automotive

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This electric bus can handle a day’s worth of transit on one charge

The Proterra Catalyst E2 is capable of serving the full daily mileage needs of nearly every U.S. mass transit route on a single charge and offers the transit industry the first direct replacement for fossil-fueled transit vehicles. (PRNewsFoto/Proterra) Tesla topping the 300 mile per charge rating with its new 100 kWh battery was a big deal, but a new zero emission bus debuted today by Proterra has actually managed 600 miles out of a full battery in testing. In a real-world setting, Proterra’s new Catalyst E2 will probably manage somewhere between 194 and 350 miles in actual use settings – but that’s plenty according to… Read More

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Toyota’s Prius Prime is engineered to give hybrid owners more EV feels

img_0324 Toyota’s Prius Prime is an updated take on the company’s popular hybrid, with more emphasis on the EV aspects of the vehicle, including a battery with double the driving capacity, and a few other tweaks that push the car closer toward the EV end of its dual identity, including an acceleration feature that lets the electric motor handle much of the pick-up when you first put your… Read More

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BMW said to accelerate EV plans with 3 Series, X4 and Mini

2014-bmw-i3-debut-079 BMW plans to accelerate its electric vehicle plans, in the wake of an executive shake-up and leading into a vote planned for the end of this month. The new BMW expanded electric lineup will kindle fully battery-powered versions of the Mini, the BMW 3 Series and the X4 SUV. The company has previously discussed plans to electrify the 3 Series and other vehicles, but German’s… Read More

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Ford backs massive bike-share expansion in the San Francisco Bay Area

Ford invested in transportation systems in the San Francisco Bay Area, including bike sharing. At a press conference in San Francisco today, Ford Motor Co. president and CEO Mark Fields announced that the company had both acquired a rideshare startup called Chariot and made a significant investment in expanding the region’s bike-share program. Ford’s sponsorship will see the Bay Area’s supply of shareable bikes expand from 700 to 7,000 by 2018, with 1,350 bikes going… Read More

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Volkswagen and Anhui Jianghuai in talks on building EVs for China

Volkswagen China is looking at electric vehicles as a key way to lower emissions and improve the country’s general environmental sustainability, and Volkswagen is teaming up with China state-owned car maker Anhui Jianghuai (JAC) to help fill that need.
The two car companies signed a memorandum of understanding today, effectively paving the way for them to create a new joint venture to develop… Read More

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Tesla brings its Design Studio to you with Model X SUVs towing Airstreams

teslaexplores_2120720 Tesla may have a range of vehicle showrooms across North America, but those can’t cover everyone, and it’s even more difficult for the average potential Tesla buyer to get to the company’s primary design studio in Hawthorne, so the automaker’s new ‘Tesla Explores‘ initiative is aiming to bring a taste of the design studio to you. The program is a… Read More

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Missouri court rules against Tesla selling at its own dealerships in the state

MIAMI, FL - FEBRUARY 19:  People look at a Tesla Motors vehicle on the showroom floor at the Dadeland Mall on February 19, 2014 in Miami, Florida.  Tesla said today it earned $46 million in the fourth quarter on a non-adjusted basis, or 33 cents a share, causing shares in the company to jump 12 percent.  (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images) Tesla continues to try to up-end the dealership system in the U.S., which generally requires that franchise-owned dealers sell cars, vs. automakers selling directly via their own wholly owned dealerships. The latest beat in he ongoing battle comes in Missouri, where Cole County Circuit Court Judge Daniel Green decided in favor of the Missouri Automobile Dealers Association (via Autoblog)… Read More

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Mercedes-Benz and Matternet unveil vans that launch delivery drones

Mercedes-Benz Vision Van with a rooftop-integrated Matternet 2 drone. Mercedes-Benz Vans and drone tech startup Matternet have created a concept car, or as they’re calling it a Vision Van, that could change the way small packages are delivered across short distances. The Vision Van’s rooftop serves as a launch and landing pad for Matternet’s new, Matternet M2 drones. The Matternet M2 drones, which are autonomous, can pick up and carry a… Read More

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Robots and on-board ovens deliver on Zume’s promise of better pizza

Zume kitchen Today, in a world of bacon-wrapped crust and custom-modified Chevys with pizza warmers, being excited about pizza is just not as easy as it used to be. Zume Pizza founder Julia Collins and her Elon Musk-esque approach to pizza doesn’t care much for the rest of the pizza industry. In her mind, the pizzavations of the previous decades are irrelevant if the pies arrive soggy, cold and… Read More

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DOE small biz voucher awards include vehicles and fuel cells

DOE is plugging into alternative fuels The US Department of Energy has awarded $8 million in Small Business Vouchers to 43 businesses, including ten projects aimed at making hydrogen fuel cells cheaper and more efficient, and six projects that will improve vehicle fuel efficiency, including better batteries.
In addition to funding from the DOE, participants in this second round of the SBV project will be working with 12 of the… Read More

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