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Recharge Wrap-up: Child Tesla driver hits baby in Chinese mall, Ram adds new CNG offering

A five-year-old child in a China shopping mall started a Tesla Model S at a display and hit a baby in a stroller. The baby fell out of the stroller and was unhurt, according to the report. A reporter from a local newspaper arrived at the scene to find the other Model S on display still powered on, this one with another child in the driver's seat. The cars had wooden blocks under the brake pedals and stickers warning the public not to touch the touchscreen. Police have opened an investigation into the incident. Read more and see all the photos at Car News China. Ram will add a new compressed natural gas pickup truck to its lineup. The new offering, which is smaller and less expensive than the current CNG pickup (pictured), will be available as a regular cab two-door with two-wheel drive and a long bed. Ram has sold 1,000 of the current 2500 CNG four-door 4x4 offering since going on sale in 2012. Ram believes the new offering will expand sales to fleet operators looking for a less-expensive truck. Read more at Automotive News. New methods of harvesting energy are being explored for automobiles. By now we're all familiar with regenerative braking, but thermoelectric harvesting from the motor, range extender or possibly even the exhaust could come to cars soon. Energy harvesting shock absorbers and exhaust turbines are also viable. Wind turbines could generate electricity while the car is parked, and piezoelectric energy harvesting could run minor electrical systems while the car is in motion. Enough energy harvesting could allow cars to use much smaller engines, and could extend the range of electric vehicles. Read more at Energy Harvesting Journal.

Tesla Model S Easter egg turns car into submarine

When thinking about Elon Musk, the first thing that comes to mind may not be his sense of humor. However, the Tesla boss is embedding a pretty funny Easter egg in the company's cars that references a part of his own collection. Musk famously purchased the Lotus Esprit submarine from the James Bond film The Spy Who Loved Me for about $967,000 in 2013. At one point, he even intended to install a Tesla powertrain and make it fully transformable. From anyone else that plan would sound like pure fantasy, but Musk has the money and the means to make it happen, if he wants. Now, every Tesla Model S driver gets to share in just a little of that very cool ownership experience. A person on YouTube filmed how to access the Easter egg, and it's extremely easy. Just hold down the T on the infotainment screen for a few seconds, enter the appropriate code 007 and check the suspension settings page. Instead of seeing a Model S, Bond's submersible Esprit now appears. As another cool touch, users can set the vehicle's depth in leagues, and the options max out at 20,000. This is almost certainly a subtle reference to the classic story 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. Maybe someday Musk can get the Lotus' conversion complete, and we can see it working for real. Until then, this a neat way to show the unique car off. Related Video:

Buick tops in Consumer Reports' annual brand rankings

Buick is the first US-based automotive brand to crack the top 10 in Consumer Reports magazine's annual brand report cards. US automakers also placed three vehicles on the magazine's list of "top picks" for vehicles, the first time that's happened in 17 years. The rankings were unveiled Tuesday in the magazine's annual auto issue. Buick placed seventh in the brand rankings. But the brand rankings and top picks still were dominated by Japanese and German manufacturers, with Lexus, Mazda, Toyota, Audi and Subaru taking the top five brand spots. The magazine calculates each brand's overall score with a composite of its vehicles' road-test scores and reliability scores for each model in its annual survey of subscribers. It's the third year for the brand rankings. Porsche placed just ahead of Buick at number six, while Honda, Kia and BMW rounded out the top 10 brands. Mercedes-Benz, Acura and Infiniti all suffered precipitous declines in their rankings due to unreliable new models or poor road test scores. Mercedes fell out of the top 10 to 21st, while Acura dropped from number two to 11 with an unimpressive test of the new RLX sedan, the magazine said. In the model rankings, the top overall finisher was California-based Tesla's Model S electric car, for the second year in a row. The Model S, which cost the magazine $89,650, finished first due to its performance and technical innovations, the magazine said. Buick's Regal midsize car beat the BMW 328i as the top sports sedan, and the Chevrolet Impala was named the top large car. The model rankings show Consumer Reports' favorite among the 270 vehicles its team has recently tested. The rankings are closely watched in the auto industry, since shoppers consistently cite Consumer Reports as a main source of car-buying advice. Other top picks included the Subaru Impreza in the compact car category, Subaru Legacy in midsize cars, Toyota Prius as the best green car, Audi A6 luxury car, Subaru Forester small SUV, Toyota Highlander midsize SUV and the Honda Odyssey minivan. Japanese vehicles won six of 10 top pick categories, but that was the smallest number in the 19-year history of Consumer Reports top picks. "For years domestic automakers built lower-priced and lower-quality alternatives to imports, but those days are behind us," said Jake Fisher, the magazine's director of automotive testing. But other U.S.-based automakers still had problems.

