1990 Gmc R2500 Suburban, 4wd, 4" Lift, Custom Roof Rack on 2040-cars

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Recharge Wrap-up: BYD unveils 60-ft electric bus, Honda sticking with hybrids in Europe

BYD has debuted a 60-foot electric bus at the American Public Transportation Association Expo in Houston, TX. The Lancaster bus, as it is called, has a 120-passenger capacity and can drive over 170 miles on a single charge. The articulated bus features low floors and no steps, thanks to in-wheel hub motors. BYD also displayed a 40-foot electric bus that drove the 1,500 miles to the show under its own power (recharging along the way, of course). Read more in the press release below. Honda says it will continue to sell hybrids in Europe, despite the fact that it has stopped selling the CR-Z and Insight due to slow sales. "Our focus at the moment is on our 1.6-liter diesel but we haven't forgotten about hybrid technology," says Honda Europe's Philip Ross. Honda will sell the next-generation Fit (badged as the Jazz) in Europe when it launches next summer, and will sell the next-gen hybrid version beginning in 2016. Honda sold 4,500 of the Jazz hybrid in Europe last year. Read more at Automotive News. XL Hybrids is selling its XL3 Hybrid Electric Drive System in California. The news comes after the California Air Resources Board issued an executive order allowing the aftermarket hybrid conversion for 2012-2014 Chevrolet Express and GMC Savana vans. The XL3 Hybrid regenerative braking conversion increases real-world mpg by about 25 percent. Read more in the press release below. NRG eVgo has finished installing 60 charging stations at the Sony Pictures Entertainment studio lot and offices in Culver City, California. The Level 2 chargers, which will be managed by NRG eVgo, allow employees to charge their EVs during the workday. An average of 90 EVs and PHEVs park at the studio headquarters every day, thanks in part to Sony Pictures' Alternative Vehicles Incentive program for its employees. Learn more in the press release below. Pennsylvania's Public Utility Commission will allow operators of EV charging stations to set prices based on kilowatt hour usage. This change ensures that drivers pay for the actual energy they use, rather than the time they spend charging, since different cars can charge at different speeds. Car Charging Group has already begun using the per-kWh fee structure at its charging stations throughout the state. Other states that allow kWh pricing are California, Colorado, Florida, Hawaii, Illinois, Maryland, Minnesota, New York, Oregon, Virginia and Washington. Read more in the press release below.

2017 GMC Acadia First Drive

We're in the midst of the Second Great CUV War, and the crossovers are winning by a lot. Compact sedans are being hauled around the side of idled factories and unceremoniously shot. FCA, whose be-sweatered CEO is either omnipotent or a troll of the highest order, is organizing a last stand around profit-dense SUVs and trucks on the off chance that gas prices don't rise ever again. It's the tall wagon's finest hour, and GMC is hoping the new Acadia will capture a share of the glory. The old Lambda-platform Acadia was introduced in 2007, leading the full-size, three-row crossover charge that spawned a quartet of semi-indistinct variants, including a Saturn. (Remember Saturn?) These four were truck-like in heft and capabilities, but lighter and better-mannered than their body-on-frame counterparts – and with an unusually stout 5,000-pound towing capacity. The Lambda siblings bombarded established beachheads on the sales territories occupied by minivans and truck-based SUVs. Last year, GMC moved nearly 100,000 Acadias in the US, the best year ever for the model. Now GMC shows up with a deflated Acadia for 2017, 7.2 inches shorter overall, 3.5 inches narrower, and with a 6.4-inch-shorter wheelbase. The company has even carved something like 700 pounds out of its previously portly unibody, mostly due to the size reduction but also through an increase in the percentage of high-strength steel and the use of lighter soundproofing materials. GM's C1XX platform was launched with the Cadillac XT5 earlier this year, and this GMC version is the second to appear. There's even an available four-banger, but more on that in a bit. What remains to be seen is whether the downsized Acadia represents a leaner, meaner fighter or if GMC is sending it into battle hamstrung. Outside, the new Acadia is stealthily innocuous. Gone is some of the lozenge-ness of the outgoing Acadia, but don't fret about it standing out from the crowd. The overall styling falls into lockstep with the Sierra and Canyon. The cut of the rear window, with an upsweep at the trailing edge, emulates the brand's mid-sized truck offering. A chrome mustache cuts across the front fascia below the grille, and there's more brightwork around the front side windows and at the crease below the scallop in the doors. The taillights are more contemporary than before, with an attractive elongated C element comprised of LEDs.

GM shows off 'digital vehicle platform' enabling more in-car tech and OTA updates

It appears to have dropped the sobriquet "Global B," but General Motors' new electrical architecture has bowed in drawings and video. This is the "digital vehicle platform" GM president Mark Reuss spoke to Reuters about in 2015, saying it would move a great deal of a vehicle's computer work to the cloud and enable over-the-air updates. Reuss took the microphone for the debut, too, saying, "Our new digital vehicle platform and its eventual successors will underpin all our future innovations across a wide range of technological advancements, including EVs and expanded automated driving." The system will go into production later this year, appearing in dealerships first either on the 2020 Cadillac CT5 or the mid-engined 2020 Chevrolet Corvette. Yes, these are the same electronics cited for delaying the launch of the C8 Corvette over excessive draw, security and getting the more-than-100 computer modules to communicate seamlessly. When Car and Driver asked about that, GM replied with "No comment." Volkswagen's having the same issues with the Mk8 Golf right now, though, so GM isn't alone, and this will be the new normal among OEMs for a while. What's certifiable is that the new architecture is robust enough to handle 4.5 terabytes of data per hour, which is five times what GM's current wiring can handle. And thanks to Ethernet connections of 100 Mbps, 1 Gbs and 10 Gbs, communication within and without the vehicle happens much faster. The advances mean better screen resolutions, better battery management for hybrids and electric vehicles, the capability for over-the-air updates and "functionality upgrades throughout the lifespan of the vehicle." Cadillac's Super Cruise has already been lined up as a leading candidate for constant improvements in the driving assistance suite, a key part of GM's "vision for a world with zero crashes, zero emissions and zero congestion." And whenever GM decides to take the plunge, it will mean a 48-volt electrical system. More than 300 specialists worked on the digital platform, and security was a huge part of the task. We've already heard that GM consulted with Boeing and military contractors on how to prevent hacking. The carmaker has an internal Product Cybersecurity group that reached out to the research community, and created a "bug bounty" program to crowdsource uncovering any flaws.