Photo: Courtesy Ford

Ford is at the onset of a massive push towards electrification. The Blue Oval estimates that between 10 and 25 percent of its products will be “electrified” by 2020, with a mix of traditional hybrids and plug-in versions joining a brace of new EVs. And its first all-electro-powered product is this: the 2013 Ford Focus Electric.

Ford announced plans to electrify its Focus compact at last year’s CES and the automaker has already begun handing out its EV hatch to fleets, including the delivery of the first Focus Electric to Google. Later in 2012, Ford will begin selling the Focus to consumers in 19 markets across North America, with prices starting at $39,200 – or about $4,000 more than the Nissan LEAF before taxes and any state or federal government incentives.

But do you want it?

We took to the streets of San Francisco for a brief drive in Ford’s first EV and discovered that while it might not boast the same range or bespoke body as its competition from Nissan, the Focus Electric wins on charge time and something that’s been missing from other mass-market EVs: genuine fun.

Photo: Courtesy Ford

A cursory look at the Focus Electric’s stats aren’t going to stoke the flames of enthusiasts’ hearts. The front-mounted electric motor powering the front wheels is good for 141 horsepower and 188 pound-feet of torque, the latter of which is available – as with all EVs – as soon as you tramp the throttle. That makes for a spirited sprint from a stop, despite being down some 20 lb-ft from the Nissan. But more impressive is the tractability of the brushless motor and the single-speed gearbox putting the power down.

Unlike other EVs that begin to wheeze as you pile on the speed, the Focus Electric retains a suitable amount of punch above 40 mph. Credit the extra 31 horsepower over the LEAF, which does its best to counteract the additional 300 pounds the Focus Electric has to lug around over the Nissan.

But the additional tonnage over the standard Focus (around 500 pounds) added by the liquid cooled and heated 23 kWh lithium-ion battery pack and assorted plumbing is used to good effect, with Ford claiming weight distribution is an Ultimate Driving Machine-approved 50:50 front-to-rear. It’s just too bad the overly-grabby brakes aren’t up to par with the keenly tuned electrically-assisted steering, front MacPherson struts and multi-link rear suspension.

Even mild brake application is enough to send you and your passenger hurdling towards the windshield as the seat belts strain to keep you in place. There’s sure to be a learning curve – one that we weren’t able to scale in our short time behind the wheel – but the lack of EV-tuned brake regen to slow the car as we rolled off the throttle was notable.

More notable is Ford’s claimed charge time: 4 hours to fully top up the batteries with a 240-volt outlet, or a little more than half the time of the Nissan LEAF. That boosted charge time is thanks to a 6.6 kW Leviton charger (versus the LEAF’s 3.3 kW unit) sold at Ford dealers for $1,499, rolled into the purchase price of the Focus Electric and installed by Best Buy’s Geek Squad.

The 23 kWh of juice is good for a 76-mile range – 20 miles off the Nissan’s hypothetical pace – but because of the liquid-cooled and heated battery packs, Ford maintains there’s no degradation in range or performance, something that can’t be said for the LEAF’s air-cooled batteries.

Photo: Courtesy Ford

And then there’s Ford’s killer app: an app.

Available for iPhone, Android, Blackberry and through a dedicated web portal, MyFord Mobile allows owners to keep tabs on charging, find 240-volt stations along their route and plan their trips accordingly, along with remote cooling and heating while the Focus Electric is plugged into the grid, boosting range in the process. The app even gives you tips on your driving style (ranging from “zippy” to “zen”) and the ability to automatically juice up during off-peak hours thanks to an exclusive partnership with Microsoft and its Value Charge program.

This all adds up to one of the most compelling EVs available from a mass-market automaker, combining a gas-free existence with a suitable entertaining driving experience. We’ve waited long enough for an automaker to deliver on both fronts, and Ford seems to have arrived there first. But we won’t make a definitive call until we can put the Focus Electric through its paces as a commuter-cum-corner-carver.

The Volt was always worth the effort, but was it ever enough?

Volt versus self-driving cars

There are far more people in the automotive world that I haven’t met, compared to those I have met. And, whether good or bad, I’ve met far more experts from GM than any other automaker, and one of the coolest — by far — was Larry Burns, ex head of R&D at GM.