Top horsepower-per-dollar cars in 2017

Bang for the buck. That quasi-scientific statistic is bandied about by motor heads everywhere from classrooms to barrooms, though the truth of the matter is that it's exceedingly complex to measure. A fair performance-per-dollar index would include something like cross-referencing MSRP (Manufacturers Suggested Retail Price) with point-to-point times on a track or driving route, which is obviously hard to do comprehensively. But, for the sheer joy of talking about cars and playing with a big spreadsheet, there's always the horsepower-per-dollar index, which is more straightforward, albeit hilariously flawed. There are vagaries even with this simple formula, of course: MSRP for vehicles can change at a moment's notice, to say nothing of the bottom-line shifting that happens with local deals or showroom negotiation. For this list we're running with the straight MSRP wherever possible, and as recently reported as we can get it. All the vehicles on this list are 2017 models, and all trims are reported where the lowest price and differing power levels intersect. Some choices were made for personal preference and some for sanity, avoiding things like all 48 trim levels of the Ford Transit, all with the same horsepower). If this list were a simple top ten, or even a top fifty, you'd be bored to tears with all the red, white and blue that is represented. Following perfectly with conventional wisdom, American cars really do lead the world where hp/$ is concerned. So, for the sake of variety (and the sheer joy of seeing a minivan 'win' one round of this thing) I've sorted out some top five and bottom five lists for broad power categories. Let's dive in. Less Than 100 Horsepower Okay, okay, this is hardly a category we'll grant you. But we've often tried to click off all the sub-100-hp cars on sale in the US, and making this list gave us an excuse. It also illustrates that none of these smallish vehicles bring cheap horsepower to the table - for that you'll need a motorcycle. The segment-leading Chevy Spark (above) asks just over $139 for each hp, and that Smart Fortwo Electric Drive has hp on sale for about the same price as its very distant family cousin, the Mercedes-Benz SL65 AMG (insert your favorite Smart joke here... we know you want to).

Recharge Wrap-up: Kia Soul EV wins MotorWeek award, Virgin Hotels offering Tesla Model S rides

The Kia Soul EV has been awarded a MotorWeek's Drivers' Choice Award. Winning the honor for Best Eco-Friendly Vehicle, "The Kia Soul EV is the perfect EV," according to MotorWeek host and executive producer John Davis. "It has more power and range compared to other affordable all-electric vehicles. Plus, its funky style makes driving the Kia Soul EV really cool." The Soul EV has a driving range of about 93 miles on a single charge, and offers an interior roomy and comfortable enough to earn MotorWeek's praise. Read more in the press release below. Virgin Hotels will provide its Chicago guests car services in the Tesla Model S. Guests can get rides to and from the hotel in a red, dual-motor Model S P85D. Virgin Hotels offers the EV services as part of its sustainability program. "Tesla is the hottest electric car on the road right now, and we're elated to provide our hotel guests with this chic house-car service while also helping to reduce our carbon footprint," says Virgin Hotels vice president of sales and marketing Doug Carrillo. "For Virgin Hotels it's important to provide services our guests desire but do so with the environment in mind whenever possible." Hyundai has announced the first lease of its Tucson Fuel Cell in Canada. Hyundai chose the Vancouver couple, Jennifer Ma and Clayton Crawley, as the first buyers in part because they live near both a dealership and a fueling station, the latter of which sources its hydrogen from a chemical company that produces the gas as a byproduct. Crawley, whose children love the beach, says, "Getting there while reducing our environmental impact will be awesome." Read more at Automotive News. The Federal Transit Administration (FTA) is providing $30 million in grant money for Proterra electric buses. Six transit agencies will buy 28 of the EV buses for a variety of projects. Proterra CEO Ryan Popple calls the funding a "tremendous validation for the company." In total, the FTA is handing out $55 million in grant money for the deployment of American-made electric buses. Four other agencies will receive buses from BAE Systems and New Flyer as part of the program. Read more at Charged EVs. Kia Soul EV Wins 2015 MotorWeek Drivers' Choice Award Kia's First All-Electric Vehicle Wins Best Eco-Friendly Honor - Soul EV praised for funky style, power, range and roomy interior - MotorWeek's annual list of winners serves as a buying guide for the show's nationwide audience CHICAGO, Feb.

