Hyundai's Sonata Hybrid
Hyundai released the details on their 2013 Sonata Hybrid and it’s a step up from the 2012 model. The rumors were that the company was taking a look at all of the technology in the 2012 model with an eye towards taking its efficiency to the next level. And it appears they did.
The 2013 model sports a larger starter/generator package and a larger 47 kW lithium-ion battery. Along with its accompanying electronics and other components, the 2013 Sonata hybrid is rated at 36 mpg city and 40 mpg highway. This is a full 2 mpg higher that the 2012 model.
Surprisingly enough, the new battery pack actually weighs less than the pack in the older Sonata Hybrids, taking up less room in the trunk. Engineers shaved 4.6 pounds from the pack and the vehicle's cargo area now boasts 12.1 cubic feet of space compared to the 10.7 cubes in the outgoing model.
Even with all the changes, Sport Durst Hyundai (in NC) the Sonata Hybrid now carries a base MSRP of $25,650. That's $200 less than last year, and now buyers can option up to the Sonata Hybrid Limited at $30,550.
The 2013 model sports a larger starter/generator package and a larger 47 kW lithium-ion battery. Along with its accompanying electronics and other components, the 2013 Sonata hybrid is rated at 36 mpg city and 40 mpg highway. This is a full 2 mpg higher that the 2012 model.
Surprisingly enough, the new battery pack actually weighs less than the pack in the older Sonata Hybrids, taking up less room in the trunk. Engineers shaved 4.6 pounds from the pack and the vehicle's cargo area now boasts 12.1 cubic feet of space compared to the 10.7 cubes in the outgoing model.
Even with all the changes, Sport Durst Hyundai (in NC) the Sonata Hybrid now carries a base MSRP of $25,650. That's $200 less than last year, and now buyers can option up to the Sonata Hybrid Limited at $30,550.
Behold...A Hybrid Pickup
Fact; most pickup truck buyers need their trucks for one primary purpose –to carry and move stuff. That being said, General Motors had a hunch that there would be a market for a line of pickups trucks that had hybrid technology incorporated, not just brute force. From this intuition was borne the Chevrolet Silverado Hybrid.
It should serve as no surprise that the Silverado Hybrid shares the same hybrid technology as the GMC Yukon and Chevrolet Tahoe. All three are built on the same drivetrain technology platform, in particular, a 6.0 litre, 332 HP V8 gasoline engine with a 300 volt nickel-metal hydride battery package and a two-mode EVT (Electronically Variable Transmisson).
The two-wheel drive (2WD) version of the Chevrolet Silverado Hybrid trumpets good stats for a full-size pickup. It can tow up to 6,100 pounds and the bed can haul a little more than 1,400 pounds and still deliver 20 mpg city/23 highway. The hybrid version is only available in a four-door “crew cab” body style (see photo) with a short pickup box. And, as they told us at Klick Lewis in PA, let’s be honest, 23 mpg may still seem terribly inferior to your average Toyota Prius economy but try hauling a load of bricks to a job site in a Prius hybrid!
Photos Courtesy of http://renewablegossip.com
It should serve as no surprise that the Silverado Hybrid shares the same hybrid technology as the GMC Yukon and Chevrolet Tahoe. All three are built on the same drivetrain technology platform, in particular, a 6.0 litre, 332 HP V8 gasoline engine with a 300 volt nickel-metal hydride battery package and a two-mode EVT (Electronically Variable Transmisson).
The two-wheel drive (2WD) version of the Chevrolet Silverado Hybrid trumpets good stats for a full-size pickup. It can tow up to 6,100 pounds and the bed can haul a little more than 1,400 pounds and still deliver 20 mpg city/23 highway. The hybrid version is only available in a four-door “crew cab” body style (see photo) with a short pickup box. And, as they told us at Klick Lewis in PA, let’s be honest, 23 mpg may still seem terribly inferior to your average Toyota Prius economy but try hauling a load of bricks to a job site in a Prius hybrid!
Photos Courtesy of http://renewablegossip.com
The BMW Hybrid - Thrifty and fast
Many people don't know that BMW makes a hybrid automobile and its quite a sportster. A Hybrid vehicle is a sportster? Yes, because the engineers at BMW have found a way to power the car on both the 6 cyl gas engine and the electric motors that the hybrid contains. You've got to check this out. If you live in the Baltimore Area, the Folks at BMW of Rockville invite you to stop by an test drive one of their BMW Hybrid cars. You will be surprised by the performance and handling of these great automobiles.
Think SEO
Car dealers know that customers can be drawn into their businesses via different media. In the old days, the big three were TV, Radio and Newspapers. Today, those 3 media are still relevant but an increasing amount of traffic comes from the internet. In fact, some dealers say the majority of new customers are driven by internet advertising.
However, many dealers fail to recognize that being on the internet is quite different from being easily found on the internet. Today just about every merchant is on the web now and this certainly applies to car dealers. And, frankly, many of the car dealers are chasing the same customers because they (the car dealers) are close geographically.
The way to achieve visibility on the internet is to rank high in search engine results. In other words, when someone types in what they are looking for, you want your listing to appear first (or at least, second or third). This is important because most people click on the first listing. In fact, according to the folks at CF Search Marketing, an automotive PPC and SEO firm in Portsmouth, NH , the first listing on a Google SERP page garners 36.4% of the total clicks. The second listing gets only 12.5% and the numbers cascade down from there.
So, the question many on-line businesses want to know is: how do you do this? How does one get their web pages SEOed? Well, some smaller merchants may find it possible to perform modest SEO tasks by themselves with guidance from books or on-line sources. For larger firms, however, this is inadvisable. The reason is simply that significant sales and profits will be lost. Potential customers won’t find your website and guess where they will go? To your competition. Furthermore, this may mean more than just one lost sale. It could be that your competition gains a loyal customer that sticks with them for further needs.
