1985 Bmw 635csi Coupe (euro) on 2040-cars

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Recharge Wrap-up: Cezeta electric scooter, BMW's new Efficient Dynamics engines

The revived Czech motor scooter company Cezeta has revealed its retro-styled electric scooter. The Cezeta 506, which borrows its looks from the brand's scooters from the 1950s and 1960s, uses an 11-kW (about 15 hp) electric motor to propel itself and its rider to speeds of up to 68 miles per hour, making it suitable for highway use. A smartphone app allows the owner to reprogram top speed and acceleration, find charging stations, and take advantage of the bike's built-in Bluetooth speakers. See the video above, read more at Technologic Vehicles, or learn more at the Cezeta website. BMW has unveiled its newest Efficient Dynamics engines. In three- and four-cylinder, gasoline- and diesel-burning versions, the new modular powerplants share architecture and componentry. Featuring an aluminum crankcase and displacing about 0.5 liters per cylinder, the new engines are also aided by BMW's TwinPower turbocharging technology. Both the gasoline and diesel variants offer a savings of about five percent in fuel and emissions while improving performance. Learn more, including the many technical details, at Green Car Congress. Tesla is set to open its largest Supercharger stations to date, at 20 stalls apiece. In anticipation of a growing demand for charging infrastructure with the launch of the Model 3, Tesla will open one of the 20-stall stations in its hometown of Fremont, California, with the other opening in Nebbenes, Norway, not far from the EV-loving country's capital of Oslo. It's not clear when the Fremont location will open, but the Norwegian station should be up and running in August. Read more at Electrek. A new study confirms that automotive aluminum is recycled at a rate of 91 percent. According to research from the Worcester Polytechnic Institute's (WPI) Center for Resource Recovery and Recycling (funded, we should note, by the Aluminum Association), provides evidence of aluminum's sustainability in the manufacturing process. "With an eye toward reducing the nation's energy consumption, lowering carbon emissions, and increasing fuel economy," says Professor Diran Apelian of WPI's Metal Processing Institute, "this study confirms that as aluminum use continues to grow in the automotive sector it also enhances energy security and environmental protections." Read more in the press release below.

Toyota launches BMW-powered Verso in Europe

BMW makes some sweet-revving engines, but its own vehicles aren't the only ones running BMW engines. So do the latest from Rolls-Royce and Mini, of course, as well as a handful of Peugeots and Citroëns thanks to its joint engine program with PSA. Wiesmann uses BMW engines, as did the famous McLaren F1. And now we can add one more to the list.
That would be the Toyota Verso, a Corolla-based minivan which Toyota builds in Turkey and sells in Europe and a few other markets overseas. The Verso is also now officially the first beneficiary of the partnership between Toyota and BMW as the Japanese automaker has released the MPV with BMW's 1.6-liter turbodiesel four.
The 111-horsepower engine is coupled to a Toyota transmission and joins the Verso range as the fourth (and least powerful) engine in the lineup, alongside the 122hp 2.0 diesel and the gasoline options with 1.6 liters and 160 hp and 1.8 for 180. Future collaborations between the two automakers will include fuel-cell development, a new joint sportscar platform, lightweight bodywork research and a new generation of lithium-air batteries. See the press release below for further details.

BMW puts a sheep in wolf's clothing with 2 Series Active Tourer M Sport

BMW is charting new territory with the 2 Series. No, not the two-door model - that's just the kind of rear-drive coupe for which the brand is known. But the Active Tourer (which only shares its series designation with the coupe) is a front-drive tall hatchback/MPV category buster, and that's not exactly what comes to mind when you think of Bimmers. As such, the 2 Series Active Tourer is bound to turn off some of the brand's faithful, but this latest M Sport kit could at least ease the pain somewhat.
The sport package for the Active Tourer packs all the usual suspects: a more aggressive aero kit, retuned suspension, blacked-out grille, 17- or 18-inch alloys and an interior with sports seats trimmed in blue-stitched Alcantara. Top all that off with an Estoril Blue paint job and you've got a compact family hauler that might look the part, and maybe handle a bit tighter, yet it naturally stops short of the full M treatment (or even an M Performance spec like you'd find in the M235i coupe). All of which is probably just as well, because that might be the only thing BMW purists would object to more than the existence of a front-drive BMW MPV in the first place.