Watch a young Elon Musk take delivery of his McLaren F1

Years before Elon Musk was launching rockets into space or trying to revolutionize the auto business with Tesla, he was just another Silicon Valley geek, albeit already a very successful one. This vintage video catches Musk in 1999 celebrating some of that triumph, as he takes delivery of none other than a McLaren F1. As the million-dollar supercar is lowered from the transporter Musk intones, "It is the moment of my life." We also get a snapshot of an interesting time in Musk's life. According to the clip, he had already sold the company Zip2 for $400 million in cash and had started at the online banking business X. After a merger, it eventually became PayPal, and the entrepreneur later walked away from the website with another massive check. Watch this brief moment of happiness as Musk takes delivery of the McLaren, because by the end of the video, his focus already seemed to have turned to his next business venture. News Source: EveryElonMusk Video via YouTube, Car and Driver Auto News Green McLaren Tesla Car Buying Green Culture Coupe Performance Supercars Videos paypal

Recharge Wrap-up: Tesla battery degradation graphed, Hyundai plans fuel cell hub in Korea

A man has created a graph of Tesla Model S battery degradation over time. Merijn Coumans of Holland is tracking the owner data gathered on from Model S owners in a single file and graphing it visually. Coumans continually updates the graph of drivers' maximum ranges to give a look at battery degradation over the life of the car. Coumans tracks mileage and even number of visits to Superchargers in his data. Tesla provides an eight-year battery guarantee regardless of mileage. Read more at the Steinbuch blog. US plug-in vehicle sales are expected to surpass 300,000 when the data is tallied at the end of this month. That is 30 percent of President Obama's goal of 1 million battery electric cars and plug-in hybrids by the end of 2015. Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz admitted the US won't reach the goal, saying, "We're going to be a few years after the president's aspirational goal of the end of 2015, but I think that we are within a few years of reaching that goal." Green car analyst Alan Baum projects the 1 million EV milestone will be met in 2018. Read more at Hybrid Cars. Hyundai and the South Korean government plan to create a hub for fuel cell technologies. Hyundai and Kia will give up unused patents to automotive startups focused on fuel cells at a recently launched innovation center in Gwangju. "Hyundai Motor will offer substantial assistance in the whole process of corporate growth ranging from the development of ideas to industrialization to making inroads into global markets," says South Korea's President Park Geun-hye. Hyundai hopes this will make the city a center for hydrogen technology. Read more at Just Auto. Mayor Boris Johnson has approved a cycling superhighway for the city of London. Set to be built along the Thames embankment, the system of cycling lanes could help encourage more people to ride their bikes, reducing automotive traffic congestion and relieving pressure on other transit networks. Opponents are upset that the cycling highway will increase driving time across the city, and call cyclists a "loud minority," whose numbers doesn't justify the new lanes. Read more at Treehugger. Kansas and Nebraska are joining the challenge against the EPA's new ethanol emissions rules. The EPA's Moves2014 regulations seek to reduce automotive sulfur emissions by 60 percent, but, says Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt, the ethanol emissions measurement model is faulty and was adopted without public comment or review.

