Ford and Ohio State are developing dandelion roots as a potential source of rubber.

Synthetic car plastics will eventually be blowing in the wind like those yellow heads of dandelions, the herbaceous perennial foliage that grows in lawns and alongside highways. Does thinking about it make you want to sneeze? Forget the pollen. Ford has been itching for a new kind of rubber for its cars, and dandelions could be the answer.

Ford’s engineers are teaming with Ohio State on developing the Russian dandelion (or TKS) as a natural rubber source for cup holders, floor mats and interior trim in its vehicles. So far, everything is coming up (cough) roses in this latest effort by the company to revamp its factory and fleet for a sustainable plug-in future.

By harvesting the weeds in neat rows in a greenhouse, researchers are able to learn how to manage the flowers and the sap that seeps from the roots, a potential source of rubber that could be even stronger than automotive plastics. The Southwestern U.S. shrub Guayule might also be used to replace the toxic alternative.

“What we are trying to do is to create sustainability of vehicles from inside and out by figuring out how we can make materials out of renewable recycled materials rather than depending on petroleum products,” says Ellen Lee, a chemical engineer and member of The Ford Research Biomaterials Group in Detroit.  “We are looking at how we can use things we grow to put into our cars.”

Things like soy, which Ford has led the way in tapping to produce polyurethane foam seat cushions, backs and headrests. The parts are now on more than 1.5 million Ford, Lincoln and Mercury vehicles on the road, a reduction in petroleum oil usage of some four million pounds each year. Ford also broke ground with the industry’s first use of a soy-foam headliner on the 2010 Escape and Mercury Mariner for a 25 percent weight savings versus a traditional glass-mat headliner.

“We are committed to using local resources and raw materials that come from the U.S. and Canada,” says Angela Harris, another Ford researcher. “We are in the labs day to day working on products and vising schools, local news stations, public radio stations and start up technology companies to share our mission and the fact the U.S. and Ford are leading the way.”

Along the way, their campaign also reaches out to young women who are a minority in the automotive and engineering fields. The team hopes to set an example of what female scientists can do to expedite the development of responsible parts for vehicles.

“Five of us are moms and are working on biotechnology with Ford,” says Lee. “We are getting out there to say women should pursue careers in engineering since biotechnology is fast becoming a number-one field. ”

In the meantime, they hope to get all of us thinking about how to incorporate available plants as possible materials in our every day lives. It all makes sense when you consider dandelion root is used medicinally to ease everything from a loss of appetite to insufferable intestinal gas, excruciating gallstones, nagging joint pain, muscle aches, eczema and bruises. It helps increase urine production, prompt bowel movements and is a stimulating skin toner, blood and digestive tonic. Some use it to treat infections or to spice up salad greens, soups, wine and teas.

Now that’s some killer weed.

Images: joka2000, Ford, American Recycler

Ford hopes to electrify consumers as they look to plug-ins over the pump.

It’s hard to compete with Chevrolet and those sexy new ads for the $32,780 Volt voiced by George Clooney. But Ford argues the game plan isn’t really about competition, but rather cooperation when it comes to its soon-to-be released Focus and other electric vehicles. At least this is the message being delivered by John Viera, Director of Sustainable Business Strategies for Ford as he hits events throughout the country to sell the plug-in revolution to drivers facing nearly $4 per gallon at the pumps.

“Collaboration is key and we are partnering with Microsoft, interfacing with utility companies and working together to educate consumers about developing batteries and other technology to bring down the costs,” Viera shared at the recent San Francisco Green Festival. “No one has one piece of magic above anyone else.”

While there is no piece of magic in terms of making the technology, there are edges in making the technology available to motorists to wean them off of fuel. Infrastructure is the operative term in cultivating a plug-in culture.  And it’s evident that Israel has taken the helm with its start-up Better Place, a maker of electric cars that will launch a highway charging enterprise later this year, allowing its drivers to travel anywhere in Israel with a battery range of 100 miles. As with refueling for gas, if they set off from Tel Aviv to the Red Sea they can pull into a Better Place station and swap a low battery for a fully charged one in five minutes. How will motorists know where to find  parking lots with blue-topped charging posts? Try the GPS screen on their dashboards.

