GM seems to think their first attempt at countering greenwashing accusations was successful. So now they're readying their Web 1.99 GMNext website for round two. Who's up? Well, you may recall that GM stopped selling everything it owns to buy into an ethanol start-up called Coskata. (Car Czar Bob Lutz:  "They put a bunch of bacteria in there that basically just eat and poop, eat and poop.") Tomorrow at 1pm EST, Coskata's CMO will participate in a GM "green chat." Wes Bolsen is expected to discuss Coskata's subservience to partnership with GM and how their ethanol-pooping bacteria will someday, eventually, turn garbage into an endless supply of low-cost, pollution-free fuel. While we expect Bolsen will be a lot more forthcoming than GM's chief of American sales ops, Brent Dewar, what's the bet a GM minder will be breathing down Bolsen's neck? Anyway, the session is open to the public. We expect loitering members of TTAC's Best and Brightest to test the limits of free speech, and report back on our follow-up post.

GM's humongous hybrid SUV's have garnered a lot of attention and copped a few awards, thanks to what is admittedly a pretty slick drivetrain (and even slicker PR campaign). What GM isn't publicizing is that it isn't "their" drivetrain; it was developed jointly with BMW and DaimlerChrysler. When the divorce became final, Daimler and Chrysler got joint custody, so now four different manufacturers get to share the wealth. The Detroit Free Press has a list of all the models where you can expect to see them use the magic tranny that makes it all work. While improving truck mileage is a good thing, cars are conspicuously absent from this list. So if you don't want to buy a truck but want more than GM's semi-hybrid passenger cars, you'll still have to look towards the Brands of the Rising Sun. It makes one wonder if they're avoiding that market because the system won't work in anything smaller than an SUV, and/or they don't want the inevitable comparison with class-leader Toyota Prius.

Clean Green Cars (CGG) is providing some rhetorical ammo for Porsche's fight against changes to London's Congestion Charge. CGG worries that the new emission-based charges are likely to increase CO2 emissions and congestion. That's cause Londoners are snapping-up what Clean Green calls "Congestion Charge Busters:" vehicles whose tailpipe emissions (120g/km of CO2 or less) give their owners a free ride. Some 200 British new car models qualify; in the last year, their market share has increased from 5.4 percent to 7.4 percent. Clean Green reckons that number will soon soar to 10 percent and beyond. While that's a good thing, it's possibly a bad thing. Congestion charging was supposedly designed to get people to drive less— not buy higher mileage cars and keep on driving. Or drive even more. Clean Green Cars recommends that London kill the exemption altogether and implement a graduated scale of charges: £4 for the lowest emission cars, £8 for moderate emission cars and £12 for vehicles that spew over 225g/kms of carbon. Fare enough?

Lil' Abner once featured a car that ran on smog. Unfortunately it needed fossil fuel cars to provide enough smog for fuel. The New York Times reports F. Jeffrey Martin and William L. Kubic Jr. are proposing Green Freedom, a scheme, err, concept, to remove carbon dioxide from the air and turn it back into methanol, gasoline or jet fuel. "Everything in the concept has been built, is operating or has a close cousin that is operating," claims Dr. Martin. But (there's always a but) the process requires a great deal of energy. Producing 750,000 gallons of smog-based gasoline a day would require a a $5 billion conversion plant. Oh, and a dedicated nuclear power plant. The process would only be profitable when refined gasoline hits $4.60 a gallon (been to Europe lately?). Venture capitalists will be lining up for this one.

Porsche reckons their UK sales are threatened by London's congestion charge hike, which will add £4k to the annual cost of Cap City Porker ownership. The Times Online reports that the Sultans of Stuttgart are giving the Mayor of London 14 days to respond to their protest before applying for a judicial review. Porsche argues that the extra congestion charge for cars in their emissions bracket is patently unfair, and not just to rich Yuppies. "Thousands of car owners driving a huge range of cars will be hit by a disproportionate tax," argues Andy Goss, managing director of Porsche Cars GB. "[It's]is clear will have a very limited effect on CO2 emissions." While not specifically playing the class warfare card, Mayor Livingston's office responded with predictable populist pap, weighing-in against the "tiny minority" driving high CO2 emitting automobiles in London. "No-one is allowed to throw their rubbish in the street and Porsche should not be allowed to impose gas-guzzling, polluting cars on Londoners who do not want them." So, off to the Old Bailey then…

"Talking in circles" must be an executive training course at GM. You'll find a perfect example at GMNext, where GM's chief of American sales operations, defends GM against charges of greenwashing. To that end, Brent Dewar held an on-line question and answer session– make that an "evade the question" session– with no less than 50 online journos (TTAC's invitation got lost in the email). Even the condensed version is dizzying. When asked when we'd be seeing E85 available across the country, Dewar launched into a tale of his six year stint in Brazil– without answering the question. One participant asked Dewar point-blank about GM exploiting the E85 loophole in the CAFE standards. His response? "As I just mentioned it is a huge opportunity now. The problem is we are often American centric. This is not a CAFE loophole, but a solution. We did this in Brazil. Cafe in south america means coffee…" The complete transcript is on line, if obsfucation is your cup of cafe tea.

