SolarBullet Campaign shoots for high-speed solar train
Filed under: EV/Plug-in, Solar, Transportation Alternatives, USA
There’s no doubt that solar energy is one of the greenest sources of electricity and the idea of using it to power transportation is not new. We’ve seen solar-powered boats and solar-powered cars before, among other things, but we didn’t know until now that a solar-powered high-speed train was on anyone’s drawing board. Apparently, it is.
Conceived as a means of zero-carbon high-speed mass transit, the Solar Bullet would travel between Tucson and Phoenix, AZ at 220 miles per hour, cutting travel times from two and a half hours (in traffic) to just 30 minutes. Taking advantage of the high amount of solar irradiance in the American Southwest, the tracks would be covered by a huge solar array to provide it with the necessary power. The SolarBullet Campaign aims to increase awareness and support among Arizonians and build a team of university experts, engineers and transit specialists to move this project further down the line. Feel free to hit them up on Facebook or follow their Twitter feed to offer your own encouragement and keep track of the initiative.
[Source: SolarBullet Campaign]
SolarBullet Campaign shoots for high-speed solar train originally appeared on Autoblog Green on Sun, 07 Mar 2010 18:11:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Another GM Shakeup – Nesbitt Out as Cadillac General Manager
General Motors will announce another major executive shakeup in Detroit Tuesday, and it looks like former designer Bryan Nesbitt will be relieved of his duties as Cadillac general manager. Nesbitt got the job following GM’s bankruptcy last year when the company slimmed down its design staff. Unlike general managers at Chevrolet and Buick-GMC, Nesbitt’s duties were not tied directly to sales. Former Chevy general manager Ed Peper has been serving as Cadillac’s sales general manager for the past half year.
The shakeup has major implications for Bob Lutz’s future at GM. He hired Nesbitt away from Chrysler earlier last decade and made sure there was a place for the PT Cruiser designer at post-bankruptcy GM. Nesbitt’s departure would indicate Lutz’s role as one of three GM vice chairmen has diminished to almost nothing.
Automotive News reported Monday that GM North America President Mark Reuss, the new lead car guy at the company, would be taking charge of sales duties, with division sales managers reporting directly to him. Susan Docherty remains in charge of marketing, but she reports to Reuss, anyway. If the Automotive News story seems confusing, it’s because it didn’t get all the pieces together. The management changes about to be announced are likely to reach far beyond Nesbitt’s departure. However, unless Lutz announces another retirement, Nesbitt’s will be the most prominent name raised in the shakeup.
Clearly, Reuss is putting his own team together, and it doesn’t include Nesbitt, who was posed as the aesthetic face of the Cadillac luxury division.
While most of the automotive world is at the Geneva motor show, GM has moved up its monthly sales conference call from 2 p.m. Detroit time to 10 a.m. GM will announce management changes some time after the sales call.
Photo Gallery: 2010 Aston Martin Rapide
The 2010 Aston Martin Rapide is one of those cars – the more you see, the more you like, which is why you can now enjoy over 40 high-resolution photos of the new sports car. Priced from of £139,950 in the UK, $199,950 in the U.S, Aston Martin’s first ever series-production sports saloon features a hand-built 6.0 litre V12 engine delivering 477bhp at 6,000 rpm and 600Nm or 443 lb-ft of peak torque at 5,000 rpm. Power is sent to the rear wheels through a 6 speed Touchtronic 2 automatic transmission with Aston announcing a 0-60 mph time of 5.1 seconds and a top speed of 188 mph.
The car are being built at Aston Martin’s factory in Graz, Austria. Each car will take around 220 hours to create. First deliveries start next month.
Video: Standing water + train = car wash!
Filed under: Etc., Videos, Humor, South America
Luckily, no one on the overpass appears to be driving a convertible – Click above to watch the video after the jump
What happens when you combine a flooded underpass, a traffic-jammed overpass, and a passenger train in Buenos Aires, Argentina? You get a real-life Six Flags water attraction. Those people standing near the train tracks? They need towels. Hope everyone up on the road above had their windows closed. Follow the jump to watch.
[Source: YouTube]
Continue reading Video: Standing water + train = car wash!
Video: Standing water + train = car wash! originally appeared on Autoblog on Sat, 06 Mar 2010 22:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Video: Chip Foose gets agricultural, hot rods a John Deere 4020
Chip Foose-customized John Deere 4020 tractor – Click above to watch “making of” videos after the jump
While Chip Foose’s bread and butter is rodding, building and customizing cars – often models that have distinct and fervent followings, like Camaros and Mustangs – it would appear that he’s more than happy to tackle projects outside that comfort zone as well. Foose has just completed a special project for John Deere (a brand whose followers are as dedicated as any Ford or Chevy might have), and the result is going to be given away.
The tractor you see above spent decades as a workhorse like any other John Deere 4020 (a trendsetting model manufactured from 1963 to ’72), before it underwent transformation in Foose’s shop. Frankly, we think it’s beautiful. Now, Lord knows we wouldn’t know what to do with it if we were to win it, but we’re enamored enough that we actually Googled to see where our local Deere dealer is, so that we might actually enter the sweepstakes. (You can do so through June 30, 2010. The drawing takes place a month later.) Follow the jump for a series of making-of videos.
[Source: MachineFinder.com, John Deere]
Continue reading Video: Chip Foose gets agricultural, hot rods a John Deere 4020
Toyota rebuts Professor Gilbert, reports nothing found wrong with remedied vehicles
Filed under: Recalls, Toyota
During the first round of Congressional hearings last month, Toyota was blindsided by one Professor David Gilbert who was added to the witness list at the last minute to talk about an experiment in which he induced sudden unintended acceleration (SUA) in a late model Toyota Avalon. His test was reproduced in a shoddy ABC News report with Brian Ross behind the wheel and referenced often in the Congressional hearings by politicians trying to understand the complicated method by which Gilbert got the Avalon to take off running.
Well, Toyota and its independent consulting firm Exponent (they’re funded by Toyota but produce results reportedly not influenced by their client) have studied Gilbert’s experiment and been able to reproduce the results themselves. In Toyota’s words:
The analysis of Professor’s Gilbert’s demonstration establishes that he has reengineered and rewired the signals from the accelerator pedal. This rewired circuit is highly unlikely to occur naturally and can only be contrived in a laboratory. There is no evidence to suggest that this highly unlikely scenario has ever occurred in the real world. As shown in the Exponent and Toyota evaluations, with such artificial modifications, similar results can be obtained in other vehicles.
Likewise, a small portion of owners with vehicles that have already received the fix for Toyota’s sticky pedal recall have complained to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration that the fix didn’t work. These owners have reportedly experienced SUA after having their vehicles fixed. Toyota has moved quickly to evaluate these complaints and submit its results to NHTSA. Again, Toyota in its own words:
Read more…
Tata Indigo Manza: Price in Mumbai
Price of Tata Indigo Manza in Mumbai
All prices (indicative) ex-showroom as of Feb 2010, prices may vary
Tata Indigo Manza Saffire Petrol
Tata Indigo Manza (Safire) Aqua - Rs 4,96,944/-
Tata Indigo Manza (Safire) Aura - Rs 5,31,942/-
Tata Indigo Manza (Safire) Aura ABS - Rs 5,56,698/-
Tata Indigo Manza (Safire) Aura+ - Rs 6,06,774/-
Tata Indigo Manza Quadrajet Diesel
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