While looking to U.S. municipalities to expedite the same kind of access to motorists, Ford is revamping a variety of vehicles in its fleet, preparing to roll out the plug-in Focus in 2012 in the U.S  and Europe, debuting in regions it refers to as “smile states” like Seattle and California where conscious consumers have been quick to adopt the hybrid concept. The current pricing is from about $17,000 to $24,000, considerably less than the Volt plug-in hybrid, a popular choice that reportedly goes 30 days and 1,000 miles between fill ups.

Abroad, Ford’s vehicles now cater to current trends such as ethanol a top choice in Brazil, and diesel, a popular option in Europe. In the meantime, Ford has redesigned its Michigan plant to ideally become a state of the art lab for producing battery operated vehicles of all kinds.

“We want to offer a choice and show there are different ways to have electric,” says Viera, pointing out that Ford’s strategy for keeping costs down is to stick new bodies or “top hats” on an existing platform allowing any one of their vehicles to become electric, from commercial trucks to the Taurus with a quick assembly changeover. “We’re all about high end affordable transportation and the next generation of transit comes off the same platform as the Focus.”

Beyond the bodies, Viera admits that sustainable parts and the instrumentation are also key in easing consumer anxieties over range and resources, including recycled, eco-friendly upholstery and corn-based head rests, along with software instruments on the dashboard for customer feedback, such as Butterflies or various phone apps alerting drivers to how much power remains on their batteries. He says mass marketing must answer the needs of the mainstream with partnering services such as the Best Buy Geek Squad, coming out to install charging equipment in the garages of electric car customers.

“Eventually, all auto companies will have charging stations and Mapquest and other sites will tell you where to go to find them,” says Viera, pointing out the biggest challenges ahead are reducing charge times (now three to four hours for 340 volts), cutting down costs of cars and lithium batteries, and how to properly dismantle and dispose of batteries. There’s even the matter of controlling electro pollution smog by shielding the radiation of vehicles, something Ford tests regularly to meet high standards in regions like the Middle East.

After all, the Middle East is the place to beat in terms of advances. As Shai Agassi, founder of Better Place told Time, the electric car will be the top selling car in the world in less than a decade offering “the biggest financial opportunity the world has ever seen presenting a $10 trillion shift in the industry. “It’s the Internet, and add another zero,” Agassi calculates.

He predicts ordinary Israelis will be driving the Turkish-made Renault Fluence Z.E. sedan as early as November depending on the price of the cars and the costs of charging, the same factors Ford must consider in making electric palpable to consumers tired of paying $70 to fill up. After the car purchase, innovators are now looking to the cell phone rate plan as a model for battery subscriptions, as in Denmark, where the fee is equivalent to $300 a month for mileage of 6,200 miles. A one-time fee of $2,000 also is charged.

Of course this kind of fee is minimal when you consider that in Israel and Denmark, gas is an astronomical $9 a gallon. When the U.S. sees those kinds of prices at the pumps (as Donald Trump promises we will), that financial opportunity Aggasi described will really hit home, and companies like Ford will be glad they began revamping now to meet the anticipated demand.

Images: Ford; Better Place;

Tips for saving money on gas.

Gas prices are going up, again, and they might not be going down anytime soon. In the short term it’s painful, but in the long term, it may well be a useful reality check. High prices serve as a good motivator for all of us to be mindful of fuel conservation and reduce our own carbon emissions, saving money while we’re at it. Here are 11 ways you can conserve gas on the road, at home, and while you play.

Beware of public transportation. If you have a good public transportation system, by all means, use it. However, the good news is – more people will be using it. The bad news is – more people will be using it. State and federal budgets have been taking a beating, so that means that public transportation systems have had their share of cuts. The American Public Transportation Association has warned Congress that transportation systems could be overloaded if gas prices continue to rise. More funds for public transportation systems are more important now than ever, so start writing your politicians. In the interim, carpooling is another good option, and it goes without saying, drive a car with the best gas mileage that suits your budget and your needs.

Make friends with a mechanic. For those who do not have a public transportation system, no good bike path system, and have to drive – the first step is to make sure your car is in good condition. Correct tire pressure, clean air filters, wheel alignment and good general car maintenance will optimize your gas mileage.

Lose some weight. Get rid of any excess items you are carrying around in your vehicle. Extra weight makes your car work harder and use more gas. Also lose the sports racks, luggage boxes, and any other accessory that creates drag on your car when you aren’t using them.

Learn to (eco)drive. Back to driver’s education class, everyone. Give up your jackrabbit starts, quick braking, variable speeds, and just plain speeding. Embrace the posted speed limit, use cruise control whenever possible, and choose routes that have fewer stops and starts even if they are a little longer distance.

