Vanadium oxide nanotubes with a diameter of 20-100 nm and an aspect ratio of 50-100 were synthesized by hydrothermal method. Young's modulus of 20-80 GPa was obtained by bending measurements of individual nanotubes using an atomic force microscope. Electrical resistivity and thermopower measurements on a large assembly of nanotubes determined the characteristic energies required to put a charge into a polaronic site (Delta E-g = 0.20 eV) and to extract and propagate the polaron between neighboring sites (Delta E-p = 0.09 eV). (C) 2009 American Institute of Physics. [DOI: 10.1063/1.3103280]