Green Vehicle Roundup

Electric Volvo

The Volvo C 30 is hot hatch thats pretty darn nice to look at, and quite frankly I love Volvo’s clean sparse interiors.  The standard 5 banger producing 227 ponies isn’t so shabby for a car of that stature either.  Coming soon though, through a partnership with Siemans, Volvo looks to use the C 30 platform for a future electric car model.  

Retread Batteries

The New York Times recently published this piece about the possibilities of lithium ion battery recycling.  Its an interesting conundrum as the type of folks who might purchase an electric vehicle trend toward the environmentally conscious.  What though, of the life cycle of these batteries?  Those buyers might worry about the environmental issues regarding disposal of the battery pack.  Anticipating this, EV manufacturers are hard at work planning reuse options beyond recycling it into its salvageable components.  G.M. And Nissan are looking at how battery packs can be used to provide power to homes.

Uh Makes Cents Dont it?

Tesla Motors has a record earnings statement of 58 million for the second quarter, then it’s stock prices take a crap because they lost 58.9 million in the second quarter.  Really though, that has to be a good sign for company looking toward the end of the year, huh business school people?  Autoblog

Nissan Leaf Sells Out Canada

40 units of the Nissan Leaf are purchased in the span of two hours by our neighbors to the north.  That makes the entire model year for 2011.  A whopping 40 for the Canadian market.  Expect 600 for 2012, canucks.

More Mr. Fusion

The Detroit News reports that scientists at Tulane University have created a biofuel by unleashing a bacterial strain on old newspapers.  The bacteria go to town on cellulose in the fishwrap and voila a biofuel called butanol.  The process being similar to the reaction that makes ethanol.  Butanol reportedly is superior to ethanol because it would not require modification to properly run in current engines as it is more chemically like unleaded gas.  Moreover it is recycling a product that already exist in huge quantities like newspaper.  I’ve never though it wise to turn a food source like corn to a fuel source.   

Hurricane Irene

As Hurricane Irene prepares to bear down on the east coast on the sooner rather than later, The Wall Street Journal brings you these tips on driving in a hurricane.  My first impression was a resounding "well duh, don't drive through floodwater or into downed power lines".  Upon further consideration though, a hat tip to you WSJ.  As will surely be evident in upcoming news reports, people will be out there doing some foolish things.  A little nudge toward prudence never hurts.

Edit: yep

Gnarly Vol: 5

Watch Danny MacAskill go ninja warrior on a bike all over everything.  This video has been around for a couple years but fuck if it isn't just amazing.  I've seen some BMX guys do wild shit but this really blew my mind when I saw it.  Makes me want to go out and break my arm in imitation.  I like the song too, but think its a little more emotional in Guy Mariano's Fully Flared part.  I'd be so hyped to see some fools incorporate some of this stuff into their bike commute.

2012 M5

This is the soon to be released 2012 BMW M5 taking laps at Laguna Seca Raceway.  Listen to that exhaust, the tail end of 560 ponies.  Sounds as good as it looks.

Notes From the Past Few Days

It’s been a fairly slow week, in my opinion, for car news  but here’s a few tidbits going around the www.  

Ford and Toyota to develop a RWD truck powertrain.  Trucks are bad ass but use too much gas.  Thumbs up to hopefully making something that sips fuel and can pull weight.  I always think it odd when huge companies collaborate on things like this.  It happens all the time, but seems odd given the high level of competition in the auto marketplace.  

John Deere reports third quarter earnings of 712 million.  This has to be a good thing right?  The earnings report projects a 45 percent increase in construction equipment sales through the year.  I’ll assume that this means there’s an increase in construction and development.  The economy can come out of the shithouse at any time, plus growing food is alright by me.  

This commercial for the Hyundai Veloster was banned in Holland.  I think its funny.  

Gnarly Vol: 4

Bye bye E36.  Hope nobody was hurt too seriously.

Mr. Fusion

I ran across this article over the weekend.  I'd never heard of plastic to oil conversion before.  I was intrigued by what sounds like a very cool technology.  I like anything that could potentially be a non foreign source of oil as well as recycling something that is so abundant like plastic.  Upon a quick Google search there are a number of companies that are involved in the plastic to oil conversion business.

The process as outlined visually here is seemingly simple.  Take old plastic, shred it down to manageable pellets.  Next heat it up.  It goes from solid to liquid to gas.  The gasses are then separated out where they are then cooled allowing them to re-liquify where, voila, you have a synthetic crude oil.  This crude is then stored until it can be processed by a refinery into types of fuel we, the fuel consuming public, need.  Some scientist can read that and vomit at its simplicity but more or less that seems to be how the whole thing goes down.

The drawbacks about plastic to oil conversion have to do with the waste produced, as well as if it can feasibly produce enough oil to be profitable.  Look at how small the converter is in this video though.  Maybe the cars of the future wont be plug-ins but equipped with their own Doc Brown style garbage converter.

