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Table of Contents
See also Transportation | Electric Cars | Autos
Elio
Elio Motors Announces Elio-E, the Electric Version of Its Non-Existent Three-Wheeler
11 Sep 2021, 05:45 UTC · by Elena Gorgan
This feels like Christmas for three-wheelers. Elio Motors, the company founded in 2009 by auto enthusiast Paul Elio and which has been promising a revolutionary autocycle since 2012, is back in the headlines. This time, with an electric three-wheeler.
Elio Motors prides itself of having been founded with the vision to create the ultimate affordable city car. Investors, buyers and people who generally rooted for it would rather describe it as a crusher of dreams, since it’s been promising that vehicle since 2012 and, to date, it is still not here. In recent months, Elio has gone completely blank in terms of details on the updated timeline.
That’s because it’s been working on something else, and hopefully this one sticks: an electric version of this revolutionary car that was never delivered.
It’s called the Elio-E, and the old model has been renamed the Elio-G (whereas the “G” stands for “gasoline”). Elio-E is fully electric and integrates all the promised features on the Elio-G, like safety features, enclosed body, cruise control, AC, power windows and power locks. Most importantly, it will carry on the company’s pledge to deliver an affordable city car.
Honda
The 2021 Honda Insight is an efficient but inconspicuous hybrid
It looks more restrained than the Civic it's based on, gets 55mpg in the city.
Jonathan M. Gitlin - 6/1/2020, 11:56 AM
Did you know Ars reviewed its first car 20 years ago? Back in the year 2000, Will Ryu tried out the brand-new Honda Insight, justifying it because the car married some impressive technology and a fun-to-drive nature—criteria we still look for today. Back then, the Insight looked like little else on the road. It had advanced aerodynamics, used lightweight alloy construction, and was the first parallel hybrid powertrain to go on sale in the US market. Today, we're revisiting the Insight, now in its third generation.
The differences are pronounced: what was cutting edge two decades ago is mainstream now. Instead of shouting its presence, the current Insight hides in crowds. And hybrid powertrains are commonplace and even seen as old tech in a world of 300-mile battery EVs and vehicles with hydrogen fuel cells. But proven technology has its upside. Today's Insight might look normal, but it's still remarkably efficient, even beating the old streamliner when it comes to city driving.
Honda Has Been Making Boneheaded Moves Lately
December 18th, 2020 by Jennifer Sensiba
Once is once. Twice is a coincidence. Three times is a pattern. In recent times, Honda has been making several utterly boneheaded moves when it comes to electric vehicles and plugin hybrids. It is missing important opportunities and doing strange things that hurt its image. If they don’t watch it, the company will earn the same reputation that Toyota has on this, and that’s definitely NOT a good thing.
https://cleantechnica.com/2020/12/18/honda-has-been-making-boneheaded-moves-lately/amp/
Honda's Now Selling the World's First Production Car with Level 3 Self-Driving Tech
In a move few saw coming, Honda is the new leader in advanced driver-assistance tech.
By James Gilboy - March 4, 2021
Carmakers have strived for the SAE's third tier of vehicular autonomy for years, but none had achieved it yet. Not Tesla, not Cadillac and not Audi, which pledged its new A8 flagship would be Level 3-capable before eventually backing down on its promise. Yet out of the blue came Honda with an enhanced version of its Honda Sensing advanced driver assistance system (ADAS) called Honda Sensing Elite, which will become the first commercially available SAE Level 3 system in Honda's domestic-market Legend sedan.
SAE Level 3 crucially differs from Level 2 in that it's a graduation from partial automation—like in Tesla's Autopilot—to conditional automation, which means a car can read its environment and make decisions based on what it sees. This allows a car equipped with a Level 3 system like Honda Sensing Elite to act on its own accord (no pun intended) based on the situation at hand—sometimes with the driver's hands off the wheel, and in a few cases, with their eyes off the road.
Accord
Honda's 2023 Accord Touring will be its first car with Google apps built-in
Google Assistant, Maps and the Play Store will be within easy reach.
Jon Fingas - December 13, 2022 5:07 PM
Honda is joining the ranks of automakers embracing Google's services. As teased last year, the company has announced that the 2023 Accord sedan's high-end Touring trim will be the brand's first car with Google built-in as standard. You'll have out-of-the-dealership access to Google Assistant, Google Maps and the Play Store on the vehicle's 12.3-inch infotainment display. You can tweak the climate control, navigate or download a favorite music app without relying on your phone.