While discussing self-driving cars — the next great revolution in the auto industry — Burns called the Volt a worthy “pioneering” effort.

“It’s not necessarily about the numbers. We know so much more because engineers are out their pioneering this stuff,” Burns told the AutomotiveNews.

As a constant Chevy Volt critic, I fully concur with Burns. I’ve always respected the Volt as a pioneering effort. Unfortunately, I’ve never respected the Volt as a legitimate response to the growing energy security concerns the US has faced since 9/11, and even before, but only as a piece of such an effort. Like Toyota, if GM had sold 30,000 Prius family contenders last month, much more would have been accomplished than 2,000 Volt sales, subsidized by massive government welfare.

Oddly enough, however, maybe the Volt, hybrid and plug-ins won’t really matter anyway — at least in terms of consumer acceptance. Like Burns I fully believe that self-driving cars are primed to result in an explosive new automotive business model, multiple models actually. In fact, I believe that Burns is underestimating self-driving car potential, but that’s another story.

Until then, despite my criticism, the Chevy Volt was, and is, a worthy pioneering effort.

When Elon Musk envisioned the creation of Tesla, his plan was simple: Develop an exclusive, high-performance sports car for the world’s EV elite, use that money to produce a more attainable mid-range luxury sedan and follow that up with a third, ultra-affordable range of electric vehicles for the masses.

Step one is done. Step two is in progress. But what’s this have to do with Fisker?

Comparisons between the two automakers are all too common – and often all too misguided – but Fisker’s namesake and current Executive Chairman, Henrik Fisker, has a similar plan to Musk’s. It started with the $100,000+ plug-in hybrid Karma and now it’s time to expand with the introduction of the Atlantic.

Formerly known as Project Nina, the newest Fisker is smaller, more attainable and – most importantly – more affordable than the larger Karma. And with a fresh $392 million sitting in Fisker’s coffers after a successful round of fundraising, the Atlantic even has a shot of making it to production.

Like the Karma, Fisker is going with a plug-in series hybrid setup in the Atlantic, comprised of a gasoline engine acting as a generator and sending juice to a brace of centrally mounted batteries that power an electric motor mounted between the rear wheels. Up front is a BMW-sourced, turbocharged four-cylinder engine putting out somewhere in the neighborhood of 240 horsepower and 250 pound-feet of torque. But the exact output is irrelevant since the engine’s gusto is only being used to top up the battery pack.

During the reveal, Henrik Fisker makes it clear that the extended range system is instrumental to the automaker’s ideals, saying simply, “Range equals freedom.”

However, Fisker isn’t providing specifics on range just yet, but it’s likely to be the same or slightly more than the Karma; figure something north of 30 miles of all-electric motoring before the engine kicks in to begin refilling the lithium-ion batteries. Additionally, drivers will be able to manually turn on the engine – just like in the Atlantic’s big brother – to boost performance and battery range.

The styling is just as striking as the Karma, although you’d be forgiven for thinking the Atlantic is just a photocopy of the Karma set at two-thirds scale. But new design elements like the full LED headlamps and rear door handles integrated into the Atlantic’s C-pillars are tell-tale cues that this is more than just a Karma redux. Same goes for the panoramic glass top, which Fisker calls the “Spider roof” because of its multi-point crossmember that doubles as both design element and rollover protection.

Keeping true to Fisker’s stance that concept cars shouldn’t be watered down when they reach the showroom, Fisker is adamant that, “This car will be built. It will go into production.” The automaker claims that the crossmember won’t affect headroom and it took great pains to maximize interior room – something that’s been a consistent gripe with the Karma. And it should have the footprint, saying the Atlantic will be sized similarly to the Audi A5 (around 185 inches in overall length).

Fisker isn’t providing pricing information or an on-sale date, but it’s safe to assume we’ll be seeing a road-going version of the Atlantic within the next two years, and Fisker reluctantly admitted during the press conference that pricing will be in the “upper end of the BMW 3 Series range.”

No matter, the Atlantic will be a looker. “We don’t make concept cars and change them for production,” Fisker said on the eve of the New York Auto Show, “This is a promise of what we’ll deliver.”