GM wants to greenwash the youth of America. Today's "Chevy Rocks the Future" event at Disney Studios "for celebrities and young influencers" features performances by pre-pubscent fan favorites the Jonas Brothers and Hanna Montana (a.k.a. Daddy's little cash cow). More than 150 LA-area kids scored tickets to the exclusive event, many by attending the Chevy's public school-based "Promise to Live Better!" propaganda educational program.  "Chevy Rocks the Future" will showcase the Aveo5, Malibu Hybrid-lite, Camaro "Bumblebee" from the "Transformers" movie (a real fuel miser, that), Equinox Fuel Cell, Tahoe Hybrid and, of course, the "this isn't what it will look like but we're not going to talk about that because we wouldn't want to miss Hannah Montana now would we children" Volt. But that's not all! The lucky kids will learn all about automotive technology via a "car that pops popcorn using biofuel technology" and a "'hybrid laboratory that mixes chocolate and peanut butter for a winning combination." For more PC fun, read the full press here. 

While many tread-bare tires are used as fuel, retreaded or recycled, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency figures that about a quarter of scrap tires are left in landfills. Enter Lehigh Technologies. CNN reports that the Naples, Florida tech firm slices ‘em and dices ‘em, freezes ‘em with liquid nitrogen, then shakes ‘em, crushes ‘em; cuts, sands and grinds ‘em. The resulting powder can be used to make new tires, wheel wells, bumpers, paints and/or coatings. Lehigh Technologies says they can grind-out up to 100m pounds of the fine black powder per year. Pulverizing rubber is not new, says Mike Blumenthal, senior technical director for the Rubber Manufacturers Association. But like justice herself, Lehigh grinds its powder exceedingly fine. 

Claiming that America's economy is lurching ever more quickly from economic bubble to economic bubble, the founder of iTulip predicts a surge in alternative energy and infrastructure spending – sort of a green bubble. Writing for Harper's [sub], Eric Janszen defined the main economic drivers of "the cleantech bubble:" the need to recover from recession, weakness in the dollar, loss of petrodollar liquidity, loss of energy security and peak cheap oil. As a result, consumers will be faced with a bewildering array of fuels and vehicles: biofuels, electric vehicles, plug-in hybrids, hydrogen fuel cells, photovoltaics, wind turbines, ocean wave energy, geothermal energy, clean coal and even nukes. Janszen sees these technologies becoming the hot, overvalued commodities of the new bubble. At the same time, he predicts corporations will plan and (God forbid) implement the new energy infrastructure to power expensive new vehicles and public transit. Responding in the Association for the Study of Peak Oil & Gas – USA , commentator Dave Cohen notes that venture capitalists (VC) are already looking to invest in what they call “the largest economic opportunity of the 21st century.” Fortunately for cutting edge companies like Tesla Motors, there's a VC born every minute.

Over the last five years, London Mayor Ken Livingstone has been the paterfamilias of the UK's anti-car jihad. Spearheading this effort: London's congestion charge (CC), a £5/day daily toll to drive into the central parts of the City. Amid charges that the CC is ineffective and inefficient, emboldened by talk of global warming, Ken's upped the stakes. Literally. The Times reports that the daily CC is about to ascend to a whopping £25/day (50 bucks to us Yankees). At the same time, "Red Ken" is closing CC loopholes. The hybrid exemption will expire in 2010 (which is about seven years too late for Lexus's LS600h). But the part that really sticks it in and breaks it off is that London is ditching the exemption for people that live inside the zone. Right now they're paying a reduced rate of 80p/day. Residents within the large Congestion Charge Zone will now have to pay a cruel £6000 per year. Cars that emit less CO2 will still be exempt, which is nice. Mr. Mayor says the estimated £30 – £50m in "extra" revenue generated by the modified scheme will pay for new mass transit systems. And if you believe that, you'll believe Ken doesn't secretly want to ban private passenger cars from the inner city.