Recharge Wrap-up: BMW tests AdBlue pumps, Drivr is a Tesla taxi service

BMW is testing AdBlue pumps in Germany. AdBlue fluid is used to remove NOx from diesel exhaust, and it is stored in its own tank within the vehicle. Filling AdBlue is easy enough for drivers to do it themselves, and with the proliferation of diesel vehicles in Europe, a pump filling system could make more sense than using the current hand-held containers. BMW is testing AdBlue pumps at three fueling stations in Munich and Berlin to help develop further AdBlue dispenser technology. Read more at Green Car Congress. Drivr Green Personal Transportation is a Tesla taxi service in Cincinnati. Two former employees of Tesla Motors founded the startup, which bills itself alongside ride-hailing services like Uber and Lyft. Customers book a ride online, and are picked up by a Tesla Model S. The ride costs $2.50 per mile with a $15 minimum. Drivr currently operates three cars with seven drivers, with plans to lease another 10 Teslas and employ up to 30 drivers. The service will also be expanding to Denver soon, according to the website. Learn more at the Drivr website, or read more at Clean Technica. Ford is opening a research and development facility in Silicon Valley. The Ford Research & Innovation Center, which will be located less than three miles from Tesla Motors headquarters in Palo Alto, California, is expected to be one of the automotive industry's largest R&D facilities. "We're driving to be both a product and a mobility company, and ultimately to change the way the world moves," says Ford CEO Mark Fields. Read more at Automotive News. Law firms advising Fisker Automotive have been denied a $2.50-million fee enhancement in the car company's bankruptcy. Brown Rudnick LLP and Saul Ewing LLP were denied the extra fees, as a Delaware bankruptcy judge ruled there is "no evidence" that the firms provided anything more than what they originally expected. In denying the fee enhancement, the judge cited a "very high bar" for such awards. Read more at Law360. Featured Gallery BMW Tests AdBlue Pumps in Germany Related Gallery Tesla Factory News Source: Green Car Congress, BMW, Clean Technica, Drivr, Automotive News Green BMW Fisker Ford Tesla Transportation Alternatives Diesel Vehicles Electric recharge wrapup

Tesla Model S P85D shows 707-hp Dodge Challenger Hellcat how to drag race

Street Car Drags hosted a bang-up event at the Palm Beach International Raceway last weekend, with a list of massive horsepower ICE cars going up against one another and a trio of Tesla Model S P85Ds. One of those duels pitted the 691-horsepower Tesla against a 707-horsepower Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat, and the result was an old-school beatdown and a world record for electric cars. The Model S P85D ran the quarter in 11.6 seconds at 114.6 miles per hour, the new mark for BEVs at the drag strip. Proving its pace, it ran three more times in 11.69, 11.72 and 11.76 seconds. It got from the start line to 60 miles per hour in 3.1 seconds. The Hellcat, well, it wasn't a race, really. It was the Hellcat's driver's first time at a drag strip and his first time trying to launch it, so after an excellent burnout ahead of the lights, he rolled to the line, almost jumped the start, balked at the real start and spun his tires for the first 100 feet down the strip. The theory is that he overheated his street tires during that burnout, and the resulting greasy rubber did what greasy rubber does. By the time he got to the other end 17.46 seconds later the Tesla driver had showered and was enjoying a funnel cake. When things go right, though, Dodge estimates the Hellcat will do 11.2-second runs on street tires and it has been clocked at 10.85 seconds at 126.18 mph on street-legal drag radials. There's video of the not-quite-a-race above, and Drag Times says there'll be a rematch between the two in a couple of weeks. News Source: Street Car Drags via YouTube Green Motorsports Dodge Tesla Coupe Electric Luxury Performance Videos Sedan drag racing dodge challenger srt hellcat

Recharge Wrap-up: Tesla Gigafactory gets high-tech neighbors, BMW i8 still comes with a long wait

Switch plans to build a large data center near the site of Tesla's Gigafactory battery production facility in Reno, Nevada. The 3 million square-foot facility in the Tahoe-Reno Industrial Center will cost $1 billion to build, and eBay is expected to be the main tenant when the first portion is finished in 2016. Apple is also building a data center nearby. One draw for companies like Switch, Apple and Tesla is access to the region's clean power, and the Reno area could become the next big center for high-tech manufacturing. Read more at GigaOm. Daniel Sparks of investing website The Motley Fool has shared his insights after living with the Tesla Model S for four months and 10,000 miles. After driving his 85-kW version through various conditions, including a 2,200-mile road trip, Sparks is optimistic about the car and the company behind it. From his experience, he says that charging is easier than most people believe, and that range anxiety isn't a problem. He calls Tesla's growing Supercharger network a "game changer," citing their quickness, availability and the fact that charging is free for life. He also says that most people seem to know very little about the car. Still, he calls Tesla stock "pricey" with the growth already priced into the shares. Read more at USA Today. The wait for a BMW i8 is about a year, despite efforts to ramp up production. BMW is reducing production of the i3 in order to increase the number of i8s by more than 50 percent for 2015, but the bigger batch won't become available in the US until October. Ludwig Willisch, CEO of BMW North America, says that he doesn't expect cheap gas to slow sales of the i3. He also denies rumors of an i9 positioned above the i8. The new 7 Series appears to be taking some cues from the i8, though, with carbon fiber, magnesium and aluminum construction, as well as improved connectivity. Read more at Automotive News.