Street charger tucks away for pedestrian access during the day

Urban Electric charging solutionElectric car charging infrastructure is good—until there's so much of it that it clutters the streets and starts impeding pedestrian access. That's why a British company called Urban Electric has designed pop up chargers that retract into the ground when they're not in use. In Britain, 50 percent of urban residents park on the street...

“Big Daddy” drag racer Don Garlits sets electric dragster record

Top-fuel winner Don On the 50th anniversary of mankind's first moon landing, last Saturday, another kind of new record hit the electric car community. Legendary drag-racer Don Garlits, who was setting racing records before the moon landing, set two new speed records in an electric dragster in the quarter mile, one for a time of 7.235 seconds, and the other for a trap...

Prototype Sumitomo tires recover energy as they roll

Sumitomo electricity-generating tire conceptThere's wind power, solar power, and—tire power. Sumitomo Rubber is developing a new tire that can restore energy to a car as it drives down the road. The energy recaptures static electricity generated when the tires deform and return to their original shape as they roll down the road. Recovering energy from a portion of tire rolling...

2020 Chevrolet Silverado diesel tops pickup truck mpg race

2020 Chevrolet Silverado 3500HDFuel economy in pickups matters. And General Motors just announced record-setting new EPA fuel economy ratings for its new 2020 Chevrolet Silverado light-duty pickup powered by its new 3.0-liter inline-6 turbodiesel. The 2020 Chevy Silverado 1500 diesel is rated at 23 mpg city, 33 highway, and 27 mpg combined for two-wheel drive models with the...

2020 Chevrolet Silverado diesel tops pickup truck mpg race

2020 Chevrolet Silverado 1500 dieselFuel economy matters in pickups. General Motors announced new EPA fuel economy ratings Thursday for its 2020 Chevrolet Silverado light-duty pickup powered by its new 3.0-liter inline-6 turbodiesel. The 2020 Chevy Silverado 1500 diesel will rate 23 mpg city, 33 highway for two-wheel drive models with a 10-speed automatic transmission, Chevy said...

Two-speed transmission for EVs could make a comeback.

Tesla Roadster Prototype for sale on eBayIt's been a long time since any production cars have used 2-speed automatic transmissions. With a new 2-speed transmission for electric cars, German supplier ZF Friedrichshafen is turning back the page on EV development. The clutchless 2-speed transmission Tesla attempted to use in the original Roadster found notoriety for the lengthy delay of...

Automakers rebuff EPA mpg rollbacks, cut side deal with California

TrafficSome of the largest automakers in the U.S. have banded together with California—to set an example for the EPA and its long-stalled emissions and fuel economy revamp. The agreement between Ford, Honda, Volkswagen, and BMW's U.S. division would raise fuel-economy standards by about 3.7 percent a year through 2026 to a final target of about 50...