There's no mention of pricing for the Google features. GM offers three free years of Google built-in access for vehicles like the GMC Yukon, but requires a $15 monthly subscription after that. You won't lose all functionality after that, though. The Accord Touring will also support Android Auto and Apple CarPlay, with a 15W wireless charger to keep your phone running.
Honda hasn't said which other cars will adopt the functionality. It won't be surprising if the Prologue EV and other future models use the technology, however. A handful of rivals already use some form of Google built-in, including Volvo, its Polestar offshoot, GM's brands and Renault. Ford will also use the platform starting in 2023.
https://www.engadget.com/honda-google-built-in-accord-touring-220752606.html
Civic
Hackers remotely start, unlock Honda Civics with $300 tech
Any models made between 2016 and 2020 can have key fob codes sniffed and re-transmitted
Brandon Vigliarolo - Fri 25 Mar 2022 15:00 UTC
If you're driving a Honda Civic manufactured between 2016 and 2020, this newly reported key fob hijack should start your worry engine.
Keyless entry exploits are nothing new. Anyone armed with the right equipment can sniff out a lock or unlock code and retransmit it. This particular issue with some Honda vehicles is just the latest demonstration that auto manufacturers haven't adapted their technology to keep up with known threats.
CVE-2022-27254, tied to this discovery, was the work of four researchers: Professors Hong Liu and Ruolin Zhou from the University of Massachusetts, computer scientist Blake Berry, and Sam Curry, CSO at Cybereason. Their research suggests that Honda Civic LX, EX, EX-L, Touring, Si, and Type R vehicles manufactured between 2016 and 2020 all have this vulnerability.
Hyundai
The Hyundai Casper Is The Coolest $12,000 Car I've Ever Seen And You'll Agree When You See The Interior
All the charm of an interior pulled out of a concept car from 20 years ago, for the equivalent of $12K. Too bad it's almost certainly not coming to the U.S.
Adam Ismail - 14 September 2021 3:30PM
It’s been about two weeks since the Hyundai Casper entered the public eye and simultaneously became the only car that mattered. Sitting at the bottom of the South Korean automaker’s range, the teeny Casper will be sold in the brand’s home market, and maybe India too. It’ll also be absurdly cheap.
How cheap? Well, when Hyundai initially revealed the Casper, we didn’t have much of an idea. But pricing has emerged since, and this little guy figures to start at 13,850,000 won, according to Carscoops. That translates to all of $11,864. Quite honestly, I did not know cars could still be that inexpensive.
“Sure,” you’re probably thinking. “But what about a nice one? That’s how they get you!” It turns out, no it isn’t. At roughly $16,020 for the top-line Inspiration trim, a well-equipped Casper is still barely more expensive when converted to dollars than a Chevy Spark or Mitsubishi Mirage. The thing is, when I look at those cars, I feel acute apathy for everything in this world. When I look at the Casper, I feel joy.
https://jalopnik.com/the-hyundai-casper-is-the-coolest-12-000-car-ive-ever-1847681997
Kia
Three rows, 37mpg, and under $34,000? The 2021 Kia Sorento Hybrid
We think the Sorento Hybrid will be in high demand.
Jonathan M. Gitlin - 1/21/2021, 3:45 AM
You may have noticed that Kia is on a roll recently. It won over enthusiasts with the Stinger GT. The Niro EV is one of the few electric vehicles to rival Tesla in terms of range efficiency. And its big Telluride SUV has been a runaway success, garnering awards and plaudits as it flies out of the showroom.
Now it's the turn of Kia's popular Sorento SUV to get the revamp. It's a bit smaller and a bit cheaper than the Telluride, but it's still a three-row SUV. And unlike the bigger vehicle, it's available with a 37mpg (6.4L/100km) hybrid powertrain from $33,590.
https://arstechnica.com/cars/2021/01/three-rows-37mpg-and-under-34000-the-2021-kia-sorento-hybrid/
Kia's 2021 Niro hybrids add a few new tech features
SUVs with the 8-inch infotainment screen have wireless CarPlay and Android Auto standard.
