Jalopnik
industry news
Posts Tagged “
Valleywag
”
industry news
alternative energy
When we heard that Th!nk was coming to America our cynicism censors immediately lit up. Is this the same Th!nk that failed here before, went bankrupt, had their electric bike recalled and has annoying punctuation in their name? Yes. But they got that sweet sweet Kleiner Perkins VC money, right? True, that money has yet to produce a commercially successful car. The interesting history of all that below.
More »
Something To Th!nk About Regarding The Coming (Hopefully) Green Vehicle Revolution
When we heard that Th!nk was coming to America our cynicism censors immediately lit up. Is this the same Th!nk that failed here before, went bankrupt, had their electric bike recalled and has annoying punctuation in their name? Yes. But they got that sweet sweet Kleiner Perkins VC money, right? True, that money has yet to produce a commercially successful car. The interesting history of all that below.
More »
4:20 PM on Tue Apr 29 2008
By Matt Hardigree
2,830 views,
29 comments
Latest by kengrubb: In the U.S., an electric vehicle is likely NOT being charged with electricity from a coal source. [www.eia.doe.gov] more »
2011 chevy volt
GM Calls Us Out, Claim Chevy Volt Spy Photos Not-So-Much Electric
Remember when we ran the spy photos of that not-so-much-sexy Chevy Volt mule yesterday? Remember how there was a certain assumption this one carried that all important E-flex powertrain? Well, according to GM E-Flex spokesman Rob Peterson, what we saw was only a ride and handling mule — this is the E-Flex equipped Malibu. Okay, so the color is different. This proves nothing! Regardless, the Chevy Volt is still pretty far out on its timeline — so far out that Popular Mechanics doesn't even know GM is working on exactly what they're asking for in their latest opinion piece. True, the Volt's got a second powertrain in there, but for the most part it does what they're asking for. Hmm, maybe they should just stick with getting Wert to lobby for better concept cars or, you know, rendering flying cars every other month.[GMVolt.com, Popular Mechanics]
mahindra scorpio
We just snapped off a couple of shots of the Mahindra Scorpio, the diesel-electric hybrid SUV we told you would be unveiled here at the 2008 SAE World Congress. Yes, it's before everything has opened to the engineering public. Yes, we may not have been officially allowed out on the floor. Yes, we probably broke a city statute or two in doing it, but no, rumors of any cash exchanging hands in the process are very much untrue. What is true is the hybrid diesel SUV from the sub-continent is the first of its kind for Mahindra and is being displayed in the stand of their development partner FEV.
More »
Indian Mahindra Scorpio Diesel-Electric Hybrid SUV: First Pictures Of First Indian Hybrid
We just snapped off a couple of shots of the Mahindra Scorpio, the diesel-electric hybrid SUV we told you would be unveiled here at the 2008 SAE World Congress. Yes, it's before everything has opened to the engineering public. Yes, we may not have been officially allowed out on the floor. Yes, we probably broke a city statute or two in doing it, but no, rumors of any cash exchanging hands in the process are very much untrue. What is true is the hybrid diesel SUV from the sub-continent is the first of its kind for Mahindra and is being displayed in the stand of their development partner FEV.More »
2008 bmw x6
BMW's teaming up with everyone's favorite mapping monopoly, Google Maps, to bring a new addition to the BMW Assist Safety Plan. It's called "MyInfo," and it's a service which, in addition to sounding hip and techie-cool through deletion of the spaces in the name, will allow BMW Assist subscribers to send business locations, street addresses and their associated phone numbers to their car via some magical connection between the two companies databases. Look at it kind of like a way to use their ConnectedDrive feature from your home. You may already have intimate knowledge of what that's like if you've ever opened up a browser and spent any time at Google's "Local Search" page. The MyInfo system will be available in the BMW X5, X6, 1, 3, 5, 6 and 7 Series, effective with Model Year 2009, but for 2008 will only be available in the new big-reared 2008 BMW X6 — which, as you can see through the link, we've already had the privilege of road-testing. Starting four days ago, in 2008 X6 "Sports Activity Coupes" equipped with the BMW Assist and Bluetooth systems, customers will be able to call the phone numbers received with their Bluetooth connected mobile phone or, if their BMW is equipped with a navigation system, immediately start route guidance by a simple push of a button. Not to shabby a plan if you ask us. But BMW isn't the first to offer space-deleting net-based navigation connectivity.
