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Filed under: Hybrid, Chrysler, Dodge

Click the Aspen Hybrid for a high-res gallery

This summer, Chrysler hits the market with the 2-Mode hybrid Dodge Durango and Chrysler Aspen. Chrysler and former owner Daimler partnered with General Motors and BMW back in 2006 to help bring the 2-Mode hybrid system to light-duty vehicles. The setup was originally developed for use in buses by Allison transmission when it was a part of GM.

The 2-Mode transmission made its passenger vehicle debut last year in the Chevy Tahoe and GMC Yukon. Built by General Motors at its Baltimore, MD transmission plant, the GM and Chrysler systems have identical internals, but there are some packaging differences where the units mate up to the two manufacturers’ engines and transfer cases. We attended Chrysler’s New England launch event for the hybrid Aspen and Durango. Read on to see our initial driving impressions.

Photos Copyright (C)2008 Sam Abuelsamid / Weblogs, Inc.

Continue reading ABG First Drive: 2009 Chrysler Aspen/Dodge Durango 2-Mode hybrids

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Original post by Sam Abuelsamid

First, let’s get the hard data out of the way: Exxon’s $11.68 billion of profit last quarter was the highest ever recorded by any company, topping it’s own previous record from the last quarter of ‘07. For those who like to keep track of such things, that is nearly $90,000 a minute; $1,500 every second. That’s a lot of dough, for sure, but it is actually not as high as some investors were expecting, causing a bit of a sell-off this morning following the earnings announcement. It seems that some are worried that it is costing the oil giant too much money to find new reserves, though Exxon has been fighting that problem by asking Congress for subsidies to help.

In related news, pretty much all other oil companies also posted record numbers, including Royal Dutch Shell and British Petroleum. Expect all of these companies to continue spending more to find additional oil reserves in a bid to maintain this profit growth for as long as possible.

[Source: The New York Times]

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Original post by Jeremy Korzeniewski

Filed under: Green Culture, Lamborghini, Green Daily, Middle East

In a virtual slap to the face of eco-friendly drivers worldwide, a wealthy Sheikh went to the trouble of shipping his oddly-hued Lamborghini from Qatar to London and back… for an oil change. That is 3,250 miles each way, or about the total distance likely traveled between oil changes in the first place. It’s bad enough that the Lambo LP640 is a high carbon-emitter in the first place, but this act truly shows utter disregard for the environment. The shipping companies seemed to agree, with an airport worker saying, “This car doesn’t have a carbon footprint - more of a crater.” A London-Heathrow cargo handler added, “It would have been far more efficient to fly mechanics out there.”

It could be that these things happen more often than the public knows, as David Price of Lamborghini Club UK says: “If an owner wants to service his car in that way, it is his choice. I’m not surprised. Thankfully the age of excess in some areas continues.” Lamborghini UK spokeswoman Juliet Jarvis says, “This sort of thing is not unheard of.” Perhaps that’s true, but it certainly should be unheard of. Coming from Qatar, the wealth which made this purchase possible, along with the ridiculous $46,644 USD is cost to ship, likely comes from oil in the first place, making this story truly come full circle.

[Source: The Sun]

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Original post by Jeremy Korzeniewski

Filed under: EV/Plug-in, Lotus, Zap

The Malaysian government has given the green light to national car maker Proton to begin “in-depth validation and testing” of electric cars. The announcement came after the Cabinet Committee on Inflation received a briefing on the role e-cars can have in reducing the consumption of petrol and diesel. Prime minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, who seemed to be completely behind the idea, expressed hope that commercialization of the project could begin in a years time. As part of the announcement, the politician went for a ride in an electric Lotus Elise converted and supplied by Dutch company, Electric Cars Europe (ECE). Interestingly, Detroit Electric was named, along with PRO Dis-T, as one of the companies that Proton would be working with to “fine-tune” the car. In a somewhat convoluted web of alliances, Detroit Electric is a joint venture between Chinese firm, Youngman Automotive Group and ZAP! which is headed by Albert Lam, formerly of Lotus, which is owned by Proton. Youngman currently rebadges the Proton GEN2 as the Europestar RCR for the Chinese market. Also, Electric Cars Europe, as we recently informed you, has plans to bring ZAP/Detroit Electric vehicles, including the famous Alias, to the European market. It wasn’t stated which model Proton would be initially using for the project but the ECE website shows the Savvy (pictured above) as one of the models it has targeted for production in 2009. We await further announcements to make the room stop spinning.

[Source: The New Straits Times / PaulTan.org]

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Original post by Domenick Yoney

Filed under: EV/Plug-in, Green Culture, Hybrid, Legislation and Policy, Green Daily, USA

According to James Ray, Acting Administrator of the Federal Highway Administration, the current system of deriving money for the upkeep of the nations roadways is “unpredictable and unsustainable.” He adds, “Without a doubt, our federal approach to transportation is broken, and no amount of tweaking, adjusting or adding new layers on top will make things better.” This view is understandable in the wake of record high gas prices, which are causing consumers to drive less and therefore produce less revenue from the gas tax. Ray has some suggestions to alleviate some of the problem, including paying a fee based on mileage driven, an increase in alternative transportation methods and incentives to drive during off-peak hours.

Hybrids, electric cars and other fuel-saving technology will further cause a dent in the FHA’s pocketbook. In any case, Ray does not plan to increase the gas tax. In fact, the gas tax could be dropped completely in favor of a completely new system, one “more agile and responsive than the current gas tax.” We’ll keep our ears to the ground.

