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I worked for a lot of years in building paint systems for vehicles. There were developments over the years that made significant improvements.

Due to ever increasing emission requirements the primer and color coat were water based paint. The clear coat was solvent based because they couldn't get enough sheen from water borne paint for that. A fume incinerator was attached to the drying oven after the clear coat was applied. The waste heat from the fume incinerator was used to provide much of the heat for the 40 minute trip through the drying oven.

E-coat paint lines are used to put the primer on the white bodies (bare metal). In what looks like a glorified car wash the bodies move through a tunnel and they are rinsed of dust. Next a detergent is applied then they are rinsed with de-ionized water. Next the conveyor dips them in a phosphate tank. The phosphate etches the surface of the metal so that paint has something to bond to. There is a final rinse and then they go through a...

28% in the last month. DJIA figures Feb 12 close to Mar 12 when posted.

How likely are you to buy a new car?

What already shaky car manufacturers will go out of business?

Toyota (together with Toyota Industries) announced a new hybrid battery that will have these characteristics: lower cost, more compact, greater longevity and higher performance.

According to Toyota’s Australian VP of sales and marketing Sean Hanley:

“Our parent company decided to develop a new battery for hybrid vehicles due to the need for more compact batteries that can offer greater power and longevity at lower cost than the current options.”

From this article from Australia: “ It was developed jointly with Toyota Industries Corporation, which will produce the new battery at its Kyowa plant in Japan’s Aichi prefecture.”

This seems to say it has already been developed and now is about to be manufactured as the Toyota plant where it will be manufactured is being announced.

My guess is the target is 40 to 50 miles range as that would potentially cover 90% of the daily miles for a majority of drivers as most people drive 50 miles or less most days.

This appears to be a...