May 2009 Archives

The Gen III Prius comes in four options but depending on your region those option combinations may be different. Here in the Bay Area the base model, Prius II (model 1223), comes standard with the following features. Skip down a bit to get details for the Prius III, IV, and V which have the added option packages of navigation and solar roof. Past the model descriptions this review will go into detail on some of the new third generation Prius upgrades and improvements along with several pictures.

Drivetrain:
1.8L engine, EV Mode, Eco/Power Mode

Safety:
VSC, Rear Disc Brakes,
Driver Knee Airbag,
Active Headrests

Audio:
MP3/WMA Capable Audio,
Auxiliary Audio Jack,
SAT Ready (Roof Antenna + Wiring)

Convenience:
Enhanced Multi-Info Display,
Touch Tracer,
Driver Door Smart Key,
Cruise Control,
Telescopic Steering Wheel,
Driver Seat Vertical Adjust,
Tonneau Cover, Seat Back Pockets,
Heated Outside Mirrors,
Auto Up/Down on All Windows

MSRP of $22,000 + $750 Destination = $22,750

The Prius III (model 1225) adds JBL Premium Audio with 8 Speakers (EJ) (+ 2 speakers + Bluetooth + Integrated SAT Radio), MSRP of $23,750 and has options of package NV voice activated Navigation System + Backup Camera at $25,550 and package SR Solar Roof with Auto Ventilation and Pre-A/C along with the Nav System at $27,350.

The Prius IV (model 1227) includes everything from III and adds Leather Seats, S/W & Trim, Heated Front Seats, Power Driver Lumbar Support, 3-Door Smart Key, Step Lamp, Illuminated Entry, Water Repellant Glass, Upgraded Front/Center Pillar Material, Plasma Cluster (like an ionic breeze air filter), Homelink, Auto-dimming Mirror at $26,550 with the NV package it's $28,350 and with the SR package it's $30,150.

The Prius V (model 1229) includes everything from IV and adds 17" Alloy Wheels (which look fantastic, pictures below), LED Headlamps with Cleaner (the cleaners pop out from panels in the bumper, shown in the picture below, and spray a cleaning solution) and Fog Lamps at $28,020 with the NV package it's $29,820 and with the SR package it's $32,520.

It is interesting to note that you can tell if a Toyota comes from over seas (Japan) if it has two little plastic squares on the front bumper (shown below). These squares pop off and have tie downs underneath which are used during overseas shipping to the US. Older Toyota's also have VIN numbers that start with J and that's a great way to tell. As for the Prius, all models are being shipped in from Japan and are available now to people who put down a $500 deposit.

The new generation III Toyota Prius makes several improvements over the gen II models. To start off with, it's built on a longer wheel base which means the body is completely different. This change provides more stability, headroom for larger drivers, trunk space (which can now fit two bags of golf clubs), a larger rear window surface for increased visibility, larger triangle windows on the front driver doors for increased visibility, and more passenger room. The picture below was leaked earlier this month, before cars had arrived to dealerships, and you can see the length difference and new 17" rims on the Prius V that makes the car look more balanced than Gen II Prius.

What's so amazing about this new Prius is that despite having a larger engine with more horsepower it actually gets better mileage than the 2009 and earlier models. The Gen I and II Prius had a 1.5L engine with 76hp the Gen II 2010 Prius has a 1.8L engine with 98hp. This increase in efficiency is brought about by engine improvements and the completely new body design. The old Prius had a coefficient of drag at .26 while the new one has dropped to .25. I have mixed feelings about the added horsepower and engine size because it means that the Prius could have been even more efficient. The new Prius gets an estimated city mileage of 51 highway 48 and combined 50 verses the older versions which were closer to 48. Below you can see a shot of the newly redesigned tail end of the Prius with the larger bottom window and spoiler.

The car makes several improvements in the way of efficiency so I shouldn't get too down on the bigger engine. The US third gen Prius finally features an "EV Mode" button which allows drivers to rely completely on their battery for short periods of time at low speed. This feature has many uses, say sneaking out of your house without waking anyone up in the morning or driving short distances around your neighborhood, waiting in slow traffic in NYC, the greatest potential this feature has is to aid Prius plugin conversion shops. If I understand the "EV only mode" correctly then this could be harnessed to make converting a Prius into a plugin even easier and cheaper! Shown below are the EV Mode button and a trunk shot of the new Prius with the spare tire cover off, note the increased width towards the very back end of the truck for transporting golf clubs and other long objects.

