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Recharge Wrap-up: Mercedes B-Class Electric Drive is a rock star, FedEx tests electric trucks

The Mercedes-Benz B-Class Electric Drive is in a new music video for I Lived by OneRepublic. The band's singer, Ryan Tedder, has also been brought on as a brand ambassador for the German automaker. OneRepublic will also be performing the song at the Mercedes-Benz Media Night on the eve of the Paris Motor Show. No word if Mercedes plans to offer hordes of screaming teenage fans as an option package with the B-Class Electric Drive. See the video (the car shows up around the four-minute mark) or read more in the press release below. FedEx is testing converted electric delivery trucks with diesel range extenders. Looking to shrink its carbon footprint, the company has converted a handful of trucks as part of a pilot program. In addition to battery packs, each truck is equipped with diesel turbine generators (supplied by Ian Wright's company, Wrightspeed) to provide electricity when the battery is depleted. Because the diesel motors aren't powering the vehicle directly, they can continuously run at their most efficient speed, making the trucks about twice as efficient as those powered by traditional means. Read more at Wired. Ford's new aluminum-bodied F-150 will be 5 to 20 percent more efficient, the company says. The fuel economy gains depend on the particular version of the truck, but the biggest improvement will likely come from the 3.5-liter V6 and the 2.7-liter EcoBoost V-6. Automotive News predicts the F-150 SFE to be rated at 21 mpg city/28 highway/23 combined, which are identical figures to the Ram 1500 EcoDiesel. The result could be a noteworthy fuel economy battle between Ford and Ram trucks. Learn more at Automotive News. The US Department of Energy is providing $25 million in funding toward reducing the price of algal biofuels. The goal is to get the price of these renewable fuels below $5 per gasoline gallon equivalent (gge) by 2019, and less than $3 per gge by 2030. The money will fund projects to develop better algal cultures that produce biofuel and other useful bioproducts, and projects to boost biomass productivity. The DOE says it wants to help develop a "bioeconomy" that provides jobs, helps the environment and ensures energy security. Read more at Energy.gov. This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings.

Electric Hummer is official, and Tesla's got momentum | Autoblog Podcast #612

In this week's Autoblog Podcast, Editor-in-Chief Greg Migliore is joined by Senior Editor Alex Kierstein and Senior Editor, Green, John Beltz Snyder. They start things off with a discussion of the week's news: GMC is launching an electric Hummer truck with a Super Bowl ad, and Tesla was profitable in Q4, sending its stock soaring. Then they talk about what they've been driving, including a super badass Mercedes-Benz Sprinter, the Kia Telluride and their long-term Volvo S60 PHEV. There's no "Spend My Money" segment this week, so send in your questions for future podcast episodes. Autoblog Podcast #612 Get The Podcast iTunes – Subscribe to the Autoblog Podcast in iTunes RSS – Add the Autoblog Podcast feed to your RSS aggregator MP3 – Download the MP3 directly Rundown Hummer returns as electric GMC truck Further reading: Grappling with the dark side of EVs Tesla profitable for second straight quarter Cars we're driving: Mercedes-Benz Sprinter 3500XD Kia Telluride (whose safety tech won Autoblog's 2020 Technology of the Year Award) Long-term Volvo S60 T8 update Feedback Email – Podcast@Autoblog.com Review the show on iTunes Related Video: This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings.

Mercedes-Benz cut fleetwide emissions by 4.3 percent last year

Mercedes-Benz says it reduced its fleetwide vehicle emissions by 4.3 percent last year. Of course, the German automaker has another 29 percent to go to meet the European Commission's 2020 mandate. But who's counting? Mercedes' luxury and sports car bent has made it a relative laggard when it comes to increasing fleetwide fuel-efficiency, but the company did reduce emissions from 140 grams of CO2 per kilometer to 134 last year. The company's fleetwide fuel efficiency (calculated using the lenient European standard) was 5.4 liters per 100 kilometers, which equals about 44 miles per gallon and represents a 25-percent jump since 2007. Benz has come a long way from its gas-swilling V8 tanks of the 1970s. In fact, the company said its top performer, in the fuel-efficiency sense, was the diesel-powered B180 CDI BlueEfficiency Edition, which consumes 3.8 liters per 100 kilometers. That equals about 62 mpg (again, on the lenient scale). The company got some additional good press by revealing that Winfried Kretschmann, Minister-President of the German State of Baden-Wurttemberg, drives a Mercedes-Benz S300 BlueTEC Hybrid. Not exactly a Nissan Leaf, mind you, but it's a start, as is the company's efforts to bring its fleetwide emissions ever closer to the 95g CO2/km level that the EC is mandating by 2020. Take a look at Mercedes-Benz's press release below. Minister-President of the German State of Baden-Wurttemberg, Winfried Kretschmann (left), with Prof. Dr. Thomas Weber (right) and a Mercedes-Benz S-Class S 300 BlueTEC HYBRID Fleet fuel consumption for Mercedes-Benz Cars falls to 134 g CO2/km: Top efficiency figures in all vehicle classes Stuttgart, Apr 08, 2014 Benefit for the environment and customers: In almost all vehicle classes, Mercedes-Benz offers the most efficient vehicle in the competitive lineup. Moreover, in 2013 the company was able to reduce the fuel consumption and CO2 emissions[1] of the Mercedes-Benz Cars EU new vehicle fleet by a further six grams, to 134 g CO2/km. This means that in 2013, the average fleet consumption was 5.4 litres/100 km – a reduction by 24.7 percent since 2007. At present the company offers more than 50 models emitting less than 120 g CO2/km and 71 models emitting less than 130 g CO2/km. Customers can find vehicles in the Mercedes-Benz model range that consume considerably less fuel than competing models. "With our model initiative we want to be the leading premium manufacturer by 2020 again, says Prof.