1999 Chevrolet Silverado Z71 4x4, Loaded, 8ft Bed, Flares, Must See on 2040-cars

Auto blog

Texas cops pull armed suspect from burning car

A high-speed chase through Fort Worth, Texas ended in dramatic fashion earlier this month when FWPD pulled armed burglary suspects from the burning wreckage of their escape vehicle. According to NBC DFW, Fort Worth police were dispatched to Avington Way on the evening of July 16 to investigate reports of a burglary. The burglary victim told police he had arrived home to find three individuals hauling his property out of his house. When he approached them, one of the suspects pointed a handgun at him and told him to stay back. Then all three suspects climbed into a silver Dodge Avenger and sped away. FWPD officers spotted the Avenger a short time later on Sycamore School Road and, after the car refused to pull over, the chase was on. Police chased the burglary suspects through the city at speeds approaching 100 mph until the Avenger blew a red light and was t-boned by an oncoming pickup at the intersection of California Parkway and James Avenue. As the pursuing officers closed in on the disabled car, it suddenly caught fire. One suspect bailed out and ran for it, but the remaining two were trapped inside with the flames quickly mounting. Despite the spreading fire and the threat of armed suspects in the vehicle, police officers rushed to pull the men from the wreck. The driver was removed easily, but the passenger was unconscious and trapped behind a crushed passenger door. The scene was caught on the officers' body cameras as they pried the door open with their bare hands. Eventually the officers got the semi-conscious man out of the passenger seat just as the car was completely engulfed in flames. "It was pretty dramatic. We recruit people that can think on the fly, think quickly, and perform under pressure," FWPD Sergeant Marc Povero told WFAA. All three suspects are facing charges for burglary, and the driver was charged with evading arrest. News Source: WFAA, NBC DFW Auto News Chevrolet Dodge Driving Safety Truck Police/Emergency Sedan fire car fire burglary

Personal testimonies show real-world effect of plugging in with Chevy Volt

At this point, there are tens of thousands of individual stories about what it's like to live with a Chevrolet Volt. But it also remains informative to take a look at one of these in depth. For example, one Atlanta-area Volt owner says he's cut his cents-per-mile ownership costs by almost 40 percent compared to his previous car primarily because of his ability to drive almost all the time on electric power. Jeffrey Cohen told Clean Technica that he put about 14,000 miles on his Volt extended-range plug-in hybrid for the year that ended October 2013, and that more than 92 percent of those were on electrons. He estimates his "lifetime" miles per gallon rating at a whopping 384 mpg, a figure pushed upward by the fact that he installed a Level 2 charger at home while his employer added an external 110-volt charger at work. Cohen is spending 45 cents a mile for his car, compared to 73 cents in his Infiniti M35. As a result, he's spending 45 cents a mile for his car, compared to 73 cents a mile with his prior vehicle, an Infiniti M35. About two-thirds of those Volt costs are for the $349-a-month lease payments, while 15 percent is insurance, 11 percent is for the charger and seven percent for the gas and electricity that actually powers the car. Helping lower that last figure is an overnight electricity rate that's about 10 percent of Cohen's daytime rate. Chevy parent General Motors hopes such testimonies will re-trigger sales for the Volt in 2014. Last year, GM sold 23,094 Volts, down 1.6 percent from 2012. We expect our readers have similar stories they'd like to share in the Comments. Related Gallery 2011 Chevrolet Volt: Review View 22 Photos News Source: Clean TechnicaImage Credit: Lead image: AP Photo/Jae C. Hong Green Chevrolet GM Electric running costs

2016 Chevy Volt arrives with 50-mile EV range, 41 mpg [w/ video]

Let's start with the numbers. The 2016 Chevy Volt will have an all-electric range of 50 miles from a new, 18.4-kWh lithium battery. It will get 41 miles per gallon (combined) once the battery runs dry and have 102 MPGe. Oh, and it has five seats, sort of. To compare, today's four-seat 2015 Volt has a 38-mile range from a 17.1-kWh battery in a powertrain that offers 37 mpg and 98 MPGe. So, across the board, there are notable improvements. Now that that's out of the way, let's talk story. General Motors will unveil the new Volt at the Detroit Auto Show later today, but it's been talking about how this new version – the first major plug-in hybrid vehicle to get a serious redo in the modern era – was crafted with reams and reams of data from first-gen Volt customers. At a preview event for journalists last week, GM executive chief engineer Pam Fletcher told Autoblog that these owners "gave us the recipe" to make the second-gen model. At the top of the request list was more range (check), more "fun-to-drive" behavior (check?) and a smoother and quieter experience (we'll assume a check here, given that the new 1.5-liter four-cylinder – the first North American application of this new engine family – should offer more power with less noise than the previous 1.4-liter, four-cylinder powerplant). Other customer-driven changes in the new Volt include a different place to store the charging cable (in the side of the trunk instead of under the load floor) and a new brake system with improved blended regenerative braking feel as well as driver-selectable regen levels. The requested 50-mile range comes from a new, lighter battery that has increased capacity from fewer cells (192 vs. 288) and a simplified control architecture. Along with the new battery, the electric drive unit is a two-motor deal that is up to 12 percent more efficient and 100 pounds lighter, while also being "tremendously smaller," notes Fletcher. It offers 294 pound-feet of torque and a maximum 149 horsepower of "motoring power" delivered to the wheels. GM says it has worked hard to reduced the amount of rare earth materials in these motors, and one of them doesn't use any at all. The new powertrain offers improved acceleration times, as well. The 2016 Volt can go from 0 to 60 miles per hour in 8.4 seconds, a seven-percent improvement, while the 0-30 mph time has been improved by 19 percent, down to 2.6 seconds. The new Volt is more conventional looking, but certainly not completely ordinary.