Moving on, the 2010 Prius adds several high tech options that anyone who loves iPods and laptops can appreciate. There is an iPod input jack in the front armrest console (shown above) as well as a voice activated GPS and navigation system (if you buy the option). My favorite gadget is the new upgraded heads up display, instead of just showing your speed and gas this new HUD also displays any dials you are pressing, so when you click the "volume up" button on the steering wheel the HUD displays an image of the button and hilights the part you are pressing. See the picture below for a visual representation.

One of the other cool features the new Prius delivers, that almost seems like it's right out of a sci-fi novel, is the ability to back up and brake for the driver. This technology uses laser guidance to assist drivers at critical dangerous times. Having improved the window visibility, especially the rear windshield, this laser system complements the driver's viewing potential with robotic controls. Let's say you'r driving down the road not paying much attention and everyone slams on their brakes. Instead of waiting for you to hit the brakes, your new Prius will automatically start to brake for you! This laser system is built in to the back of the rear view mirror as shown below as well as the backup camera and Toyota logos on the front and rear of the car.

The car logos got a fancy makeover this time around, instead of just chrome plastic on black the 2010 Prius Toyota logos have a blue glow background. Aside from looking a bit different, as with the headlights, these blue backgrounds don't seem to do very much.

If you're a guy the new Prius is going to appeal to you with it's larger engine and increased cabin space. If you're a girl the adjustable seat and hallowed out front armrest area (shown below) will be attractive. Everyone can appreciate the improved visibility and gas mileage. In general, the gen III Prius just looks cooler, especially with the 17" rims, and I think there's a lot of potential for modding to make these into the most affordable plugin hybrid platforms on the market.

Much of the information in this review was provided by two gentlemen at the Toyota dealership in Sunnyvale California, Greg Sivertson and David Pak who can be reached via phone at 408-245-6640 for more information.

My Mom has been wanting a Prius since they first came out. The car is efficient, spacious, reliable, and fairly affordable considering the improvements in range and energy use offered by the hybrid system. All of these things are great, but there has been one thing holding her back all this time... The seats! My Mother (like many women out there) is not very tall. She doesn't let this vertical disability get her down however, she just requires seats that can be adjusted vertically to help make up for it. It doesn't hurt to have a four way adjustable steering wheel either, which the new Prius does.

Considering that Prius owner demographics tend to skew female, I'm surprised Toyota has waited this long to roll out the vertical seat adjustment feature. Even my sister's '97 Subaru has it built in, albiet in the form of a mechanical pump lever. The 2010 Prius has stepped up its adjustability but it's still all mechanical, the only electrical ergonomic adjustment is the driver side lumbar support. So get this, on the new Prius you can move the steering wheel up, down, closer and further from the driver and the driver seat can be moved forward, backward, tilt up and down, and now vertically up an down.

The picture below show the drivers seat in its its lowest vertical position and its highest vertical position (not including forward or back adjustments, just up and down). Just below that is a shot of the pump lever that moves the seat up and down.

The picture below shows the steering wheel all the way in (towards the dash) and all the way out (towards the driver). When this feature is combined with the forward/back sliding of the seat and the up/down vertical positioning described above virtually anyone will fit comfortably in the car and have visibility over the dash board. Aside from being short person friendly the new Prius also has more leg and head room as the car was built on a longer frame. Well, that's about it... We've also done a complete 2010 generation III Prius review with more details so click on over and check it out! It's also worth noting that the new Prius is quieter than the old one.

Tom and Ray Magliozzi, better know as Click and Clack from the radio show "Car Talk" on NPR recently teamed up with NOVA to explore emerging technology and innovations that are moving transportation to a more sustainable and healthy future. Instead of focusing purely on what's just around the corner, this program focuses on what is currently under development and available for purchase; the cars that anyone could be driving today, right now... if they can afford it! We've also explored this topic on EV Authority and come up with a few tips and ideas to green your car on a budget.

The story follows Click and Clack who are trying to replace their old broken down '52 MG roadster with something more up to date. They start off by visiting the North American International Auto Show in Detroit. There are a few jokes about the "human" models on the floor and the ridiculous 500 horsepower that one Ford Mustang is capable of. We learn that since 1985 average vehicle weight has increased by 1,000lbs while horsepower has almost doubled. Both former president George W. Bush and Rocky Mountain Institute founder Amory B. Lovins are quoted saying that we need to reduce our dependence on foreign oil and that our appetite for gas guzzlers is directly linked to emotion which sells heavier stronger cars... If cars were viewed more as an appliance we would all be driving Toyota Corolla's or Honda Civic's.