However, many dealers fail to recognize that being on the internet is quite different from being easily found on the internet. Today just about every merchant is on the web now and this certainly applies to car dealers. And, frankly, many of the car dealers are chasing the same customers because they (the car dealers) are close geographically.
The way to achieve visibility on the internet is to rank high in search engine results. In other words, when someone types in what they are looking for, you want your listing to appear first (or at least, second or third). This is important because most people click on the first listing. In fact, according to the folks at CF Search Marketing, an automotive PPC and SEO firm in Portsmouth, NH , the first listing on a Google SERP page garners 36.4% of the total clicks. The second listing gets only 12.5% and the numbers cascade down from there.
So, the question many on-line businesses want to know is: how do you do this? How does one get their web pages SEOed? Well, some smaller merchants may find it possible to perform modest SEO tasks by themselves with guidance from books or on-line sources. For larger firms, however, this is inadvisable. The reason is simply that significant sales and profits will be lost. Potential customers won’t find your website and guess where they will go? To your competition. Furthermore, this may mean more than just one lost sale. It could be that your competition gains a loyal customer that sticks with them for further needs.
You are invited
If you live in the southern Florida region, the Folks at Arrigo Palm Beach invite you to stop by an test drive any of their fine Dodge, Chrysler, Jeep and Ram vehicles!
Pedestrian Safety Technology
For decades engineers have concentrated on devices and methods to protect the safety of automobile occupants. Recently, though, an emphasis has been put on making cars safer for pedestrians. Every year some 4000 people are killed by car collisions. This has led many European countries to create regulations to guide carmakers in pedestrian safety design. This directly impacts the exterior styling of a vehicle but properly executed, can make a car “safer” in the event of a pedestrian collision.
For example, many cars now come with lower front ends, which may make them look faster, but also helps if a pedestrian is hit. If struck, a pedestrian is pushed up onto the car instead of smashed into it. Since a pedestrian struck by a vehicle is lifted up onto the hood, designers and engineers have created ways to lesson a person's impact on the hood. In particular, they've looked at ways to cushion a blow to the head upon impact with the car.
Other less noticeable design elements include the removal of hood ornaments, which could snag or cut pedestrians; side mirrors that fold in toward the door, and even door handles that are more flush with the car's sheet metal.
Obviously, it's a difficult task to create a 4,000-pound vehicle that doesn't injure or kill a person if it hits him or her at speed. However, just a few simple changes to the exterior styling of a car could save a person’s life if a collision occurs.
Source: Techsplanations
The Most Famous V8 Engine
Chevrolet was not the first American manufacturer to build a V8 engine, that distinction goes to Cadillac (in 1914), but Chevrolet certainly has built the most famous one. Today some 110 million V8 engines of varying cu. in. displacement have been built by Chevrolet.
The story of the Chevrolet V8 goes back to the early 1950s. 1953 was the year that Chevrolet introduced the Corvette sportscar with a reworked version of their inline 6 cylinder engine. In 1955, Chevrolet introduced their 265 cu. in. displacement V8 engine because many drivers expressed the interest in more power. After the 283 came the 327 and soon thereafter the 350. When fuel economy concerns finally caught up with the industry in the 1970s, less powerful engines such as the 307 evolved. Today, Williamson GMC, your Miami, FL GMC connection tells us that the fifth generation of the Chevrolet V8 is being designed and it’s a thrifty engine too.
What to do with those "Expired" EV Batteries
Electric Vehicle batteries have life spans just like other automotive parts but they can live on in other applications. Consider the batteries in EVs. Pablo Valencia, GM senior manager of battery lifecycle management explains: "In many cases, when an EV battery has reached the end of its life in an automotive application, only 30 percent or less of its life has been used. This leaves a tremendous amount of life that can be applied to other applications like powering a structure before the battery is recycled.”
Accordingly the remaining life left in the batteries used by the Chevrolet Volt can be used in some very creative ways. Take powering your house for example. In a special demonstration, GM and ABB, a GM power consulting partner, demonstrated how three “used” Volt batteries can be used to provide backup power for consumer home use. Built into a special modular unit, the three Volt batteries provided 25kW of power enough to power several homes for 2 hours. With a reduction in power usage, this unit could provide emergency power for many days.
GM is dedicated to waste reduction throughout its operations, and its worldwide manufacturing facilities combined recycle 90 percent of the waste they generate. Ensuring that batteries are part of reducing the environmental impact of its vehicles and operations is part of the company’s roadmap to sustainability.
Source: General Motors Technology Center
Here Come Self-Driving Cars!
Perhaps you have followed the autonomous vehicles that Google has been demonstrating as of late. Well, they aren't alone; in the past six months just about every major automaker has announced some type of autonomous or semi-autonomous vehicle project.
So the issue isn't whether technology can deliver self-driving cars. It can and automakers are very close to having real working examples. The questions instead are when they will be ready for market and, more importantly, when the market might be ready for them.
In addition to some complex questions about insurance and liability involved in cars that drive themselves, there's the issue of whether car buyers, will accept the possibility that their car will drive itself. Frankly, what's the problem that self-driving cars would solve for consumers? Perhaps it is just as simple as the photograph suggests. So one can read and multitask on the commute into work.
There is also this fact: self-driving cars could lead to substantial decreases in automobile accident rates. The Census Bureau counted 5.5 million auto accidents in 2009, the last year for which national data is available. But cars that take human driver error out of the equation could result in a faster rate of decline, and would undoubtedly save thousands of lives per year.
Source: Edmunds