Richard Lawler - March 5th, 2021
When we reviewed Kia's Niro plug-in hybrid EV in 2018 we loved its efficiency as well as the standard support for CarPlay and Android Auto, even if its styling seemed a bit bland and its powertrain lacked oomph. Now refreshed hybrid and plug-in hybrid 2021 models are on the way, and while the weaknesses we noted are still pretty much the same, some of the comfort tech inside is getting even better.
Kia’s new EV6 electric crossover goes straight to the head of the pack
It's highly efficient, fun to drive, and loaded with equipment, too.
Jonathan M. Gitlin - 1/30/2022, 9:01 PM
HEALDSBURG, Calif.—Remember how, a few decades ago, the Japanese car industry came and ate everyone's lunch? History doesn't repeat, the aphorism goes, but it does rhyme. And this time around, the lunch-eating is courtesy of Korea's automakers.
That's especially true with electric vehicles. The second-generation EVs from Kia and parent company Hyundai were some of the few to get close to Tesla-levels of powertrain efficiency. The companies applied that knowledge to create E-GMP, a purpose-built 800 V platform for larger rear- and all-wheel-drive EVs.
The first vehicle to get that powertrain was the Hyundai Ioniq 5, which went straight to the top of the class when we tested it in late 2021. Today, we drive the Ioniq 5's cousin, the Kia EV6. If the Ioniq 5 is all pixels and angles, the EV6 starts with a similar bone structure but drapes it in a much curvier crossover body. Everyone's tastes differ, so I try not to dwell on a car's looks, but from some angles the EV6 is a better-looking Lamborghini Urus. And its rear styling definitely reminds me of the Aston Martin DBX.
Kia's EV6 is the new benchmark for affordable electric cars
Superior range to the ID.4, lower price than the Model Y – what's not to love?
Andrew Tarantola - January 31st, 2022
We got our first good look at the EV6 last March and, nearly a year later, finally got to sit in it, drive it, and push every button in the cabin last week during a day-long press event in Northern California. It’s the first Kia vehicle to be produced under the company’s new Plan S electrification strategy and is expected to be joined by nearly a dozen other new EV models by 2026 - with Kia noting that “All dedicated Kia EVs will begin with the ‘EV’ prefix, followed by a number that indicates the car’s size and position in the lineup, not its chronological place in the launch cadence.”
https://www.engadget.com/kias-ev-6-is-a-phenomenal-family-car-050118560.html
Kia EV6 owners will get up to three years of (limited) free charging
Electrify America's deal is meant more for road trips than daily commuting.
Jon Fingas - February 22nd, 2022
You might not have to pay to charge the Kia EV6 if you take it on a road trip — but you might want to dial back your expectations. Kia and Electrify America have launched a deal that gives EV6 buyers 1,000kWh of free charging at any of EA's US stations for up to three years. That offers around 3,500 to 4,000 miles of driving, depending on your model and road conditions.
The promo might be helpful if you're in a hurry. If you happen to find one of Electrify America's 350kW chargers, you can reach an 80 percent charge as quickly as 18 minutes.
As you might have guessed from the numbers, though, the deal isn't quite as sweet as it sounds. If you're driving the longest-ranged EV6, the 310-mile “Wind” trim, you'll get around 11 to 13 full charges before you start paying. That's fine for cross-country jaunts, but it won't help much if you're hoping to save money during your commutes. You might want to spring for the Ioniq 5 (which promises unlimited 30-minute charges for two years) if you want a Hyundai group EV without paying for frequent top-ups.
https://www.engadget.com/kia-ev6-free-charging-electrify-america-173016135.html
Toyota
Toyota to bring 3 new electrified vehicles to US market
Kirsten Korosec / 1:26 PM PST•February 10, 2021
Toyota Motor North America said Wednesday it will bring three new electrified vehicles to the U.S. market, as the automaker seeks to win over customers by offering a variety of lower emission and zero-emission cars and SUVs.
Two of the new vehicles will be all electric and one will be a plug-in hybrid, the company said Wednesday. Sales of the vehicles are expected to being in 2022.
