Aug 18

Cadillac Converj hits production as ELR, escapes concept purgatory

Posted in: electric car, electric vehicle, ElectricCar, ElectricVehicle, ev, green, hybrid, Today's Chili
Cadillac Converj hits production as ELR, escapes concept purgatory

If you’re not already familiar with the story of the Cadillac Converj, take this quick primer: the Converj is the Chevy Volt’s luxurious, canceled cousin. The up-and-coming concept suffered an early death shortly after its debut at the 2009 Detroit auto show. Now it’s back, returning to development under the name Cadillac ELR. The new electric caddy is said to feature an updated version of the Voltec powertrain, complete with a Chevy Volt-like range-extending generator. Detroit promises that pricing and availability will be released “later,” but you can cruise past the break right now for some extra classy PR.

Continue reading Cadillac Converj hits production as ELR, escapes concept purgatory

Cadillac Converj hits production as ELR, escapes concept purgatory originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 18 Aug 2011 04:16:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Aug 17

Third generation Smart Fortwo ditches Tesla powertrain, gains two wheeled cousin

Posted in: bike, Cars, electric car, electric vehicle, ElectricCar, ElectricVehicle, ev, Today's Chili
Time and tide wait for no man, folks. Nearly nine months after delivering the first electric Fortwos to snuggie-toting yanks, Daimler’s gone and announced its faster and longer-lasting successor. It’s not an entirely new car mind you, rather an extensive under the hood nip and tuck that replaces the Tesla powertrain with a more potent unit sourced from EM-motive. Up 34 horses from the previous model, the 74 horsepower EV now scoots from 0-60 in a “lively” 13 seconds — a vast improvement over the 23.4 second (!) time of its predecessor. It’s got a larger 17.6kWh battery pack too, which increases range a smidge to 87 miles. And this isn’t another EV trial: it’ll be produced in volume and sold (not leased) in 30 countries at an undisclosed price.

Joining the revised city dweller is the matching Smart Ebike. The electrically assisted bicycle gives meat bags a choice of four levels of laziness as it propels them 60 miles between charges. At €2,900 (or around $4,000) it’s no bargain, but you didn’t think transportational color coordination came cheap, did you? Expect more on both come September when they are officially unveiled at IAA Frankfurt, but our friends at Autoblog Green have plenty of pics for your perusal at the source below.

Continue reading Third generation Smart Fortwo ditches Tesla powertrain, gains two wheeled cousin

Third generation Smart Fortwo ditches Tesla powertrain, gains two wheeled cousin originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 17 Aug 2011 08:11:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Aug 14

Take a spin in Tesla’s Model S this October, if you can get past the velvet rope

Posted in: automobile, electric car, electric vehicle, ElectricCar, ElectricVehicle, ev, tesla, Today's Chili

Tesla’s been showing off its Silicon Valley-bred saloon for months now, from the touchscreen-laden console to the mechanical bits beneath its shapely skin. We even got a spread of a road going Model S last month, and this October a lucky few will get to cruise in some beta test cars at Tesla’s factory in Fremont. These beta versions are “over ninety percent” of what the production Model S will be, and after the ride, the chosen get to tour Tesla’s manufacturing facility. We plan on being there when the new EV is put through its paces, so stay tuned for our impressions of the Model S this autumn.

Take a spin in Tesla’s Model S this October, if you can get past the velvet rope originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 14 Aug 2011 13:22:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Aug 11

Ford teams with SunPower, offers EV owners $10,000 solar charging system

Posted in: car, Cars, electric car, electric vehicle, ElectricCar, ElectricVehicle, ev, Ford, solar, solar power, SolarPower, Today's Chili

We might not know how much Ford’s expecting for the Focus Electric, but it’s already put a hefty $10,000 price tag on one of its accessories. The company announced today that it has teamed with SunPower to offer purchasers of the upcoming Focus Electric and C-MAX Energi a 2.5-kilowatt rooftop solar system. That setup will apparently provide “enough renewable energy production to offset the energy used for charging” cars that log 1,000 miles per month (about 30 miles per day) or less. If $10,000 is just a little too rich for your blood, there’s always Best Buy’s $1,500 budget-friendly charging station. Full PR after the break.

Continue reading Ford teams with SunPower, offers EV owners $10,000 solar charging system

Ford teams with SunPower, offers EV owners $10,000 solar charging system originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 11 Aug 2011 05:04:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Aug 05

Tesla Model X SUV to launch in December, will be gliding quietly down the highway by 2014

Posted in: electric vehicle, ElectricVehicle, ev, tesla, Today's Chili
Tesla confirms plans to unveil electric Model X SUV this year, $30k car by 2015 Well, it’s not often that we hear about products being ahead of schedule. Telsa CEO Elon Musk presented some forward-looking statements during his company’s quarterly earnings call this week, revealing a mid-December time frame for the unveiling of its Model X prototype, which could hit streets as soon as 2014. There hasn’t been any hint as to pricing for the all-electric SUV, but we wouldn’t be surprised to see Tesla’s X priced comparably to BMW’s identically named X model hybrid SUV — think sub-$100,000, not “affordable.” With plans to produce only 15,000 per year beginning in 2013, a high price tag won’t be the only thing keeping Tesla from fulfilling the dream of having an electric car in every driveway. Range has been another obstacle for electric car makers, but with new charging stations popping up on a regular basis, we may be able to make the 165-mile drive from New York City to Albany with slightly less anxiety by the time mid-decade rolls around.

