Many wonderful things have come out of the US Military’s Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency—or DARPA—incuding the internet. But none are as insanely awesome as its new CAAT (Captive Air Amphibious Transporter) which is essentially a tank that floats on water thanks to its oversized inflatable treads. More »
Can’t get enough espresso? Stopping by Starbucks four times a day is all well and good, but true coffee fans make their own. In their cars. Fiat has announced that the 500L will come with an optional built-in espresso maker when it rolls off the line in October, leaving us a little excited and only slightly terrified. Lavazza will be supplying the coffee makers for what Fiat says is “the first standard-production car in the world to offer a true espresso coffee machine.” It even comes with matching cups!
Fiat says that the espresso maker is “perfectly integrated” in the center console, with the company itself designing the deck. The maker uses its own power source, so all you need to provide is the water and Lavazza’s “A Modo Mio” coffee pods and you’re good to go. We wonder just how hard it will be to fill an espresso maker with ground up coffee and water while you’re driving, but it’s happening anyway so we may as well just be quiet and roll with it.
The Fiat 500L will become available in the rest of Europe shortly following its Italian release in October. After that, it’s travelling across the Atlantic to the US in 2013, but we have a feeling that American consumers aren’t going to have the option of installing a coffee maker when the car arrives here. After all, we already can’t text while driving in a number of places, so why would the government be okay with us making coffee while driving? Sadly, it seems the dream of having coffee that’s truly “on-the-go” will likely never be a reality here in the US, but then again, that’s probably for the best.
For more interesting (and sometimes strange) car and coffee-related stories, check out the story timeline below!
[via USA Today]
Fiat 500L getting optional espresso maker is written by Eric Abent & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.
2012 has already been a pretty big year for Tesla. Just last month it started shipping out the first of its Model S cars to customers, and earlier this year the company announced that its Model X crossover will enter production in late 2013. Despite having one model fresh off the assembly line and another entering production soon, Telsa has revealed plans for a third model, which chief designer Franz von Holzhausen hopes will enter production as early as 2015.
This new line of EVs is primarily planned as a competitor to the BMW 3-series, and Holzhausen says that Tesla is aiming for a $30,000 price tag on the new cars. He also says that Telsa is going to be a little more open minded when it comes to the design and personality of its cars moving forward, telling Autocar that the company will “become more experimental as we develop as a brand.”
Elsewhere on the internet, Car and Driver says that not only is Tesla planning a BMW 3 competitor, but it’s also working on a new version of the roadster. Both the roadster and the 3 competitor will likely be based on the Model S’s platform, but both will probably also be a bit smaller, meaning that the range of these new cars might not be able to match that of the Model S.
So, some exciting news coming out of Tesla today. Sadly, with the Model X and the Model S taking up the lion’s share of Tesla’s attention at the moment, the earliest we’ll probably see these cars is 2015. But hey, what’s life without a little something to look forward to now and then?
[via Car and Driver]
Tesla talks future EV models for 2015 is written by Eric Abent & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.
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