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Ever been curious what takes place under the Tesla Roadster ’s hood in the absence of internal combustion? Well, here’s an explanation of what the parts are and and what they do, conveniently numbered so you can follow along at home. Make the jump to see why "Tesla mechanic" would be a totally cush job. galleryPost('teslaroadsterinsides', 2, 'Inside the Tesla Roadster'); Number 1: This is the electric motor. Running on AC power, it can rev up to 13,000 RPM while producing 248 HP and 200 lb-ft. Maximum torque is available all the way from 0-6,000 RPM Number 2: The one-speed transmission. After reliability problems with a two-speed design, Tesla settled for this stronger, simpler one-speed. The 8.27:1 drive ratio allows for a 0-60 time of around 4 seconds and a top speed of 125 MPH. Number 3: The Power Electronics Module. In addition to capturing the power from regenerative braking and using it to recharge the batteries, it also smooths out power delivery under hard...
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We've been wondering to ourselves over the last month or so, why has oil-baron-turned-environmentalist T. Boone Pickens been pimping his wind farm idea so hard, even including direct ads to the US public? It's just a bunch of big-ass windmills after all; it's not like rocket science. It had to be, we thought, that he wanted tax breaks or green incentives to help defray the cost. Well, that may be the case, but a second, less-publicized motivation has emerged other than getting us off of foreign oil (and by foreign we mean mostly Canadian ). The DC Examiner dug in and found out it's not just electricity T. Boone is after: It's the water in them thar hills. The story reads like the secret behind a brilliant magician's sleight-of-hand trick, with Thomas Boone pulling the strings of government, politics, environmental activists, and public relations. Mr. Pickens has been a busy boy lately — over the last few years, he's purchased large tracts of land in northern...
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A cleaner-burning fuel than unleaded with an average price of under $3 per gallon, propane is an appealing alternative fuel, despite its lower energy content when compared to gasoline. Brian Feehan, VP of the Propane Education and Research Council, is aiming to have 10 percent of "select auto fleets" running on propane by 2017. That sounds like a lazy goal to us, as there are already about 11 million propane-fueled vehicles on the world's roads today. The technology is ready, but what is holding the US market back? As is with any alternative fuel, the first problem is infrastructure. There are about 12,500 propane fueling stations in the country today, but according to Feehan, only 2,500 are open to the public. Compare that to the approximately 162,000 gasoline stations, and you can see the problem. Relative to gasoline tanks, propane tanks are also bigger and heavier. The cost of converting your car is pretty heavy too: about $10,000 for an EPA-certified kit. But non-certified...
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A next-generation 2010 Toyota Prius was snapped in full camo regalia filling up at an Australian gas station. So what can we tell? Mainly that the Prius' has totally ripped off the styling of the new Honda Hybrid , differentiating their design with the addition of a small spoiler on the rear. Reports state, and these pictures seem to confirm, that the main visual changes to the 2010 Prius will be on the interior, with a much more integrated cockpit design taking the place of the tacked-on bins-'n-pods look of the current car. You can get your helping of hybrid smug — made-in-America by 2011, no less — midway through 2009, the tentative date for the Toyota vs. Honda hybrid battle royale! [ Drive.com.au ]
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Not only has Wayne Keith developed a system that allows a normal automobile to run on burning wood, but he's also planning a coast-to-coast drive from South Carolina to California to prove it's the real deal. Basically the system gassifies the wood and feeds the syngas into the standard engine. It can run on pretty much any biomass material you can burn, including switchgrass, crop residues, and probably dead hobos and hookers too. So how much wood would a wood-burning truck burn if a wood-burning truck could burn wood? galleryPost('woodburntruck', 3, 'Smoking Trees'); Keith's 1991 Dodge Dakota V8 smokes through about a pound of wood per mile, and his back-up 1987 V6 Dakota gets about 1.5 miles per pound. The V8 tops out at 80 MPH and the V6 can squeeze out 65 MPH. So, if burning wood sounds like a better way to pollute the air than burning gasoline, and your truck doesn't have some newfangled fuel-injection system, this just might be the way to avoid gas...
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Reader Nik writes us about an adventure of sorts he's planning to undertake: He and an associate will be driving across the country, non-stop from Manhattan to LA on one tank of BioWillie biodiesel. BioWillie, in case you aren't aware, is Willie Nelson's premium brand of biofuel. The trip is intended to raise awareness of the product and promote the benefits of biodiesel over more buzz-generating alternatives like hybrids. They intend to set off September 22 in a 2006 Jetta TDI equipped with a secondary high-capacity fuel tank filled to the brim with BioWillie. Jalopnik Snap Judgment : What. The. Hell. This email hits us and we damn near lose our minds with all the crazy angles it has. BioWillie? That sounds like the title of the worst sci-fi porno you've ever seen. And this "traveling across the country in a Jetta powered with Willie Nelson-branded biofuel" — read that sentence again — its like a spoof of a spoof of a spoof. If we didn't know better...
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Peugeot promises to reveal the full name of its "RC..." concept car at the 2008 Paris Motor Show , along with a few more details about the just-announced concept. So what do we know? It's designed to be a technical showcase, a hybrid with 313 HP (though it's unknown if that's combined IC and electric), and it looks vaguely like a Dodge Intrepid, sporting 4 doors and, according to the company, 4 seats. There even appears to be a Maxima-like longitudinal moonroof. And, in an ominous sign for the design, Peugeot actually refers to the car as the "missing link," albeit between its RC show cars of 2002 and the 908 RC from the 2006 Paris Motor Show. We'll have to wait and see what Peugeot has here, but right now it looks pretty much like a hybrid sedan. Full release after the jump. galleryPost('peugeotrcconcept', 9, 'Peugeot Reveals The Missing Link'); Environmental efficiency combined with motoring passion The “RC...”, which its full name will...