[Source: The Detroit News / Photo: splorp - Licensed under CC 2.0]

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Original post by Jeremy Korzeniewski

From Notags: Travelling from Lebanon, MO back to Annapolis,MD via I-44, we stopped for gas in Doolittle, MO. I spotted this vehicle touting the “Good Cookin’”. I shouted to the wife… I need some pix of that truck over there. Boy did I ever get a look. I then has to explain the “El Camino” obsession at Jalponik.com.

Original post by Murilee Martin

It’s rather hilarious to me that the extent of a fake German accent is adding zees and speaking without using contractions. Having known many Germans, we can safely say that this strategy isn’t necessarily a bad one. Stereotypes of our teutonic allies tend to fit into one of three seemingly contradictory roles: the portly sweetmonger, the precise and serious German (see Sportwagen of Sorrow), or the happy-go-lucky gay Berliner. Certainly one can’t be any two of those three things at once, so it makes us wonder where the 2010 Porsche Panamera-driving Germans fit into the mold. That’s where Boosted Lego Wagon decided to help.

Those pop-collared Germans aren’t wearing sunglasses, those are goggles.

And they are doing nothing.

Ahhh… pumped-up Austrian characters from The Simpsons. Got it.

Original post by Matt Hardigree

Welcome to Project Car Hell, where you choose your eternity by selecting the project that’s the coolest… and the most hellish! We had what may be our all-time closest vote yesterday, with the 4×4 Econoline beating the lowrider Econoline 202 votes to 200. Today we’re going racing! We’ve had Arse-Freeze-A-Pa-Looza LeMons PCH and the LeMons San Francisco PCH, and now tradition dictates that we have a LeMons South Edition PCH. Just in time for teams still hoping to make the deadline for the Yeehaw It’s Texas LeMons event!

With Mazda RX-7s taking the first two places at LeMons South (not to mention three of the top ten at the Arse-Freeze-A-Pa-Looza), you’ve got to figure you’re looking at one of the all-time great budget race cars. Light, simple, and powered by a wailing rotary that’s sure to give your competitors a migraine by the time the race is over… and you can get ‘em for peanut shells! Say, this ‘85 RX-7 with an asking price of only $200. Two hundred bucks! Don’t worry about that “not running” part, because the Wankel is such a simple engine- how hard can it be? You might even be able to sell off sufficient parts to come out ahead in the deal, leaving more money in your budget for beer and pornography safety equipment. Don’t listen to the self-proclaimed experts who tell you that the RX-7’s aluminum control arms make it too fragile to be out on a track with a bunch of big Detroit bullies, because you’ll win for sure with yours!

Maybe you should listen to those experts who think the RX-7’s inability to brush off impacts make it too much of a gamble at the 24 Hours of LeMons. Sure, the Mazdas finished first and second, but they got lucky! What you need is two tons of Detroit iron and a big ol’ V8 to torque your way to victory. The Punisher Racing Caprice finished just four laps behind the winner, thanks to LT1 power and cop suspension… and you still have time to put together your own Caprice for the Texas race. Howzabout this ‘91 Caprice, with an asking price of $750? With five-buck gas looming, we’re pretty sure you can negotiate the seller’s price down, then sell some parts to get down below the 500 dollar limit. It runs fine (though you might want to be sure it has the LT1 and not the 305) and it only has 85,000 miles on the clock. There’s some body damage, caused by a “commercial shoot driven by precision drivers” (that’s reassuring, because you can’t trust body damage caused by an ordinary driver on the way to the Stop-N-Rob), which is why it’s so cheap. Throw some fat tires on it, maybe chop the springs, and you’ll be the terror of Houston!

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Original post by Murilee Martin

The MSNBC Bridge Tracker is a nifty interactive mapping tool that allows you to input an origin and destination, then see all the bridges along your chosen route, along with their engineering inspection reports. While some states have more elaborate data available than others, the system contains information on more than 100,000 spans in the United States. Oh, and did we say nifty? Yeah, we meant scary.

On a whim, we plugged in one staffer’s old commute, pre-Jalop. An 11-mile stretch of interstate contained 28 bridges, of which two-thirds were either “structurally deficient” or “functionally obsolete.” Two even contained the alarming description, “meets minimum tolerable requirements to stay in place as-is,” which sort of sounds like it’s being held up by rust and willpower. Granted, it IS metro Detroit, but have a look at your own route and report your findings. [MSNBC]

Original post by Andrew Stoy

Filed under: MPG, Porsche

From track to road and back to track again. That is the path for gasoline direct fuel injection. In the late 90s Audi added direct injection to its R8 Le Mans prototype in order to get more power while consuming less fuel. In racing reducing fuel consumption is important because it allows cars to run farther between pit stops spending more time on the track. Direct injection eventually migrated into most of Audi’s production engines along with those from parent company Volkswagen. After adding direct injection to the Cayenne GTS and 2009 911, Porsche is now migrating that same technology back to its own race program. The Porsche RS Spyders debuted a new direct injected version of the 3.4L V8 two weeks ago at Mid-Ohio and won the LMP2 class. The output of the DI engine went from 476 hp to 503 hp while fuel consumption dropped. Porsche is not saying how much it went down, but they are evidently still developing the system and optimizing it. For example the engines now run extremely lean under light loads greatly reducing consumption in a manner that would not be possible with a port fuel injection system. In coming years we will be seeing virtually all gas engines migrating to direct injection.

[Source: Porsche]

Continue reading Porsche ALMS race engine to go direct injection

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Original post by Sam Abuelsamid