Wear deodorant. Lots of it. Summer is coming, and with it hot temperatures. While late model cars are pretty efficient, running your air conditioning can consume up to 20% more gas, so use the 4-40 rule. When driving under 40 m.p.h, roll down your (four) windows and feel the breeze. Driving over 40 m.p.h. increases the drag on your car (negating any benefit from not using your air conditioning), so roll the windows up and use your air conditioning sparingly. If you really want to avoid any impact on your fuel efficiency, drive with the windows up, the air conditioning off, and use your air vents.

Hone your time management skills. Condense all your errands into one trip on one day, instead of going out multiple days. Also, buy your gas in the early mornings or evenings when it’s cooler. Cooler gas is denser, so you get more for your money (the pump only measures volume).

Cut off ties to activities more than 10 miles away. Find things to do nearby instead. Ones that you can walk or bike to are even better. Learn to love your neighborhood and your town.

Vote for your town to build more bike paths. As much as we need better and extended public transportation, a plan to build more bike paths is a good idea in the long-term, too. Biking or walking is healthier and does more to alleviate carbon emissions than even taking public transportation. Currently, in many places, biking is simply too dangerous to be a good method of transportation. Wider road shoulders and sidewalks, paved bike trails and a refresher course of road rules regarding right-of-way for bicyclists, pedestrians, and drivers are all good ideas.

Let your grass grow. Buck the neighborhood association rules and consider some natural landscaping. If you must have a manicured lawn, take stock of your power tool inventory. Before you get out your power mower, leaf blower, edger, and other gas-driven yard implements, consider replacing them with manual tools. Buy a push mower and use hand clippers, a rake, and a manual edger and you can get a workout, have a beautiful yard, save on gas and lower emissions.

Don’t go into the office. If your work permits it and your boss can be persuaded, work from home when you can.

Rethink your recreation. Gas-powered boats, jet-skis, all-terrain vehicles, snowmobiles, dirt bikes, and recreational vehicles are all popular forms of entertainment, but it might be time to change how we spend our free time and look for non-gas-powered alternatives. Some of those weekend activities could become prohibitively expensive this summer.

image: Don Hankins

“Real Americans Buy American.” Growing up in the Motor City in the 1970s, that ubiquitous message, proudly displayed on the rear bumpers of so many Mustangs, Caddies and Pontiacs led this young man to wonder what the problem was. If the red, white and blue declarative were true, why would the Detroit Free Press be running what seemed to be a serialized front-page obituary for our town and our industry? Why would that big black number in The News’ headline have so many zeros after it? (How many people were laid off yesterday?) As near as I could tell, there were plenty of Americans around, and if they did what those bumper stickers told me they do, why was Detroit blight central rather than the boomtown my parents grew up in?

Eventually I learned the truth: Real Americans don’t buy American. Real Americans buy what they want.

This bitter truth periodically hits Detroit hard, and each time one has to wonder if the American auto industry’s hubris has led to its final death knell. I watched firsthand the slow motion response of the Big Three to real world energy and design challenges and the resulting economic devastation of the mid- and late-70s, and again in the late-80s and early-90s (when my parents lost their home and the family’s electrical supply business). Today, watching from my safe haven of California, I read stories of urban dystopia and (literally) scorched earth, the only hope being an unusually creative, industrious and determined population.

But once again, and like always it seems, there’s a blip in the flatline. Could there be life?

As Detroit’s North American International Auto Show enters its 23rd year as an international event, the city’s hometown industry isn’t looking so bad. Last year, reports Business Insider , saw Ford get back its number-two U.S. automaker slot after having lost that position to decelerating Toyota, while the top three fastest-growing brands were from General Motors. “Even Chrysler — a company once left for dead — gained U.S. market share and closed the gap with Honda, despite having a dearth of new models versus its well-stocked Japanese competitors.” (Tangentially, Business Insider, probably a good idea to can the “Pearl Harbor in reverse” rhetoric. It’s a bad week for kill-the-enemy hyperbole.)

