John McCain thinks fuel efficiency is for sissies. I guess he figures our oil supply is infinite, or that fossile fuel consumption has no effect on climate change. He probably also thinks the Holocaust was a hoax — somebody should ask him.

For now let’s call him a “drill and burn Republican.”

How crazy is it that we can get neither flying cars nor (affordable) fuel efficient cars today?

Anyway, the Reva (shown above) is a tiny little electric that seats two adults, can go 50 miles on a charge, and fully charges in five hours (two hours gets an 80% charge). It’s an Indian company, but they export to Europe and the website has some mention of test-marketing the cars in the US. The sticker price in Britain is equivalent to less than US$15,000. Aside from being rather energy efficient (they claim the equivalent energy consumption of 600 miles per gallon), you’ll save money by not having to maintain a clutch, transmission, or all the many components of an internal combustion engine. You will eventually have to replace the batteries (which could be both costly and environmentally unsound (but so is driving a traditional car)), but the rest of it should last quite a while.

Tip of the hat to Treehugger. More: The Energy Blog, Reva NXG, happy owner.

tags: automobile, batteries, car, commute, compact, compact car, eco-friendly, efficient, electric car, energy, energy efficiency, energy efficient, fuel economy, fuel efficient, fuel efficient cars, gas prices, green, hubbert peak, reva, reva electric car

This is probably the perfect bumper sticker for your neighbor’s SUV, at least until your neighbor comes over with the perfect chainsaw for your front door (yeah, try to run from that in Birkenstocks). But seriously, shouldn’t somebody tell these people that the world is running out of oil?
bumper sticker, declining oil reserves, energy, energy costs, fuel prices, gas, gas prices, hubbert peak, hubbert’s peak, oil, oil consumption, oil depletion, oil reserves, suv

Earnings reports from car makers seemed to suggest SUV sales were down last spring, and with gas prices near $3 per gallon in some parts of the country still, nobody should be surprised that Yahoo! is saying interest in SUVs is down — way down — now:

If the Buzz is any indication, then yes. Searches on “hybrids” outrank “SUVs” by a tremendous margin, and it’s the same story with individual models. By far the most popular hybrid is the Prius (not to be confused with “pious,” which is how many owners feel, and can lead to blathering about saving the planet). Interest in Toyota’s gas-miser is more than double that of Search’s most popular SUV, the Hummer H3. Also, the Prius garners nearly 10 times the searches as Toyota’s SUV, the 4Runner. Indeed, it appears the bell is tolling for the 15 mpg club.

Options: SMART and Japanoid K-Cars.

tags: 4runner, buzz, car makers, declining suv sales, earnings reports, gas prices, hummer, hummer h3, hybrid, hybrid car, hybrid cars, hybrids, japanoid k-car, japanoid k-cars, prius, SMART, smart car, suv sales, suv sales decline, suvs, toyota, yahoo buzz, yahoo buzz index

Mike Whelan posted the above photo to his Flickr photostream recently.

Back in April, when gas prices were still well below the $3-per-gallon mark, it looked like sales of SUVs were starting to slow. Interestingly, we’ve crossed the threshold Keith Bradsher quotes in High and Mighty, his book detailing how the US auto industry became so dependent on SUVs and how common sense has been powerless against them. The threshold was the point at which gas prices would begin having the same effect on current car purchases as the 1970s oil crisis did.

Oil prices are rising as oil reserves are declining. Where will you be when we find ourselves on the far side of the Hubbert Peak?

tags: auto industry, automobiles, car purchases, cars, crisis, empty gas tanks, energy, energy crisis, energy prices, gas, gas prices, hubbert peak, oil, oil crisis, oil prices, oil reserves, peak oil, powerless, suvs