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When a customizer like BRABUS "tunes" a car, we expect more power, better handling, unfortunate chintzy gadgets and gimmicky styling. In the case of the BRABUS-tuned Tesla Roadster, a car they claim is the first ever tuned electric car, it's just the chintzy gadgets and gimmicky styling. The German tuner shop may be the first to take on the Tesla Roadster, but with no added power, no added acceleration and no changes to the suspension, we're unfortunately left with merely taking in the breathtaking addition of a "space sound generator." That's right, press the pedal and instead of a quiet whoosh of power, you get a simulated V8, simulated race car, and "two futuristic soundscapes named ‘Beam’ and ‘Warp.'" What? Yes, seriously. Hit the jump for more. galleryPost('telsabrabus1', 9, 'Tesla - The Final BRABUS Frontier'); galleryPost('brabustesla', 6, 'Going Where No Brabus Has Gone Before'); Add to the spacey sound...
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Neil Young has decided to make himself an example of how hybrid electric cars can be produced with existing technology and without the loss of style with his Lincvolt, an all-electric version of the awesome 1959 Lincoln Continental Mark IV Convertible. He's been working with noted alternative energy nerd Johnathan Goodwin and his company, H-Line Conversions, to develop the car, in current form an electric with an on-board compressed natural gas generator. Young wants the 5,000 pound, 19.5 foot long convertible to be an example to everyone that you can convert any car to run cleaner. galleryPost('lincvolt', 3, 'LincVolt Makes You Go Hummm'); The Lincvolt will be entered into the Progressive Automotive X-Prize competition and make an attempt at 100 MPG equivalent fuel economy - a far, far cry from the original mileage. You can learn more about the car and see it's live unveil over at the project website: Lincvolt.com . [ Telegraph.co.uk ]
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Make room in the shopping cart next to the family-sized toilet paper and ten-gallon jug of industrial apple juice, as Sam's Club is now selling a new all-electric sports car from Hybrid Technologies for the bargain price of just $100,000. Hybrid Technologies, if you remember, builds lithium battery-powered versions of the Mullen GT like the one we drove at the New York Auto Show . This will be a new and improved version which does away with the 'ugliness' and adds 'generic mid-engined supercar hotness,' along with a 200-mile range, 0-60 time of five seconds and a top speed of 150 MPH. The car is being sold as part of a "ONCE-IN-A-LIFETIME Own the World’s Ultimate Electric Super Car Package" promo Sam's is putting on, where the first eager buyer with a membership and the ability to log on to the company's website can buy it on November 12th. The package includes round-trip airfare and lodging for two in Los Angeles, time and training at a local race...
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Popular Mechanics enlisted the help of Mythbuster Jaime Hyneman to answer that all-consuming transportation question: gas or electric? Using a collection of prototypes and production vehicles, the team set out to test compact cars, ATVs, motorcycles and go-karts head-to-head on-road and on the course to find out whether electrics could stand up to tried-and-true gas engines. The answer? Without spoiling a really good read, sometimes yes, sometimes no, but it's sure got us jonesing for an electric-conversion project in the Jalopnik garage. [ PopMech ]
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Given the situation with Tesla Motors lately, you know, Ze'ev Drori getting the boot and Elon Musk taking the reigns as CEO , word of firings of "25-30% of their total staff of 300 employees and contractors" and the closing of the Detroit location (more accurately, the Metro Detroit suburb of Rochester Hills, MI) via blog post , it's no wonder an anonymous reader decided to head out to their Rochester Hills office and take a look. The Rochester Hills facility was opened at the end of January 2007, and was to be the development facility for the Tesla Model S electric sedan, so the closing is a foreboding indicator of the future direction Tesla is heading on that project. Let's take a look inside this essentially doomed location... galleryPost('teslainrochesterhills', 12, 'Tesla In Rochester Hills Is Quiet... Too Quiet'); To be fair, these pics were taken this past Sunday, so it's poor evidence the place is in fact a ghost town but let's just...
