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gas pedal becomes unresponsive.

This week Mark and Russell take on... Not sure if I can make it yet but here’s a good news item Hybrid f-150 http://www.cleanfleetreport.com/news-ford-f-150-hybrid-confirmed-ceo/ The auto loan debt crisis http://money.cnn.com/2016/03/15/investing/subprime-unpaid-auto-loans-oil-crash/index.htmlgas up fifty cents a gallon where I livehttps://www.google.com/?gws_rd=ssl#q=gas+prices+rise&tbs=qdr:wcredit where it’s duehttp://www.greencarreports.com/news/1102812_faraday-puts-up-75-million-bond-to-reassure-nevada-on-factory?fbfanpage&utm_content=buffer5bd95&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook.com&utm_campaign=buffer

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... and liked what they saw -

"Wall Street analysts have been touring Tesla’s massive factory in Fremont, Calif., and they're returning with the same conclusion: Elon Musk's electric-vehicle company is getting ready for something big. In a sign of this enthusiasm, Robert W. Baird & Co. upgraded its Tesla rating on Monday morning following a factory tour. "

Wall Street Tours the Tesla Factory—and Loves What It Sees - Bloomberg Business

Live stream reveal on March 23 at 9:10am Eastern.





Original post: Does anyone now what this could possibly be? Am I crazy for hoping it is a Prius coupe?! Could it be the Plug-in?

I guess Toyota continues to mock plug-in EV's. Reminds me of the Lexus they made out of cardboard.

Toyota Setsuna electric car concept: wood body, 28-mph speed

Tony My topic, per Andrew Bell: http://stalbert.ca/city-hall/news/news-releases/city-of-st.-albert-purchases-three-electric-buses russell Leaf owners need to upgrade and pay for it https://transportevolved.com/2016/02/29/telematics-system-in-2011-2015-nissan-leaf-electric-cars-will-need-3g-upgrade-before-next-year-and-you-may-have-to-pay-for-it/?utm_content=buffer2b5b2&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook.com&utm_campaign=buffer Tesla S P100D outed? http://www.autoblog.com/2016/03/07/tesla-model-s-p100d-hacker-twitter/ Still the wrong metric http://www.wired.com/2016/02/electric-car-revolution-now-scheduled-2022/?utm_content=buffer69cd5&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook.com&utm_campaign=buffer Mark First Chevy Volt travels 300,000+ miles http://www.hybridcars.com/chevy-volt-travels-300000th-mile/ www.voltstats.net

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In today's Boston Globe, (3/6/16), is an article about a car--a Prius, that ran down an embankment and ended up in Boston Harbor, which also contained a body, yesterday.

Rather than printing out the entire article here, I'm just enclosing the last part of it in which a witness was quoted:

"It really is a head-scratcher how that car got there, because there’s not much runway,” said Ciano, who lives in Dorchester and frequently jogs along the Harborwalk.

“You have this little loop that goes around the campus center here, where you could potentially get some speed if you wanted to, but it’s a Prius.”

This week the triumvirate of Tony Schaefer, Paul Guzyk and Russell Frost dive deep into... Feb 2016 Plugin Electric Sales http://insideevs.com/february-2016-plug-electric-vehicle-sales-report-card/ russell LA opens a little thing called the Expo line http://laist.com/2016/02/25/the_expo_line_will_open_in_santa_mo.php Our good friends at Faraday Future may be even worse off than we thought http://jalopnik.com/mysterious-faraday-future-bleeding-cash-blasted-by-for-1761636432?utm_content=buffer1792a&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook.com&utm_campaign=buffer Tony http://www.faradayfuture.com/news/2016-03-01-faraday-future-earns-first-us-patent.html#prclt-uorG7y1N More on VW http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/cars/2016/03/02/volkswagen-emissions-scandal/81214726/ new battery http://gas2.org/2016/03/01/oakridge-batteries-power-electric-truck-with-400-mile-range/ russell Honda says new Insight…wait for it…in 20 smart 18 http://wardsauto.com/technology/new-honda-ev-plug-due-2018...

Jeff Cobb's excellent source: February 2016 Dashboard

	Model	16_02	16_01	15_12	15_11
1	Prius Liftback	7169	6333	10153	8287
2	Ram Pickup Diesel	4153	3193	4531	3848
3	RAV4	2462	1973	1430	64
4	Prius c	2263	1763	2861	2601
5	Model S	1900	1300	3500*	3100
6	Fusion Hybrid	1764	1373	1960	1388
7	Camry Hybrid	1599	1256	1861	1964
8	Sonata	1588	964	1138	931
9	Volt	1126	996	2114	1980
10	Prius v (lowercase v for the Prius v wagon)	1112	1205	2040	1643
11	Fusion Energi	932	581	1058	944
12	Leaf	930	755	1347	1054
13	C-Max Hybrid	880	637	837	815
14	CT200h	762	622	1464	984
15	RX 400 / 450 h	752	790	1493	958
16	ES Hybrid	633	622	1443	833
17	Avalon Hybrid	590	583	933	798
18	MKZ	585	491	867	676
19	Model X	500	400	177	15
20	C-Max Energi	490	350	579	639
21	Colorado Diesel	403	108
22	Highlander Hybrid	396	375	516	318
23	Optima Hybrid	386	469	870	844
24	X5	345	181	607	167
25	Range Rover Sport	308	272	417
26	Grand Cherokee Diesel	308	263	420	341
27	Range Rover	301	366	387	283
28	XV Crosstrek...