The aim, according to Bob Carter, TMNA’s executive vice president of sales, is to offer customers multiple choices of powertrain that best suits their needs. The automaker is developing and selling hybrids and plug-in hybrids like the Toyota Prius and Toyota RAV4 and fuel cell vehicles such as the Toyota Mirai.
https://techcrunch.com/2021/02/10/toyota-to-bring-three-new-electrified-vehicles-to-u-s-market/
Toyota Will Introduce Its First All-Electric Vehicles in the US This Year
Brianna Provenzano - Wednesday 10 February 2021 7:37PM
After years of resisting all-electric vehicles, Toyota announced on Wednesday plans to debut its first mass-market all-electric vehicles in the United States later this year.
In a statement, Toyota said that the three new models will include two battery-powered electric vehicles (BEVs) and one plug-in hybrid (PHEV). The company — which, as of 2020, was the world’s top selling automaker — also touted the environmentally-friendly impact of the new vehicles, citing its belief that the “fastest way to lower greenhouse gases in the transportation sector is to offer drivers lower carbon choices that meet their needs.”
https://gizmodo.com/toyota-will-introduce-its-first-all-electric-vehicles-i-1846244615
Hino
Toyota's truck brand Hino admits faking and fudging emissions data for 20 years
Oh what a failing!
Simon Sharwood, APAC Editor - Wed 3 Aug 2022 04:01 UTC
Toyota-owned heavy vehicle manufacturer Hino has admitted to misconduct concerning engine certifications going back to 2003, with improved data-handling practices and test software among the promised fixes.
Hino admitted to misconduct in March 2022 and yesterday published a report [PDF] detailing its subsequent investigation.
The report suggests Hino's sins aren't directly comparable to Volkswagen's “Dieselgate” scandal – in which the German automaker intentionally wrote software to report false values for engine emissions.
But the Toyota subsidiary did alter and fabricate data about emissions and engine performance.
https://www.theregister.com/2022/08/03/hino_faked_emissions_data/
Articles
15 Cars People Keep For 15 Years (And Longer)
For frugal owners, there’s no better vehicle than one that lasts forever. Somehow, these vehicles manage to outlast most on the market today.
by Goran Radanovic Jan 24, 2020
One of the biggest features that consumers look for in a car is reliability. What's the point of buying a car that looks nice and provides good performance when it's going to last for a short period?
Consumers have become more frugal, meaning they're careful about the type of cars they're prepared to splurge on. The easiest choice for them is a car that will take care of them. That means a reliable car that will stand the test of time. What exactly is that period? Well, most consumers would be thrilled to own a vehicle that can last for at least 15 years.
https://www.thethings.com/cars-people-keep-for-15-years-and-longer/
Subaru Officially Joins Toyota Group, What It Means For New Outback And Forester Models
By Denis Flierl G+ Feb 10 2020 - 8:38am
Subaru has officially joined the Toyota group. What does it mean for Subaru nameplates like the 2020 Outback, Forester, Crosstrek, and Ascent?
Subaru Corporation officially joined the Toyota Motor group according to a filing made in Japan today. Toyota increased its stake in Subaru Corporation from 16.83 percent to 20 percent which means a strengthening of their ties. The announcement was made last September, and a report from Nippon in Japan revealed it is now official. What will the expanded partnership mean for Subaru models like the 2020 Outback, Forester, Crosstrek, and Ascent?
8 Most Affordable New Cars for 2020
by Eric Brandt February 2020
Sometimes it's easy to think that new cars are just too expensive. You may hear that the average new car transaction price is in the mid- to high-$30,000 range and get discouraged at the thought of not being able to afford a new car, but remember that these figures factor in expensive vehicles like luxury cars and fancy trucks. There are still plenty of new cars that start well below the $20,000 mark that are modern, safe and reliable.
https://www.autotrader.com/best-cars/8-most-affordable-new-cars-2020-281474979990348
This Is What Cars Trapped In A Capsized Cargo Ship Look Like
Jason Torchinsky 24 February 2020 4:35PM
Have you ever been calmly sleeping at night, when you suddenly bolt awake, with one thought seared into your mind: what is the condition of cars trapped inside a capsized cargo ship? Well, I’m delighted to tell you that you can finally sleep easy again, since a salvage team has used LIDAR equipment to image the interior of a the MV Golden Ray, a 600-foot cargo ship that capsized off the coast of the state of Georgia in September of 2019.
https://jalopnik.com/this-is-what-cars-trapped-in-a-capsized-cargo-ship-look-1841892551
Want to buy a used car? Rental car companies are offering up some good deals
By Peter Valdes-Dapena, CNN Business Updated 7:33 AM ET, Mon May 25, 2020
New York (CNN)With travelers staying close to home and airports turned into virtual ghost towns, rental car companies have taken a huge hit during the coronavirus pandemic. On Friday Hertz, which also operates the Dollar and Thrifty agencies, declared bankruptcy. Industry experts expect the company to sell off a large portion of its fleet.
