Automotive Blog automotive technology, explored

Category “general”

Solar Winged Helios

Wednesday, 12 November, 2008

I know the Helios is just a concept car, but my first overwhelming reaction was frankly, “Oh, hell no.”

Without question the big issue with solar cars is finding a way to get enough cells to collect the needed energy, but people are not going to take something seriously that looks like a big . . [...]

Ubiquitous iPods and Wasteful Teslas

Friday, 17 October, 2008

iPod Becoming Standard Auto Equipment
I read an interesting statistic on MacUser the other day. A study be iSuppli reports that 58 percent of new cars in the United States, regardless of trim level, now have iPod integration — meaning the day may come when you don’t have to endanger yourself and others on the road [...]

Nissan Runs FCV Vehicle at Nurburgring

Thursday, 31 July, 2008

You may know that when car-makers want to set records and get a reputation for fast performance they go to the Nurburgring Nordschleife in Germany. Nissan recently ran its X-Trail fuel cell vehicle there, the first FCV to record a lap on the famous track. The course was wet, but the 1.3 million euro prototype [...]

Greenest of the Green: GM Dealership in Detroit

Friday, 18 July, 2008

For all the corporate cutbacks and economic woes, at least one General Motors dealer did something pretty exciting this week in a majorly green way and the home office was more than ready to cash in and celebrate to pick up some good press. The event in question was the re-opening of a new $15 [...]

Solar Prius; “Filling Up” Your Tesla

Tuesday, 8 July, 2008

Prius to Catch Some Rays?
In an interesting development, word has it that Toyota has plans to add solar panels to the roof of its popular Prius hybrid. The panels, built by Kyocera, will be used to run the air conditioning. It will be two or three years before the Prius line gets a retooling, at [...]

Grab Bag from the RSS Reader

Tuesday, 24 June, 2008

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 [...]

Clean Green Cars Website – Thumbs Up

Tuesday, 8 April, 2008

Sticking to the theme of site reviews, I wanted to call your attention to Clean Green Cars, a UK website that is an excellent compendium of environmental-automotive-goodness. Billed as “the green motoring guide” the major site sections are:
- Choosing a Green Car
- Latest Green News
- Green Jargon Explained
- Features
Currently the Choosing a Green Car section [...]

EquinoxOwnersClub: Enthusiasts Get It Right

Tuesday, 1 April, 2008

One of the greatest tech revolutions in the world of car owners is the Internet itself, especially when it serves as a gateway for enthusiasts of any make and model to gather and to share information. EquinoxOwnersClub.com is a perfect example of this kind of site. From a purely aesthetic and utilitarian viewpoint I like [...]

New Direction, New GPS Units

Thursday, 17 January, 2008

Real life demands that updates here will now be posted on Tuesday and Thursdays. I hope that’s going to allow me to collect interesting items and put together lengthier updates with more digest-type content so you’ll still be getting pointed in a lot of directions, but with fewer actual postings. I’m working on getting that [...]

A Couple of Tidbits on Design, and a Follow Up

Saturday, 29 December, 2007

My dentist drives a 1930s vintage Ford replica that he built from a kit. He’s not at all upset that the thing isn’t an original and will describe in loving detail his experience of building his car, the materials that went into it, and how it performs. If you were one of those fans in [...]