2004 Mercedes-benz C230k on 2040-cars

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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.

This or That: Mercedes S-Class 350SD vs. 2003 Jaguar XJR [w/poll]

Budget. It's a wretched word, whether you're going out to eat, shipping for a new outfit or, more relevant to today's discussion, buying a car. Massive marketing machines have convinced us, as a population, to buy the best you can afford, repercussions be damned – If you've saved up some money, spend it! All of it, on whatever it is that currently sits atop your personal Amazon wishlist, be it a Timex that takes a lickin' and keeps on tickin', a $17,000 Gold Apple Watch or a $60,000 Rolex Cosmograph Daytona. But what if the best you can afford is... say, $12,815? For that price, you can buy a brand-new 2015 Nissan Versa (including destination), assuming you're happy with zero options and a manual transmission. For that price, you'll get standard air conditioning, a CD player and... well, a warranty. Pretty sensible choice, Captain Frugal. But also ridiculously uninspired. And so that brings us to today's edition of This or That, in which two Autoblog editors pick differing sides of an argument and duke it out to see which one of us can convince you, dear reader, is better. Or at least less wrong. You be the judge. As a refresher, I'm two-and-two on these challenges, having lost the first and second editions before storming back in rounds three and four. Today, as alluded to above, we decided to throw our collective brainpower (oh lord, what have we done?) at what may be the single most difficult question currently confounding the best minds our planet has to offer: What is the best used used luxury car you can buy for the price of a 2015 Nissan Versa? Shall we meet our contenders? Allow me to introduce you to the most perfect luxury car money can buy (assuming the amount of money you're holding is equal to the amount of the cheapest new car currently sold in America, the Nissan Versa). My pick is the 1991 Mercedes-Benz S-Class. Not just any S-Class, but the legendary W126, which was produced between 1979 and 1992. And not just any W126, either, but one powered by a 3.5-liter turbodiesel engine. And with that, I send the argument to my esteemed colleague, Associate Editor Chris Bruce. Bruce: Jeremy, we had over $12,000 to budget for this challenge, and the best you can manage is a 24-year-old diesel Mercedes? I love oil-burners as much as any other auto writer with their mountains of torque and huge cruising range, but you're making this too easy on me. Also, you're really choosing a brown, diesel, German luxury sedan?

2013 Airstream Interstate 3500 EXT

LA To The Grand Canyon In The Mercedes-Benz Of RVs
Piloting an 8,500-pound motorized house down the highway is far from my idea of fun, yet inexplicably, I'm enjoying myself. My grin has nothing to do with my camper's handling, as this heavily accoutered Mercedes-Benz Sprinter drives like a 25-foot long breadbox. My smile has nothing to do with on-road stability, as the ten-foot-tall, slab-sided vehicle reacts to wind gusts like the vertical stabilizer on a Boeing jet. My delight has nothing to do with its throttle or braking response, either, as both are as numb as your forehead after the eighth beer.
This monstrosity makes me happy for one reason - my passengers are undeniably having a good time.