Tesla Model X SUV to launch in December, will be gliding quietly down the highway by 2014 originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 05 Aug 2011 18:30:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Aug 05

Nissan’s Android app lets you charge your Leaf from afar, puts the ‘ease’ in EV

Posted in: Android, android market, AndroidMarket, app, charger, charging, electric car, electric vehicle, ElectricCar, ElectricVehicle, ev, green, sales, smartphone, Today's Chili
If you happen to be both a Nissan Leaf owner and an Android user, you’re in luck today, because the automaker has just released an official app that could make your life a little easier. With Nissan’s tool, you’ll be able to monitor your electric vehicle’s battery life and estimated driving range directly from your smartphone, which you can also use to remotely charge your Leaf, or start its air conditioning. It may not be the most groundbreaking app ever, but it definitely offers some welcomed convenience to Nissan’s growing base of EV drivers. Yesterday, the company confirmed to Autoblog Green that Leaf sales “crossed the 10,000 mark a couple weeks ago.” Exact figures are hard to come by, due to Japan’s summer holiday, but Nissan says it’s 100 percent certain that the milestone was crossed. Next up: world domination.

Nissan’s Android app lets you charge your Leaf from afar, puts the ‘ease’ in EV originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 05 Aug 2011 09:49:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Aug 04

Gone in 43 seconds: Tesla’s Model S gets teased on the track (video)

Posted in: car, electric car, electric vehicle, ElectricCar, ElectricVehicle, ev, tesla, Today's Chili, video

We’ve already seen a short bit of footage of a single Model S on the road, and now Tesla has released an even briefer video of not one, not two, but three vehicles on the track for some alpha-level testing. No, they’re not racing (at least not on the video), but it certainly looks like they’re ready for one. See for yourself after the break, and look for things to improve further from here — Tesla says it’s now already applying what it’s learned from the testing to its forthcoming beta vehicles.

Continue reading Gone in 43 seconds: Tesla’s Model S gets teased on the track (video)

Gone in 43 seconds: Tesla’s Model S gets teased on the track (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 04 Aug 2011 03:04:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Aug 03

Nissan’s ‘Leaf to Home’ system sends power back to your house or the grid

Posted in: electric car, electric vehicle, ElectricCar, ElectricVehicle, ev, power, Today's Chili

The Nissan Leaf may look like a car, but it turns out it will soon also be an emergency power generator on wheels. The automaker just took the wraps off its new “Leaf to Home” system in Japan this week, which promises to let you send power stored in the car back to your house in the case of an outage, or even back to the grid (letting you charge the car during off-peak hours and profiting when demand is high, for instance). Of course, that also requires more than your basic charging station (this one ties directly into your home’s electricity distribution panel), and it’s not quite ready for consumer use just yet — Nissan expects it to be available in Japan by April of next year.

Nissan’s ‘Leaf to Home’ system sends power back to your house or the grid originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 03 Aug 2011 16:34:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Aug 03

OutRun AR project lets you game and drive at the same time, makes us drool

Posted in: augmented reality, AugmentedReality, camera, concept, console, electric vehicle, ElectricVehicle, ev, game, research, Software, Today's Chili, video
Cool game, or coolest game ever? That’s the question we were asking ourselves when we first came across Garnet Hertz’s augmented reality-based OutRun project — a concept car that weds Sega’s classic driving game with an electric golf cart, allowing players to navigate their way around real-life courses using only arcade consoles. Hertz, an informatics researcher at the University of California Irvine, has since brought his idea to fruition, after outfitting the system with cameras and customized software that can “look” in front of the car to automatically reproduce the route on the game cabin’s screen. The map is displayed in the same 8-bit rendering you’d see on the original OutRun, with perspectives changing proportionally to shifts in steering. The cart maxes out at only 13 mph, though speed isn’t really the idea; Hertz and his colleagues hope their technology can be used to develop game-based therapies for disabled users, or to create similarly AR-based wheelchairs. Scoot past the break to see a video of the car in action, and let your dreams converge.

[Thanks, Stagueve]

Continue reading OutRun AR project lets you game and drive at the same time, makes us drool

OutRun AR project lets you game and drive at the same time, makes us drool originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 03 Aug 2011 09:42:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Jul 30

BMW unveils new i3 and revamped i8 concepts, we await our automotive future (video)

Posted in: automobile, car, Cars, electric vehicle, ElectricVehicle, ev, hybrid, Today's Chili, video

BMW’s been teasing us with its vision for electric motoroing for years, and today, folks, the trend continues. The German automaker has unveiled two concepts from its upcoming i sub-brand: the city-dwelling i3 and a rehashed version of its i8. This is the first time we’ve officially seen the smaller of the two, as the car formerly known as the Megacity had only been spied in an official render and during routine testing at the arctic circle. It’ll haul four peeps with its 150km range (around 100 miles) and accelerate from 0-60mph in around 8 seconds. As for those with range anxiety, the German company will soothe such fears with an optional range-extending motor dubbed “REx.” Either variant could land in your garage in 2013, where you’ll be able top them up in 6 hours with a standard socket, or up to eighty percent in an hour if you’re rocking a spiffy high capacity charger.

The i8, which you’ll recall for its radical aerodynamic design and hybrid diesel-electric drivetrain, has received a bevy of aerodynamic tweaks and junked its oil burner, opting for a gasoline one instead. Engine swap aside, the sporty coupé apparently drinks only 2.7 liters per 100km — 87 mpg (!) for yanks — which is unreal in a car that’ll accelerate to 62mph in 4.6 seconds. Sound too good to be true? We’ll have to wait until 2014 to see if München can make good on those promises, but in the meantime feel free to peruse the galleries, videos, and PR after the break.

Gallery: BMW i Family

Continue reading BMW unveils new i3 and revamped i8 concepts, we await our automotive future (video)

BMW unveils new i3 and revamped i8 concepts, we await our automotive future (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 30 Jul 2011 14:42:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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