General Motors and RelayRides, a peer-to-peer car-sharing service that allows private car owners to rent their vehicles, announced a partnership and possible investment this week. Under an exclusive two-year agreement, RelayRides users will be able to unlock G.M. vehicles that are registered with the car-sharing service and subscribed to OnStar, the automaker’s communication service, with a mobile phone app. In this post for The New York Times Wheels blog, I explain the deal and why some people see the growing amount of computing power in cars as a “natural fit” for car sharing. Read the full story here.
Category Archives: Auto
Trading Oil for Natural Gas in the Truck Lane
Why would a company buy thousands of trucks and vans fresh off the assembly line and install a bulky and expensive new fuel system? As I report in my latest piece for National Geographic, it comes down to the bottom line.
In a time when natural gas is relatively cheap, but manufacturers build mostly gasoline and diesel models, companies like AT&T and Verizon have calculated it’s worth the expense to convert some gasoline vehicles to burn compressed natural gas. Read the full article here.
Posted in Auto, Energy, Transportation
Tagged AT&T, Fuel, Fuel Costs, Natural Gas, Trucking, Verizon
Reimagining Auto Retail for Electric Cars
For independent electric car companies, it’s so long, automobile row. Some electric vehicle manufacturers have jettisoned the old model of franchise auto dealerships in an effort to change not only how we drive, but also how we buy cars. Continue reading
Tesla Prepares for a Gap as Roadster Winds Down
Tesla Motors has spent eight years building a new kind of car company — one with Silicon Valley roots that makes slick electric vehicles and takes its retail cues from Apple rather than from traditional dealerships. As I wrote in this article for The New York Times, Tesla is now undergoing a makeover as it tries to evolve from a niche maker of expensive sports cars that has never turned a profit into a money-making provider of electric cars for the masses and a technology supplier to bigger automakers. Continue reading
Posted in Auto
Tagged Electric cars, Elon Musk, Lotus, New York Times, Tesla Motors
Tesla Sues ‘Top Gear’ Over Show About the Roadster
Tesla Motors, the electric vehicle manufacturer based in Silicon Valley, filed a lawsuit this week in Britain against the BBC’s popular “Top Gear” television program.
Suing for libel and malicious falsehood, Tesla took issue with a December 2008 episode that depicted problems with the brakes, cooling system and limited range of its Roadster sports car. I asked industry analysts and one of London’s leading experts in media litigation and libel cases about likely outcomes for the lawsuit. As one expert commented, the lawsuit stands to “call attention to certain details” that for Tesla might be better forgotten. Continue reading
Posted in Auto
Tagged BBC Top Gear, Electric cars, Litigation, New York Times, NYT Wheels, Tesla Motors
A Hunt for the Ideal Internal Combustion Engine
LiquidPiston, a company that got its start as a father-son team in a business plan competition at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, aims to build a smaller, quieter and more fuel-efficient internal combustion engine than the ones currently being used in cars. By remixing elements of established engine cycles, LiquidPiston claims it can deliver 20-50 percent greater efficiency compared to a typical diesel engine. LiquidPiston is one company among a raft of VC-backed startups working to make the internal combustion engine more efficient, often with a business plan that involves licensing technology rather than manufacturing engines, and it’s the subject of a profile I’ve written for Earth2Tech.
Wanted: Fair Costs for Electric Car Home Charger Installations
As a new generation of plug-in vehicles rolls off the assembly line, a new cadre of consumers has entered the market for home charging equipment. Federal and state incentives are designed to help offset installation costs, which can range from hundreds to thousands of dollars. But some customers and electric vehicle advocates worry that the very programs meant to help lower costs for charger installations in practice have set the stage for price gouging. This post for PluginCars.com explains options for home charging equipment and the real cost of free chargers.
China’s Move Toward Greener Transit
How can more than a billion people travel to and fro, around and through some of the world’s most populous and fastest growing cities—without creating epic traffic jams, tapping imported oil or exacerbating noxious air pollution? That’s the challenge facing China as it develops a transportation system for its increasingly urban, car-buying population. Continue reading
Posted in Auto, Policy, Transportation
Tagged China, Electric cars, High-Speed Rail, National Geographic, Smart Growth, Urban Planning
Is Magnesium the Key to Higher Fuel Economy?
U.S. Magnesium Superfund Site in Tooele County, Utah (credit: EPA)
Carbon fiber often occupies the limelight as a light weight material that could take some of the heft out of our cars, and thus improve fuel efficiency — if only it cost less. But alloys of magnesium, the lightest structural metal, have a history in automotive components tracing back to the 1930s. Now the U.S. government is hoping to jump-start innovative production of the material for use in cars. Continue reading
Tagged AOL Autos, Department of Energy, Fuel Economy, Magnesium, Materials
Why Can’t We Charge Our Electric Cars Wirelessly?
The concept of being able to charge up a depleted battery without a cord or plug in sight might seem futuristic. But more than a century after Nikola Tesla demonstrated wireless energy transfer, wireless charging systems are becoming a reality for devices ranging from electric toothbrushes and mobile phones to artificial hearts and LCD televisions. For electric cars, a new report forecasts that wireless power stations designed for home installation could dramatically speed up adoption of these vehicles, as I’ve explained in this post for the Translogic blog from AOL Autos.
Posted in Auto, Energy Storage
Tagged AOL Autos, Batteries, Electric cars, Wireless Charging, WiTricity