And that should bring about some deals car shoppers might very well want to consider, experts say.
https://www.cnn.com/2020/05/24/business/buying-used-rental-cars/index.html
Rental cars may be about to flood the used car market as companies like Hertz go bankrupt. Here's why they're a great value for shoppers.
Kristen Lee - May 28, 2020, 12:43 PM
Now that the rental-car giant Hertz has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, the company's next steps aren't clear. But if a whole slew of used rental cars suddenly hits the market, don't immediately shy away from them. Picking up a used rental car isn't always as bad as you'd think.
Car sales have been in terrible shape this year, mostly because of the COVID-19 pandemic. It's a buyer's market for sure, so if you're thinking about picking up something new for yourself, now might be the time to do it.
10 Best Cars for Recent College Graduates
By Rob Nestora May 11, 2020
Students graduating from college in 2020 are entering the next stage of their lives at a very strange time. The coronavirus pandemic has rocked our way of life in a way that nobody could’ve predicted. Still, college grads have a lot to look forward to. Their careers will span many years, and we can say with some confidence that a pandemic won’t be happening during the vast majority of those years.
https://www.autotrader.com/best-cars/10-best-cars-recent-college-graduates-281474980013135
Self-Driving Cars Learn to Read the Body Language of People on the Street
Game developers use motion-capture tech to teach Cruise’s autonomous vehicles to understand gestures
By Casey Weaver - 26 Aug 2020 | 15:30 GMT
A four-lane street narrows to two to accommodate workers repairing a large pothole. One worker holds a stop sign loosely in his left hand as he waves cars through with his right. Human drivers don’t think twice about whether to follow the gesture or the sign; they move smoothly forward without stopping.
This situation, however, would likely stop an autonomous vehicle in its tracks. It would understand the stop sign and how to react, but that hand gesture? That’s a lot more complicated.
And drivers, human and computer, daily face this and far more complex situations in which reading body language is the key. Consider a city street corner: A pedestrian, poised to cross with the light, stops to check her phone and waves a right-turning car forward. Another pedestrian lifts a hand up to wave to a friend across the way, but keeps moving. A human driver can decode these gestures with a glance.
Ten Cars You Think Should Be Erased From History
Automotive history is full of misses, but these are the cars you'd like to see struck from the record books
Owen Bellwood - 10 October 2021 4:40PM
There’s been countless cars worthy of celebration over the years, from the boundary-breaking McLaren F1 to the Tesla Model S, which has helped usher in a new wave of electric cars.
But what about the vehicles that aren’t quite as admirable, what cars are better left forgotten? With that in mind, we asked readers what cars they would like to strike out of the automotive history books. These were some of their answers.
https://jalopnik.com/ten-cars-you-think-should-be-erased-from-history-1847840395
Another Benefit To EVs: No Dead Weights Added To The Car
Jennifer Sensiba - 13 January 2022
It doesn’t matter how long you’re into cars, there’s always something new to learn. Recently, I learned why some cars seem to have what appears to be worthless dead weight built in. It turns out that that sometimes, there’s good reason to add weight to a vehicle. Pretty often, it’s to make up for problems that an internal combustion engine brings to the table.
I won’t go through the whole story (you can find that at HACKADAY), but most of the time it comes down to vibrations. Most combustion engines have weight that moves back and forth rapidly. Great care has to be taken to balance the weight of pistons, connecting rods, crankshafts, and valvetrain parts that move. If these are even just a little out of whack, the engine will run poorly and slowly destroy itself. The designs of some engines (most often the common inline 4-cylinder) is naturally unbalanced, and can require extra moving parts to reduce vibrations.