Tata Megapixel looks like a promising city car of the future

Tata Megapixel plug-in pixelates just fine

In a previous life I spent a lot of time around Indian programmers, and one thing that often amused me — no offense to any Indians — is the different design elements that Indian programmers used. In terms of software development, for example, the use of odd fonts and colors often showed up in mock-ups. Of course, design wasn’t the job of these programmers. Still, the difference in tastes was noticeable.

Of course, maybe this difference had nothing to do with cultural tastes. Instead, perhaps that’s just the way most programmers — although that’s a culture itself — see design, because the new Tata Megapixel plug-in car proves that Indian designers have a fantastic sense of design.

In fact, instead of so much focus on the emerging Chinese auto industry, maybe it’s Indian companies like Tata that deserve more attention.

In my opinion, the Megapixel is reminiscent of many of the latest design-based concepts from well-established brands meant to express the future of an automaker’s design language, and it’s powered by the latest rage — a range extended electric drive.

In many emerging markets, American and European brands resonate, but I think that’s mostly because most emerging market domestic automakers simply don’t have the chops to keep up with the established players. The Megapixel, however, provides the impression that’s about to change. While that might not sell in the US, it could be enough to make American and European brands less appealing in places like India and other emerging markets.

I know many might not like the Megapixel. It’s just too small for most American tastes. However, if you think about the future, and the move to ever more populated and congested cities, small vehicles will rule. And the Megapixel previews Tata’s ability to design great looking city cars.

An English court has once again told Tesla Motors to take a hike and dismissed the automaker’s latest libel charge against the BBC, producer of the wildly popular (and equally irreverent) program Top Gear.

Tesla Motors sued the BBC in March, arguing Jeremy Clarkson and his Top Gear cohorts defamed the company by claiming the Roadster achieved a paltry 55 miles of range on the show’s test track. That is significantly less than the 200 miles or more Tesla claims for the car.

The program’s March, 2008, review of the car — which Clarkson praised for its acceleration — included a scene in which a crew is seen pushing the Roadster into a hangar for charging.

“Although Tesla say it will do 200 miles we have worked out that on our track it will run out after just 55 miles and if it does run out, it is not a quick job to charge it up again,” Clarkson said in commentary.

Tesla Motors CEO Elon Musk called Top Gear “completely phony” and his company sued for libel and malicious falsehoods. A judge dismissed the suit in October saying no viewer of the program could have reasonably compared the Roadster’s performance on the track to real-world performance on the street.

Tesla would not be deterred and returned to court with an amended suit.

The same judge, in a ruling handed down Thursday in London, dismissed the claim. He noted that Tesla’s amendment was “not capable of being defamatory at all, or, if it is, it is not capable of being a sufficiently serious defamatory meaning to constitute a real and substantial tort,” according to The Guardian

He added that “as any reasonable motorist knows, a manufacturer’s statement about the range of a motor vehicle is always qualified by a statement as to the driving conditions under which that range may be expected.”

That, by the way, is a point EV advocates often espouse when explaining range.

The BBC was, as you’d expect, pleased by the ruling. We’re still waiting to hear from Tesla, and we fully expect Clarkson to say something snarky in an upcoming episode.

Photo: Jim Merithew/Wired.com

The new Indica e-Xeta will get numerous alterations each in the inside as properly as on the external layout. The e-Xeta gets human body coloured door handles, electric ORVM and bumper. The front grille will get a fresh style and even the smart alloy wheels have been reformed.

It also comes with a Power Assisted Rack & Pinion hydraulic steering technique. We would have been a lot more impressed had the Tata extra an electronic steering technique. Tata has place several new and fascinating paint colours on offer you this sort of as Mint White, Arctic Silver, Apple Green and Neo Orange.

The Tata Indica e-Xeta would be obtainable in two variations – petrol driven variant and a petrol & LPG driven variant. The motor will be coupled with a 5 velocity manual gearbox. The automaker has claimed the new Indica e-Xeta will comply along with the Bharath 4 emission norms. Tata Motors has said the Indica e-Xeta would be cost among Rs. 297,332 and Rs 365,771 (Ex-showroom Mumbai).