Here’s more good news from the Wall Street Journal: Ford announced that it’s going to hire 7,000 workers and is expected to report that 2010 was one of the most profitable years in its 100-plus-year history. Meanwhile, GM says it had a strong end to the year, finishing with more than $20 billion in liquidity and that it expects to hire more U.S. workers if annual sales meet their expected forecasts. As for offerings, reports the Journal, the “40 new vehicles that will be unveiled represent an increase from 27 new models that debuted at the 2010 edition of the show… Chrysler will show off 13 models in addition to the 300 that have been completely redesigned or significantly overhauled. GM will show the Sonic and a compact Buick. Ford will feature a compact minivan based on the European C-Max model, as well as a battery-powered version of its Focus.”

Could the Big Three be getting it? Are they finally giving Americans what they want? Consider that this better-than-okay news is emerging from a horrifying industry free fall that began in 2008 and featured the bankruptcy reorganizations of GM and Chrysler in 2009. “Last year’s show had a funereal feel—spartan displays, sparse attendance, few of the lights, loud music and theatrical unveilings that had become the show’s trademark,” reports the WSJ. So keep in mind from where this upbeat news is coming from. When there’s nowhere to go but up, you won’t be penalized for thinking that any movement is good movement.

It also remains to be seen if this upswing is the result of a slow but sure economic surge that has buyers beginning to make those big purchases they put off for so long. Whether or not new offerings and reconfigured corporate structures will have the impact everyone hopes for won’t be determined in the immediate future. But one thing’s for certain; the old adage is true: “when the nation catches a cold, Detroit gets pneumonia.” The thing is, for the infirm, pneumonia can be fatal. And for Detroit, that adage isn’t funny anymore.

Image: country_boy_shane

Throughout my travels in Italy, the term “eco” got lost in translation – and I resorted to hand signs and terms such as nature and sun power to investigate the Italian practices or describe what I do for a living. Still, many signs show Europeans have as beat when it comes to practicing restraint in their lifestyles and consumption.

It could simply stem from resources like water and petrol being considered more precious. As a college student in England, I was told my gin and tonics lacked ice because freezing water for cocktails was frivolous. I suppose this also explained the dull hair many of us have witnessed in our European travels. Fewer showers are another concession to save. In this sense, French cologne is indispensable and might also be lauded as green.

Also woven into the culture is smaller, more economical cars and homes, due to population density, higher fuel costs and necessity. Honda Civics might be considered an adequate family car – not the minivan, which would be more for tourists. If you aren’t walking, biking or taking public transit, as more Europeans do as a matter of practicality and habit, then you are most likely tooting around in a compact (although power counts in certain circles where larger BMWs hold status).

“Whether in crowded cities like Rome or Budapest, or centuries-old villages, people get around on their own power,” notes eco travel writer, Wendy Worrall Redal. “It’s easier than negotiating jammed streets, finding scarce parking and paying $10 a gallon for gas. Age has nothing to do with it; you’re as likely to see a wrinkled grandmother toting a wheeled market cart or pedaling her cruiser, as you are more youthful cyclists.”

Here are some comparisons….

Banning Cosmetic Chemicals

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Activists trying to rid our shelves and salons of toxic chemicals point to the fact the European Union has banned 1,100 chemicals in cosmetics, while the  Food and Drug Administration in America has only banned ten. The nasty agents the FDA approves cause cancer, birth defects, genetic mutation and organ damage. It appears our regulatory system has no authority to test cosmetic chemicals or require companies to conduct safety testing before selling. Definitions also vary. The FDA defines cosmetics on vague lingo to minimizing government interference form profiteering, while the The European Union Cosmetics Directive clearly puts thee health of the consumer first. Why are their laws more stringent? Undoubtedly the same reason why the government is loose on meat protections. It’s all about the money.

Cleaner Vino

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First, there is the innate friendliness bred into the land. France was the first country to introduce anything remotely close to our concept of “organic” wine. Vineyards of the Loire region that involve small, organically-farmed estates, avoided pesticides as a matter of conscience to produce their grapes at a time Americans were pushing baby formula and frozen dinners. Beyond the spraying, is the transport of the bottle. A study analyzing wine carbon suggests East Coasters (New Yorkers and Miamians) are better off buying a Bordeaux than a Napa-based wine because the greenhouse gas emissions from shipping are far less than those from trucking.

Reduced Aviation Emissions

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Speaking of transport, the European Union has led the way in reducing aviation emissions through its cap-and-trade system for carbon dioxide. Starting in 2012, all international flights landing in the Union must meet regulations capping emissions at 97 percent of the baseline (95 percent by 2012). The plan called for airlines with carbon shortfalls to purchase additional permits from European markets. Meanwhile, airport operator BAA has invested $1.65 billion on a green makeover of its terminal Heathrow East to cut carbon emissions by 40 percent. As the new home of Star Alliance Airlines, the upgrades involve solar panels on the roof, north-facing windows for natural lighting, and a new energy center using renewable resources for heat and air.

