We've fallen behind on news... below are some of
the important reports we've seen. We're providing
mainly URLs and headlines rather than full texts.

CONTENTS:
* Google RechargeIT/YouTube's 90-second PHEV video contest
* Maps of where PHEVs are updated
* Wall Street Journal IDs more green carmakers
* Popular Science predictive markets and Chevy Volt
* Canadian paper touts California's role with PHEVs
* Quebec's new PHEV program
* Raser-FEV developing a PHEV
* Magna puts $30M into PHEVs
* PHEVs in progressive magazines
* Jeffrey Sachs on PHEVs
* Upcoming conferences
* Aptera company news
* Sacramento Bee profiles Dr. Andy Frank


GOOGLE RECHARGEIT/YOUTUBE VIDEO
Create a 90-second video about PHEVs in the next
few weeks and get featured all over! The sooner
the better on this: if you're one of the first,
and you produce a gem, you could be featured when
the project launches. Here's the first paragraph
of the Google/Youtube video invitation go to the URL for details:
Would you like to drive a plug-in vehicle?
Hundreds of vehicles are on the road today, but
millions of people want them. Create a YouTube
video telling us why you want to drive a plug-in.
If you already own one, create a video showing us
how it works! Your videos will be featured on a
map on Google.org's RechargeIT website and the
best videos will be awarded prizes.
https://spreadsheets.google.com/viewform?key=pNKDyRAyFLWjkknkazWn7Hg&email=true


PHEV MAP UPDATED
By the way, the jointly-produced Calcars-Google
map of "Where PHEVs Are" at
http://www.rechargeit.org and at
http://www.calcars.org/where-phevs-are.html
(along with a list of vehicles at that second
URL) is now relatively up to date -- if your PHEV
isn't there, please follow the instructions at
the CalCars URL to submit your car.


WSJ IDENTIFIES NEW SMALL PHEV COMPANIES
A survey in the Wall Street Journal, "Start-Ups
Race to Produce 'Green' Cars," by Edward Taylor,
on page B1 May 6, 2008, shows we may need to add
Loremo, Mindset and Gordon Murray to our
http://www.calcars.org/carmakers.html list of small carmakers working on PHEVs.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121002128666768637.html


CHEVY VOLT IN PREDICTIVE MARKET
Fans of the popular book, "The Wisdom of Crowds"
will note that at Popular Science's POPSCI.COM,
"The Future Now," the odds of the Chevy Volt
coming to market by January 1, 2011 rose steadily
last year from 50 in May to the mid-70s in
October of last year, and since then has been
steady -- so you'd get a $100 payoff for a $73 bet.
http://ppx.popsci.com/security/view.php?symbol=CHVOLT
For the large volume of GM Volt news, we refer you to http://www.gm-volt.com


RASER & FEV DEVELOPING A PHEV
http://www.mlive.com/business/index.ssf/2008/04/plugin_suv_on_drawing_board_of.h\
tml
Auburn Hills firm FEV Inc. develops plug-in hybrid SUV
by Sven Gustafson | Oakland Business Review
Thursday April 17, 2008, 3:00 PM
Auburn Hills-based engineering company FEV Inc.
is working with a Utah firm to develop a
full-size plug-in hybrid electric sport-utility
vehicle capable of driving up to 40 miles in
electric-only mode within three years.
Provo, Utah-based Raser Technologies Inc.
[NYSE:RZ] describes the vehicle, which it is
developing with a Detroit automaker, as an
electric vehicle with a range extender that would
deliver average fuel economy ratings of 100 miles
per gallon. Raser would not identify the Detroit
automaker it is working with but said it will
likely demonstrate the vehicle with the company
during a United States auto show later this year.
The vehicle will use a series hybrid architecture
that combines lithium-ion battery packs with a
small gasoline engine, an onboard generator, a
traction motor and electronic drive controller
modules. The technology would initially be
incorporated into an existing production
full-size SUV but could eventually be
incorporated into pickup trucks, said James
Spellman, Raser's vice president of business development.


TOP CANADIAN AUTO PARTS SUPPLIER MAGNA PUTS $30M INTO PHEVS
This project with an undisclosed automotive
manufacturer as partner could be signficant.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20080429.RMAGNA29/TPStory/Busin\
ess
Magna's next car to be powered by electricity
Leaps into environmentally friendly market with
plans to build plug-in hybrid autos
GREG KEENAN AUTO INDUSTRY REPORTER April 29, 2008
AURORA, ONT. -- Magna International Inc. has
joined the race to develop a plug-in hybrid car
and plans to have a prototype on the road next year or in 2010.
The Magna project is being run out of the Magna
Steyr manufacturing and research and development
operations in Austria. It is being led by Herbert
Demel, chief operating officer of vehicles and
powertrain for Magna, and Burkhard Goeschel,
chief technical officer of vehicles and powertrain. <SNIP>
The main Magna Steyr engineering centre consists
of about 1,200 engineers in Graz, Austria,
adjacent to the assembly plant where Magna Steyr
assembles complete vehicles under contract for
GM's Saab division, Chrysler LLC, BMW and Mercedes-Benz.<SNIP>
But engineers and researchers in virtually all
Magna divisions are working on projects designed
to assist in the plug-in hybrid program, taking
advantage of the parts company's diverse areas of
expertise, such as development of lightweight
metals, new uses for plastics, expertise in
development of engines and engine components, and
its experience in co-ordinating complete vehicle assembly.<SNIP>
The parts giant, based in Aurora, Ont., has set
aside an initial budget of $30-million to develop
the car, Mr. Stronach said. Magna has vowed never
to compete with the auto makers it supplies, so
it could manufacture such a vehicle on a contract
basis for one of its customers or assemble the
car under its own brand for niche markets in
which its customers don't participate.