Digging deeper into the challenges we face as a result of some of the "old timer" cars and heavier less efficient cars we learn that 25% of all carbon emissions come from cars and light trucks and that CO2 stays in the atmosphere for over 100 years once it comes out of the tailpipe of a car, this release ultimately changes our climate patterns and impacts our health. Not only are we going to need other sources of energy to power cars, they will need to become more efficient all together.

Moving away from the Detroit Auto Show, the program takes us to the Alt Wheels Festival in Boston. Tom, who still hasn't found his "dream car" tries out a gas powered three wheeler concept. With only two seats and little to no room for storage, the car gets 100 miles per gallon. This particular car doesn't go in reverse and appears to be quite dangerous at first glance but it's a step in the right direction. The primary challenge alternative car makers face is one of energy storage and weight. Petroleum, which is plant matter and plankton stored for millions of years that eventually gets converted to hydrocarbons, has one of the highest energy densities of any fuel we know, but it's supply is limited and it adds CO2 to the atmosphere that would otherwise be sequestered or "stored away" underground.

One of the more interesting mini segments from the Car of the Future program is a short on hydrogen powered cars and the "chicken and the egg" dilema. Nobody want's to build cars that can't be fueled anywhere, and nobody wants to build a fueling station for cars that don't exist. History shows that gasoline powered internal combustion engines evolved slowly together as resources and technology became available. Iceland, which has 1000 times fewer people and cars than the US and charges $8 per gallon of gasoline, is used as a case study for a location that is looking to completely replace oil with Hydrogen. So far Iceland only has a small fleet of Mercedes produced hydrogen fuel cell powered busses.

Hydrogen is the most abundant element in the universe but in order to use it for fuel cells it has to be isolated, it doesn't exist in pure form. This is done by splitting water molecules consisting of two parts Hydrogen and one part Oxygen - H2O, which takes energy. In Iceland both hydro plants and steam power from geothermal plants are used to power the production of Hydrogen for fuel cell busses. There is enough geothermal energy in Iceland to produce all of the Hydrogen it's people would need to drive their cars by today's standard... but it's not so simple for other nations that are not sitting on volcanic landscapes between two tectonic plates. The Netherlands are also experimenting with Hydrogen, instead of geothermal energy however, they use excess wind capacity to produce Hydrogen.

Moving from Iceland to China we are told experts predict that within 20 years there will be as many cars in China as there currently are in the US. As it stands, many Chinese people ride bicycles or walk instead of using cars, this change will increase demand for oil and CO2 output worldwide but China could curb this trend by adopting greener technologies the first time around instead of using oil and then trying to switch like the US.

In the US and other developed nations where oil is already the standard, technologies like E85 ethanol (which is also a hydrocarbon, but produced by living plants) is one alternative that works seamlessly with existing technology and infrastructure. Government studies suggest that Ethanol used in vehicles vs oil produces 25% less greenhouse gasses. In Brazil, ethanol produced from sugar can now provides 40% of the nation's fuel! The real challenges of ethanol however, are that it may take more energy to produce it than it actually provides... all of the fertilizers and machines used to grow corn ethanol run on oil. Additionally, critics argue that there is not enough farmland in the US to grow ethanol fuel for all of our cars, and we still need some corn for food as it is the number one staple in the US. Ethanol will be part of the solution, but it can't be the complete solution. For these reasons, the future of energy in the US looks more like a patchwork quilt than a single standard.

Cellulosic Biomass is explored next by Click and Clack as they visit Lee R. Lynd of Mascoma Corporation. Lee believes that ethanol has more potential if it can be made from corn byproducts, that is, not the seeds that people and cattle eat. Cellulosic Biomass is the woody structure that props up plants, it is the corn husks and stem, it is also in woodchips, paper sludge, wheat sludge and switch grass which grows natively without fertilizers or pesticides. If cellulosic biomass can be grown without using fossil fuels, perhaps by ethanol powered vehicles, then they would have a net neutral impact on CO2 levels! As it stands woody materials are harder to convert into ethanol than corn or sugar beets and require the help of micro organism cells in two or three phases of conversion. What Mascoma and other corporations are studying is how to bioengineer these micro organisms to be able to more cost effectively create ethanol in just one step. Mascoma believes they are just two or three years away from this breakthrough.