More »
BMW Assist, Google Maps Introduce "MyInfo" Service For New Big-Ass X6
BMW's teaming up with everyone's favorite mapping monopoly, Google Maps, to bring a new addition to the BMW Assist Safety Plan. It's called "MyInfo," and it's a service which, in addition to sounding hip and techie-cool through deletion of the spaces in the name, will allow BMW Assist subscribers to send business locations, street addresses and their associated phone numbers to their car via some magical connection between the two companies databases. Look at it kind of like a way to use their ConnectedDrive feature from your home. You may already have intimate knowledge of what that's like if you've ever opened up a browser and spent any time at Google's "Local Search" page. The MyInfo system will be available in the BMW X5, X6, 1, 3, 5, 6 and 7 Series, effective with Model Year 2009, but for 2008 will only be available in the new big-reared 2008 BMW X6 — which, as you can see through the link, we've already had the privilege of road-testing. Starting four days ago, in 2008 X6 "Sports Activity Coupes" equipped with the BMW Assist and Bluetooth systems, customers will be able to call the phone numbers received with their Bluetooth connected mobile phone or, if their BMW is equipped with a navigation system, immediately start route guidance by a simple push of a button. Not to shabby a plan if you ask us. But BMW isn't the first to offer space-deleting net-based navigation connectivity.More »
spy photos
Radio Reporter Sneaks Out First Video Of Chevy Volt Electric Car
UPDATE: The Chevy Volt Forum's got pictures from inside the design studio of the interior and a GM artists render of the front. Hit the jump to see it in all of its graininess. - Second update: now with a front end picture!Something we didn't tell you yesterday was that while we were in attendance at the GM event yesterday, we pulled out our cell phone to check a text message we'd just received. Immediately, GM PR was on top of us, confiscating the phone because it had a camera on it. OK, we could deal with that — we understood they didn't want the scoop to get out that we'd just seen both the first test mule of the Chevy Volt electric car (dressed up in the skin of a late model Chevy Malibu) and a scale model of what the actual Volt will look like when it hits the road in two years. But apparently some pigs are more equal than other at these embargoed and supposedly confidential press events. WWJ Radio's Jeff Gilbert has posted video of the battery lab and the wind tunnel we described from yesterdays Chevy Volt event at GM. We don't know how he got out of there alive with it, we don't know why GM officials weren't all over him for filming this and we don't know what the ramifications will be. But seriously though, who knew a radio reporter could be so sneaky, anyway? Kudos to Jeff on his liberation of the video. However, although we won't be the first ones to break embargoes, we also won't be the third. Without further ado, the video above tells the story we saw better than the words out of our fingertips. More »
5:30 PM on Fri Apr 4 2008
By Ben Wojdyla
26,624 views,
86 comments
Latest by skierpage: @Hello_Newman: An additional X prize couldn't hurt because batteries are so crucial for cars and laptops and the BigDog robot, but I agree with others: batteries are good enough right now, even the EV1's batteries were good enough to meet more »
industry news
Today the super number-one best automaker from the land of the rising sun provided us the automotive industry equivalent of yelling "Liar, liar, pants on fire!" at their former President of Toyota USA, Jim Press. Press, now President of Chrysler, claimed last week in an article in BusinessWeek that 100% of development of the battery and hybrid engine for the automaker's happy little hybrid, the Prius, occurred via a fat injection of government dollars. This claim had been widely speculated at in the past, but much like the existence of the Yeti, "Nessie" and the affordable lightweight mid-size performance coupe, proof was in short supply. However, Press's comments to Newsweek last week were akin to pulling out the tail of a giant Icyosauropodasaurthing from the depths of a Scottish Loch. Now, Toyota's fightin' back. Here's what spokesman Paul Nolasco now claims:
More »
Toyota Claims Jim Press Is A Liar, Pants Are On Fire: Prius Development Didn't Use Government Dollars
