Hasta La Gadget!

Mercedes-Benz’s new A-Class E-Cell may be a limited production vehicle, but it is a production vehicle, which likely means that some folks will be interested in how it actually drives. Thankfully, the folks from PluginCars have now managed to take one for a quick spin, and have delivered a few first impressions. The short of it is that while it’s a “nice ride,” it’s apparently not a very powerful one — in fact, the site says that the car felt “significantly slower” than the Nissan Leaf, which also of course has the advantage of being cheaper and more widely available. The Mercedes does apparently handle much better, though, and while the floor is a bit higher than a normal car, the interior otherwise seems to be top notch. Unfortunately, the test drive wasn’t exactly long enough to truly test the car’s Tesla-provided batteries, but the site was at least pleased to see the current state of charge conveniently placed right in the middle of the dashboard.

Mercedes’ A-Class E-Cell gets taken for a test drive originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 31 Mar 2011 19:41:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We’ve seen it adorned with a giant Honeycomb and an oversized Gingerbread man, and now Google’s bringing a more practical addition to its Mountain View campus — specifically, a Plugless Power EV charging station. Its maker touts the installation as “the first public release” of the handsfree re-juicing system, and says it will eventually provided power to a fleet of low-speed EVs already in use at El Goog HQ — the first of which has already been retrofitted to get pumped up. Who knows, maybe now we’ll see something come of Google’s claims to make electrical vehicles charge more efficiently. Full PR after the break.

Continue reading Google HQ gets juiced with Plugless Power EV charging unit

Google HQ gets juiced with Plugless Power EV charging unit originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 23 Mar 2011 18:13:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Patience can bear such wonderful fruit, can’t it? The electrified (and electrifying) Karma, which first graced the world with its presence back in 2008, has managed to negotiate the slalom course of funding and logistical issues that faces any new upstart company and can now boast its very first production unit. The Karma 1 above will be making its way out within a month (presumably after every nook, cranny and capacitor has been polished to perfection) and company spokesman Roger Ormisher says the plan is to ramp up very slowly and carefully, reaching “over 7,000 deliveries” by year’s end. Considering the rate at which Leafs and Volts have been selling so far, that doesn’t actually sound half bad.

EV milestone: Fisker rolls first Karma off the assembly line, aims to deliver 7,000 this year originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 23 Mar 2011 03:51:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Okay, so you’ll probably still look like a circus bear on a penny-farthing when you hop on the YikeBike, but with the introduction of the new extender battery backpack, you won’t have to stop every six miles to juice up. You heard right, this otherwise inconspicuous knapsack is actually packing a second YikeBike battery, which can be hooked up directly to the collapsible bicycle to keep you riding for another six miles — and if you like riding high on a tiny bike for long distances, it’s got room for more than one. So go crazy, pack this thing full of batteries and hit the road, but if your keister starts smartin’, don’t say we didn’t warn you. You can get your YikeBike juice on for $229 at the source link below.

YikeBike extender battery backpack keeps you riding in, um, style for six more miles originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 12 Mar 2011 23:57:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Continue reading Fremont Motors shows off Fido electric scooter prototype

Fremont Motors shows off Fido electric scooter prototype originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 07 Mar 2011 11:31:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink Hell for Leather  |  KING5.com, Fremont Motors  | Email this | Comments