No matter how hard they try, some engines are going to naturally vibrate more than others. Plus, road vibrations and other parts of the drivetrain can make their own vibrations. So, to make up for that, manufacturers have to find other ways to reduce the vibrations the car’s passengers feel. In some cases, adding some dead weight disrupts the harmonics of a vibration, seriously deadening it. In many older vehicles, the dead weight got added after the car was designed. Today, computer aided design makes it easier to design that extra weight into existing parts, effectively hiding the dead weight.
https://cleantechnica.com/2022/01/13/another-benefit-to-evs-no-dead-weights-added-to-the-car/
Small Cars Are Getting Huge. Are Fuel Economy Regulations to Blame?
This is how Corporate Average Fuel Economy, or CAFE, regulations, can affect how big a manufacturer builds its vehicles.
Victoria Scott - Apr 29, 2022 11:00 AM
If you pay attention to the auto industry for any length of time—or even spend some time simply car-spotting as you sit in traffic—you'll have noticed an obvious truth about modern cars: They're big, and they keep getting bigger. This isn't misplaced nostalgia or confirmation bias, either, because it's definitively true that vehicles have swelled in size in recent decades. Trucks and crossovers are more popular than ever, with light trucks outselling cars three to one. There are some obvious explanations for the steady growth in vehicle size, of course: taller people, stricter safety standards that demand stronger vehicles, more powerful engines that can make weight less of a concern. But these trends work on a scale of generations, not years; they're insufficient to explain just how quickly crossovers have dominated the landscape and why cars have gotten larger.
However, there is one counterintuitive explanation for ever-larger cars with every passing model year: Fuel economy regulations.
https://www.thedrive.com/news/small-cars-are-getting-huge-are-fuel-economy-regulations-to-blame
5 Futuristic Car Displays We Cannot Wait For
In-car displays are high-tech, beautifully crafted bits of hardware, and something every user should relish.
Justin Bennett-Cohen - 4 May 2022
As technology advances, automotive manufacturers find ways to integrate displays as beautifully as possible into their upcoming vehicles. The trend began with simply placing a tablet somewhere in the center of the dashboard, as seen with the Mercedes-Benz C-Class sedan, and continued with making the infotainment display as large as possible, as seen with some of the first Tesla Model S vehicles.
Since then, manufacturers have become more creative with integrating these displays to be as beneficial to the driver as possible. From British supercar manufacturer Lotus to Samsung, here are five of the most impressive in-car displays coming soon.
https://www.makeuseof.com/futuristic-car-displays-we-cannot-wait-for/
Not a Single Car Was Sold in Shanghai Last Month
Posted by msmash on Monday May 16, 2022 07:40AM
For evidence of just how tight Shanghai's lockdown has been, consider this: not a single car was sold in the city last month. From a report:
The majority of the city's 25 million residents were mostly confined to their homes or residential compounds in April as part of a sweeping lockdown to stamp out the nation's worst Covid outbreak since the virus emerged in Wuhan more than two years ago. Almost all dealerships in the city were closed during the month, the Shanghai Automobile Sales Association said in a statement Monday, when it highlighted the zero sales figure. In April last year, 26,311 vehicles were sold in the city, according to the association, which represents about 300 companies.
https://slashdot.org/story/22/05/16/1437243/not-a-single-car-was-sold-in-shanghai-last-month
Hybrid
10 Long-Range Plug-In Hybrids That Are Great EV Alternatives
Plug-in hybrids offer many of the benefits of an electric vehicle, but with fewer drawbacks and none of the dreaded range anxiety.
Alex Ramos - 6 May 2023
For those who aren't ready to take the plunge and buy a completely electric vehicle, there are great plug-in hybrid vehicles available that promise to be excellent alternatives.
Plug-in hybrids provide many of the advantages that EVs have to offer without some of the drawbacks (like range anxiety) that you might typically associate with electric vehicles.
Let's explore some of the best long-range plug-in hybrids!
https://www.makeuseof.com/long-range-phevs-great-ev-alternatives/
What Is a Plug-In Hybrid Electric Vehicle (PHEV)?
Plug-in hybrids (PHEVs) are long-range hybrid vehicles that give you the option to charge the vehicle’s battery from an external source.
Andrei Nedelea - 21 June 2023
There are several types of vehicles that have both an internal combustion engine and an electric motor for propulsion. These vehicles are known as hybrids, and they fall into different categories depending on whether you can charge them, the size of their battery, and their ability to drive solely on electricity.
