11 C300 Sport-18k-premium 1 Pkg-heated Front Seats-multimedia Pkg-back-up Cam on 2040-cars

Auto blog

Recharge Wrap-up: Venturi seeks funding for speed record, Kia partners on V2G

Venturi Automobiles has started a crowdfunding campaign to help break an EV speed record. Venturi's goal, with the help of The Ohio State University, is to set a new FIA World Speed Record for Battery Powered Electric Vehicles of over 7000 pounds with its VBB-3. Venturi set the current record at 307 miles per hour, but wants to exceed that this September at the Bonneville Salt Flats. Funders can score merchandise like T-shirts, miniature models, and even their name on the side of the car. Learn more at Venturi Automobiles' Kickstarter page. Kia is providing six Soul EVs to UC Irvine's Advanced Power and Energy Program (APEP). APEP is using the electric vehicles for the development of vehicle-to-grid technology and smart charging systems. Kia says the collaboration is helpful in its goals of expanding EVs over the next five years. "Grid-connected electric vehicles offer tremendous potential in terms of energy storage and dispersion during high-demand periods," says Kia VP of Product Planning Orth Hedrick, "and Kia is excited to collaborate with APEP in the study and development of advanced smart grid technologies." Read more from Kia, or at Green Car Congress. Daimler is launching its Mercedes-Benz Energy brand for stationary energy storage. Taking on the likes of Tesla with its Powerwall, Daimler began shipping battery packs for residential energy storage in Germany in April, with an eye toward solar systems. Now, with its new brand, the company looks to expand to the global market. "By founding Mercedes-Benz Energy GmbH, we are underscoring our ambition to be a technological and market leader in the field of highly efficient storage systems," says Daimler's Harald Kroger. "With our unique combination of high standards of quality and safety and positive economies of scale, we are supporting the success of the new energy era while helping to make electromobility affordable." Read more in the press release below. Daimler Establishes Mercedes-Benz Energy GmbH for Stationary Energy Storage Daimler AG is continuing to expand its network of expertise in the field of lithium-ion battery applications. Within this innovative line of business, the newly established Mercedes-Benz Energy GmbH is assuming the development and global sale of Mercedes-Benz brand stationary energy storage with immediate effect. Thus, Daimler is focusing even more on the growing market for stationary batteries.

Mercedes-Benz engines with 48-volt systems coming in 2017

As part of a big green push announced yesterday, Mercedes-Benz is jumping into the world of 48-volt power. The company will launch a new family of efficient gasoline engines next year and will begin rolling out 48-volt systems with it, likely in its more expensive cars first. Mercedes will use the 48-volt systems to power mild-hybrid functions like energy recuperation (commonly called brake regeneration), engine stop-start, electric boost, and even moving a car from a stop on electric power alone. These features will be enabled through either an integrated starter-generator (Mercedes abbreviates it ISG) or a belt-driven generator (RSG). (RSG is from the German word for belt-driven generator, Riemenstartergeneratoren. That's your language lesson for the day.) Mercedes didn't offer many other details on the new family of engines. There are 48-volt systems already in production; Audi's three-compressor SQ7 engine uses an electric supercharger run by a 48-volt system, and there's a new SQ5 diesel on the horizon that will use a similar setup with the medium-voltage system. Electric superchargers require a lot of juice, which can be fed by either a supercapacitor or batteries in a 48-volt system. Why 48-volt Matters: Current hybrid and battery-electric vehicles make use of very high voltages in their batteries, motors, and the wiring that connects them, usually around 200 to 600 volts. The high voltage gives them enough power to move a big vehicle, but it also creates safety issues. The way to mitigate those safety issues is with added equipment, and that increases both cost and weight. You can see where this is going. By switching to a 48-volt system, the high-voltage issues go away and the electrical architecture benefits from four times the voltage of a normal vehicle system and uses the same current, providing four times the power. The electrical architecture will cost more than a 12-volt system but less than the complex and more dangerous systems in current electrified vehicles. The added cost makes sense now because automakers are running out of ways to wisely spend money for efficiency gains. Cars can retain a cheaper 12-volt battery for lower-power accessories and run the high-draw systems on the 48-volt circuit. The industry is moving toward 48-volt power, with the SAE working on a standard for the systems and Delphi claiming a 10-percent increase in fuel economy for cars that make the switch.

Chris Harris and David Coulthard wring out a Mercedes Fintail at the N"urburgring

If there's one thing we've learned from the latest video from Drive, it's that the combination of Chris Harris and David Coulthard will produce some very quotable moments. Take this exchange, for example.
DC: "We are by some way the slowest."
CH: "But we're in a class of three cars, apparently."