Green Technology

Following a tsunami of bad news for electric car maker Fisker Automotive earlier this year, the company has been silent in recent months, as it’s been figuring out what will happen to it: will it be acquired, will it sell off its assets, will it declare bankruptcy? Well, according to Reuters, a group of investors that includes former General Motors exec Bob Lutz and Chinese auto tech company Wanxiang are offering to buy Fisker for $20 million in a prepackaged bankruptcy deal. If Fisker is bought for $20 million that would mean the company would be bought for less than 1 percent of its reported $2.2 billion valuation when it launched the Karma in the late summer of 2011. Twenty million dollars is not quite two percent of the total funding ($1.2 billion) that Fisker raised. Fisker also owes the U.S. government another $171 million to pay back its loan. That’s got to be one of the biggest losses in venture capital history. Row of Fisker Karmas Earlier this year there were media reports that Fisker was being bids for between $200 million to $350 million from different Chinese auto companies. But either those reports put the bidding high (if so, I would speculate they were leaked by Fisker to help with bidding), something changed in the valuation of Fisker (it plummeted), or the bidders realized a lower valuation of Fisker after looking under the hood. In a similar end game, solar thin film company Miasole was sold for $30 million to Chinese renewable power company Hanergy, after raising at least $500 million in venture capital funding. Both Miasole and Fisker were backed by Valley firm Kleiner Perkins. Fisker’s potential bidders include VL Automotive, which is a joint venture between Lutz and Gilbert Villarreal. VL Automotive wants to turn the Fisker Karma into an internal combustion engine car, stripping out the electric drivetrain and giving it an engine. Read my long investigative story on Fisker: A look under the hood: why electric car startup Fisker crashed and burned. Related research and analysis from GigaOM Pro:Subscriber content. Sign up for a free trial.Tesla’s Model X could make the electric SUV a hitGreen IT Q4: solar, subsidies and the outlook for EVsGreen IT Q1: Cleantech Breaking Out — and Bracing for Hard Times

Earlier this month, our atmosphere crossed an important - and potentially dangerous - milestone. Here's some context provided by some of NASA's climate scientists.

"Here you have a manatee just swimming down a canal not hurting anyone. To actually go out of your way to harm them, what would make you want to do that?"

Let's pretend that there's someone with a gun to your head, and he gives you a hard quantum mechanics problem with two answers, only one of which is correct.

Toyota has been rather slow to adopt lithium-ion technology compared to some other automakers, but it seems like they want to catch up.

Wind rushing through your hair. The warmth of sunshine on your skin. There are fewer more liberating automotive experiences than a beautiful spring day with the top down on a convertible. An open-air drive is further enhanced when your ride is not fouling the air or guzzling down gas. Here are the five convertible cars that deliver the most miles (and smiles) per gallon. Volkswagen Beetle Diesel Starts at $23,495 The clean diesel version of the Volkswagen Beetle, the one with the soft top, is the most fuel-efficient convertible available in the United States. The manual-shifting Beetle TDI offers a whopping 41 miles per gallon on the highway, and 28 m.p.g. in the city. The turbocharged diesel Beetle sips fuel, but it’s also known for impressive acceleration off the line—as well as high rankings for safety and comfort. The Beetle took on a more aggressive leaner shape in 2013, while maintaining its unmistakable iconic appearance. Fiat 500 Starts at $16,000 The Fiat 500 dispels any myths that driving a small fuel-efficient car means having no fun. The little Italian city car is loaded with pizzazz. The cloth top operates on rails—so the driver, even when in full sprint, can pull the fabric back to the rear of the roof, or completely collapse the roof and rear glass behind the rear seats. The diminutive size of the Fiat 500 makes it a great choice for city driving, because it’s so easy to park. The combination of hip retro styling and affordability is hard to come by in a car that delivers 31 m.p.g. in the city and 40 miles per gallon on the highway. Smart fortwo Starts at $12,490 The Smart fortwo is the ultimate in-town commuter car. The cabriolet soft-top version only enhances the cute factor of the two-seater, without taking away any of its efficiency. The E.P.A. rates the fortwo cabriolet at 38 miles per gallon on the highway, and 34 m.p.g. in the city. Yet, there are compromises in a car that’s this petite and maneuverable—it’s far from ideal as a highway commuter. The underpowered, 70-horsepower, three-cylinder engine is not so fun when juxtaposed to heavy rigs and full-size S.U.V.s on the interstate. Still, for zipping through the city with the top down, it’s a perfect fit. Mini Cooper Starts at $20,076 Well-built and offering go-kart handling, the Mini Cooper brings the brand’s racing heritage to a fuel-efficient ride—37 m.p.g. on the highway and 29 in the city. Above all, the Mini Cooper is absolutely loaded with sophisticated urban styling—a rolling fashion statement that is beautifully accessorized by a convertible top. Like all Minis, the nearly endless array of color and trim option means you can customize the look to match your taste. And if acceleration is your style, the convertible version of the 208-horsepower Mini John Cooper Works only drops the highway fuel efficiency to 35 m.p.g.— not bad for a rip-roaring convertible. BMW Z4 Starts at $48,650 The most expensive, and least efficient, of our batch of green-ish convertibles, the 2013 BMW Z4 sDrive28i—with retractable hard top—makes the list due to its respectable 34 m.p.g. on the highway. The city mileage is, ahem, only 22 miles per gallon. Okay, it’s not a Prius. Nonetheless, it beats out competing models on fuel efficiency, like the comparably priced Porsche Boxter—by about 10 percent. The BMW 3-series, arguably a tie for this fifth slot, is also available as a convertible. It falls behind the Z4 only by a small fraction in terms of its fuel parsimony—but its base price is $12,000 less. Article by Brad Berman, appearing courtesy eBay Green Driving. Related posts:Which is the Greenest Car of Them All?Car Sharing Goes EVTesla’s new competitor – and they are bankrupt!The U.S.’s Greenest CollegesWhy Alaska Might Be the Best Place for Electric CarsCopyright © 2008-2010 CleanTechies, Inc. and Partners This feed is for personal, non-commercial use only. Written by CleanTechies Guest Author. To the comments (Digital Fingerpri

Tesla Motors, famously called a "loser" by Mitt Romney, is on quite the winning streak these days.

A Brooklyn-based design studio turns to digital animation to generate the patterns for these striking rugs made out of recycled carpet pieces.

Biomimicry is a great tool to solve problems. Rather than reinvent the wheel, we can often look at the solutions that nature has come up with over millions of years of trials & errors.

Inductive charging is coming to public transportation in Long Beach, California, with the addition of two wireless charging stations for its electric buses.