2014 Nissan Maxima S on 2040-cars

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Recharge Wrap-up: Eigg's renewable energy grid, Wulin City Car EV looks like i3

Scotland's Isle of Eigg's electrical grid relies solely on wind, hydro and solar power. It's the first grid of its kind after switching to renewable energy from noisy, unreliable diesel generators. Scotland's renewable resources are fodder for supporters of independence form the UK, and Eigg is a perfect example of that potential. Besides being a responsible community, it also seems like a lovely place to visit. Read more at Reuters. London Mayor Boris Johnson is calling for incentives for diesel vehicle scrapping. The goal is to improve London's air quality, encourage the purchase of clean vehicles and offset the inconvenience of charging diesel cars to enter the city's proposed Ultra Low Emissions Zone. Read more at Green Car Congress or in the press release below. BMW, Nissan, Renault and Volkswagen are teaming up to create a better EV charging infrastructure in the UK and Ireland. As part of the Trans-European Transport Network (T-ENT) program, the group aims to create extended EV-friendly roadways with the UK Rapid Charge Network, connecting major cities on the islands. Plans for the network include 70 rapid chargers along 684 miles of road. The four manufacturers also want to extend the project to mainland Europe to encourage the adoption of EVs. Read more at Hybrid Cars. Wuling is working on an EV, called City Car, which liberally takes visual cues from the BMW i3. The City Car EV concept is slated to make its debut in November at the Guangzhou Auto Show, while a production version could make its way onto Chinese roads next year. We might have to wait until the debut to know what powers the City Car, as those details haven't been released yet. General Motors is a 43-percent stakeholder in Wuling. Read and see more at Car News China. Taxi customers in New York will enjoy greater payment flexibility with the new interoperability between RideLinQ and Way2ride apps. Now customers will be able to use either app to pay in any of the city's 20,000 green and yellow taxis. There's no need for separate apps for separate cabs, and no need for drivers to install any new equipment. The groups behind the apps hope to expand this functionality to other cities across the country. Read more in the press release below.

Kayaba, Sumitomo to pay millions for price-fixing in US

Kayaba Industry Co, which does business in the US as suspension parts maker KYB, and Sumitomo Electric Industries are facing payments in the millions to settle price-fixing cases about the components that they make. As part of the Department of Justice's ongoing crackdown of price fixing in the auto industry, KYB agreed to pay $62 million and pleaded guilty to conspiracy to set the cost of shock absorbers from the mid '90s through 2012. The company allegedly worked with co-conspirators to keep the cost of the parts high, and those components then made it into vehicles from Honda, Kawasaki, Nissan, Subaru, Suzuki, and Toyota. "Any collusive agreement among competitors to restrict price competition undercuts our free enterprise system and violates the law," said Carter M. Stewart, US Attorney of the Southern District of Ohio, in the DoJ's announcement. Over the past few years, the DoJ has brought cases against 37 parts suppliers and 55 executives, leading to over $2.6 billion in fines. The investigations haven't always been so successful – some of the Japanese execs fled from the US to avoid prosecution. Critics allege that price fixing is simply how business is done. According to Automotive News, Sumitomo Electric Industries is also facing a $50 million settlement in a civil lawsuit that's related to price fixing of parts like wiring harnesses and heater control panels. The plaintiffs include owners and dealers that purchased vehicles with these parts. The company asserts that the violations are from before 2010, and it now has different process in place to avoid further violations. KYB Agrees to Plead Guilty and Pay $62 Million Criminal Fine for Fixing Price of Shock Absorbers Kayaba Industry Co. Ltd., dba KYB Corporation (KYB) has agreed to plead guilty and to pay a $62 million criminal fine for its role in a conspiracy to fix the price of shock absorbers installed in cars and motorcycles sold to U.S. consumers. According to charges filed today, KYB conspired from the mid-1990s until 2012 to fix the prices of shock absorbers sold to Fuji Heavy Industries Ltd. (manufacturer of Subaru vehicles), Honda Motor Co. Ltd., Kawasaki Heavy Industries Ltd., Nissan Motor Company Ltd., Suzuki Motor Corporation and Toyota Motor Company, including their subsidiaries in the United States.

Autoblog fan favorite car ads from Super Bowl XLIX

Super Bowl XLIX is in the books, and the New England Patriots emerged victorious. Of course, if you're like us, the big game wasn't so much about the battle between the east coast and west, so much as a fight between the world's automotive advertisers. We collected and collated all of last night's new ads and put them together for you to vote on. And yes, we're limiting this year's contest to last night's new features. That's why you aren't seeing Dodge's epic Wisdom among our collection of commercials, and it's a similar story with Chevrolet's Truck Guy Focus Group series, which highlights the new Colorado. You can still vote for your favorites. We won't be closing the voting on our Super Bowl page, so while the winners and losers are correct as of this writing, it's entirely possible that there could be some changes in the rankings as time goes on. So, without any further ado, here are the winning ads based on your voting. Nissan: With Dad Fiat: Ready For Action Jeep: Beautiful Lands BMW: Newfangled Idea Mercedes-Benz: Fable NASCAR: America Start Your Engines As for those ads that failed to impact you, loyal readers, Toyota was the absolute, undisputed loser. The Japanese brand ran four ads in total – two for Toyota and two for Lexus – and all of them have negative tallies as of this writing. Lexus' Make Some Noise and Lets Play and Toyota's One Bold Choice and My Bold Dad both had very weak showings among the commercials that aired, although they weren't alone. Neither Mazda nor Kia scored particularly well, despite featuring celebrity magic act Penn and Teller and former James Bond, Pierce Brosnan, respectively. Chevrolet was the winner of the losers, as of our writing, recording the fewest downvotes for its audience-punking The Big Game ad. If you want to take a second look at the losing ads, you can head back to our Super Bowl page for the complete collection. But for now, head into Comments and let us know what you think of the results.