Out of all types of hybrids, the ones with the longest range and best performance while on battery power are called plug-in hybrids. As their name suggests, unlike other types of hybrids, they can be plugged in to charge so as not to rely on their combustion engine to act as a generator that replenishes the battery.
Off-Road Discovery
How to Drive on Sand Without Getting Stuck
Do you have the pleasure to live or travel in a sandy location? Tropical beach, rolling sand hills or maybe it’s the desert for work. No matter where your sandy destination is be alert of the challenges of driving in sand. Too many people join the ‘digging club’ and it’s one club you’d rather avoid.
Please note this is general Sand not Desert Driving, although many of the basic principles are the same, Desert Driving is a “long” discussion in itself.
https://www.offroaddiscovery.com/2017/10/16/taking-a-4x4-trip-down-the-beach
The Polaris Slingshot R is a 3-wheel pocket rocket begging for electrification
It's slower than it looks
Matt Burns / 7:36 am PDT•October 20, 2020
The Polaris Slingshot has always wowed. Three wheels, open cockpit and a design reminiscent of the Batmobile. It draws a crowd and is a blast to drive.
I spent several weeks in the reworked Polaris Slingshot. The company just unveiled a new version that is finally available with an automatic transmission. Past versions were limited to a standard transmission, radically limiting the three-wheeler’s market to those who can drive a stick. But now, with a slushbox, the Slingshot is ready for the masses.
I just wish a gas engine didn’t power the Slingshot.
Miles Mobility is demanding money from customers whose cars were stolen
Berlin-based mobility startup Miles wants its customers to pay for damages caused by the thieves who stole their vehicles, all the while failing to implement industry-standard safety features that would prevent car theft in the first place.
by Andrea Nepori on January 12, 2021
Berlin car sharing startup Miles Mobility is asking a number of customers whose cars were stolen to pay for the damages caused by the thieves during their illegal ride. In all of these cases, the stolen Miles cars were subsequently found after the thieves abandoned them somewhere in Berlin, some with scratches and signs of vandalism, some severely damaged. Now the company is claiming through its lawyers that the users should be held responsible for the theft, as if they somehow enabled it, all while failing to implement simple car safety fail-safes and anti-theft mechanisms that all major car sharing competitors are currently employing. According to sources close to the company, the absence of such safety measures could be tied to Miles’ lack of agency over their own technological platform, which, at least until this summer, was based on a white-label solution by a third party company.
Panasonic’s Innovative Augmented-Reality HUD Could Be in Cars by 2024
The head-up display uses AI to spot and highlight crosswalks, pedestrians, and potential collisions.
By Roberto Baldwin - Jan 13, 2021
Augmented reality (AR) is used to place digital information on top of the real world. Mercedes-Benz's MBUX navigation system head-up display (HUD) on the 2021 Mercedes S-class does this with floating arrows to inform the driver where to turn. It’s a helpful feature that reduces the need to look away from the road while using navigation. Panasonic Automotive has gone a few steps further with its own AR HUD that it unveiled at the annual CES technology conference.
https://www.caranddriver.com/news/a35195014/panasonic-augmented-reality-head-up-display-cars-2024/
Vehicle choice, crash differences help explain greater injury risks for women
February 11, 2021 - Joe Young
Women are much more likely than men to suffer a serious injury when they are involved in a crash, but much of the heightened risk is related to the types of vehicles women drive and the circumstances of their crashes, rather than physical differences, new research from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety shows.
“Our study shows that today’s crash testing programs have helped women as much as men,” says Jessica Jermakian, IIHS vice president of vehicle research, one of the study’s authors. “That said, we found that women are substantially more likely to suffer leg injuries, which is something that will require more investigation.”
Why did the flywheel hybrid system never catch on for road cars?
Born for but never raced in F1, the idea found some success at Le Mans.
Eric Tegler - 2/14/2021, 7:30 AM
When a Speed network television crew interviewed Margo T. Oge, then-director of the Environmental Protection Agency's Office of Transportation and Air Quality, during the 10-hour-long 2010 Petit Le Mans Series race at Road Atlanta, Porsche's experimental 911 GT3 R Hybrid race car held down a top-20 position in the 45-car field.
