Monthly Archives: March 2012

The "hits" just keep on coming for the electric vehicle market, but unfortunately… 4

This entry was posted in Uncategorized and tagged codaautomotive electricvehicles EV Google+ on by (updated 4402 days ago)

The "hits" just keep on coming for the electric vehicle market, but unfortunately not in a good way. Yesterday, Azure Dynamics, a Canadian company that converts large vans to plug-in hybrids and the Ford Transit Connect to full battery electric drive, filed for bankruptcy protection. At the same time, A123 Systems announced a recall of several hundred battery packs, most of which are in Fisker Karmas.

Today we learn that Coda Automotive is abandoning plans for a battery factory in Columbus, OH. I spoke with Coda in 2009 about its electric car plans http://greenfuelsforecast.com/ArticleDetails.php?articleID=715

Like Bright Automotive, Coda's plans got derailed by the lack of approvals for its application for a loan from the DoE's advanced technology vehicle manufacturing program. For the time being, Coda will continue to get batteries from its supplier in China.

#electricvehicles #ev #codaautomotive

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Coda ditches plan to build car-battery factory in Columbus
Coda Automotive is abandoning plans to build a battery factory in Columbus, a decision that will mean the region will not be in line for more than 1,000 manufacturing jobs that would have been created…

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The new +McLaren Automotive MP4-12C GT3 will be hitting race tracks all over the… 2

This entry was posted in Uncategorized and tagged Google+ gtracing mclaren on by (updated 4401 days ago)

The new +McLaren Automotive MP4-12C GT3 will be hitting race tracks all over the world this year with 25 examples participating in a number of different series.

It will be interesting to see if the teams can replicate the success of the F1 GTR which took the GT ranks by storm in 1995 and took an overall victory in the 24 Hours of Le Mans http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McLaren_F1_GTR with a car that had surprisingly minimal modifications from the road car. The 12C won't be running at Le Sarthe in June of this year but come 2013, who knows?

#mclaren #gtracing

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Don't let Ray La Hood hear about this! 3

This entry was posted in Uncategorized and tagged driverdistraction Google+ on by (updated 4401 days ago)

#driverdistraction

Reshared post from +Scott Beale

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Handpresso Auto, A Hand-Held Espresso Machine for the Car
Handpresso Auto, A Hand-Held Espresso Machine for the Carhttp://youtu.be/vqhDhv2al38 Handpresso Auto is a portable espresso machine that plugs into a car's 12 volt power socket (video). vi…

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We probably won't see wide spread use of autonomous vehicles until closer to…

This entry was posted in Uncategorized and tagged autonomousvehicles Google+ on by (updated 4402 days ago)

We probably won't see wide spread use of autonomous vehicles until closer to the end of this decade but they have tremendous potential for enabling personal mobility for the very young, the old and the physically challenged like Steve Mahan.

Even for the rest of us, autonomous vehicles have the potential to dramatically reduce traffic jams, especially if we apply the tech to small footprint urban vehicles as demonstrated by +General Motors EN-V concepts. Reduced congestion and steadier speeds also means reduced energy use and safer roads.

I love to drive on a winding road, but frankly on my daily highway commute to the office, I'd just as soon sit back, turn on the kindle and let the car do the work.

#autonomousvehicles

Reshared post from +Google

We announced our self-driving car project in 2010 (http://goo.gl/dI6qA) with a clear goal: make driving safer, more enjoyable and more efficient.

There’s much left to design and test, but we’ve now safely completed more than 200,000 miles of computer-led driving, gathering great experiences and an overwhelming number of enthusiastic supporters.

We wanted to share one of our favorite moments from some special research we conducted. Watch this video of Steve, who joined us for a drive on a carefully programmed route to experience being behind the wheel in a whole new way. We organized this test as a technical experiment outside of our core research efforts, but we think it’s also a promising look at what this kind of technology may one day deliver for society if rigorous technical and safety standards can be met.

A version of this video with audio captions is available here: http://goo.gl/k5K9Q

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The 2013 Ford Explorer is second a second EcoBoost engine option for 2013 with the…

This entry was posted in Uncategorized and tagged 2013ford 2013fordexplorersport ecoboost ford Google+ on by (updated 4403 days ago)

The 2013 Ford Explorer is second a second EcoBoost engine option for 2013 with the introduction of the 350+ hp Explorer Sport. Instead of the 237 hp 2.0-liter four-cylinder EcoBoost, this one gets a version of the 3.5-liter twin-turbo V6 from the Taurus SHO.

The result will be the fastest production Explorer ever.

#ford #2013ford #2013fordexplorersport #ecoboost

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2013 Ford Explorer Sport muscles up with 350+ turbocharged horsepower
Last week when we drove the new police version of the Ford Explorer, we asked whether the civilian car handled as well as its law enforcement counterpart. The answer then was no, but it seems like tha…

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