Automotive Blog

Just this week General Motors announced a commitment of $5 million for a five-year joint venture with Carnegie Mellon to work on driverless tech. The press release talks about a vision of folks eating breakfast and checking their email while the car does the driving, but the real goal is to merge existing monitoring systems into a cohesive package that makes the car smarter and more “aware,” thus cutting down on deaths and injuries in accidents.

GM has been working on V2V — vehicle to vehicle — systems for some time now. For instance, experiments with radio signals have focused on allowing two cars to maintain a proper distance from one another via adaptive cruise control. And certainly there are a lot of systems out there feeding info to the driver including:

- Lexus Intelligent Park Assist
- Mercedes-Benz Attention Assist
- Volvo Blind Spot Information
- Nissan Around View Monitor
- Mercedes Night Vision Assist

If the GM / Carnegie Mellon partnership is successful, the kinds of monitoring concepts will be merged into a vehicle-wide system that will give drivers an unprecedented amount of data about what’s going on around them — even to the point of the car taking over when necessary. Basically, this ain’t your Daddy’s rear view mirror and you may never have to worry about forgetting to check your blind spot again. Definitely a program to watch for interesting developments.

Posted on July 3rd, 2008 by Shorty
Filed under: technology | No Comments »

Tesla Motors, is all over the news this week, with three different announcements of new developments, all released yesterday.

First, they’ve introduced the new Model S, a fully electric five-passenger sedan that will be able to go about 225 miles between charges, and comes with a pricetag of about $60,000. If that seems a lot, consider that their original model started at more than $90k. No images have been shared with the public, but the rumor is that this will be produced at the new Tesla plant being opened in Northern California.

Second, Tesla’s own Elon Musk has begun open discussions about the development of electric car technology that will allow the price of such vehicles to come down to $30,00 - or lower - but don’t hold your breath, because he also said it would be at least four years, and probably longer before such a thing comes to fruition.

And if that wasn’t enough, there’s also a rumor that Tesla has made a deal with Daimler AG to supply lithium-ion batteries for Daimler’s planned foray into electric vehicles. Daimler’s CEO said that the company was open to leasing battery technology in order to release an electric Smart car in two years, and the word on the street is that the German company is planning to give up on gas completely by 2015. Of course, given Tesla’s rep for being uber-picky about their partnerships, and less than easy to work with, this may or may not actually happen.

Posted on July 1st, 2008 by QueenMab
Filed under: alternative fuels, buzz | No Comments »

Plug-in. Those just seem to be the magic words in the automotive world these days. The latest on the bandwagon, going up against the Chevy Volt destined for showrooms in 2010 and the long-rumored Prius plug-in is venerable VW. Yep, Volkswagen has cooked up a “Twin Drive” Golf sporting a diesel engine with 122 hp and an electric motor with 82. Like the Volt, the new VW is expected to appear in 2010 — roughly 18 months off.

The project is seriously spendy, with the company ponying up $769 million and getting a boost up from a $23.5 million government program in Germany for the development of a plug-in. The idea is that the car will rely on the electric motor as its primary power source with the diesel for backup. Regenerative braking will supply more power and with lithium-ion batteries by Sanyo, the goal is roughly 31 miles on all-electric. That’s going to come in about 9 miles under the Volt’s goal of 40.

Forty is the magic number in this class of vehicle as that’s the guess on what most people knock off in a day of normal urban driving. Read the fine print, however, and you’ll discover that the range of any “all electric” is going to be reduced depending on how you drive it — the same factor early adopters of the Prius discovered. Given all that, is it still a good idea? Well, do the math. We’ll keep it simple. If your car gets a lousy 20 miles a gallon in town, with gas at $4 that’s $8 a day or $240 a month. Run that out to a year, and you’re saving $12,480.

Posted on June 27th, 2008 by Shorty
Filed under: technology, alternative fuels | No Comments »

Just a few things that have been lingering in my RSS reader . . .

Electrics from Mercedes

Rumor has it that Mercedes-Benz may have an electric model and an electric Smart by 2010. Zero details on this, but the company already has a fleet of 100 electric Smarts in London. You can read just a bit more at BenzInsider.

Enclosed Motorcycle

With oil and gas prices continuing to climb, alternative vehicles are popping out of the woodwork. Let’s just hope this really butt ugly enclosed motorcycle Engadget reported on Sunday is not a portent of things to come.