Eating and Drinking Less, Without Disposables

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I will never forget a Weight Watchers meeting in which a member brought in a biscuit from England, saying they don’t supersize their teas with ginormous American-size chocolate chip cookies. The fact that Europeans consume less food and walk more means they don’t struggle with diets the way Americans do. They also shun to-go cups, even at panini or espresso bars where if you need a paper cup to dash out, then you are clearly in too much of a hurry. Pasta isn’t piled sky high on a plate, but often served in an appetizer size portions, unless requested otherwise. Again, the concept less is more is ingrained in the mentality – the same one that prefers quality over quantity. Sure, they smoke like fiends, but that’s another story.

Euro Trash: Switzerland Scores High on Recycling, While Europe As a Whole Lags

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While there is a tendency to use less, Europe on the whole does seem to be lagging behind in the areas of recycling and composting trash. The BBC reported only 17.7 percent  of England’s households recycle, while the U.S recycles 28 percent of its waste. Still, Switzerland stands out as one country that is making strides, recycling 80 percent of its PET bottle drink containers, higher than the European average of 20 to 40 percent. The Swiss incentive is not just environmental, but also financial, since recycling is free while all trash bags require a sticker that cost one euro apiece. Without the stickers, trash will be left out to rot.

Images: pedrosimoes; Uggboy; idhren; my pouss; Mariamonastery; Kecko

If the already perfect storm of baffling high-tech driving distractions weren’t enough, GM’s OnStar adds Facebook to your mix of thought options to consider while changing lanes.

Though still in an experimental stage, the “hands-free” (safety first, right?) social media access system could be available to some subscribers as early as the end of the month. (OnStar subscriptions start at $199 a year.) Using it, a driver could update his or her Facebook status simply by speaking out loud (i.e., Scott Adelson is driving). Users will also be able to listen to Facebook newsfeeds and messages read to them in a friendly, let’s say sultry, OnStar voice: Hello Scott”¦ Bambi wants to be your friend. (Ahem. I digress”¦)

But wait, there’s more! The Bluetooth-based system will also read text messages and let a driver reply using one of four pre-set replies with a simple touch of a steering-wheel button. I’m not sure if you’ll be able to create your own reply. Maybe something like “Crashing my car, not LMAO!”

GM (OnStar) has been engaged in a losing battle with Big Three rival Ford Motor Co. (Sync), for the hearts and mind of the younger tech-savvy set. According to the The Detroit News, GM has recently announced a partnership with Google to link smart phones to OnStar so subscribers can search for directions by voice and download maps. The company has also introduced a new “OnStar mobile app” that allows drivers to remotely unlock doors, start the ignition, check tire pressure and fuel economy, and more.

Meanwhile, Ford’s Sync system is moving ahead with its own plans, says the Detroit Free Press. The next generation of Sync, will also allow users to read and reply to text messages. And while Sync won’t hook up with Facebook, later this year it’ll start to plug into Twitter, Pandora and Stitcher.

Ironically, to me at least, OnStar was originally developed for safety. And though it doesn’t take a Ph.D. in Psychology to figure out that this stuff will cause problems behind the wheel, I’m going to quote one anyway. Driver distraction expert David Strayer, Ph.D., writing for Car Talk: “…these systems neglect the cognitive sources of distraction. Over a decade of research has documented that interacting with systems like this can divert attention from driving and result in substantial impairments. Simply put, you cannot pay attention to two different things at the same time.  If you are updating the status of your Facebook account, you are not paying attention to the road.” He adds, “The driver next to you may be updating their Facebook account and their reactions will be about as bad as if they were drunk.”

Nice, huh? Well, so much for technology making our world a safer place. Can’t wait to see this update: “Facebook Username; Just hit a tree.”

Image: Open Box

Pass-fail classes were a gift. I mean, not when I thought I would ace them, because what would be the point? But when getting by wasn’t a sure thing (in my case, for example, in any class that ended in “ometry”), a thumbs up or thumbs down option was a super deal. I could fudge pretty much anything and how hard was it, really, to garner enough lackadaisical sentiment from the powers that be that said: “Whatever. Move along. You’re fine”?