Experts believe that we have enough farm land to replace 25% of the fuel we use today with cellulosic ethanol and that if cars were lighter and more efficient, such as hybrids are becoming, that we could replace all petroleum with cellulosic ethanol. Efficiency is a huge hurdle here and one that has been reversed in recent years as mentioned earlier with high horsepower and size winning out. Currently less than 1% of the energy burned by an average car is actually used to move the driver. 90% of the energy is lost between the gas tank and the wheels of the car as heat and friction (almost half as friction of the pistons rubbing against the cylinders), and the other 9% is used to push the mass of the vehicle itself.

Next, Tom and Ray (Click and Clack) visit MIT where they once attended as students. On this visit they are learning about the internal combustion engine and how new advances might make it more efficient. Over the past few decades engineers at MIT Sloan and other labs across the world have increased engine efficiency by over 30%. Unfortunately, much of this increase in engine efficiency has been offset by demand for high performance and size. Fuel economy has responded during times of oil shortage, during the 1970's average car MPG doubled. As oil prices dropped and the public became less concerned MPG's remained constant, in fact they did not change between 1985 and 2007 while truck and SUV sales almost doubled. Safety is one aspect that is often stressed when buying larger cars verses smaller more efficient ones but it's becoming more of a myth as pioneers create lighter materials and smaller cars that are just as safe as larger SUV's.

Moving on, we get a great segment from Amory Lovins who is pushing for smaller, more efficient cars that are also safe. Amory describes the average car in today's world as burning 100 times it's own weight in dead plant matter each day. Surprisingly only 0.3% of that energy is actually used to move the driver. In 1982 Amory Lovins founded the Rocky Mountain Institute - a Colorado based think tank which employs 50 full time researchers including some members directly from the auto industry. Amory's concept for a future "hyper car" uses interlocking hollow carbon fiber composite parts that are stronger and lighter than steel; Boeing is using similar technology in it's 787 Dreamliner which saves 20% in fuel. Race cars use similar technology and regularly withstand crashes (saving the lives of their drivers) taking place under speed conditions upwards of 150 miles per hour. These new carbon composites can be made to be large, spacious and safe without being heavy and clunky which saves oil and increases efficiency. The Hypercar Lovins is working on is still a car of the future, current auto manufacturers continue working with steel, but Lovins is innovating new ways to mass produce his carbon technology to bring cost down and increase speed of production. Every aspect of his car is designed to be aerodynamic and efficient, yet it is just as spacious and safe as a modern day SUV and can comfortably accomodate even the largest drivers.

The Hypercar that Amory Lovins is producing can cruise on the highway at 55 miles per hour on the same power to the wheels that today's modern SUV's use on a hot day just to run the air conditioner.

While carbon fiber is still a ways off in the future, despite Amory and the RMI's best efforts, today anyone can buy a hybrid and immediately increase their driving efficiency. Hybrids run on gas but use battery assist to increase efficiency, they capture energy during braking and run on pure electricity at slower speeds and idle. Hybrid cars do require a bit more energy to be produced because of their batteries and advanced computer systems, however over the lifespan of a hybrid car it will use 30% less energy and produce 30% less carbon than an equivalent internal combustion model.

Hybrids still use gas despite their gains in efficiency and many people are working to move entirely away, to a new energy standard of electricity that can be produced locally with wind or solar that delivers huge gains in efficiency and independence. Tom and Ray visit professor Andrew Frank at UC Davis who invented the plugin hybrid - a hybrid that can run completely off of battery power for extended range and charge directly from a wall outlet instead of just off the gas engine. By comparison, plugins have smaller gas engines, larger electric engines, a smaller gas tank,  and more batteries. With an overnight charge, Andy's plugin concept can go 60 miles without using a drop of gas, that's more than the average American driver's daily commute. When the gas engine finally does kick in the car can travel over 600 miles on a single tank of gas while modern internal combustion cars can usually only travel ~300.