Rethinking the Cost of a Hybrid

Lifehacker has an excellent piece on rethinking the cost of a hybrid, comparing upfront pricing with long term maintenance and coming out with an overall cost to own figure. The results may surprise you.

Driveable Airplane

And just for kicks and giggles, don’t miss Terrafugia’s flying car / drivable airplane. The very idea would send Driver’s Ed teachers screaming in terror.

Posted on June 24th, 2008 by Shorty
Filed under: general | No Comments »

I haven’t succumbed to the iPhone temptation yet. Even though the shiny new second generation models to be released shortly are very tempting. Oddly enough, I have a lot of loyalty to my carrier because it’s the one tech company that has never driven me to near madness with incompetence. That deserves some reward. But anyway, the ubiquity of any device can be judged by whether or not it finds its way into our cars. My Dad’s old 1940s vintage Ford pickup had a Coke bottle opener mounted on the dash. Not a bottle opener, a Coke bottle opener. Said so right there stamped on the metal.

Now it’s iPod jacks and increasingly iPhone jacks as evidenced by Mercedes’ latest iPod integration kit. (See Engadget for photo and their review.) The unit integrates controls on the main nav screen and it recharges the phone at the same time you’re dialing up folks and listening to tunes. What really got my attention though is that the unit increases the iPhone’s reception via the vehicle’s antennas. Nice, very nice. Looks like the whole thing will set you back $385 and right now you can only get in Germany, but hey, that’s what international shipping is for, right?

Posted on June 20th, 2008 by Shorty
Filed under: technology, lifestyle | No Comments »

Although technically the Segway human transporter isn’t a car, it is a method of personal transportation that has always fascinated me. A couple of days ago I saw one on the streets of Fort Worth for the first time. A well-dressed man who had evidently been to the post office went zipping across four lanes of traffic on a sporty black Segway. I assume he was headed home, since he was moving in the general direction of a group of condos. I watched him in my rear-view mirror with more than a little wistfulness. He looked pretty doggone cool.

A buddy and I have spent a considerable amount of time recently talking about the rapid changes underway in our societal perception of personal transportation. We are both of the opinion that in the face of both high gas prices and environmental concerns, people will have a car and some kind of “neighborhood” vehicle. He’s an avid cyclist and I’m back in the saddle after 30 years, albeit still in the practicing stage. (Read, “Not yet ready and/or brave enough to run errands.) We’ve also been talking about Vespas, but frankly, that’s a bit of a pain since you have to get a motorcycle license here in the fair state of Texas. I endured driver’s ed once and I’m not all that thrilled about doing it again.

A recent Wall Street Journal article discussed rising sales of the once-ridiculed Segway. The article opens with the story of a guy who commutes 12 miles each way to work on his “self-balancing vehicle.” There are some definite draws to the high-tech scooters, like the fact that they can run for 25 miles on one charge and they plug in to any standard outlet. The top speed is only 12.5 mph, however, and the price tag hovers around $5,000. Still, the more sold, the more that price point will be driven down. I’m not ready to count the Segway out as one of the faces of things to come. We have to start thinking outside the transportation box, and this is about as outside it as you can get. (Come on, you know you want one too.)

Posted on June 17th, 2008 by Shorty
Filed under: lifestyle | No Comments »

Hypermiler. Hypermiling. Man, you are seeing these words everywhere since gas hit $4. The idea is simply to alter your driving habits in such a way as to maximize mpg with your current vehicle. So, let’s run down the biggies on the hypermiling list of tips and tricks:

1. Maintenance, maintenance, maintenance. Keep your tire pressure equal and a little on the high side (some say go to the max) and make sure the tires are balanced and aligned. Use a low weight motor oil. Keep the engine clean, especially the Engine Control Module.

2. Get the junk out of the trunk. Minimize the weight of the vehicle and don’t carry a single thing you don’t have to.

3. Maintain consistent, efficient speed and figure out the optimum speed for your vehicle. (This is generally in the range of 35 to 55 mph.) Basically you need to get your hands on a miles per gallon meter, cruise at different speeds, and monitor the meter.

4. Minimize braking. The rolling stop is your friend and yes, Virginia, you can learn to anticipate the lights and avoid stopping altogether.

