But a commercially viable solar-powered car, experts say, is still very far down the road.
Over time, new batteries can cost as much as an entry level gas powered car.
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There's another advantage to diesels: Their resale value is two to three times that of a traditional gasoline-powered car.
R-10 became the first diesel-powered car to win an endurance race, pipping a field of petrol-powered rivals to the post.
While many think of Ford as the inventor of the automobile, he was certainly not the first to assemble a gas-powered car.
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As long as owners drive at least 12, 000km a year, overall running costs will be equivalent to, or lower than, a petrol or diesel-powered car.
Starting from a clean slate, the concept of a small battery-powered car that could be stacked at various pick-up points around a city took shape.
And how clever is an app that lets consumers track their driving habits and daily driving distances to assuage their trepidation about driving a battery-powered car.
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The Audi No.2 survived a scare in the 22nd hour after the diesel-powered car collided with a Zytek 07S, but carried on with no apparent damage.
As I zip silently around the San Francisco Bay Area in a new Ford Focus Electric, the stylish battery-powered car emits not a molecule of carbon pollution.
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The comparable number for a gasoline-powered car is only 18%.
The comparable number for a gasoline-powered car is just 18%.
It's also the place where Andy Green, a British fighter pilot, broke the land speed record in 1997 by driving a jet-powered car through the sound barrier to 763 mph.
GM--its market share dropping like a heavy molecule, its bonds near junk, its vehicles piling up in dealer lots-is making its single biggest research bet on developing a hydrogen-powered car.
In 1889 the Peugeots produced a three-wheeled, steam-powered car.
No automaker has yet to offer a fuel-cell-powered car for sale to customers, although Honda has said it plans to lease a number of the fuel-cell cars to customers as soon as 2008.
True to form, the Top Five Cars for Democrats include more imports and more small, fuel-efficient cars, including one hybrid, the Honda Civic Hybrid, and also the Nissan Leaf, the first mass-produced battery powered car.
If a typical electric car is driven 50, 000 miles over its lifetime, the huge initial emissions from its manufacture means the car will actually have put more carbon-dioxide in the atmosphere than a similar-size gasoline-powered car driven the same number of miles.
And then there was Richard Nixon mandating a national 55-mph speed limit to help conserve gas in response to the OPEC oil embargo, which served to make everyone at the time driving a big V8-powered car grumpy (and subsequently helped reduce traffic fatalities).
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Interestingly for the few of you out there who listen to compressed music, Pioneer has included some voodoo technology called Bit Map Expander that supposedly is capable of "filling in" areas of music that are missing after compression -- not that you'll notice it over the din of your rocket powered car.
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It was intended as a cross between a V-8 powered sports car and a go-anywhere SUV.
The EV1 is a full scale, 100% electric-powered race car built to resemble a modern Class 1 unlimited open-wheel machine.
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Mercedes-Benz has a long history with diesel engines, dating back to 1936 and the first production diesel-powered passenger car, the 260 D.
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Solar-powered electric car charging stations should soon be scattered across the United States now that Mitsubishi has launched its first of these facilities at its North American headquarters in Cypress, California.
Even if the electric car is driven for 90, 000 miles and the owner stays away from coal-powered electricity, the car will cause just 24% less carbon-dioxide emission than its gas-powered cousin.
Now the battery is easily removable and can be charged in all sorts of ways, like clipping it into a charger powered by a car battery or solar panel.
But to get to the point where a critical mass of people want to buy a car powered by something other than petrol, it has to make basic economic sense.
If you are worried that a laptop powered by a dozen lithium ion cells may burst into flames, how do you feel about cruising down the highway at 70 miles per hour in a car powered by 6, 000 of them?
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