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Not too long ago we reported that German tuning house RUF was preparing to unveil an all-electric Porsche Cayman . Today, RUF has shown their Tesla-fighter is in fact a Porsche 911 . The concept is fueled by 96 lithium-ion battery packs weighing a total of nearly 1,200 pounds; despite the weight, the 204 HP electric motor uses its 480 lb-ft of torque to hit 60 MPH in under 7 seconds. Looking at the battery layout in the images below, it appears RUF balanced the weight as best they could, but that's a lot of ballast to haul; we're wondering how handling will be affected. More stats after the jump. galleryPost('rufelectric911', 9, 'RUF Electric Cayman Morphs Into Electric 911'); RUF claims that, despite the battery heft, the electric 911 will hit nearly 140 MPH and, "driven normally," should have a range between 155-180 miles. "Driven normally" is a big caveat, however: Normally for a Porsche or normally for a Taurus? Either way, we're all for...
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Design house Pininfarina, still mourning the loss of CEO Andrea Pininfarina , showed a stiff upper lip and brought their Pininfarina B0 to the Paris Auto Show . In the process, they created quite the stir — and almost eclipsing the buzz surrounding the Honda Insight Hybrid . The B0, pronounced B Zero, is four-seat, four-door electric hatchback created in partnership with Bolloré and is not, repeat, not , a concept car. According to Pininfarina, the B0will be a mass production model, with the first units coming off the production line at the end of 2009, after which production will be ramped up gradually based on the availability of the batteries. What about the range and power? Well, we're told the car has a range of 153 miles and a top speed of 80 MPH. How's that sound? Pretty good, right? You know what doesn't sound good? The double digit 0-to-60 time. Hit the jump for the full press release. galleryPost('PininfarinaB0Concept', 12, 'B0 Knows Electric'...
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Detroit has the Chevy Volt , California has the Tesla Roadster , Japan supposedly will have a plug-in Toyota Prius at some point. Now South Africa has their first electric vehicle in the six-seater Joule MPV developed by tech startup Optimal Energy. This all-electric car, just revealed at the Paris Motor Show , claims to have a 125-mile range on one battery back or double that with two packs. The drivetrain includes motor-driven wheels up front and allegedly in-wheel magnetic propulsion in the rear. With an exterior and interior designed by a former Jaguar designer, the company hopes to launch the car in South Africa in late 2010 and export it to other countries shortly thereafter. Press release below the jump. galleryPost('optenjoule', 3, 'A Joule In The Rough'); Joule is Africa’s first battery electric engineering masterpiece from Optimal Energy. The silent passenger MPV is manufactured as a standard six-seater which complies with UN-ECE safety standards offering an optimal...
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The DuraCar QUICC! DiVa finally brings the enthusiast world what it has long been clamoring for: A Dutch electric car made entirely of plastic. The QUICC! is intended primarily for European urban delivery markets and features an all-electric powertrain wrapped in a "cradle-to-cradle" plastic chassis and body. The press release jumps around in typical broken English fashion, but the QUICC! apparently employs lithium-ion phosphate batteries in conjunction with bipolar lead batteries and some sort of fuel-cell mechanism. However it works, DuraCar claims a range of 93 miles and a top speed of 75 MPH for the DiVa, with no CO2 emissions. We'll bring you more after the QUICC! gets its Paris Motor Show reveal, but in the meantime the full release is after the jump. galleryPost('quiccevparis', 9, 'QUICC! DiVa Is Plastic Dutch EV Nirvana'); World Première New Dutch Car Brand QUICC! Launched at Paris Motor Show Mondial de L'Automobile HEERLEN, The Netherlands - Mondial...
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newVideoPlayer("/ChevyVoltReveal.flv", 494, 400,""); As the production-ready 2011 Chevy Volt drove onto the turntable for all to see, as much electricity was in the air as was in the Volt's batteries. GM clearly hopes this will be the start of a revolution for the company, and if the Volt lives up to the hype, it very well may be. As for how it looks? Well, judge for yourself from the video. The proportions are pretty sleek, though vaguely similar to the 2010 Honda Insight and Toyota Prius , but at the same time more distinctive than either.