Today the super number-one best automaker from the land of the rising sun provided us the automotive industry equivalent of yelling "Liar, liar, pants on fire!" at their former President of Toyota USA, Jim Press. Press, now President of Chrysler, claimed last week in an article in BusinessWeek that 100% of development of the battery and hybrid engine for the automaker's happy little hybrid, the Prius, occurred via a fat injection of government dollars. This claim had been widely speculated at in the past, but much like the existence of the Yeti, "Nessie" and the affordable lightweight mid-size performance coupe, proof was in short supply. However, Press's comments to Newsweek last week were akin to pulling out the tail of a giant Icyosauropodasaurthing from the depths of a Scottish Loch. Now, Toyota's fightin' back. Here's what spokesman Paul Nolasco now claims:
More »
alternative energy
Chevy Volt Gets A $5K Price Hike As GM Puts Engineers To The Lash
Don't break open those piggy banks yet, Volt fanatics. The Greatest Car Not Quite Yet on Earth isn't close to being ready, and that $30,000 price tag we told you about is a crock, but not that kind of a crock. The latest price figure is putting the Volt mystery mobile at $35,000. The reason behind this $5,000 price hike originates with the stereo and the windshield wipers. Wait, what?More »
alternative energy
Tesla, Party Of Five
The first Tesla Roadster was delivered to the company chairman Elon Musk on Friday and what else was there to do but take it on a joy ride, with four other Teslas, and prove that the transmissions won't fall out on the ground and be dragged behind the celebrated 'lectric sports car like so many sad cans in the wake of a ill-conceived marriage convoy. Roadster Number One is reportedly the first production model, which may or may not be driven anymore by Musk, in the aftermath of this little spin. The other four? Hangers-on and yes-men looking to ride the coattails of Tesla the First through the mean streets of Berkeley this past weekend, proving their ruggedness. Enough with the PR (even though Tesla just fired its PR agency)! Can you guys just start delivering cars already, please? [Wired]
industry news
Tesla Fixes Transmission Woes, Sets Production Date, Claims They're Not Dead Yet
Tesla is doing it's best to counter rumors of their impending failure and bad press from their former CEO. The company claims the first production Tesla will be delivered to HQ next week and work of the first run of Teslas will begin in mid March. More importantly, the company claims a solution to their transmission problems have been found. More »
blogging the auto bloggers
Motor Trend Gaming Google on the 2009 Corvette ZR1?
While covering the Barrett-Jackson auction this weekend, specifically the $1 million purchase of the first "retailable" 2009 Corvette ZR1, we did a quick Google search for the 2009 Corvette ZR1 in order to pull up our old story on the new super-Vette from the General. When the results came up, we noticed something rather odd. No, not Motor Trend being the first result — we mean, come on, they're Motor fuckin' Trend — the fact that Jalopnik is merely a step behind them says little about us and more about Motor Trend's inability to leverage their brand name on the internet — and about how low they've let their brand name go. But we digress. What was weird was that they've got their "exclusive" "scoop" on the ZR1 set up in the "roadtest" section of their site. What? Do they know something we don't? Was there some super-secret drive of the new ZR1 they partook in with Chevy? Our sources at Chevy say no. So what's the reason? More »
industry news
Tesla's Elon Musk Pledges to "Eat His Hat"
As skepticism about Tesla's sedan project builds, new Tesla top dog Elon Musk has resorted to playing defense with crotchety idioms. According to the Jan/Feb issue of the Stanford alumni magazine: More »
detroit auto show
The big news today is the Fisker Karma Luxury Hybrid, which is going to come at $80,000 and deliver luxury style, GT performance and eco-friendliness. And this isn't a flight of fancy. This is a production model that will be produced in the fourth quarter of 2009 with venture capital funding by Kleiner Perkins, who made big investments in Netscape and Google at the right time that later turned into big victories. A true lithium-ion plug-in hybrid, the electrical system is good for 50 miles of electric-only driving in stealth mode. Otherwise, the second mode of the hybrid system involves a performance-oriented four cylinder engine. The company currently puts the performance at 5.8 seconds 0-60 mph with a top speed of 125 mph (continuous). Interestingly, we also got photos of Mark Fields chatting it up at the Fisker display before the reveal. Old friend, new partner — or maybe a mullet potential curious onlooker attempting to find out more about what's going on under the hood?
