Mountain Biking: Rubber side down- Time for a TurnaroundWell, my friends, things are finally looking up, and good timing, too, since I’m sure you’re all sick of me bitching. Recent bike build, including wheels… fun! In what feels like a fairly short time, I’ve come from sitting around … Continue reading → […]
- This Raised My PulseHey, baby… wanna ride? I may be injured, but I’m not dead yet. I can still have racy thoughts. Here’s more info. In other news, UBI was an awesome success! I had a blast. I highly recommend it. Overhaul day…. … Continue reading → […]
- Time for a Turnaround
- Edgy Veggie
Hybrid drivers can still use HOV lanes… for now
Hybrid drivers who’ve been allowed to drive in HOV lanes are on a month-to-month extension, according to the Denver Post:
An occasional HOV lane in Denver | Flickr user Richard Masoner
Federal transportation law allowed for the hybrid-in-HOV option, but that law expired on September 30. After Congress passed a one-month extension of the law, CDOT notified hybrid owners that permission to use HOV lanes as solo drivers had been extended through the end of this month.
To allow hybrid drivers similar access to HOV lanes after this month, “Congress will need to act again on another extension or new bill,” CDOT said in a recent email to hybrid permit owners.
Of course, if you’re carpooling in a hybrid, you’re definitely fine.
And if you carpool on a bike, you’re awesome. Tandems for everybody!
Chevy hopes to give Prius the MPG smackdown
Chevy is claiming that their new Volt will get 230 miles per gallon. (AP photo)
GM is saying that its new Chevy Volt — expected to hit showroom floors sometime late in 2010 — will get a gazillion miles per gallon. Well, not a gazillion… but far more than any other hybrid is claiming: 230 mpg.
This would make the Volt almost five times more fuel efficient than the Prius, which claims 48 mpg and is becoming more common in Boulder than even prairie dogs, Crocs and cruiser bikes. But there’s a catch. It’ll cost you nearly twice as much to buy a Volt than a Prius. Read more about the Volt here or after the jump.
In Boulder, residents — and increasingly the government — are looking to take the Priuses they already own to the next level, converting the cars to plug-ins that one day may be able to feed electricity back to the grid.
Boulder County, the city of Boulder and the University of Colorado are all collaborating with Xcel Energy on one of the first large-scale tests of vehicle-to-grid technology. Just recently, big yellow plugs have sprouted from the northwest end of the parking lot behind the county courthouse, and you can see a couple of converted Priuses plugged into the wall when they’re not being driven.
Read more about the local vehicle-to-grid tests on the Daily Camera’s Web site here and here. Or check out a story on Hybrids Plus, a Boulder-based company that converts standard hybrid cars to plug-ins, here.