The broadcast crew took every opportunity to call attention to the presence of the new Porsche. Hybrid street cars were becoming mainstream, and “road relevance” was repeatedly cited by Oge along with energy independence and low carbon emissions as EPA imperatives.
https://arstechnica.com/cars/2021/02/whatever-happened-to-williams-f1s-flywheel-hybrid-idea/
EVs Could Make Dealerships a Thing of the Past, Too
When cars don’t need repairs or in-person updates, it changes the whole sales model.
By Nathaniel Bullard - March 4, 2021, 3:00 AM PST
There’s auto news out of Sweden: Volvo Cars says that it will be fully electric by 2030. No more internal combustion, no more hybrids. It’s batteries or bust.
In making this commitment, Volvo is betting on a trend: that as EVs are becoming cheaper and new conventional cars are being priced higher, consumers’ math on electric-versus-internal combustion will soon come out in electrics’ favor.
How Driverless Cars Could Lead to More Pollution
Molly Taft - 24 May 2021 1:11PM
Self-driving cars are still a few years away (at least) from being available to you or me. But there’s a lot of work to do to get them ready for prime time, including ensuring they’re climate-friendly. A new study underscores that last part, showing that nearly one-third of people would choose an autonomous vehicle as a regular transportation option—and that could make emissions go up as demand for these kinds of cars rises.
“We saw that there’s a lot of interest out here, and this interest might be masking some potential impacts,” said Wissam Kontar, a PhD candidate at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the lead author of the study, published last week in Environmental Research Letters.
https://earther.gizmodo.com/how-driverless-cars-could-lead-to-more-pollution-1846955880
How Software Is Eating the Car
The trend toward self-driving and electric vehicles will add hundreds of millions of lines of code to cars. Can the auto industry cope?
By Robert N. Charette - 07 Jun 2021 | 16:33 GMT
Predictions of lost global vehicle production caused by the ongoing semiconductor shortage continue to rise. In January, analysts forecast that 1.5 million fewer vehicles would be produced as a result of the shortage; by April that number had steadily climbed to more than 2.7 million units, and by May, to more than 4.1 million units.
The semiconductor shortage has underscored not only the fragility of the automotive supply chain, but placed an intense spotlight on the auto industry’s reliance on the dozens of concealed computers embedded throughout vehicles today.
https://spectrum.ieee.org/cars-that-think/transportation/advanced-cars/software-eating-car
Pedestrian
Deaths
Report: US Pedestrian Death Rate Increased 9x Faster Than Population During COVID
Kea Wilson - Feb 28, 2023
Pedestrian deaths are continuing to skyrocket even as the pandemic wanes — and since 2019, the death rate for walkers has eclipsed the rate of population growth by a factor of at least nine, analysts say.
U.S. drivers killed 3,434 people on foot in the first six months of 2022, an increase of 5 percent over the same period the prior year — and a staggering 18 percent increase over the number of walkers who died in early 2019, the last year before the pandemic, according to the latest fatality estimates from the Governors Highway Safety Association.
Those numbers can't easily be explained by non-traffic-related factors, noting that since “2019, the last pre-pandemic year, pedestrian fatalities have surged 18 percent in just three years – nine times faster than U.S. population growth,” the report said.
Used Automobiles
Why are used cars so expensive right now?
A visual explainer of how secondhand vehicles became the latest victim of supply chain woes.
By: Zachary Crockett - July 24, 2021
Something odd is going on with used vehicles.
Across the country, old cars and trucks are selling for unprecedented sums of money. Even old clunkers with 100k+ miles are fetching all-time-high prices.
https://thehustle.co/why-are-used-cars-so-expensive-right-now/
Here Is What You Should Know Before Buying Used Cars Online
Online purchases aren't just limited to clothes, supplies and devices. Nowadays, you can even purchase your next vehicle right on the Web. But before you do, there are some things you should know.
Joel Lee - 16 May 2022
Online purchases aren't just limited to supplies and devices. Nowadays, you can even purchase your next vehicle on the web. But before you do, there are some things you should know.
The process for buying new and used cars is slightly different. So, why buy a used car online?
Well, no slimy salesmen trying to push you to spend more than you want. The ability to shop at your leisure. A broader selection of available cars. And in most cases, you can get the exact car you want.
Here's what you need to know about buying used cars online.