electric Drag Racing Association for a street conversion. And finally, we have the Organic Racing Lotus 7 replica (an E85-powered WCM Ultralite S2K). These four will compete to see who’s the fastest, and who’s the greenest. Stay tuned for full coverage of Sunday’s event at Buttonwillow.

Kevin and Michelle of Organic Racing have embarked on the unique challenge of building what most people would consider a contradiction in terms: an environmentally sustainable race car. This Lotus 7 replica is built largely with salvaged or recyled parts, including a junkyard Honda S2000 VTec and an STi rear end. This husband-and-wife team is one of the few that’s running the entire One Lap event with an open cockpit, through all the nasty elements. (They’ve got heated racing suits and rain gear, but damn). Crazier still, their homebuilt trailer, known among One Lap participants as "the coffin," will actually be used by whoever’s not driving as a sleeping pod—while running on the highway. Would you dare? The Lotus gets 31 mpg highway on E85, which is great—though with emerging evidence that ethanol isn’t the environmental silver bullet that it was originally touted as, a turbo-diesel swap and a vegetable oil conversion might have to be next! We’ll be keeping an eye on the Lotus as One Lap unfolds, and you’ll be seeing it again real soon at the GRM Green Track Car Challenge in Buttonwillow next month.

Forget about the electric Elise. How about an electric Mustang? That’s what HST International is working on, along with a Shelby Cobra. Think they’ll be wussy? Think again. Their EV Mustang will do 0-60 in 3.9 seconds and their EV Cobra will do it in a blistering 3.2 seconds. Price? $80k and $125k respectively, and they’re taking orders now. More at AutoblogGreen.