Zoomi Life

So you borrow your friend’s Tesla Roadster and are stopped at a construction zone waiting to get through. Suddenly a jealous Toyota Prius driver rams you from behind, pushing you underneath a nature-hating SUV driver and totaling your friend’s $120,000.00 car.

Read More: Tesla Roadster Passes the Crash Test

Everyone wants government money. It seems that all of the electric vehicle manufacturers, whether making parts, batteries, or cars want in on that cheap Department of Energy cash. Matthew Lesko is already working on a new book with a working title of “Get FREE Government Money For Your Electric Car Company!”*

Read More: More Department of Energy Loans and Foibles: Tesla, Aptera, and More

At least the general idea was nice. Chrysler has announced that they will no longer be supplying printed manuals with their vehicles, but will instead include a DVD with electronic versions as well as some instructional videos. This move will save (they say) 20,000 trees per year.

Read More: Unable to Build a Green Car, Chrysler Greens Up the Owner’s Manuals Instead

Once again, Paice, a technology company developing hybrid electric power trains, is suing Toyota for infringements on their patents. The claim is that Toyota is using Paice’s technology in their hybrids.

Read More: Toyota Getting Sued Over Hybrid Patent… Again

The Prius may gain a new cousin at Toyota’s premium car company, Lexus. Lexus is preparing a new hatchback model to debut at the upcoming Frankfurt Motor Show. This model will be available only as a Prius-based hybrid and likely based on the HS 250h.

Read More: Lexus Preparing to Release a Premium Subcompact in Europe

The British Army took delivery of fifty Toyota Prius early this month. The cars will be used by the White Fleet, which is the Army’s non-combat corps of administrators and officers. Sources say that they did test the Prius with a 30mm canon on it, but that the recoil crumpled the car’s roof, so the plan to field them as ultra-efficient combat vehicles was scrapped.

Read More: British Army Receives 50 Prius For Service

A123 Systems developed the Hymotion L5 plug-in conversion kit to convert a Prius (2nd generation) into a plug-in hybrid (PHEV). Foreign Affairs Auto of West Palm Beach, Florida has been announced as an official installer of the kits–the 12th shop to gain that recognition from A123.

Read More: Hymotion Announces Foreign Affairs Auto As Official PHEV Kit Installer

Chrysler officially declared bankruptcy last week amongst cries from various political parties and pundits over the whys and hows of the deal. Despite billions in government bailouts and massive cutbacks by the company–even the restructuring of agreements with United Auto Workers and several of Chrysler’s debtors–the company could not avoid the inevitable.

Read More: Chrysler, Fiat, Bankruptcy and Renewal: Can Fiat Win U.S. Over?

Unimpressed with the marketing blitz of Honda and Toyota’s hypermiling challenges, Ford set out to hold one of its own. The 2010 Ford Fusion Hybrid issued a 1,000 mile challenge. While I’m a big fan of the Insight and the great mileage it showed in real-world demonstrations, their hypermiling challenge was as rigged as the Toyota one was. Ford, on the other hand, seems to have been serious about making it realistic.

Read More: Fusion Hybrid Gets 81.5mpg in Hypermiling Challenge

The 2010 Prius officially goes on sale in mid-May in Japan. They expect to have pre-orders of over 40,000 units by then and have already accepted more than 20,000 with more pouring in.

Read More: Toyota Expects 40,000+ Pre-Orders on Prius