TORONTO GLOBE AND MAIL STORY ON CALIFORNIA'S ROLE IN PHEVS
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20080501.WHPLUGIN01/TPStory/Env\
ironment
California jump-starts the plug-in race
For now, the leaders are General Motors and
Toyota. Both are developing plug-in hybrids for sale around 2010
JEREMY CATO jcato@... May 1, 2008
Who says governments can't mandate technological breakthroughs?
Nearly half a century ago, California regulators
led the world by introducing strict
anti-pollution rules. Despite heated opposition,
auto makers managed to comply and today the
average new vehicle is 98 per cent cleaner, in
terms of smog-forming emissions, than it was in 1963.
Thanks to catalytic converters, cleaner fuel and
more efficient fuel and combustion management
technology - the various traps and filters and
fuel injectors that are now standard on all new
cars - tailpipe emissions from new vehicles are now pretty negligible.
Well, California is at it again. <snip>


CANADIAN CONSORTIUM PLANS TWO-PHASE PHEV STUDY
Quebec City and Partners Launch Major PHEV Study
http://www.greencarcongress.com/2008/04/quebec-partners.html 23 April 2008
The Université Laval, Desjardins Group, Enersys
and Quebec City are launching a joint study
project on plug-in hybrid electric vehicles
(PHEVs). If the pilot study is a success, a
second phase of the project could integrate up to
50 PHEVs into Quebec City streets.


PHEVS PERCOLATING THROUGH PROGRESSIVE MEDIA
We recall sometime ago thinking, "when will the
Wall Street Journal notice PHEVs?" Now the paper
writes frequently about them (though we don't
think the conservative editorial page has noticed
them that page has weighed in strongly against
corn ethanol, including a lead editorial today).
And the conservative National Review has run a
number of columns including PHEVs, including one
by Senator John McCain last year at
http://www.johnmccain.com/informing/News/NewsReleases/3b0ee87d-060f-4f4d-a873-59\
02d49907df.htm
.
Now on the left-liberal side of the spectrum, we
find environmental correspondent Mark Hertsgaard
in The Nation (the US's oldest weekly magazine,
published since 1865), writing about PHEVs in
"Running on Empty" April 24
http://www.thenation.com/doc/20080512/hertsgaard
. And in the May-June 2008 Mother Jones Magazine
http://www.motherjones.com/news/feature/2008/05/the-seven-myths-of-energy-indepe\
ndence.html
, Paul Roberts writes favorably about PHEVs in
"The Seven Myths of Energy Independence."


JEFFREY SACHS ON PHEVS
Jeffrey Sachs continues to promote PHEVs; in an
Earth Day column, "Reinventing Energy," that was
syndicated and reprinted worldwide, he said,
"Perhaps the single most promising development in
terms of energy efficiency is “plug-in hybrid
technology” for automobiles, which may be able to
triple the fuel efficiency of new automobiles
within the next decade." http://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/sachs140


MAJOR UPCOMING CONFERENCES: MORE INFO SOON
As we head up to Wenatchee, Washington for
PowerUp 2008, we're keeping an eye out on the
developing programs for the June 11-12
"PHEVs2008: What Role for Washington?" -- see
preliminary info at
http://www.brookings.edu/events/2008/0611_plugin_vehicle.aspx
and the July 21-24 Plug-In 2008 Conference in San
Jose -see http://www.plugin2008.com .


NEWS FROM APTERA
This three-wheeled vehicle, which will be sold in
PHEV and EV versions, is starting to accumulate
substantial orders. At the company's
newsletter, http://www.aptera.com/newsletter043008/ leading items include:
Fortune names Aptera as 1 of 11 great green ideas today
AutoWeek talks with our new SVP of Manufacturing, Neil Hanneman
Newsweek lists Aptera as one of the '10 Fixes for the Planet'


DR. ANDY FRANK PROFILE
Appearing at the same time as the Nova "Car of
the Future" show that featured Dr. Andy Frank, he
receives well-deserved recognition from his
hometown newspaper, the Sacramento Bee (we hope
the Governor read
it!) http://www.sacbee.com/107/story/867936.html
"His pet PHEV" -- UC Davis' father of the plug-in
hybrid electric vehicle says we're finally ready
to drive green, by Cynthia Hubert, Friday, April
18, 2008, in SCENE section, Page K1



-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
Felix Kramer fkramer@...
Founder California Cars Initiative
http://www.calcars.org
http://www.calcars.org/news-archive.html
-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --