2016 Smart Fortwo Passion Coupe on 2040-cars

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Recharge Wrap-up: Smart Silvretta E-Car Rally, Uber's autonomous Teslas

Daimler took part in the 2015 Silvretta E-Car Rally with seven electrified cars from Mercedes-Benz and Smart. It is the automakers' sixth year competing in the competition in the mountains of Austria's Montafon region. Mercedes fielded two B-Class Electric Drives, an SLS AMG Electric Drive, C350e, S500e and GLE500e 4Matic alongside a Smart Brabus Fortwo Electric Drive Cabriolet. The Silvretta Rally sees some 150 vintage cars and 30 electric vehicles take part in the event, which took place from July 2 through 5 this year. Read more in the press release from Daimler below. Uber CEO Travis Kalanick says that he'd want to buy all of Tesla's autonomous vehicles if they were available in 2020. Venture capitalist Steve Jurvetson relayed Kalanick's comments from the Top 10 Tech Trends dinner in June. Jurvetson also praises self-driving cars, saying, "I believe they are already safer than my parents, and I would trust my kids with them. And they're just going to get better." Jurvetson also believes that taxi services will prosper from the use of autonomous cars in the future. Read more at Hybrid Cars. A Michigan legislator has introduced a bill that would count burning industrial solids — such as tires and plastics — toward the state's renewable energy mandate. Aric Nesbitt's bill would "remove unnecessary burdens on the appropriate use of solid waste as a clean energy source" in order to meet the state's requirement that 10 percent of energy come from renewable sources. Critics argue that these materials are not truly renewable, and that burning them causes pollution and emits greenhouse gases. The proposed bill would also repeal a law requiring utilities to work toward reducing energy use by one percent per year. Read more at Treehugger. Will the cars National Electric Vehicle Sweden (NEVS) builds in China bear the Saab name? While NEVS is the newest parent company to Saab after being acquired in bankruptcy from Spyker, there's no confirmation that the electric vehicles it builds at its Tianjin plant will be sold as Saabs. Swedish defense firm Saab AB, which held the rights to the Saab name, withheld permission to use it after NEVS declared bankruptcy last year. "The exact models and brands are not finalized yet," says a NEVS spokesman. The company says it is spending $200 million to build the new factory in China, with an expected annual capacity of 200,000 vehicles. Read more at Automotive News Europe.

A big family with tiny cars

Allow me to introduce myself: I'm a car lover, I'm a big car fan. I also have a big family. How big? Imagine seven kids and six dogs. I also happen to own three Smart cars. Wait, WHAT? How do we transport the whole family? I got that covered with the help of a big Sprinter. Back to the beginning, I love cars, I'd drive hundreds of miles to attend a car show, I'd go twice to the same car show. Heck! I'd drive thousands of miles just to show off my brand new car (more of that in another post). I'd take road trips with one subject in mind: cars. Despite living in the middle of the country and living in the middle of nowhere, I'm fortunate enough to have seen some unbelievable cars, and guess what? I love sharing those stories online. I'm grateful for this opportunity to reach an enthusiastic audience of car lovers who hopefully will enjoy my work as much as I enjoy watching beautiful, powerful machines: cars.Related Video: Image Credit: Alfonso Rascon smart open road

3,300 miles in 6 days across 2 countries in a Smart ForTwo

The surprise was when I got the invitation to drive my brand new car to central Mexico. Did I mention that I live in Kansas? Some may wonder why did I get invited to drive my car to another country: smart USA started selling the updated car in September 2015. Smart Mexico as of this writing just started selling the new model. There was going to be a national gathering of smart cars in Mexico, hence the invitation from the smart club in that country to show off the new car. Once I got everything ready the journey began driving southbound, crossing half of Kansas, all of Oklahoma and Texas entirely. The first day I traveled from east central Kansas all the way down to Laredo, Texas. The next day I crossed the border at 5 in the morning. Crossing the south border into Mexico legally is more complicated than one might think: you need to go through customs to get a permit to temporarily import your vehicle, you need extra insurance to cover your car while in that country, proof of ownership of the car or permission from your lien holder, and finally, pay a deposit as a guarantee that you'll return the car to the USA. The process takes time and money but once everything is clear you are free to drive everywhere in Mexico. Now, driving in Mexico is a whole new experience: some people seem to like driving, let's say, briskly. Some people don't care much about the speed limit. What are you suppose to do? You need to blend in. And the highways! Ah, those obstacles courses never fail to amuse you. But not everything is bad though, there are some brand new turnpikes where is hard to pass the temptation of speeding. On my first day driving in Mexico I stopped in Monterrey where I met with another smart car driver and together we continued the 9 hour trek to the city of Queretaro. After 24 hours on the road I had arrived to the hosting city of the 2015 smart Club Mexico National gathering, and I had to erase those 24 hours worth of mosquitoes and other bugs glued to the car. A local car wash couldn't keep its promise of cleaning the vehicle in 15 minutes despite the size of the car. Once back at the event's site I got to feel what is like to be a rock star. Oh boy! Those stares, the thumbs up, the VIP treatment. It sure feels nice being the center of the universe, and all thanks to my smart car. On the first day of the event there was a parade, a rally around the city, a photo shooting and of course good food.