Portland company that turns restaurant grease into fuel has opened its first gas pump for vehicles. Maine Biofuel is able to produce about 3,000 gallons of biodiesel a day, according to founder and CEO Jarmin Kaltsas, and can make 1 million gallons of fuel a year. The pump’s located at 51 Ingersoll Drive, off Riverside Street in Portland, and is open between 10 a.m. and 6 p.m. Monday through Friday. Payment must be in cash for now, but credit cards will be accepted soon.

Kaltsas calls his company a “recycling plant,” because the biofuel is made from recycled vegetable oil, rather than food crops that have been converted into fuel. The waste grease is collected from local restaurants.

While using less power than a blow dryer, Portland artist and illustrator C. Michael Lewis propelled his carbon fiber ‘ERacer’ Electrathon car to a new national speed record of 62.2 miles in one hour on a pair of standard car batteries.

The venue was the Extreme Efficiency Trials at the Michigan Proving Grounds of Ford Motor Company, a 5-mile, smooth-as-silk test track built to test automotive engineering designs under the most ideal of conditions. The track was made available by Ford to select groups of the public as part of the 100-year anniversary celebration of their company’s history.

Once again, Prime Motor Group has broken all the records with its “just-in” sales recap for May! Owner Ira Rosenberg reports that his Prime stores sold 680 vehicles during May! 680 during a time when all we hear is bad news about the auto industry. And his Ford store was right up there with strong, strong sales. Recession? Apparently not when it’s Prime Time!

Due to its high visibility and sales success, on Saturday, May 16th,  all the Prime Motor Group stores in Saco have been selected to host a Keep Your Kids Safe program. Prime will have a whole slew of events at all of their stores on the Prime Auto Mile, including police cruisers, ambulances, a K-9 corp. fire trucks and more.  First 300 families will get a FREE Guard-A-Kids Smart ID stick.

Prime Motor Group of Saco and Scarborough continues to keep on rollin’ with an
astounding 586 cars sold at their stores in March! According to Ira Rosenberg,
there have been Saturdays when his new Toyota store looks like Grand Central Station.

Bad news just doesn’t work at Patriot Subaru. In these tough times they have continued to set records. This year they are 31% ahead of a record year in 2008. In March they were the 4th largest Subaru dealership in New England and are currently the 25th largest in the country. The lifetime warranty on both new and used cars truly resonates in these economic times, when people are making long-term decisions.

Portland’s easygoing quality of life is praised in the April 1st feature. The list was compiled based on a leisure index, crime data and 5-year cost of living average and unemployment figures. Kudos for local highlights go to Grittys, Cinque Terre, Blackpoint Inn and Cold River Vodka!

Lanco Assembly Systems, a high-tech manufacturer of Automated Assembly and Test systems, continues to develop and engineer world-class manufacturing systems. Recent contracts received include systems for Lexmark, which will launch in Singapore, and Covidien in North Haven, CT for a new medical product which has recently attained FDA approval.

In addition, Lanco has recently opened facilities in Hong Kong and Shanghai to support its worldwide customer base and continued growth here in Maine.

Check their web site www.Lanco.net to view some of the engineering and high-tech manufacturing systems Lanco has developed for multinational companies.

In the greater Portland area there are close to 30 NAPA AutoCare Centers. These are certified professional technicians that service local cars and utilize NAPA Auto Parts’ extensive inventory of parts and products. As we exit winter, a notoriously flat business cycle, most centers are up or holding strong.  Peter Brown, owner of the Cumberland Avenue Garage, a NAPA AutoCare center, says “Although business could always be better we’re doing well and optimistic for spring and summer. 26 years at the corners of Cumberland & Washington have taught us to count our blessings and look to the future.”

While the rest of the country talks doom and gloom, auto entrepreneur, Ira Rosenberg’s Prime Motor Group Maine stores sold 532 cars in February! Ira continues to be upbeat and is looking forward to more action come Spring!