And in a truck.
Mated to the V8 with 8 speed transmission of the Silverado, the system brings the EPA ratings up to that of the V6 model. 2mpg city and 1mpg highway doesn't look like much on paper, but it could be worth it to someone that actually needs the V8.

A feature to feature comparison can't be done yet, but it appears the eAssist adds just $700 to the steep price of the ICE model. A basic start/stop system runs in the $300 to $500 range as an option. Though just getting the V6 will save a little over $1000 compared to the plain V8.

2016 Chevrolet Silverado Mild Hybrid? | CleanMPG
"GMs latest eAssist iteration is more modular than the previous system, meaning it could be more easily used in FWD or RWD configurations."

Which could mean potential savings for the system if it gets installed in more vehicles, but only 700 of these Chevy and GMC trucks will be made for California this year.

CEO says Honda to focus on hybrids, electric cars - MarketWatch

Go Honda !!!

Additionally;
Honda CEO: Our Goal Is 2/3rds Of Total Sales To Be Electrified By 2030 (w/video)
Jeez . . . Here's to hoping Toyota will at least sell the gen II PIP nationwide - when it finally gets here.
.

From Green Car Congress
Looks like the battery pack will take away space from the trunk and possibly the rear seat area. 3 planetary gear sets, 5 clutches, and multiple cooling radiators will make it more complex than the Volt drivetrain.

Green Car Congress: GM’s new RWD PHEV system for Cadillac CT6 designed for fun-to-drive high performance as well as efficiency; Volt on steroids

Lot of news this week with Tony, Paul, Mark, Evan and Russell digging in. Paul my 2MT hack a leaf remotely http://jalopnik.com/how-the-nissan-leaf-can-be-hacked-via-web-browser-from-1761044716 Tony http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-02-24/another-oil-crash-is-coming-and-there-may-be-no-recovery Mark GM changes Power Train title to Propulsion Systems and states half its 8600 work force are now involved with alternate and EV propulsion. http://cleantechnica.com/2016/02/21/gm-stirs-fuel-cell-ev-pot-with-new-propulsion-systems-name/?utm_term=0_d002dfc067-ab4a17aab1-332052489&utm_content=buffer30eb4&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer Evan Tesla contacts Indiana owners to help fight GM anti-direct sales bill http://www.autoblog.com/2016/02/22/tesla-anti-store-gm-bill-indiana/ or http://electrek.co/2016/02/23/tesla-gm-direct-sales-indiana/ Russell Haptic gas pedal (thanks Patrick)...

Here's my 2015 data summary for hybrid/plug-in sales:

• Hybrids (eg; Prius) broke 30% of sales in CA for 2015 (wow)
• PHEV (eg; Volt) ran 64.5% of sales in CA for 2015 (wow - whadup widat?)
• BEV's (eg; Leaf) running 48.5% of sales in CA for 2015
• BEV/PHEV running about 47.5% in CA since 2011

The data are from ElectricDrive.org (US) and CNCDA.org (CA)

http://www.cncda.org/CMS/Pubs/Cal%20Covering%204Q%2015.pdf

Source: AD #1803 – Model S Top Selling Luxury Sedan, Improve Fuel Economy w/ Exhaust Heat, Karma Automotive Turns to BMW – Autoline Daily


2015 Luxury Sedan Sales

	model	sales	%
1	Tesla Model S	25202	+51.01%
2	Mercedes S-Class	21934	-13.22%
3	BMW 6 Series	8146	-5.79%
4	BMW 7 Series	9292	-4.64%

Of...

This week we speculate how the Nevada legislature can so stupid, visit the Chicago Auto Show *and* the Canadian International Auto Show in Toronto and much more. Patrick Connor, Mark Coughlan, Paul Guzyk, Tony Schaefer and Russell Frost dive deep into world of crazy lawmakers and cars. And funny enough, as I was posting this show this morning, this tweet from actor, Mark Ruffalo showed up...

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Includes the EVs, too.
Toyota recalls more than 1 million RAV4s in U.S. to fix seat belts

Prius hybrid-huggers have unexpected hotbed | The Seattle Times

It’s not surprising that the rate of hybrid ownership in the Seattle area is high. At 5 percent of all vehicles, it’s slightly more than double the national average, according to Nielsen Scarborough market research.

A couple weeks ago, I started posting a series of articles about hypermiling at the What Drives Us site. These articles are not intended to be overly technical; quite the opposite. I want them to be accessible to anyone who has even a tertiary interest in boosting their overall fuel efficiency.

Though I can't stop anyone from posting comments here, it would make more sense if comments were posted at the source.
[Edit] Generic comments about the entire series or hypermiling in general should be posted here. It's any feedback about specific articles that should be posted with the article.

Start with the first article here: Hypermiling Cardinal Rules » What Drives Us

Source: It's Hard To Argue With This Volkswagen T1 Revival Concept



This is the only thing more attractive than the Pacifica. My first car was a 1966 VW MicroBus and inspite of the 1500 cc engine, marginal steering, lack of heat, it was a great ride. It had a tremendous amount of interior space and got 28 MPG . . . until it needed 'curb side' service. Typically adjusting the valve backlash or swapping the plugs with the ones I'd previously cleaned with a grit-box.

It was big enough to have a single, frame bed, with 18" of space below for stuff. This included a box of spare parts, tool box, and a fold-flat, cardboard box. So when the engine made a 'pling' sound or the recorded MPG was less than 28 MPG, I'd park with the wheels on the curb and let it...