Some skeptics claim that plugins and EV's merely shift pollution from car tailpipes to power plants but studies show that cars powered by electricity from today's power plants could reduce greenhouse emissions by more than 40%... and that number is always increasing because each day households are installing more solar and wind power that feeds into the grid locally, governments are also enacting efficiency standards and mandating improvements on powerplants on an ongoing basis which is much easier than targeting individual cars. The US and other large industrialized nations are also abundant in local supplies of coal and nuclear which means that in the worst case scenario, shipping and drilling emissions from oil excavation (not to mention the cost of war) would be saved. The best case scenario is personal wind and solar, produced locally and used locally by home owners. This significantly reduces the loss of electricity in transport and keeps the environment very clean all while delivering enough energy to satisfy household and transportation needs.

It costs four times less to power a plugin or electric vehicle from the grid than it does to power it on gasoline.

One concern with plugins and EV's is that our current electrical grid won't be able to handle charging all of them. According to one expert interviewed by Nova, our existing electrical system could power tens of millions of cars without any modification, but they would have to be charged during off peak hours such as night time when stress on the grid is low. One company that is helping to foster this movement is ChargePoint a Bay Area company that makes smart grid enabled charging stations that function like parking meters. Anyone can buy one of these meters and install it at their building for roughly ~$3,000. Once installed anyone in the community can charge their car directly from the meter paying for electricity and charging use. The sale of electricity provides profits for the ChargePoint owner and connects directly to an advanced online mapping system that shows utilities who is using power. ChargePoint also offers an "eco plan" that costs less money and only charges cars during off peak hours or when drivers really need the power. This kind of electricity use sensitivity creates an economy for electricity that helps everyone become more efficient just like a any other market system.

Hybrids and plugins are an important in-between step from oil to pure electric powered cars. The more plugins that are out driving around, the more charging stations will be in demand and eventually that infrastructure will be enough to support pure EV's. Martin Eberhard, the founder of Tesla Motors, was inspired to increase efficiency in cars by using electricity instead of gas. While gas cars are in the range of 20% efficient according to Martin, electric cars are closer to 85% which equates to something like 135mpg. This efficiency gain is complimented by performance, the Tesla Roadster can do 0 to 60 in four seconds and go 250 miles on a single charge. The batteries that make this possible are heavy and pricey by today's standard, the Tesla Roadster costs $109 up from $92 just one year ago, but these first few generations (which are completely sold out) are helping to pave the way for more affordable models down the line. A Tesla Roadster requires approximately 6,831 lithium ion batteries which are each about the size of an AA battery. The key with lithium ion batteries is energy density, a lithium ion battery contains about 4x that of traditional batteries.

The adventure concludes with Click and Clack considering the auto manufacturers, individual choice, and government stimulus that all play a roll. Individual actions really do matter and it all adds up. Tom decides he wants to convert his old roadster into a plugin hybrid and begins discussing what will need to be done to get there... EV and plugin custom conversions are currently available from companies like Evolve It Motors. I personally have been to their shop in Salida Colorado and seen Porsche and old Military Vehicles all running on batteries. It's an amazing sight, a bit expensive, but a great option for preserving an old classic or building a custom beauty.

Fisker Silicon Valley showcases the Fisker Karma today, a cutting-edge plug-in hybrid american sports car that gives drivers a premium green transportation option. Also at the event, Coulomb Technologies provides the Fisker Karma with a charge using one of it's many ChargePoint stations located around Northern California. Early last year Fisker unveiled the Karma for the first time (shown in the video below), the Santana Row debut marks the opening of their first showrooms and public availability for the Karma starting in 2010.

Fisker Silicon Valley, the local retailer for Fisker Automotive, an American manufacturer of premium green automobiles, today unveiled the Fisker Karma at Santana Row, a vibrant retail, residential and office neighborhood, in San Jose. The four-seat, plug-in hybrid hardtop convertible provides 50 emission-free miles on a single charge to its lithium-ion battery pack and up to 403hp from two electric motors.

The design may seem familliar to those who have been following Tesla and it's Model S due out next year, there is speculation that the design was actually "borrowed" when Fisker recruited several top Tesla engineers last year.

"The Karma furthers the Fisker belief that driving style and performance need not be compromised for environmental friendliness," said Adam Simms, owner of Fisker Silicon Valley. "We are very excited to be the Silicon Valley source for this luxury plug-in hybrid and think this market -- with its strong awareness of green transportation issues -- will be a good fit for the Fisker brand. We are happy to be a part of this community and support San Jose's efforts with its Green Vision," said Simms.