The Detroit News reports that Senator Clinton spent part of her pre-primary warm-up touring a plant in Maryland that builds transmissions for GM's full-size hybrid and heavy-duty trucks. The presidential candidate immediately began touting her plan to create five million "green-collar" jobs. To that end, the Senator from New York pledged to give $5b of your hard-earned money to automakers for battery research, and provide $20b in "green vehicle bonds" for automakers wishing to retool elderly factories (i.e. Ford, GM and Chrysler). Ms Clinton also promised $10k in tax credits for plug-in hybrid buyers. All of this in addition to the $8m the Washington Post says Ms. Clinton's secured for GM for "alternate fuel research;" $3m of which was buried in the fiscal 2008 Pentagon spending bill. Coincidentally enough, the Post also reports that GM lobbyist Steve Ricchetti is one of Hillary's fund raisers. Senator Clinton's campaign spokesperson said Ms. Clinton doesn't consider fundraising efforts when she's making official decisions. Apparently, "one thing has nothing to do with the other."

Sorry cubicle dwellers but the truth hurts. D Magazine reports that GM Car Czar Maximum Bob Lutz told a group of journalists that global warming is "a total crock of shit." When pressed on his enthusiasm for the Volt, Maximum Bob explained "I'm motivated more by the desire to replace imported oil than by the CO2 (argument)." Yes but– MB wasn't so keen on on other automotive technologies aimed at diminishing our demand for foreign petrochemicals. Even though GM is touting their big, honkin' hybrid SUVs and hybrid-lite cars and spending multi-millions on a hybrid research center in China, he thinks hybrids "make no economic sense." GM's Vice Chairman of Global Product Development also stated diesel cars have no place in a market where gas and diesel prices are comparable (i.e. in the U.S.). And just to show solidarity with GM dealers facing GM's sliding market share and the current economic downturn, Maximum Bob said "they've got to isolate themselves from the economic forecasts and say, 'I make my own prosperity.'" Sounds like TTAC's leading candidate for our soon-to-be-announced Bob Lutz award may have been sniffing too much JP-8 or whatever imported-oil-based petrochemical he burns in his jets.

The Dallas Morning News reports the Lone Star State is spending $100m to get gas-guzzling, smog-spewing old cars off the road in the metro DFW and Houston areas. The program, which began taking applications last December, provides vouchers to low-income families who have cars that are at least 10 years old. The vouchers can be used as a down payment on a new or late-model used car ($3K voucher) or up to one-year-old hybrid ($3.5K) at dealers who participate in the "Air Check Texas" program. It's a pretty popular program, as you can imagine. Freeman Toyota has sold 80 cars to voucher holders so far, and Lone Star Chrysler-Plymouth-Jeep has 50 sales completed or pending, most of them used car sales. The program is expected to exhaust its funds for this fiscal year by summer, but there are already funds set aside for FY09. Justifiable environmental intervention or a greenwashed subsidy for local car dealers? We report, you kvetch.

In the recently released 'Kheel Plan' for New York City, professional arbitrator, environmentalist and social policy gadfly Theodore W Kheel explicitly, and repeatedly, refers to free public transit as the carrot, and congestion pricing as the stick. His free transit plan seeks to reduce traffic in the City's central business district by a third, thus shortening travel times both for those that do still drive, and for those taking the bus or subway. Lanes no longer needed for cars would be given over to bicycle commuting. Many of the plan's goals are worthy and the means may be effective in the short run. But Kheel ignores the possibility of a huge surge in public transport use, and City drivers' unwillingness to leave their carcoons. In any case, Kheel's financially liberated transit commuters would have to rely on "additional policing" to deal with the vandals and criminals currently deterred by fares. Good luck with that.

The Tahoe Hybrid. From gas friendly to gas-free. FlexFuel. The plug-in electric – gas Chevy Volt. The [entirely theoretical] hydrogen fuel cell Cadillac Provoq. It's clear that General Motors has finally embraced a low-emissions, scarce fossil fuel future. Provided, that is, you're as gullible as a Barry Bonds supporter. While GM is pushing itself as the second coming of Al Gore, The General's CEO sent a very different message to the National Automobile Dealers Association in San Francisco. According to Yahoo! News, Rick Wagoner asked GM's immense network of dealers to aggressively oppose state-specific greenhouse gas legislation that exceeds the restrictions mandated by the U.S. Congress. While Wagoner's influence may be falling in Washington, his dealers still have a lot of pull at the state level. "Dealers are very effective in the political process because we don't have a plant in every state," Wagoner boasted. "We have dealers in every state." Wagoner's biggest fear: California and its copycat states' air quality rules will trump federal regs, as they already do in several areas (including diesel particulate standards). If the need for "50-state compliance" extends into CO2, "We're not going to be able to accomplish everything that we otherwise could," Wagoner noted, vying for TTAC's understatement of the year award.