The law as it was signed will give the power to decide which vehicles will be eligible for the program to the dealers. The dealers will also be in charge of scrapping the older vehicles, which must be less than 25 years old to be eligible for federal funds.

Their are some details left to work out. Accountability for the dealer to ensure the trade in is scrapped and not resold. The trade in must meet a fuel efficiency improvement goal that is set in real numbers. You can not trade in a car that gets 26MPG for one that gets 32MPG and receive the incentive. The improvement for a car must meet or exceed 10MPG. Trucks have a 5MPG improvement goal. The incentive is not to exceed $4500.

Although this happened on June 26th, I thought I should pop it in here since I shared information on 3 cars in just a few days.

Well, here is another car. The smart car for two, shown above, is getting and incentive boost.

From the article:
"smart USA will allow qualified consumers using the federal rebate to purchase a new smart fortwo for as low as $99 a month. The smart Fortwo will qualify for the highest voucher level of $4,500 upon the trade in of an eligible vehicle. This special financing was designed to provide an additional monetary incentive for consumers to replace older vehicles that guzzle fuel and emit high levels of greenhouse gasses with new, highly efficient ones like the smart fortwo. It will launch later this summer when the rebate system officially takes effect."

See the related link for more information and photos.

-- Another note: This car weighs more than a Toyota Yaris and the Yaris seats 4 people. If you are into an Eco-Vehicle, this is not the only option that is better for the environment. Don't forget to look at the Honda Fit as well. All of these cars have similar gas mileage.

Abu Dhabi has been selected headquarters and Hélène Pelosse was selected as the first head of the emerging Agency during its second session in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt.

It seems like cars are a trend this weekend. Here I am telling you about another clean air vehicle. This one has already been prototyped. Now it is a matter of working it into our day to day lives.



From the article:
"The 2010 MDI AIRPod emits no emissions and runs on nothing but compressed air. Yes, it sounds like another one of those crackpot inventions, but we traveled to Nice, France, for an exclusive test of the world's only "air car." And here at the research and development center of Luxembourg-based Motor Development International (MDI), the AIRPod seems like more than just a bright idea."

For a detailed breakdown including photos of the engine and build process for the prototype that was reviewed, click the related link below.

This sounds a bit far fetched, but the article has enough good points to make you think there is a possibility. There is a lot of theory this far and no prototypes mentioned. However, they refer to many technologies that are already available and the way they might fit together to accomplish the goal.

We are used to seeing inflatable vehicles for water. A great website to see examples is - http://www.seaeagle.com/SportRunabouts.aspx

If the XP vehicle is built tough enough, there could actually be some gain in protection for the passengers. Airbags would not have to inflate because the vehicle would already offer some cushion from impacts.

From the article:
"XP's MUV does not consist of a lot of internal componentry. In fact, most of it is air using XP's XPanelB (tm) technology pressure membranes. The seat is inflatable, the dashboard is inflatable, and the internal structure and carrying racks are inflatable, or a mesh suspension. Instead of requiring six-axis robots, XP uses radio frequency welders that look like giant waffle irons. The factory equipment is much less expensive and the car simply has less parts that could fail.

The motors are built into the rear wheels in most XP prototypes. The first cars to reach the market will have two rear hub motors and a motor controller, that's it."

My guess is that steering will also be involved as well as a few other mechanical systems like door latches and seatbelts. I also wonder about windows. Will they be clear plastic that will need changed every few years like a rag top car of the past?

For the full article, click the related link below.