Auto blog

Recharge Wrap-up: Tesla charging times compared, VW's 70s hybrid tech

A video shows the difference in Tesla Model S charging speeds with different chargers. The video compares the 60- and 80-kWh versions of the car using a Tesla Supercharger, a CHAdeMo fast charger and Tesla's High Power Wall Connector (HPWC). With the Supercharger, both models charge from to 80 percent in 44 minutes. It's over an hour and a quarter for both cars with the CHAdeMo, but they're about neck and neck in terms of time. The HPWC takes the longest, with the 60-kWh car finishing long before the 85-kWh version. See the video above, and read more at Teslarati. Volkswagen had prototype hybrid technology back in the 1970s. A book called The Complete Book of Electric Vehicles by Sheldon Shacket describes the technology used in Volkswagen's Hybrid-Electric City Taxi prototype, which was based on the Type II microbus. It used the automaker's 1.6-liter air-cooled flat-four (borrowed from the Beetle) along with a Bosch DC shunt electric motor and 11 lead-acid batteries. Interestingly, the hybrid taxi prototype also featured an electric sliding door and a bulletproof bulkhead separating the driver from the passengers. Read more at Jalopnik, and at Green Car Reports. Country music star Lee Brice is going on tour fueled by biodiesel. Partnering with nonprofit environmental organization Reverb, Brice is using the biofuel to travel to college campuses. "We're hoping to offset the environmental impact of the tour by supporting clean energy projects and using buses and trucks fueled with locally produced biodiesel," says Brice, who is personally focused on natural preservation and water conservation. Read more at Domestic Fuel, or at The Boot. Related Gallery Tesla Model S: Quick Spin View 33 Photos News Source: Teslarati, Jalopnik, Green Car Reports, Domestic Fuel, The BootImage Credit: Copyright 2015 Drew Phillips / AOL Celebrities Green Tesla Volkswagen Alternative Fuels Biodiesel Electric Hybrid Videos recharge wrapup

2013 Volkswagen Beetle Turbo Convertible

Less Flower, More Power
Pardon our political incorrectness for a moment, but the Volkswagen New Beetle was, undeniably, a "chick car." There was almost nothing that the New Beetle offered to enthusiasts (of either gender), and by the end of its run, VW had even stripped all of the exciting engines from the car's lineup. Looking to resurrect some of the excitement behind the Beetle, the third generation of the iconic car ditched the cuteness when the coupe debuted for 2012, and now the 2013 Volkswagen Beetle Convertible aims to show how much fun drivers can have without a top.
Celebrating almost six and a half decades of the Beetle convertible, Volkswagen is offering a trio of distinct special editions that celebrate three of the car's most popular decades (the '50s, '60s and '70s), but as one of the unofficial cars of the 1960s, it would almost be a crime not to test this version, right? Besides, this is also the only special edition to get the turbocharged engine. While our first drive of the 2013 Beetle Convertible was in the fuel-miser TDI variation, our two-week romp in the 2013 Beetle Convertible '60s Edition came just as peak convertible weather was kicking off down in Florida.

Did Lexus make a BMW? Or did BMW make a Lexus? This and other 2017 surprises

It's that time of year again. The calendar is about to reach its end, Star Trek Cats 2018 is about to take its place, and I'm reflecting about all the cars that graced my driveway this year or summoned me to exotic places. You know, like Stuttgart or Phoenix. In 2017, I drove at least 57, and as I perused the list of them, I started to notice a common refrain: "This car surprised me." Most were pleasant surprises, but there were a few head scratchers and facepalms for good measure. In both cases, it was generally the result of car companies seemingly trying to break out of an existing mold. Nowhere was that more apparent than the pair of Lexuses slathered in Infrared paint: The LS 500 that left me this week and the LC 500 that was my favorite car of 2017. Though Lexus has been trying to shake its crusty, gold-packaged reputation for some time now, its efforts always seemed like an old man choosing Hollister to redo his wardrobe after realizing it hasn't been updated since 1987. I fell in love with the LC, genuinely floored by its near-perfect take on the GT. It's characterful in sound, appearance and tactility. It was at home in the city, in the mountain and on the open road. It was both comfortable and thrilling, and after driving the mechanically related LS 500, I can report that the LC's talents aren't an outlier. The LS 500's turbo V6 may make different noises than the LC's naturally aspirated V8, but it nevertheless invigorates the cabin when the car is placed in Sport+ mode. The steering is truly communicative, body motions are kept in miraculous check, and I absolutely forgot I was in an enormous luxury limo ... and a Lexus one at that. It was everything that the BMW 530e was not. I drove that on the exact same roads and was utterly bored the entire time. Generally doughy, lifeless steering, more distant than Planet 9. And no, the plug-in hybrid powertrain had nothing to do with that. At least it shouldn't. The Porsche Panamera S e-Hybrid I also drove this year proves that, as do the Hyundai Ioniqs, which are surprisingly adept and fun little cars regardless of what powers their wheels (Hyundai + hybrid = fun really blew me away). I would drive that Lexus LS F Sport over the BMW 5 Series any day of the week, which seems like a shocking thing to say in relation to either car. While Lexus is seemingly breaking out of its old crusty mold, BMW seems to be climbing into one.