Japan’s Polluters, Part II

June 15, 2009

Since complaining about the extreme pollution from diesel buses in Japan the other day, I have noticed something else: it’s not just the buses. At first I thought it was just the little 50cc scooters because their engine size exempted them from many of the Japanese regulations. Then I thought it was just sub 400cc […]

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Toyota iQ Practically Begging to Come to the U.S.

June 11, 2009

Okay, I know this isn’t official, but I couldn’t help but stop and take a picture when I saw this today. The picture was taken out at a Toyota distribution lot in the countryside outside of Kumamoto, Japan. It is a busy lot and the stock is always changing. This is the first of three […]

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Smart Fortwo Test Drive: 45.9 MPG

June 10, 2009

To most, the Smart Fortwo is the tiny little city car that you might see parked sideways on the street two to a spot or stuck in traffic somewhere around the city, but to EcoModders the Fortwo presents entirely different possibilities in terms of gas mileage. The small car has a tiny body, 1.0 liter, […]

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Japan: Excessive Idling v. Start-Stop EcoDrivers

June 5, 2009

These last two weeks in Japan I have been painfully aware of two competing types of Japanese drivers: the sleep in the car for 4 hours while it is idling on the side of the road driver and the fuel conscious ecodriver the stops the engine at traffic lights. The Idler The Idler is a […]

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Why Diesel is Not Going to be a Hit in Japan Anytime Soon

June 4, 2009

It seems like a different European automaker is coming out with a new diesel engine or vehicle option every day. Over here in Japan however, there was quite a lot of hype over one or two diesel cars that might be sold by Honda or Toyota in the United States. Everyone was excited to see […]

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Top 10 electric car conversion links

June 1, 2009

(Photo: Egan Snow) For a while now I’ve been mulling over a blog post featuring top online resources about EV conversions: sites that educate, facilitate and inspire. I already had a short list of what I wanted to point to, but instead of wracking my brain to flesh it out, through chance I found myself […]

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Car Culture in Japan

May 29, 2009

It doesn’t take much knowledge about Japan or about cars to guess that the car culture in Japan would be much different, but even expecting these differences it can still be somewhat surprising to see what they actually are. Staying in Kumamoto City, a ruralish city in Western Japan on the island of Kyushu, I […]

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What Would an Aerodynamic Smart Fortwo Look Like?

May 22, 2009

Recently, I challenged members of the EcoModder forums to design an aerodynamic Smart Fortwo concept car. The results were very impressive. The parameters of the challenge were that the car must be based on the standard Smart Fortwo Coupe and keep the styling of the car consistent. Other than that members could go wild with […]

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