Hasta La Gadget!

General Motors has become the first domestic automaker to build electric motors and drive units in the United States. GM has announced that the manufacturing of the electric motors for its coming Spark EV have begun in Baltimore. The electric motors and drive units were imported from foreign manufacturers before GM kicked off production in the US.

Engineers and designers at GM developed the electric motor for the Spark EV to provide maximum efficiency and extreme reliability. The motor uses a permanent magnet design to precisely deliver power to the driver. The electric motor used in the Spark EV will produce 130 hp and 400 pound-foot of torque.

The electric motor will not only deliver efficiency to drivers, but it will provide impressive performance as well with the ability to rocket from a standstill to 60 mph in under 8 seconds. The first Spark EVs will go on sale in California and Oregon this summer. Sales will later expand to Canada, Europe, and South Korea.

GM said that all of its employees at the Baltimore assembly plant underwent extensive training to be able to operate the sophisticated machinery required to build the electric motors. The workers were also extensively trained on how to configure portions of the electric motor and drive units. There’s no indication at this time of when the vehicle will be offered for sale outside of California and Oregon within the United States.

[via GM]

GM begins manufacturing Spark EV electric motor in Baltimore is written by Shane McGlaun & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

The price tag fixed to a car is only part of what you’ll spend for the vehicle, with the sale being followed shortly by licensing fees and taxes. Beyond that, there’s the cost associated with properly maintaining the vehicle and fixing the occassional problem that arises, and then there’s the daily cost, primarily in the form of filling the tank up. Most of these costs were used in AAA’s “Your Driving Costs” report, which pegs the yearly price of owning a car at $9,122.

The study analyzed the costs associated with tires, insurance, fuel, maintenance, and depreciation to make its determination, with maintenance being the largest culprit this time around for sedan owners, having increased to 4.97 cents per mile over 2012. Obviously, smaller cars are said to have lower costs across the board, while bigger vehicles have higher costs in all categories.

Insurance saw the next highest increase, with costs rising 2.76-percent yearly over 2012. Fuel was third at a 1.93-percent increase, and depreciation was a close fourth at .78-percent. The costs associated with tires, meanwhile, didn’t change, with costs at only about a penny per mile, making them pretty cheap in the grand scheme of things.

The yearly cost is based on driving 15,000 miles per year, which means it could be too high for some drivers and not high enough for others. The average cost of driving those miles, when factoring in all the categories, is 60.8 cents/mile, which represents a cost increase over 2012 of about 2-percent. Not monumental, but still a relevant increase.

[via USA Today]

AAA: It costs $9,122 a year to own a car is written by Brittany Hillen & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

This week the folks at Telenav have revealed their next-generation in-car personalized navigation system expansion with “Scout for Cars: Built In:, bringing on in-dash navigation for a whole new generation of smart vehicles. You’ll find Scout for Cars bringing on real-time personalized information the likes of which you’ve only otherwise been able to access with Scout for Phones before this week, this time in an iteration that carmakers are able to make all their own with custom branding! And what’s more – you’ll be able to connect to your Scout for Phones service to share the information between your car and your phone for one great learning system that remembers your preferences.

You’ll have in-vehicle navigation with Scout for Cars like you’ve ever before thought possible as this next-level system comes through on not just your car’s display, but your phone and your desktop computer as well. With the webpage Scout.me, you’ll have management of your favorite locations, early looking up of places you’ll want to go, and more! With a built-in system in your vehicle you’ll have instant connectivity.

Above: our most recent hands-on experience with Scout in-vehicle integration. Below: Telenav’s official quick spot on Scout for Cars and the ties between it and Scout for Phones!

Key features of the Scout for Cars interface include the following:

• Personalized Information: Favorites, recent trips, and commute times automatically sync between the computer, phone, and car

• Fresh Maps & POIs: Access to up-to-date maps and millions of POIs

• Local Weather: Real-time weather and forecasts

• Local Search: Integrated one-box search with automatic suggestions makes it fast and easy to enter addresses & POIs

• Real-time Traffic: Drivers save time with live traffic overlays and updates that automatically reroute them around traffic jams or road congestion

• Voice Control: Safety is increased as drivers are able to keep their hands on the wheel with voice-activated commands

• Flexible Branding: OEMs can offer embedded navigation in their vehicles under their own brand, look, and feel

• Companion App: OEMs can use Scout for Phones or their own branded smartphone app to bring connectivity and services into the car

From our long history with Telenav – the folks behind Scount and this ever-expanding high-powered GPS navigation environment and experience – you’ll find that this group of workers is second to none when it comes to creating a top-notched program. This isn’t just a system that leads you to the places you need directions to: it’s a companion for you both in and out of your vehicle. With Scout in its many iterations you’ve got your own personal guide wherever you’re going!

Have a peek at a timeline of Scout and Telenav bits and pieces below to see how far the system has come! Also be sure to hit up our Car Hub to see the many different ways the automotive industry is getting technologically powerful and makes forward thinking a must-have for your next-generation vehicle!

Scout for Cars: Built In brings Telenav’s newest built-in GPS system bid is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Protean Electric is a company that performs a lot of research and development in the in-wheel electric drive market. In-wheel electric motors are exactly what they sound like, small electric propulsion units that fit within the wheels of an automobile. Protean Electric has unveiled its production in-wheel motor at the 2013 Society of Automotive Engineers World Congress.

The Protean technology is designed to be an integral part of the hybrid powertrain system and paired with a traditional internal combustion engine. However, the manufacturer says that the technology is also capable of providing enough power to be the only source of traction drive in a fully electric vehicle. The motors are designed to reside in the space behind the wheel and produce torque and power exactly where the driver and automobile need it.

Protean says that its new production motor provides a 25% increase in peak torque compared with previous generations of its technology. The new electric drive motors can generate 735 pound-foot of torque and 100 hp each. That is a huge amount of torque for each electric motor with such a small physical footprint designed to fit inside your typical wheel.

The motors also weighing only 68 pounds each and Protean says that the electric motors are able to improve fuel economy up to 30% in hybrid configurations depending on the battery size. The design of the electric motors allows of 85% of the available kinetic energy to be recovered during braking to recharge the battery. I would love to see an all wheel drive electric vehicle using these electric motors producing over 2800 pound-foot of torque.

[via Protean Electric]

Protean debuts production in-wheel electric motor is written by Shane McGlaun & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

We’ve mentioned GRID 2 before, and it’s scheduled to release on May 28, which is just a month-and-a-half away. In the meantime, Codemasters is teasing us by revealing some of the features that we can expect to show up in the game once it’s released, including all the goodies that we’ll get in the game’s multiplayer.

The trailer, which focuses on multiplayer components shows off the leaderboards, meaning that you should get ready for some fierce competition. When entering a multiplayer race, gamers will be assigned to other competitors with the same skill level as you, in order to enforce as strict of a fair playing field as possible. However, you can also manually race against someone, like a friend.

Codemasters is calling this entire system “RaceNet,” which the developer says will be a huge part of GRID 2‘s multiplayer. Gamers will also be able to record video and upload it straight to YouTube for all to watch as you take down your friends in the game. The multiplayer will also feature weekly challenges that you’ll be able to compete in.

The trailer also gives us a glimpse at the variety of cars and tracks that will be available in the game. GRID 2 will use real locations — just like in the original GRID — but more tracks in the new game will be made from public modes, meaning that you’ll be able to race around Chicago or swerve your way through the woods, instead of just official closed courses like in the first GRID.

GRID 2 trailer shows off multiplayer and YouTube uploads is written by Craig Lloyd & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.