Prius owners now have something else to worry about beyond being the least cool people on the road—thieves are now breaking in for their car batteries.

According to a report by ABC 7, there has been a recent uptick in San Francisco where hybrid cars are being broken into for their batteries. John Nashed had his Prius broken into, his insurance adjuster told him, "I actually have three cases that I'm working on. Same exact problem."

Mechanics think the thieves are professionals, because improperly removing the battery could lead to a thief being electrocuted by the 200 volt unit. If they know what they're doing, a thief could remove one in 20 minutes and sell one on Craigslist, where they're going for up to $1,000.

For the car owner, it could take up three weeks and $10,000 in repairs to get their car back up and running.

SFPD says they're becoming aware of the growing problem, and a Toyota executive told the station that they're working on finding a way to protect the batteries in the cars.

A bike rider was left with life-threatening injuries Tuesday night, following a collision at the same intersection where cyclist Amelie Le Moullac was killed in 2013.

According to a San Francisco Police Department dispatcher, police were called to the intersection of 6th and Folsom Streets at around 8:18 Tuesday night.

Two vehicles, described by KRON4 as "a Lexus and a Prius taxi," had collided at the intersection.

The crash sent the Prius careening into a passing cyclist, KRON4 reports.

The cyclist was transported to San Francisco General Hospital with injuries that are considered life-threatening, a police spokesperson says. As of publication time, no further information was available from police on the cyclist's condition or the circumstances of the crash.

On the morning of August 14, 2013, cyclist Amelie Le Moullac was killed when a truck driver made a right turn into the bike lane at the same intersection. SFPD initially blamed Le Moullac, then was forced to apologize when the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition turned up video footage of the crash (that the police hadn't bothered to look for). Though criminal charges were never filed against the truck driver, a jury in a civil case found him negligent in January of this year.

SFPD's Traffic Collision Investigation Unit, which was also responsible for the Le Moullac case, is investigating Tuesday's crash. They ask that anyone who witnessed last night's collision call them at 415- 822-8147.

Read all SFist coverage of the Amelie Le Moullac case here.

The yellow "Access OK" Clean Air Vehicle sticker your hybrid car has been sporting since 2005 is set to expire on July 1st, meaning you and 85,000 other Prius owners will no longer have breezy free rides through the carpool lane. (Yes, we're assuming everyone in the audience drives a Prius.) After June of this year, hybrid drivers caught flying solo in the diamond lane will get ticketed just like every other clunker on the road.

Anyone who can't stand the thought of paying a toll to ride in tranquil, passenger-free solitude might want to start looking in to alternative fuel vehicles: The DMV is still issuing an unlimited number of white Access OK stickers to drivers of vehicles powered by compressed natural gas, hydrogen fuel cells or 100% electric vehicles. Those decals won't expire until 2015. If that technology still sounds scary to you, the Chronicle also reports the DMV will begin a new green sticker program in January of next year for plug-in hybrids. Like say, the not-altogether-ugly Chevy Volt, a few of which have recently been spotted around town.

[Chronicle]
[SFCitizen]

In a continuing effort to reduce the city's carbon emissions -- while boosting the smugness of Prius owners, of course -- Mayor Ed Lee's office will announce the availability of free power for electric for cars in San Francisco and SFO. The no-cost charges will last until the end of 2013. Who's paying for this, you ask? Well, according to the Examiner: "The $300,000 bill for the new program is being footed by a combination of federal, state and local grants, including one from the Bay Area Air Quality Management District." Electric-car charging station locations will be as follows:

- Civic Center garage
- Ellis O’Farrell garage
- Fifth & Mission garage
- General Hospital garage
- Golden Gateway garage
- Japan Center garage
- Lombard garage
- Mission Bartlett garage
- Moscone Center garage
- North Beach garage
- Performing Arts garage
- Pierce Lombard garage
- Polk Bush garage
- Portsmouth Square garage
- SFO garages
- St. Mary’s Square garage
- 1600 Mission Street garage
- Stockton Sutter garage
- Union Square garage
- Vallejo Street garage

Lee will make the official announcement later today. To learn more, check out the Examiner's piece on free vehicular electricity.

Apparently not content to test a computer's ability to drive one of those autonomous Priuses, a Google engineer was spotted testing California's hands-free cell phone law by chatting from the driver's seat (but you know, not actually driving) while cruising around near Google HQ in Mountain View. Is it still hand-free if you have to hold the phone, but not the steering wheel? [Jalopnik]

Sad news. A 70-year-old woman was stuck and killed by a Priu in the Haight on Wednesday. According to BCN (via SF Appeal), the "woman had been crossing the street at Waller and Cole streets at about 8 a.m. when she was struck by a black Toyota Prius."

After hitting the woman, later identified as Joyce Lau, the driver fled the scene.

Luckily, our city's increasingly swift police department managed to catch the suspect. Authorities tracked down the Prius, arresting San Franciscan Iddo Avital, 26, at his home.

In front of City Hall at a "green vehicle showcase," Mayor Gavin Newsom yesterday announced a partnership between San Francisco and Toyota to advertise their Prius plug-in hybrids. And, as with anything carrying the Green brand, Newsom gets exceptionally excited. And when Newsom gets exceptionally excited, his hands turn into politically-charged fists of fury. More so than usual. Look at him go! He looks like a older Eva Peron.

Anyway, these plug-in hybrids will hit the market in 2012. What's more, "[t]he two Toyota Prius plug-in hybrid vehicles joining San Francisco's fleet today are the first commercial fleet vehicle deliveries in Toyota's U.S. plug-in demonstration program," reports PRNewswire. "Over 150 Prius plug-in hybrid vehicles are being placed across Northern and Southern California and around the nation with universities, corporations, government agencies and in fleet applications like San Francisco."

Video below.

Priuses race on Telegraph Avenue.

Due to a brake design problem, Toyota plans on recalling their popular Prius, a hybrid car popular with many smug yet eco-friendly Bay Area ilk. According to MarketWatch, around 270,000 vehicles will be recalled. "The Japanese automaker is expected to file with the the U.S. Department of Transportation for a recall to change the control program for the hybrid's anti-lock brake system."

The recall will affect only the third-generation Prius, targeting "only about 100,000 vehicles in the United States."

Not long ago, Leanne asked readers to weigh in on Zipcar vs. City CarShare. The subsequent brand-identification debate was not quite as acrimonious as the typical Mac vs. PC debate, or even the heated Wrangler's vs. Levi's debate we once overheard in the Houston airport.

We're not sure what the above photo means in the context of the car-sharing debate. Are we seeing, as with SF Weekly and the Bay Guardian, a national chain using unfair tactics to crush the local competition? Or does this photo simply show that, again as with SF Weekly and the Bay Guardian, most people don't distinguish between the two companies and even their customers can't always remember which is which?

Toyota Prius drivers--eco-friendly drivers who try their damnedest not to leave their carbon footprint on Mother Earth--have become "a prime target for vandals" in Petaluma. And, according to CBS 5, no one has been able to figure out why.

The odd design of the car? The smug self-righteousness of Prius drivers? For fun? Who's to say. About half a dozen Petaluma Prius owners have had their hybrid cars brutally attacked over the last two weeks: most recently, one was ravaged by the heavy end of a hammer in the middle of the night.

Chilling.

CBS 5's video report has more on what will hopefully become a widespread epidemic. (Oh, we're kidding. Sort of.) Sounds like the work of one person, but...who knows. Would you want to hurt a Prius? Why?

So sad.