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The Detroit News reports on a truce between the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers, an automaker trade group, and two advocates of more-stringent vehicle emissions regulations, California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and Colorado Gov. Bill Ritter. After a series of public battles over stiffening regulations, including a May meeting where Schwarzenegger told auto executives to "stop whining" and meet new standards that should have gone into effect in 2002, the parties have all decided that a consumer-education Web site is the best way to curb fuel usage. Ah-nold's step-by-step instructions for saving the planet, after the jump. The new collaborative Web site, ecodrivingusa.com, urges consumers to slow down, ensure that tires are filled properly, avoid tailgating, remove excess weight from vehicles, replace air filters, and get tune-ups. Sound familiar? Yeah, it's all pretty much the same stuff that's been recommended — and largely ignored — for about 30...
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We've told you about the planned Tesla Model S , an aluminum-intensive four-door electric sedan. Now Autocar reports the Model S isn't just a single vehicle, but actually a platform expected to yield a variety of different cars and even an SUV. Aside from the use of aluminum instead of the Tesla Roadster 's carbon fiber, a new, flatter battery pack mounted at the base of the chassis is said to provide the flexibility needed for a comprehensive vehicle family. Now the question becomes, "when are we going to see these new vehicles?" Jalopnik Snap Judgment: According to Autocar , we should expect to see the Model S sedan in 2010, with the SUV and a four-door coupe arriving around 2015. The word from Tesla is less encouraging, however: The company is hoping to launch the sedan after construction of its new California factory is completed, and they describe the design as “ninety percent” complete. Knowing that the "devil is in the details" — details being...
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newVideoPlayer("/whiskeyradical.flv", 494, 410,""); Top Gear's very own Captain Slow was recently seen filling up this Radical SR4, not with fossil fuel, but Bruichladdich malt whisky. The demonstration will be part of Oz & James' Great British Adventure , in which May and wine critic Oz Clarke will tour around the country in a 1982 Rolls Royce Corniche convertible sampling British drinks. The show will air on BBC2 later this year, but for now we've got this amateur footage of the car starting up and running. Allegedly, the car was unmodified, but the fuel is the world's only whisky that's four times distilled. [ laddieblog via FinalGear ]
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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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Even before he saw today's new Chevy Volt pictures , New York neurologist Lyle Dennis liked the idea of the 2011 Chevy Volt . In fact, he liked it enough to start GM-volt.com more than a year ago, in the process collecting the names of more than 33,000 prospective buyers for the Chevy electric car. The greatest interest comes from California, Texas, Florida and Michigan — no surprise there. What is surprising is that General Motors has apparently been watching Dennis' activities closely, even meeting with him and a handful of other Volt enthusiasts at the New York Auto Show this year. So what's the good doctor's motivation in all this? Apparently, Dennis is concerned that GM may be underestimating consumer interest in the Volt, leading to shortages when the vehicle finally arrives. "If everyone who wanted a Volt could get one, that would be the dream," he said. Given the Volt's expected price point, there's no word on whether Dennis' dream goes...
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Not content to wait for the major automakers to show up with their expensive Chevy Volts or Electric Cubes , regular folks are home-brewing their own electric vehicles. While the results you get with golf-cart batteries aren't quite the same as what you get with, say, Li-Ion batteries (usually just 20 to 40 miles on an overnight charge), we doubt there's any other way to get yourself an electric-powered Honda Del Sol. One Atlanta man spent $12,000 converting his Chevy S-10 pickup — not exactly a gas-guzzler to begin with — to cruise on all-electric for 40 miles with a top speed of 60 MPH. While this might not be the most cost-effective way to lower the price of commuting, it's a fun project for those looking to go green and who aren't interesting in taking the easy way out by buying a Tesla or waiting for something else. Anyone have a donor BRAT and a cache of golf cart batteries? [ CNN.com , Photo: Flickr ]
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Update : We just got our hands on some images of the ongoing work at the Warren Tech Center at on the clay model and chassis of the Volt . GM's just sent us two new photos of the production version of the 2011 Chevy Volt . While the first of the two shots doesn't show much more than what we saw when ABC News lifted the skirt last weekend , the second one shows us the big bowtie on the rear end of the new gasoline-electric sled from GM's American Revolution. Check out the high-resolution shots in the gallery below. We're also being told GM will have 50 prototypes running around on the highways and byways of Metro Detroit doing testing by the end of the year. Hmm, maybe this whole Volt thing's actually going to happen. galleryPost('2010ChevyVoltProdP', 2, 'Like A Volt Of Lightning'); galleryPost('voltprototyping', 6, 'Prototype Volts Coming Together');
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GM's just sent us two new photos of the production version of the 2011 Chevy Volt . While the first of the two shots doesn't show much more than what we saw when ABC News lifted the skirt last weekend , the second one shows us the big bowtie on the rear end of the new gasoline-electric sled from GM's American Revolution. Check out the high-resolution shots in the gallery below. We're also being told GM will have 50 prototypes running around on the highways and byways of Metro Detroit doing testing by the end of the year. Hmm, maybe this whole Volt thing's actually going to happen. galleryPost('2010ChevyVoltProdP', 2, 'Like A Volt Of Lightning');
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