5. Coasting is your friend. Take your foot off the gas when you’re going down hill.

This is just the very tip of the iceberg of conventional hypermiling wisdom. Some of the techniques these folks advocate are dangerous, illegal, or just plain urban myth. If you want to read more, a good place to start is the Wikipedia article located here. Google the term and you’ll find more links that you can handle, just remember, not everything you read on the Internet is true or wise. Use your head and don’t hesitate to talk to a mechanic, you know, a guy with grease on his hands, before you try anything controversial.

Posted on June 12th, 2008 by Shorty
Filed under: lifestyle | No Comments »

Over the weekend I spent some time at musclecarsociety.com and really can’t imagine finding a more comprehensive site for classic muscle cars” and those who love them. It’s an online, grassroots magazine by and for enthusiasts. Sharing stories and photos about American muscle cars, classic car clubs, and events all over the United States, the site is almost impossible NOT to browse. (Submitting information is a snap via an online form or by simply emailing the society.)

I appreciate a site like this where the article authors own the cars they’re writing about, belong to the clubs they cover, and have a hand in organizing the shows. The society’s founder owned both a 1953 Chevy with an inline, long stroke, 210 c.i. motor and a 1969 Camaro. (You can almost feel the pain when he talks about giving the car up when he became a family man and no longer had time to work on the Camaro.) That’s the level of knowledge that leads to interesting commentary with real feeling and true insight into the muscle car genre and its associated culture.

And of course there’s plenty of eye candy. No site like this is complete without photos and lots of them. Currently on the front page you’ll find the articles and images on the following car:

- 1969 Z-28-Camaro (in rare red)
- Daytona Yellow 427 Yenko ‘69 Camaro
- British Green Original 1968 Z28 RS (restored)
- 1969 Camaro 383 Stroker

And that’s just page one of nine. Look over at the right menu and you’ll find coverage on the Camaro, Challenger, Charger, Chevelle, GTO, Mustang and Nova.

Current topics on the site’s blog include:

- The Edelbrock Story: Before It All Began
- Trying to find a Mopar Crate Motor Online
- How to Find an Online Muscle Car Community
- Searching for Camaro Body Parts Online

If you’re getting the idea that the Muscle Car Society is an excellent mix of tech data, events, images, community, and getting-your-hands-dirty kind of useful content, you’re right. It’s easy for a site like this to go wrong and MuscleCarSociety just doesn’t. From the catchy header (with a nice little pin-up car babe in the logo) to the straightforward, clear article and menu structure, this is a page that immediately draws you in and gets you reading. Thumbs up all the way around.

Posted on June 10th, 2008 by Shorty
Filed under: lifestyle, performance cars | No Comments »

The only people crowing about high gas prices are the fellows developing alternative fuel prototypes, like Steve Fambro and his team who have produced the Aptera, a two-seat, three-wheel electric vehicle set to go on sale in November 2008. It has a top speed of 95 miles an hour and comes as both an all electric and a hybrid. The former runs 100 miles on a three to six hour charge, the latter gets about 230 mpg. Expect to drop about $30,000.

CNN did a video story here.

And Popular Mechanics takes the Aptera for a test drive here.

The official Aptera site is here.

Posted on June 5th, 2008 by Shorty
Filed under: alternative fuels | No Comments »

CNN is running a story on Neil Young, 62, (think real hard, rocker, Vietnam, come on, you know the guy.) He and a Wichita mechanic have set out to turn the aging musician’s 1959 Lincoln Continental convertible to an electric. (Same stated goal as all such projects, make this a model for the first affordable, mass-produced, yada, yada, yada.)

Even in his 60s, Young adds a hint of counter culture flair to the project with statements like, “We’re going to change the world; we’re going to create a car that will allow us to stop giving our wealth to other countries for petroleum.” (Peace, love, and pass the roach, man.) So far Young has put $120,000 into the project and they have managed a prototype that worked on a 12-mile test drive. Of course there at the end, Goodwin, accelerating from the back seat, turned a knob the wrong way and they almost rear-ended someone. Thankfully Young has good reactions and hit the brakes in time.

All the same, though, it wouldn’t be the first time a couple of guys tinkering with a heap in an unknown garage came up with some automotive gold. If nothing else, the story will make some of you nostalgic for the Summer of Love. Give it a read.

Posted on June 3rd, 2008 by Shorty
Filed under: alternative fuels | No Comments »