More »
Detroit Auto Show: Fisker Karma Luxury Hybrid, Only $80,000
The big news today is the Fisker Karma Luxury Hybrid, which is going to come at $80,000 and deliver luxury style, GT performance and eco-friendliness. And this isn't a flight of fancy. This is a production model that will be produced in the fourth quarter of 2009 with venture capital funding by Kleiner Perkins, who made big investments in Netscape and Google at the right time that later turned into big victories. A true lithium-ion plug-in hybrid, the electrical system is good for 50 miles of electric-only driving in stealth mode. Otherwise, the second mode of the hybrid system involves a performance-oriented four cylinder engine. The company currently puts the performance at 5.8 seconds 0-60 mph with a top speed of 125 mph (continuous). Interestingly, we also got photos of Mark Fields chatting it up at the Fisker display before the reveal. Old friend, new partner — or maybe a More »
12:45 PM on Mon Jan 14 2008
By Matt Hardigree
10,437 views,
43 comments
Latest by smokes: Corvette-meets-DeLorean look. Who needs education if you can buy top-tech in sleek design? Top-10 if it delivers! more »
offbeat news
Google Street View Captures Car Accident
Finally, Google goes and does something worth our while. In what seems to be a completely inexplicable car accident, a Minneapolis woman decided to drive her Mercedes Benz E-Class into a tree - and the Google Street View camera car was there to immortalize it. Unfortunately the moment of impact wasn't captured by the pseudo-surveillance set-up so we're left with a head scratcher. It appears to be a one car accident, on a lightly congested street, in broad daylight - with a big tree. We'll refrain from the easy lady driver jokes, but still, how the heck did that happen?[Google.com]
detroit auto show
This is it — whatever "it" is. Actually "it" is Toyota's newest concept they'll be bringing to the Detroit Auto Show in two weeks, the A-BAT Concept Pickup Truck. And A-BAT is more than just a winged rat, it's actually, as we're told by our friends at PickupTruck.com, an acronym for "Advanced Breakthrough Aero Truck." That's a name that has us kinda scratching our heads. How did Toyota name a concept vehicle a "breakthrough" when it looks like the love child of some sort of menage-a-truck involving the Honda Ridgeline, the Chevy Avalanche and the Toyota Prius. Yeah, you heard us — the Toyota Prius — you know, for that tint of green. But despite what appears to our eyes as the obvious Ridgeline-esque styling, Toyota claims the look of this unibody-platformed concept truck is unique — based on "the 'trapezoid' silhouette from the side profile of the Toyota Prius." But don't think for a moment this concept is all car and no truck. The A-BAT's able to shed the five-person crew-cab-like set-up with a tiny four-foot bed and transform itself into a two-seat "El Camino" configuration with a full eight-foot bed. The transformation's accomplished by dropping both the liftgate and the "midgate" ( that sound you hear is Chevrolet's legal team opening up their briefcases in unison) on either end of the mini-bed.
But wait, there's more — as we alluded to earlier, this concept's got some green going on under the hood by way of a hybrid synergy drive. So if Toyota ever builds this new-fangled El Cam, you can head to Home Depot to buy lumber for the deck of your cookie-cutter McMansion and make a statement about saving the environment all at once. But we do give Toyota some credit for aggressively going after a market they've targeted. Full press release after the jump.
