1998 Ford Mustang Base Coupe 2-door 3.8l on 2040-cars

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Recharge Wrap-up: EV torque secrets, UC Davis maps future of biofuels

A UC Davis white paper maps out "Three Routes Forward for Biofuels," balancing investment risk with carbon benefits. The first option is "incremental," in which we tinker with the existing biofuel manufacturing infrastructure for small improvements over time. The "transitional" plan suggests integrating cellulosic production and other innovations with existing operations. The third route, called "leapfrogging," would mean building refineries based on new technology such as cellulosic and algae-based biofuels. The paper suggests ways the US could use these three routes together in different areas, and predicts the payoffs in terms of carbon emissions could be significant if the right people are willing to risk the capital. After all, financial advisers are always telling investors to diversify their portfolios to manage risk and rewards in the same way. Read more over at the UC Davis Institute of Transportation Studies. The Formula E Long Beach ePrix will offer free admission. The seventh round of the inaugural all-electric race season, which was moved from Los Angeles to the streets of Long Beach, will offer fans free grandstand and general admission. The race, which takes place on April 5, 2015, will use a 1.6-mile portion of IndyCar's Grand Prix of Long Beach. Read more at LA Times. Polaris is now offering its 2015 GEM electric vehicles, including the new street-legal eM1400 LSV. The passenger and utility vehicles come in two- to six-passenger configurations, many of which are street legal on roads with posted speed limits of up to 35 miles per hour. The eM1400 LSV utility vehicle seats two, offers 1,250 pounds of payload, 1,250 pounds of towing capacity, a top speed of 25 mph and a range of up to 45 miles. Its on-board charger plugs into any standard 110-volt outlet. Read more at Hybrid Cars and check out all the different configurations yourself at the Polaris website. In EVs, more torque does not always equal faster. Green Car Reports found this out when driving the Fiat 500e (with 147 pound-feet) against the similarly weighted Chevrolet Spark EV (with 400 pound-feet). The secret is, at least in part, in the gearing. The Fiat has a 9.6:1 reduction gear, making it quicker at lower speeds despite having far less available torque, while the Chevy uses a 3:1 ratio. The trade-off though, is in top speed. Furthermore, Chevy electronically limits the torque delivery at low speeds, as 400 pound-feet is a lot of launch for the little Spark EV to handle.

How to locate a fleet Chevy Caprice PPV you can buy

The Chevy Caprice shares the same platform as the now-defunct Pontiac G8 and Chevy's SS sedan. The Pontiac G8 received excellent reviews, but the economy was not doing so well, and gas prices were high, so no one bought them and Pontiac went under. The Caprice PPV is available with a 3.6-liter V6 with 300 horsepower or a 6.0-liter V8 with 355 hp. It comes standard with heavy-duty suspension and a limited-slip differential on the V8 model. The Chevy Caprice also received praise for its handling and road manners and even received a perfect score in a past assessment by the LA County Sheriff's Department. Unfortunately, you won't be able to buy one new even if you want one. The Chevy Caprice PPV is a fleet vehicle available only to law enforcement. However, if you go on Cars.com, select Chevrolet in the dropdown, click all types of vehicles, change the year filter from 2011 to 2015 and type in the keyword Caprice, lo and behold, listings for pre-owned Caprice PPVs appear. Many of these have low mileage and were not sold for whatever reason, and they sat around. Some come with the remainder of the three-year / 36,000-mile bumper-to-bumper warranty and a five-year / 100,000-mile warranty on the powertrain. Those who have strong negotiating skills can extend the bumper-to-bumper warranty a couple of years for around $1,500 or less. The purchase price of the Caprice PPV is around $30,000 to 34,000. The pre-owned ones are less; dealers took the brunt of the depreciation cost. Best of all, the bonus of driving a Chevy Caprice PPV is everyone driving around you will follow the speed limit and every motor vehicle rule in the book because they think you are the law. Used ex-law enforcement fleet purchase are risky. But this is too unique to pass up, go buy one quick. There are only a couple in the country at the moment. Follow me on Twitter: Donkleblanc Related Video: Image Credit: wikimedia Chevrolet Used Car Buying Police/Emergency chevy caprice chevy caprice ppv open road

How Chevy Silverado, GMC Sierra will take on the Ford F-150 profit machine

FORT WAYNE, Ind. — When General Motors engineers were developing the 2019 Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra pickup trucks, some of them joined public tours of Ford's Dearborn, Mich., factory to watch aluminum-bodied F-Series trucks go down the assembly line. The redesign of the Ford F-Series trucks, launched in 2014, set a new standard for fuel economy and lightweight vehicle construction. But armed with stopwatches and trained eyes, the GM engineers believed they saw problems. "They had a real hard time getting those doors to fit," Tim Herrick, the executive chief engineer for GM truck programs, told Reuters. His team did more intelligence gathering. They bought and tore apart Ford F-Series doors sold as repair parts. Their conclusion: GM could cut weight in its trucks for a lower cost using doors made of a combination of aluminum and high-strength steel that could be thinner than standard steel, shaving off kilograms in the process. These pounds-and-pennies decisions will have major implications in the highest-stakes game going in Detroit: dominance in the world's most profitable vehicle market, the gasoline-fueled large pickup segment. What's more, GM is banking on strong sales of overhauled 2019 Silverados and GMC Sierras to fund its push into automated and electric vehicles — a business many investors see as the auto industry's long-term future. The risks are high given the hits automakers have taken from U.S. President Donald Trump's trade policies. Rising aluminum prices spurred by Trump's tariffs are driving up costs on the Ford's F-Series, while rising steel and aluminum prices likewise drag on GM results. GM also has a significant risk should the United States, Mexico and Canada fail to agree on a new NAFTA trade deal, given GM trucks built at its Silao, Mexico, factory could face a 25 percent tariff if NAFTA collapses. Major profit per truck Interviews with GM executives and a tour at its factory here in northwest Indiana provide a detailed look inside GM's plan for the most important vehicles in its global lineup. These big pickups are everything Tesla's Model 3 or Chevy's Bolt electric car is not. The mostly steel body is bolted to the truck's steel frame, rather than the one-piece body and frame electric vehicles. The majority of trucks will have a V-8 gasoline engine powering the rear wheels — like the classic GM cars of the 1950s. Some Silverados will have new four-cylinder engines, but there is no electric or hybrid offering as of now.