Lutz Shocks Letterman With Volt (VIDEO)
In a showmano a showmano challenge, retiring GM Vice-Chairman and all-around automotive superhero Bob Lutz brought the 2011 Chevy Volt onstage on the David Letterman Show for the express purpose of presenting an adult response to Elon Musk's immature sniping during his own Letterman appearance a few weeks ago. That night, the Tesla CEO misrepresented the Volt, and coaxed Letterman into inaccurately deriding the soon-to-come GM plug-in hybrid. read more »
Daimler Buys a Dime-Bag of Tesla
You've got to give Daimler credit for not spending too long licking its American wounds. Not even a month after finally paying to give away its last stake in Chrysler, the Mercedes-maker has plunked down a pretty sum (reportedly $50 mil) for a 10 % stake in Tesla. This adventure -- and have no doubt that it will be one, with Elon Musk still in charge of Tesla -- may be more suited to Daimler's appetite than the supersize-me empty-calorie junkfood binge that Chrysler proved to be.
Apart from putting some real industrial horsepower behind battery-electrics, this deal may also rehabilitate the rhetorical notion of synergy. read more »
It’s Elemental
Lithium: A Little Goes a Long Way
An engineer and a psychiatrist go into a convenience store. All of a sudden, a brouhaha starts in aisle five, where the assistant store manager finds the two customers arguing over the last lump of lithium.
The engineer says he needs it for his electric car project, since lithium is the best cathode material for his lithium ion batteries. The psychiatrist says he needs it to treat his manic-depressive patient, since it one of the most effective psychiatric medications available.
The assistant store manager still can’t decide. The engineer says that, since lithium is the lightest known metal, with the highest specific heat of any element, he also plans to alloy it with either manganese, or cadmium to make strong, lightweight metals for the electric car. And if there’s any left over read more »
Hundred MPG Hummer
[Editor's Note: We've been told to report this or these guys will run over our lawn.]
Fuh Real??
Among the many alternate-fuel vehicles displayed at April's Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) annual World Congress was the Raser Technologies Hummer H3 EREV, promising that even emotionally insecure SUV-type people will still be able to enjoy more than their share of the benefits of hybrid electric transportation. Raser partnered up with FEV to bring the formerly (spitefully, rather) anti-environmental Hummer around. The prototype boasts an E-REV power train engine, and three lithium ion battery packs under the rear of the vehicle. read more »
There Is a God, After All
According to the New York Times, the near automotive future has all of us medium-speeding around in a tinny Chinese Lunch Special #18 Din-qui Car with Hybrid Sauce.
Well, the troglodytes at Popular Mechanics – God bless ‘em – have been quietly grilling a big, juicy steak and fries for red-blooded Greenies who still wanna drive like men. read more »
Superman Dons Green Cape
Saturday, April 26 -- Superman, disguised as mild-mannered NASCAR driver Carl Edwards walked away from his unscheduled 180 mile-per-hour flight over Talladega Speedway while leading on the final lap of the Aaron's 499 Race -- and plopped himself behind the wheel of the Ford Fusion 1,000-Mile Challenge car. Oh yeah, and he helped raise $8,000 for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation.
Obama's Honeydo List
And after you're done here, honey, the Tesla's kind of dirty.
Big. Real Big. (and the most efficient piston engine there is, too.)
| Total engine weight: | 2300 tons (300 tons for the crankshaft!) |
| Length: | 89 feet |
| Height: | 44 feet |
| Maximum power: | 108,920 hp at 102 rpm |
| Maximum torque: | 5,608,312 lb/ft at 102rpm |
It's the Wartsila-Sulzer RTA96-C turbocharged two-stroke diesel engine, made in Japan by Aioi Works.
Got your attention? At maximum economy the engine exceeds 50% thermal efficiency. Just right for supertankers.
Eat Me..
..or race me. I don't care which.
Q: What's greener than an all-electric car?
A: It's made from edibles. It's powered by chocolate. It meets Formula 3 race specs. It's a project at UK's Warwick Univ.
It's the ecoF3!
Fast. Real Fast.
Yeah, it's not an electric car. It's not even a car.
But it is fast as hell. (And it is electric.)
It's the German-engineered-and-built, Chinese-owned-and-operated Maglev train to the Shanghai Airport.
It goes 268 mph. It utters a powerful growl at speed.
Hat tip to Mr. Blodget over at Business Insider. He got to ride on it!
Go ahead and click. You know you want to.
