Last month, the House passed the Comprehensive American Energy Security and Consumer Protection Act, which is essentially just another big tax. One of the interesting parts of the bill though is buried in the Miscellaneous Provisions section. It says, essentially, that every gas station owned by a major gas company has to add at least one alternative fuel pump by 2018. If they don’t comply, they’ll be fined $100k per station.

With gas prices on everyone’s mind these days, government regulators are pushing for better fuel efficiency in vehicles over the next few years. The thing is, hybrid, electric, and hydrogen cars aren’t the short term answer, it’ll be a while before they become mainstream. Car companies need something they can use now to modify their traditional engines during the interim.

That something is turning out to be turbochargers.

Leaked Volt image or Perry Ellis Casual Collection from J.C. Penny; you decide

In advance of the official “unveiling” of the Chevrolet Volt next week, official pictures of the production Plug-in Hybrid car have surfaced on the internet.  Apparently Robert Novak is also in charge of GM’s press materials.  Although obscured by various GM officials posing as if in the next print ads for the Mens Wearhouse, the concept has a more muted design than was on display when first presented at the Detroit Motor Show in January 2007.

Hydrogen could be the fuel of the future, if someone can help bring the price down.

Hydrogen’s obtained by splitting water into it’s two parts, oxygen and hydrogen. Right now, the only method for doing the splitting involves platinum as a catalyst. Platinum is expensive, and that’s the main reason for the high cost of hydrogen as a fuel. But some researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology may have more cost-effective solution.

2010 Volt: Just one piece of GM's future

Whether you are a fan of GM or not, and I certainly have been as critical as anyone, the world’s largest company shows signs of bolstering their committment even further to provide better fuel efficiency in the future.  In each area of vehicle production; gas, diesel and hybrid, GM has important plans in the works.

Recently, spy shots and leaked interior photos of the highly anticipated Chevy Volt have hit the auto blogging world, leaving most motorheads foaming at the mouth. I, on the other hand, sort of feel like I showed up to meet an eHarmony.com date and he turned out to look more like Boy George than George Clooney.

Full Gallery After The Jump

Photo Source: Blueweeds.com

From Falls Church, Virginia: this week, city councilman Dan Szu was pulled over for traveling over three times the legal limit in his hyrdogen-powered Honda Clarity.

2010 Nissan EV Electric Car Prototype [Photo Source: Popular Mechanics]

On August 6, 2008, Nissan revealed its new electric hybrid vehicle, the Nissan EV, scheduled for fleet-sale release in the U.S. and Japan in 2010, and for retail consumers worldwide by 2012. Performing for Nissan executives on a test track, the Nissan EV electric car prototype featured a 660 lb lithium ion battery and supposedly accelerates at a rate faster than gasoline-powered vehicles of similar size. 

Unrealistically optimistic rumors have Nissan’s new electric car averaging about 100 miles off a single charge, but official specs have yet to be released. In years past, some of the biggest hurdles that often proved insurmountable to other electric concept cars included lengthy recharge-periods and the ultimate failure to achieve any significant distance on a single charge. Even up against serious competition like the much-anticipated Chevrolet Volt, Nissan appears to be pretty confident in their plans even going so far as to project that in a few years, they could be producing 10 million electric cars annually for the global market. 

The Mazda RX-8 Hydrogen RE

Honda’s been in the news lately with their hydrogen FCX Clarity, but Mazda’s been pushing the hydrogen envelope as well, and with a rotary engine car. They were actually trying to create a workable hydrogen rotary engine all the way back in the early 1990s. And by 2003 they actually developed a concept, dual fuel RX-8 capable of burning both high pressure hydrogen and gasoline in it’s rotary engine.

The Honda FCX Clarity

The Toyota Prius finally has some competition in the ultra-green category. Honda has begun the consumer test run of it’s zero-emission hydrogen car, the FCX Clarity. About 200 select drivers will be able to lease the Clarity for $600 a month, but only in California. They’re limiting the cars to California because that state has the most developed infrastructure of hydrogen refueling stations. There will be more added in time, but as for now, only Cali residents like Jamie Lee Curtis and Hollywood producer Ron Yerxa are able to drive hydrogen.