Hasta La Gadget!

Have wheels, will travel, and that is more or less what we would think of when it comes to owning a car. Earlier this year in July, we did bring you the unveiling of the all electric BMW i3, where the starting price of $41,350 did make it pretty pricey compared to other gas-powered cars. Back then, BMW did not mention just how much will the gas-powered engine version cost. Well, it seems that all of that waiting has finally paid off, as we do know that the gas-powered version of the BMW i3 will cost $45,300 a pop, which would be a $3,950 premium.

The overall cost for the SAE Combo DC Fast Charge option that enables the BMW i3’s owner to fill up its battery to 80 percent in just 20 minutes, or to touch 100 percent in half an hour, remains unspecified. Perhaps when it comes to the Los Angeles Auto Show that is set to happen in November, more details will be shared. The BMWi3 will hit the US market sometime in the second quarter of next year. The Range Extender option would arrive in the form of a 650cc, two-cylinder engine which is capable of churning out 34 horsepower which will more or less double the i3′s 80-to-100 mile electric range, courtesy of a relatively diminutive 2.4-gallon tank.

BMW i3 Gets Range Extender Option original content from Ubergizmo.

Toyota intends to help accelerate the adoption of electric or hybrid cars through a tried and tested format – by slashing the price of the ride, of course. In fact, we have received word that Toyota would be introducing a $2,000 discount off the base price for the plug-in version of their extremely popular hybrid car. Just how much will it now cost? Well, we are looking at a $29,990 sticker price, in addition to a delivery fee, of course. Not only that, for those of you out there who wants to pick up the advanced version of the plug-in Prius will be able to enjoy a discount of $4,620.

This would mean that Toyota would participate with the likes of Nissan Leaf, the Chevrolet Volt, as well as Honda Fit EV on the list of automobile manufacturers who have already reduced the price of their electric cars by a few thousand dollars so that sales figures can be boosted – fingers crossed, that is. After all, such rides already come with expensive batteries, they already have a low profit margin, so to slash the market price even further does cause one to think. Toyota intends to sweeten their deal by introducing additional standard features such as heated seats, automatic climate control and the ability to ride farther along in EV mode so that you can save more on gas, which is always a good thing.

Toyota Plug-In Prius To Receive Price Cut original content from Ubergizmo.

At the recently concluded CEATEC 2013 in Japan, we managed to spend some hands-on time with the Nissan self-driving car, which also managed to pick up the Grand Prix award along the way. Well, Ford might not have a self-driving car, but they did demonstrate an advanced self-parking system which will drop you off before it speeds away to park itself. This would definitely jive well with any existing self-driving systems for sure. Barb Samardzich, Ford head of product development in Europe, shared, “Parking in today’s cities can be stressful and difficult. We want to make it as easy, efficient and accurate as possible.”

At the moment, existing parking assist systems make use of a range of sonar, radar or even camera sensors in order to assist motorists enter the parking bay, whether it is into parallel or perpendicular spots. Of course, the motorist will still have a hand (literally speaking) in this, where some vehicles will use the brake alone, while others require the operation of both the brake and throttle. Ford’s system, known as the Fully Assisted Parking Aid, would let you alight from your ride, where the push of a button on the key fob would then let it park itself. Is this impressive or what?

Ford Self-Parking System Does It Sans Driver In Car original content from Ubergizmo.

Last week a train twinkling with LED lights chugged into Oakland’s 16th Street Station, its final destination on a 3,000 mile, ten-city whistle stop art happening orchestrated by Doug Aitken called Station to Station.

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[CEATEC 2013] How green can cars get? We have started to see a slight shift among buyers of cars who have jumped aboard the hybrid bandwagon, with Toyota’s Prius leading the way. Of course, the move to fully electric cars have yet to catch the imagination of the masses because of charging stations, the relatively limited range of an electric car compared to one that runs on gas, and of course, the entry cost which can be prohibitively high. Regardless, it is nice to see companies work on future forward technologies when it comes to vehicles, and this is where Clarion’s EcoAccel app comes into play.

To know whether you are driving in an eco-friendly manner could prove to be challenging if your vehicle does not already arrive with such an integrated system in the first place. Clarion’s EcoAccel app will be powered by a head unit that runs on the Android operating system, where it will read the relevant data picked up by sensors to rate your Eco driving habits. Right, it does not seem as though the folks over at Clarion intend to deliver this product across the Pacific to the US, but hopefully they will change their minds about that.

Clarion EcoAccel App Helps You Driver Green(er) original content from Ubergizmo.