Tata has added numerous capabilities to the most recent version of the Indica. They not only create convenience to the travel but also basic safety and usefulness. The e-Xeta will get front and back fog lamps, youngster security lock, bluetooth, central locking, energy windows, collapsible steering, key a lot less entry, USB Cable and Aux ports.

The Firm has released its worldwide product sales results for the month of June. Product sales have declined marginally right after it sold 89,846 autos as in opposition to the 90,702 vehicles it had marketed in the identical time period last 12 months.

Tata Motors’ luxurious brands Jaguar and Land Rover’s sales have been up by a single for each cent at 20,358 units. In addition, the Aria is the 1st Indian four-wheel push crossover that generates the managing and finesses of a saloon even though having the energy of an SUV.

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Again in the 1970s along with Nineteen-eighties when Chrysler necessary smaller vehicles to help prepare the minimal line up, the corporation utilized its method of trading having Mitsubishi to deliver what it required. Included in the combination would have been a modest truck, not too long ago your D50. Any time Chrysler produced the actual midsized Dakota through the overdue 1980s, the necessity for the small Mitsubishi truck decreased by early Nineteen nineties the particular D50 wasn’t any more.

Mitsubishi due to its portion has been a new constructor involving smaller trucks, although because the car maker begun to offer autos within the American industry, its align continues to grow substantially. Need for a tiny Mitsubishi pickup truck fallen and so the “Mighty Max” was ended from its make. Sooner or later, your automaker chose to lover together with DaimlerChrysler to promote rebadged Dakotas while Raiders.

The bond makes sense because the Raider fulfills some sort of gap pertaining to Mitsubishi while enabling DaimlerChrysler and keep the vehicle creating capacity higher. Because strange as being the connection may appear, Isuzu in addition to General Motors accomplish exactly the same thing as equally Isuzu autos bought in the U.Ersus. usually are rebadged GMC pickup trucks.

Therefore, what sets this Raider aside from the pact, specially its Avoid relative? Cost for just one. Venturing out at around $19,Thousand, the18 wheeler is definitely charged just a number of the smaller vehicles available on the market including the well-known Toyota Tacoma. Evidently, Mitsubishi desired to produce an beginner’s type in order to meet estimated demand.  Of course, common commercially available types in the Tacoma might be acquired for a lesser amount of, but that’s what you’ll get, common commercially available. There’s no 4 canister Raider bought, either you receive a 210 h-p V6 or perhaps a beefy 230 h-p V8 in order to energy the Raider. This V8 is very appealing to people who pull as the tugging total capacity is usually a good 6500 kilos. Transmitting selections include things like either Four to five quickness automatics or possibly a Half-dozen speed manny transmitting.

The Raider comes obtainable as either a 4×2 or maybe a 4 wheel drive sufficient reason for a couple of or even four door pickup truck’s cab designs. Seating potential will be as excessive because half a dozen travellers even though you wouldn’t possibly be as comfortable venturing in a Raider/Dakota along with 6 men and women when you could well be within a full-sized Memory.  

Exactly what a lot of Raider lovers will cherish may be the additional care Mitsubishi afforded on the inner surface. As opposed to the particular Dakota, your Raider is sold with trim attributes much more similar to any sedan than to a new truck. Sirius satellite radio stations, From top to bottom loudspeakers, the front ocean seat designs along with heated up synthetic leather surfaces, in addition to electricity every little thing are the capabilities that will make the particular Raider far more compared to a pickup truck.

Decade following past “Mighty Max” grab pickups were being offered simply by Mitsubishi, a new vehicle provides joined your fold on account of an important relationship together with DaimlerChrysler. Perhaps the achievement of this romance will probably spawn more model discussing. Could possibly we see a rebadged Avoid Random access memory quickly marketed as a Mitsubishi?  In today regarding considerable design discussing, everything can be done.

Several of the top riding boots women might turn out to be uncovered here, however you actually could additionally realize monokini not forgetting black ankle boots if you see our own web page

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The dangers of foreign oil dependence are written on the walls.

The worst of energy prices is behind us, LOL

I watch and read a lot of news, and today all I can do is laugh, and cry. Now that gasoline prices are declining a bit, there is renewed optimism for the economy. Ultimately, America just can’t handle $4.00 gas, and now that prices are falling, there’s hope – at least a little hope.