Well, heads up automakers. Teach is onto you. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) are looking to take some of the vagaries out of fuel economy labeling by giving new vehicles grades for fuel efficiency. There’s even something on the table resembling a curve, where vehicles will be judged against the performance of their peers. Tough stuff and it won’t be surprising if The Industry doesn’t like what it sees.

The idea is to update the current label, “to provide consumers with simple, straightforward energy and environmental comparisons across all vehicles types, including electric vehicles (EV), plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEV), and conventional gasoline/diesel vehicles.” The new stickers will now have “ratings on fuel economy, greenhouse gas emissions, and other air pollutants,” which addresses the requirements of the Energy Independence and Security Act (EISA) of 2007. The new label will be debut on vehicles in the 2012 model year.

For about the next two months, the agencies will be soliciting public comment before choosing between one of two proposed stickers. One is a bit more conventional (below), while the other bears the sure-to-be-controversial grading system (bottom). For the latter, according to the NYT, an A+ means a fuel economy equivalent of at least 117 miles per gallon and would be reserved for zero emission cars. Plug-in hybrids coming in between 59 to 116 miles per gallon would get an A, and “conventional hybrids, like the Toyota Prius and Ford Fusion,” would get an A-. The article goes on to say that if the system were in place today, “306 small cars from model year 2010 would receive a B, only eight S.U.V.’s would receive a B+ (68 would get a C), and the highest grade for a van would be a C+.”

Grades aside, a good old MPG ranking will be on whatever label ends up stuck on the windows of 2012 cars and trucks, as well as a “fuel consumption value” chart that measures gallons of fuel required per 100 miles. Egogeek points out that “upstream emissions, such as the emissions from a power plant generating electricity to recharge a vehicle, would not be listed on the label,” but there will a website offered where you can get more info if you want to check it out.

The NYT article is already reporting negative auto industry reaction, saying “the letter grades –  from A+ to D - were immediately denounced by some industry groups, which said the government should not be making value judgments for consumers about vehicles.” I suppose that’s to be expected by a group that’s not used to such getting graded so specifically on its work.

It’s going to be interesting to see how the grading system plays out, if that’s the route that’s chosen, as such an approach is always a delicate proposal. Witness the movie rating system where an NC-17 versus an R can make or break a film even before its release. The trick is going to be objective accuracy and if it’s done right, the carrot of a good grade might just be what’s indicated to get some of slackers in gear.

Not from the Hill or the Street this time, but I just had to bring this up…

China has overtaken the United States as the world’s biggest producer of greenhouse gases and biggest energy consumer. That’s staggering and all the more terrifying, knowing the rate and capacity at which industry has evolved and grown there. There is one area, however, where China is attempting to curtail its deep carbon footprint.

Meet the straddle bus.

In an effort to go green and relieve traffic congestion without widening roads to accommodate more cars, the Shenzhen Huashi Future ParkingEquipment company is developing a ”3D Express Coach” (also known as a “three-dimensional fast bus”). I think of it more as a pretend-you’re-in-a-video-game adventure ride: It’s less dangerous-sounding that way.

Here’s how it works: The monorail on steroids will allow cars less than two meters high to travel underneath the upper level of the vehicle which will be carrying passengers, who were not rendered in the drafter’s graphic seen above, but are most certainly laughing at the screaming drivers and passengers in the cars below them (“My god, the tunnel – it won’t stop following me!”)

According to China Hush, the 6-meter-wide 3D Express Coach will be powered by a combination of electricity and solar energy, and will be able to travel up to 60 kilometers per hour carrying some 1200 to 1400 passengers. You read that right. A large Greyhound bus houses 49 passengers. A typical passenger plane seats roughly 300. This behemoth is green, certainly not lean, and if it goes out of control, God help us all.

And it’s set for construction in Beijing’s Mentougou district by the end of this year. The Chairman of the Huashi Future Parking Equipment company boasts that it will only take a year and $73 million to build and operate the thing. Which is why I get ever more frustrated every time I see the still unfinished San Francisco Bay Bridge lazily huddled in the ocean like a section of braces that an orthodontist forgot to remove from a kid’s mouth.

You hear that, Bay Bridge? China’s built one of you that can drive.