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In an interview with a German newspaper, BMW CEO Norbert Reithofer has confirmed that a small city car is being developed to cope with future European and American regulations for fuel economy and pollution. But we're talking about more than just an electric Mini here. This will be an entirely new vehicle which will come with either a "very efficient combustion engine" or a pure electric powertrain. Of the standards it will meet will be a California regulation which mandates fuel cell or battery-powered vehicles to have a range of over 200 miles by the year 2012. But the burning question is, what will the car be called? The first thing that pops into our head when we hear talk of a small BMW city car that's completely different from the rest of the range is "Isetta," and that's said to still be a possibility. It would certainly be a more appealing name than 0-Series. BMW has had plenty of retro small car experience with the Mini brand, but a more forward...
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The thorn in Tesla's side, the troubled single-speed transmission for its all-electric Tesla Roadster , has finally been approved for production, and with it comes an announcement of more power and better range. After durability problems with the original single-speed transmission, Telsa was forced to used a two-speed cog swapper for production. But now, after re-sourcing the business to transmission mega-star Borg Warner, the redesigned single-speed is ready to go and offers big benefits. Because of the additional capability in the transmission, the peak torque has been raised from 211 lb-ft to 280 lb-ft; a heady number considering peak torque arrives at zero rpm with an electric motor. Despite the higher output, the EPA estimates show a 10% increase in range. That's a pretty neat trick. Complete details below. Tesla Motors Selects BorgWarner for Production of New Gearbox for Tesla Roadster Deliveries of 27 Roadsters Completed to Date, Production and Delivery of Roadsters To Accelerate...
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The video and images of a Chevy Volt on the set of Transformers: Revenge Of The Fallen showed a car very similar to the Volt that GM has been lifting the skirt on . But now GM is saying the dark-blue car is "not the final version at this stage." GM spokesman Rob Peterson told Inside Line that it is "representative of the production vehicle," which makes sense as we've now learned that this prop is just a re-bodied Malibu. Though it should be noted that he wasn't even aware the car was out in California on the movie set. galleryPost('voltsneakpreview', 3, 'Chevy Volt On The Transformers 2 Set'); "I've never seen that vehicle and I've never seen that color... You can tell it caught me off guard. I didn't even realize it (the Volt) was out of the state of Michigan." Jalopnik Snap Judgment: Of course this isn't exactly what the production Volt will look like. The production model likely won't have the big showoff rims...
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Our favorite Malaysian automotive journalist, Paul Tan , has driven Detroit Electric's new battery-powered Lotus Elise. Partnering with Malaysian automaker Proton (the parent company of Lotus), Detroit Electric is attempting to revive itself by electrifying cars like this Lotus Elise and some Proton sedans and hatchbacks. The Detroit Electric Elise sports a 200 HP electric motor and a range of 200 miles from a 6.5 hour charge; in other words, the Tesla Roadster , which is also based on the Elise, had better watch its back. The company is quite ambitious, with talk already of distribution strategy and a possible quick-charge infrastructure around Malaysia. In addition to Paul's test drive of the Lotus, he also got to ride shotgun in an electric Proton Persona. Both seemed to have impressed him with their level of development, but read Paul's comments for yourself at paultan.org .
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newVideoPlayer("/ZAPhack.flv", 494, 410,""); As further evidence that all ZAP Xebra electric vehicle owners are complete dorks, we have this video of a ZAP owner showing us how to get the most out of the little 3-wheeler. Along with some cosmetic changes, this guy replaced the copper wiring with a thicker gauge cable and increased the voltage by adding another battery. Now his ZAP-amino can actually go up hills! And if the wind is just right, it can hit a top speed of 45 MPH, about 7 MPH faster than a stock model. (We apologize for the video's soundtrack.) [via Autoblog Green ]
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