The new Fisker Silicon Valley outlet is less than a half hour drive from Tesla's headquarters and Palo Alto dealership. Silicon Valley has the interest in clean tech, love of cars, and money to make it the best spot in the US for early adoption of EV's. Later this year the highly anticipated, less expensive Aptera will be launched in San Francisco and the Silicon Valley in limited quantities for the same reason.

Fisker Silicon Valley will be among the first group of U.S. retailers to market and service the Fisker Automotive luxury plug-in hybrid vehicles, beginning with the $87,900, 100mpg Karma which is $21,100 less than it's currently available competitor, the $109K Tesla Roadster. This will change in 2011 when the Tesla Model S is launched, but prices may fluctuate on the Karma as well during this period. The Model S will cost ~$50K and seat up to 7 passengers.

"I am delighted to welcome Fisker to Silicon Valley," said Mayor Chuck Reed. "As a leader in clean-tech innovation, we are working regionally to make the Bay Area the electric vehicle capital of the world. Having a variety of options like Fisker vehicles available to our residents will help put San Jose on the road to improving air quality, decreasing greenhouse gas emissions, and reducing our dependence on foreign oil."

For the debut of the Fisker Karma, Coulomb Technologies demonstrated the simplicity of charging the vehicle via its ChargePoint™ Networked Charging Station, installed at Santana Row for the event. This installation complements existing charging stations installed in July 2008 -- when San Jose became the first large U.S. city to test electric-car charging stations from Coulomb Technologies. The charging stations are outfitted in public and mounted on streetlight poles and garages.

"Coulomb is thrilled to be a part of the debut of the Fisker Karma and are confident that it will open up the plug-in hybrid market by satisfying consumer demand for a performance vehicle that is both beautiful and green," said Richard Lowenthal, CEO, Coulomb Technologies. "We are pleased that the open architecture infrastructure of our charging stations will allow Karma owners an easy, fast and reliable place to charge," said Lowenthal.

If you can't afford the $50K+ that most of these new plugin hybrids and pure EV's go for and you don't live in the Silicon Valley, or you don't want to be put on a waiting list then you might consider this alternative.

ABOUT FISKER AUTOMOTIVE, INC.

Fisker Automotive, founded in 2007 by Fisker Coachbuild, LLC and Quantum Technologies (QTWW), is a privately owned American car company producing premium green automobiles. Global headquarters are located in Irvine, Calif., with Henrik Fisker as CEO. The company is backed by Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, Palo Alto Investors and the Qatar Investment Authority (QIA). More information is available at www.fiskerautomotive.com.

ABOUT COULOMB TECHNOLOGIES, INC.

Coulomb Technologies (http://www.coulombtech.com), headquartered in Campbell, Calif., offers a family of products and services that provide a plug-in vehicle charging infrastructure, which includes ChargePoint Networked Charging Stations ranging in capability from 120V 15A to 240V 80A AC charging to 120kW DC charging. Coulomb applies networking technology to the challenge of charging electric vehicles and plug-in hybrids in order to fuel the electric transportation industry. Coulomb's ChargePoint Network (http://www.mychargepoint.net) addresses the needs of drivers, utilities, governments, and parking space owners. For more information, please visit http://www.coulombtech.com. Follow Coulomb on Twitter at http://twitter.com/coulombevi.

ABOUT SAN JOSE'S GREEN VISION

On October 7, 2007, Mayor Chuck Reed introduced San Jose's Green Vision, which sets 10 ambitious goals for environmental protection and economic development. This 15-year plan envisions: creating 25,000 Clean Tech jobs; building or retrofitting 50 million square feet of green buildings; installing 100,000 solar roofs (1/10 of Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger's 1 million solar roofs for California initiative); reducing per capita electricity use by half; becoming a zero waste city; recycling and reusing 100 percent of the city's water; and moving to 100 percent renewable energy. A key part of the San Jose Green vision is the creation of a Green Mobility system -- an integrated and sustainable way to get from place to place. Working to generate demand which further elevates zero emissions/alternative fuel transportation viability, San Jose is confronting the global climate crisis and end domestic dependence on fossil fuels.

ABOUT THE CITY OF SAN JOSE

From its founding in 1777 as California's first city, San Jose has been a leader, driven by its spirit of innovation. Today, San Jose stands as the largest city in Northern California and the Capital of Silicon Valley -- the world's leading center of innovation. The city, the 10th largest in the U.S. with a population of more than 1 million, is committed to remaining a top-ranked place to do business, to work and to live. For more information, visit, www.sanjoseca.gov.