Momentum seems to be mounting toward what may be a sea change in the automobile market – and hopefully the beginning of a fundamental downshift in what we do to the air every time we hit the road. In just the last two weeks, we told you about the Nissan Leaf selling out pre-orders, the Mercedes and BMW jumping into the e-market in the not-too-distant future, new electric highways and other infrastructure plans, and how the announcement of an eight-year/100,000-mile warranty on the Chevy Volt is making this whole e-car business finally begin to seem real. Adding to this, yesterday’s latest show-us-the-money puzzle piece in the emerging picture: the 2011 Chevy Volt will start at $41,000.

The Volt is an electric vehicle that can drive 40 miles on batteries before a gasoline engine kicks in to extend its range another 300 miles. The $41K price tag, announced by GM yesterday at the Plug-In 2010 conference in San Jose, CA, includes a $720 destination fee. A $7,500 federal tax credit brings the net purchase price down to $33,500.

As reported by CNET, GM hopes to sell 10,000 cars in the first year and 30,000 more in 2012. The base model will have a number of features, including Bluetooth connectivity, a navigation screen, and five years of GM’s OnStar service. Four premium options are also available, including leather seats and steering wheel, rear camera and parking sensors, polished wheels, and one of three premium paints. If you want to throw down big, the fully loaded Volt will set you back $44,600, or $37,100 after the tax credit. (Some states may also offer credits on top of the Federal deal. California will rebate $5,000 for the Nissan’s all-electric Leaf, but that won’t apply to the Volt.)

The Leaf, by the way, is also due out this year and has an anticipated MSRP of $33,000. While the list price of the Bolt is higher, GM also unveiled a three-year $350-a-month lease, with a $2,500 down payment. Says GreenCarReports, “That’s only a dollar higher than the lease for the 2011 Nissan Leaf electric car, despite the Volt’s much higher purchase price.” GM says it’s doing this based on its strong belief in the car’s residual value.

The first Volts will arrive at Chevrolet dealers in November, first in California, followed by the New York-New Jersey-Connecticut area, then Washington, D.C., followed by Michigan, and finally Texas.

I enjoyed going to annual auto shows when I was a kid, checking out the concept cars, getting that special “glimpse of the future.” But there was always this hollow undercurrent as I’d realize just how far away the future really was. It went something like, “Awesome – but it’ll never see the light of day. It’s just too crazy, sexy, cool to ever become real.” I had that same feeling when I saw the first electric car prototypes, my cynicism compounded by the knowledge that Big Oil and the Big Three would be dragging their feet Big Time. I wondered: “What’s it going to take to put Detroit’s back against the wall on this stuff?”

So there was something special about reading late last week that GM had released details on the warranty for the Chevy Volt, its electric-vehicle entry that’s due out in November. Indeed, in recent months there have been ongoing and accelerating signs that the next (first real?) phase of the electric-car era is about to become reality. Right here at EcoSalon, in fact, we’ve written about the Volt’s progress toward hitting the road, Nissan selling out pre-orders for the Leaf, and other car makers jumping into the electric game with both feet.

But this warranty news hits a particular nerve, striking me as something especially real – the sales details/fine print behind these things somehow gives the sense that all systems are go; they’re guaranteed now, ok to buy, ok to drive, ok to use like you would any other product. Maybe it’s that I’m “Old School Detroit,” but where I come from, warranties are a big deal, and this one means that a mass-produced electric GM vehicle is no longer an experiment. (Though, of course, it remains to be seen how the public will take to the $35,000ish car, which still faces some challenges on the electric highways, byways and general infrastructure front.)

The details of the warranty sound an awful lot like warranties for “regular” cars. In fact, they’re a little better: the Volt’s LG Chem lithium-manganese battery will be guaranteed for up to eight years or 100,000 miles, and is transferable to future owners. As reported in the New York Times: “The warranty will cover all 161 battery components – as well as other electric-drive components – and the battery’s liquid thermal management system, which heats or cools the battery while charging in a variety of weather conditions.”

The rest of the warranty looks like this: 100,000 mile/five-year transferable Engine Limited Warranty (for the Range Extender); 100,000 mile/five-year 24/7 Roadside Assistance Program; 100,000 mile/five-year 24/7 Courtesy Transportation Program; 36,000 mile/three-year no-deductible bumper-to-bumper transferable warranty; and 100,000 mile/six-year corrosion protection.

Nissan has yet to announce its coverage plans for the Leaf but, says Autoblog, the automaker is now reaching out to prospective customers (including some of those who made deposits to reserve the right to purchase the all-electric vehicle) to find out what they’re looking for in such a warranty.