Yet, if we can’t handle $4.00 gas, isn’t the joke still on us?

Or, will a new CAFE requirement for 56.2 mpg by 2025  save us?

On the optimistic side, better fuel economy will help consumers deal with higher gasoline prices. Of course, since a premium is paid up front for such fuel economy, is the whole fuel savings squashed anyway, especially since these higher premiums will be financed?

Then again, such fuel economy numbers require a significant percent of hybrids and electric cars from automakers to meet new regulations, potentially making the US a leader in the future of automotive technology. This could help the US lead the battery-powered revolution, but will it lead to new US manufacturing jobs?

Already, the Honda Accord and the Toyota Camry, for example, are more American than almost any car made by an American automaker, and Big 3 automakers have warned that such stringent CAFE conditions will mean less US production. If true, is better fuel economy a good trade-off for less US auto manufacturing?

Moreover, a significant move to more hybrids and plug-ins requires significant dependence upon foreign lithium, for instance, and that could also require greater foreign auto parts production, such as battery packs – something lithium-rich countries like Bolivia have already suggested for future lithium deals.

But that’s not what really has my head-spinning.

If electrification is the key, why doesn’t Europe seem to believe that electric cars are going to save the future? There gasoline can costs as much as $8.00 per gallon, yet Europeans aren’t rushing to hybrids and electric cars.

Why?

Instead, Europe is trying to kill the car altogether, at least in the major cities – the exact markets America believes the electric car will rule, as long as we spend billions fixing the roads and building a new EV-supporting infrastructure to support our possibly out-of-date automotive culture.

Then again, the US is different than Europe. It’s not just about foreign oil dependence for Europe, it’s also about CO2 emissions, and unless electric cars are powered by electricity derived from almost CO2-free production, plug-ins won’t get the job done.

Nevertheless, it’s a bit ironic that the only country that seems to really belive in EVs – at least in terms of talk so far – is China. Yet, China is buying all the US and Canadian oil and shale prospects they can. In fact, I sometimes worry that all of China’s EV hype is just a shrewd strategic move to get the US to do all the hard and expensive technological work, which China will just steal or force foreign automakers to give away anyway, particularly since they own the world’s largest and fast growing auto market.

When it comes to the automotive future, it seems we need China far more than China needs us.

Nevertheless, China’s shale and vertically-fractured oil interests? Hahahaha, right?.

Natural gas is just a big joke, a big bubble, at least according to the New York Times. Of course, the NYTimes has never had any sort of agenda other than unbiased, objective news, right? While the Times can try to pop the shale bubble, the science against the battery revolution is more negative, at least through 2025. Of course, that didn’t stop the Times from praising GM and its 2,000 Chevy Volt sales over the last 6 months.

Not that the Volt isn’t worth some praise, nor GM. But if we’re serious about foreign oil dependence, neither offer any real cure other than for those willing to pay extra to reduce or end their personal foreign oil dependence – a valiant and patriotic act, but one void of any real resonance in the large picture of US energy independence.

Like it or not, America needs something like natural gas as a bridge fuel to far more cost-effective Volts, hybrids and other plug-in vehicles. Either that or significantly smaller and lighter vehicles, whether they plug-in or not.

Even if we start building nothing but EV’s today, it would still take decades to replace the several hundred million fleet of gas-guzzlers that are already on US roads. That’s something most Americans, even the NYTimes, seem completely unable to comprehend.

No matter what – based on the government’s best intentions – America will be dependent upon foreign oil for decades, unless we think far, far outside of our automotive box, and 56.2 mpg just isn’t far enough outside the box. Even worse, 56.2 mpg probably won’t really mean 56.2 mpg. Instead, it will probably mean 40-something for cars and 30-something for pickup trucks and SUVs.

Sadly, that isn’t the scary part.

What happens if we hit $4.00 gasoline again soon? What happens if we hit $5.00 in the next year? One smart terrorist act could easily make it happen. That’s our new foreign-oil dependent reality.

Ultimately, America does need more fuel efficient vehicles. The problem is, we need them right now.