NOTE:This story was embargoed until midnight, but because of the nice guys over at Edmunds getting an early copy of Automobile magazine with the full story in it — causing them to go live with their story along with the side-by-side of the Dodge Rampage and the Toyota A-BAT — we're going live with our own story.
UPDATE: Our friends at PickupTruck.com have some video of the A-BAT which we've included below the jump. More »
Detroit Auto Show: Toyota Reveals New Honda Ridgeline, Calls it the A-BAT Concept Hybrid Truck
This is it — whatever "it" is. Actually "it" is Toyota's newest concept they'll be bringing to the Detroit Auto Show in two weeks, the A-BAT Concept Pickup Truck. And A-BAT is more than just a winged rat, it's actually, as we're told by our friends at PickupTruck.com, an acronym for "Advanced Breakthrough Aero Truck." That's a name that has us kinda scratching our heads. How did Toyota name a concept vehicle a "breakthrough" when it looks like the love child of some sort of menage-a-truck involving the Honda Ridgeline, the Chevy Avalanche and the Toyota Prius. Yeah, you heard us — the Toyota Prius — you know, for that tint of green. But despite what appears to our eyes as the obvious Ridgeline-esque styling, Toyota claims the look of this unibody-platformed concept truck is unique — based on "the 'trapezoid' silhouette from the side profile of the Toyota Prius." But don't think for a moment this concept is all car and no truck. The A-BAT's able to shed the five-person crew-cab-like set-up with a tiny four-foot bed and transform itself into a two-seat "El Camino" configuration with a full eight-foot bed. The transformation's accomplished by dropping both the liftgate and the "midgate" ( that sound you hear is Chevrolet's legal team opening up their briefcases in unison) on either end of the mini-bed.But wait, there's more — as we alluded to earlier, this concept's got some green going on under the hood by way of a hybrid synergy drive. So if Toyota ever builds this new-fangled El Cam, you can head to Home Depot to buy lumber for the deck of your cookie-cutter McMansion and make a statement about saving the environment all at once. But we do give Toyota some credit for aggressively going after a market they've targeted. Full press release after the jump.
NOTE:This story was embargoed until midnight, but because of the nice guys over at Edmunds getting an early copy of Automobile magazine with the full story in it — causing them to go live with their story along with the side-by-side of the Dodge Rampage and the Toyota A-BAT — we're going live with our own story.
UPDATE: Our friends at PickupTruck.com have some video of the A-BAT which we've included below the jump. More »
6:01 PM on Thu Dec 27 2007
By Ray Wert
57,931 views,
116 comments
Latest by JWM2732: If it were on the lot today, I'd buy it. Not crazy about the modern interior style, but I could live with it. I'm ready for a hybrid compact truck. If they take this to production, and I hope so, more »
news
Reinventing the Wheel Invention: Flat-Detecting Smart Tires
I was more than sure that tires capable of sensing low air-pressure and flats already existed—either digitally or by the tilted axis. Reuters seems to think otherwise and is reporting on a new "smart tire" being developed by researchers at Purdue University. More »
alternative energy
A year and a half after kit designer Robert Q. Riley originally dreamed up his XR-3 three-wheeled, two-seater, plug-in hybrid kit car, it is now a reality. Sorry, 3D modelers, your job is now done; the first XR-3 hybrid has been built and plans for this greenmobile are now available for purchase.
More »
XR-3 Diesel-Electric Hybrid Kit Car Now a Reality, Build Your Own!
A year and a half after kit designer Robert Q. Riley originally dreamed up his XR-3 three-wheeled, two-seater, plug-in hybrid kit car, it is now a reality. Sorry, 3D modelers, your job is now done; the first XR-3 hybrid has been built and plans for this greenmobile are now available for purchase.More »