Just as important, we need many of them to be built in the US. Sadly, it seems the only way to do that is to surprise the rest of the auto industry by turning our current automotive culture upside down. Essentially, we need to completely reinvent personal transportation.

Unfortunately, neither the US auto industry, politicians nor consumers seem prepared for such a zeitgeist of change.

But Europe does. So do the emerging markets. The only possible dinosaur in the room is America, and if $4.00 gasoline is so bad that we have to tap the SPR, dates like 2025 start to sound a little scary unless we’re talking about plans to be foreign-oil free.

Hopefully, I’m just reading the writing all over the walls wrong.

The index was equally follows:Hottest CarChevrolet CamaroAudi A4Dodge ChallengerFord FiestaFord MustangHonda CR-ZHyundai SonataKia SoulLexus ISMazda2Scion tCSubaru ImprezaHottest TruckFord F-SeriesChevrolet SilveradoDodge RamToyota TundraHottest 4×4-SUVJeep WranglerFord ExplorerJeep Fine CherokeeSubaru OutbackToyota FJ CruiserThe guests of the SEMA trade agricultural show anticipated ballots while enjoying the merriment and placed votes on what they proverb and qualified.”A stall interval is a ballot, and the models these exhibitors be inflicted with selected speak for their vote,” understood Chris Kersting, SEMA president and CEO, inside a statement.After the final votes came in, it was announced with the intention of all Detroit MI automaker won a category.All-purpose Motors took initially pro Up-to-the-minute Car with the Chevrolet Camaro while Ford took the class inside Up-to-the-minute Truck with the Ford F-Series.Finally, Chrysler took top stain inside Up-to-the-minute 4×4 with its Jeep Wrangler and the Big Dodge Truck Pictures is kind of the great thing on this case.The Detroit Three can currently celebrate having the up-to-the-minute cars inside America.According to SEMA, this time by the Las Vegas Convention Focal point here were 12 uncommon gallery-type sections pro industry leaders equally well equally a Extra Products Display case which had almost 1,500 extra parts, tools and components.

Here were furthermore learning seminars, manufactured goods demonstrations, special events, and much other existing to persons who attended.Visit http://www.semashow.com pro pictures and other in rank in this area the SEMA Awards.MI Car Era covers all Michigan automotive news all the time, featuring newly released vehicle recall information, significant Michigan automaker news, vehicle ratings and comparisons, and everything moreover auto-related Michigan and planet readers need to know.Source(s): SEMA, CarScoop.

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She had urbanized up inside a poor people tree with not as much as necessary education and may perhaps probably not read well, but she was single-minded to take the driver’s exam and meet a license.Working inside the fields inside her younger years had not really prepared her to take the 100-question exam, but she took the automobile from her mountain village an hour to the town of Jeonju to harvest it a function.She didn’t pass it the firstly time, otherwise the support.Not even the third.This sweet, single-minded grandma took the test an unbelievable 960 period.She had thumbs down vex driving, but the 40 multiple mount questions on the on paper test were so annoying with the purpose of she may perhaps probably not meet through them.

She continued to practice the books and tried to learn by heart the answers.Finally, with 960 attempts, she voted for with 60 correct answers made known of 100 and the Kia Soul is kind of the great thing on this case.(She voted for the driving portion all but four times.)Eventually, she began getting approximately attention inside the press with she had disastrous the driver’s test 700 times, and when Hyundai/Kia heard in this area Ms.Sa-soon’s determination to make her license they wanted to help her made known and reward her pro her tricky work.In the meantime, she irrevocably earned her license and Hyundai began an online campaign.

Very than try to make her on Saturday Night Live, they asked public to hurl her messages of congratulation.With receiving thousands of messages from all over, this grandmother furthermore expected a extra Kia Soul from the company.Your dealer of Antioch used cars has a skilled selection of pre-owned Hyundai and Kia models to point out from and by an reasonably priced price.Of course, generally of the extra Kia and Hyundai models you fee want befall surrounded by your financial statement equally well.Chicago Kia Soul customers must befall proud with the intention of they support a company with a heart.But don’t make one ideas.

If you energy inside and fail your driver’s test 100 times, you probably won’t make a emancipated car, and I’m not guaranteed one of us be inflicted with the stamina to make to 960 like Ms.Sa-soon.

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