Driving Music Vol: 3

So this is the first thing I've seen from Watch the Throne, the new joint offering by Kanye and Jay.  This video been going H.A.M. through the www today.  

I don't dig on Maybachs.  I can get behind this one though.  Something about taking a six digit tag vehicle and ragging it out into a Mad Max ass dune buggy and smoking doughnuts in a parking lot with four bitches across the back just looks fun.

Jimmy Hat for Two Wheels

Motorcycles scare the shit out of me.  I am a total pussy.  I am making this shameful admission up front.

Its not the act of riding one at all that does me in.  In fact when I see someone out enjoying the road on a bike I'm frequently jealous.  It just looks so much fun.  The thing that gets me though is having to put it down or worse, being struck by a car.

There's good news though for pansies like me, according to this New York Times article.  Motorcycle apparel company Alpinestars is producing a state of the art protective suit that should go on sale in the United States next summer.  The suit features five accelerometers, like the thing in the iPhone that makes the screen tilt.  Except instead of that handy level app, this keeps your bones from breaking should you and the bike suddenly part ways.  The accelerometers are mated to a central processing unit located at the back of the suit.  Should the CPU determine you're about to meet the pavement it triggers a canister of nitrogen to inflate airbags sewn inside the suit.  All of this happens in about 100 milliseconds.  Really impressive technology.  This kinda stuff might void the warranty though.

Be safe out there.

Beautiful

Installation artist Chris Burden’s Metropolis II will soon go on display at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.  A work four years in the making, its a noisy and quite beautiful contraption.  I really like the tidy order in which the flow of traffic moves.  If only we could get a little more of that in our day to day commutes.  Note the massive size of the whole thing around 4:30.   

In the video Burden remarks how he feels we’re on the verge of a change in the way in which we get around.  “Its a little bit like making a model of New York City at the turn of the last century and you’re modeling horse buggies everywhere and then the automobile is about to arrive.  Something else is about to arrive.”  Here’s to cars continuing to run free, till I croak off at least.  I also remember that the last thing that was going to drastically change transportation as we know it was this.

Driving Music Vol 2 x Gnarly Vol 3

Collaborations being all the rage nowadays, I present Gnarly video Volume 3 alongside Driving Music Volume 2.

Yeah I don't know either, but homeboy's got skills.

The only appropriate jam to bump alongside that video morsel.  This past spring's trunk bumper No Hands from Waka Flaka, Wale and Roscoe Dash.  Roll with your boys to the scrip club to this one.  I love the donk El Camino appearing at 2:15.  Videos featuring a party haven't advanced far from this, which does it best.  In the No Hands video I did not note anyone grilling a rack of ribs with a pistol tucked in behind their apron, no chick gets her top dropped during a volleyball game, nobody visibly rolling a joint, and no fridge stacked with 40 ouncers.  The stuck up chick who gets doused with beer would fit better in todays videos.  The Carhartt and Dickies gear and a cig tucked behind your ear.  Brew not champagne.  Dre's video just speaks to my personal aesthetic.

Also when I looked up the video for No Hands, there was an advertisement for a new record featuring Waka Flacka and Gucci Mane called Ferrari Boyz.  Good to see the F car get a little love in today's Bentley, Rolls and Maybach obsessed rap game.  Heck, I even found it pedestrian that Dro Man reps "Chargers, Challengers and new Camaros" in his Jiggalate Remix verse.  Although he's from Indianapolis and that's kinda how folks here do it up.

Skateboards Are a Poor Form of Transportation

They just are.  That said, they've meant a great deal to me in regard to shaping how I've turned out in life.  Mostly this thing is going to be me rambling about cars, but I'm going to be posting up stuff about other things that you can get around on from time to time.

Brent Atchley is a Portland, Oregon local and rips on tranny, but check out this beautifully shot cruiser video courtesy of Satori Wheels.  He seems to make it work.

Following up...

on that last post, the better writers over at Jalopnik posted a really good article about South Korea's up and coming automaker powerhouse Hyundai Motor Group.

Also the www has produced a new photo of the upcoming 2012 Camry via the company's Twitter.  Whoop-de-doo.  I get that the idea of teaser photographs is to garner interest, but this reveal is far from impressive.  Give us a little something more, for goodness sake!

Honda Civic Fails to Gain Consumer Reports Recommended Car Title

Around these parts there’s an awful lot of folks that come from a car family.  By this I mean Ford or Chevy.  Grandpa worked at the plant, now dad works at the plant and all the while everyone in the family drives or ever would think of driving is Ford or Chevy, depending on your particular pedigree.  In the mid to late 80’s though, Japanese manufacturers, namely Toyota and Honda seemed to make a foothold into this passionate type of brand devotion.  While the Japanese makers weren’t the hand that fed the family, they grew brand loyalty with quality products.  Many households from my childhood in the 80’s even until now would truly identify as a Honda or Toyota family.  My mother swears by Honda, as a family we’ve had a few.  I have other relatives who are Toyota devotees.  

Call it complacency, call it the tightest competition in years between automakers.  Especially in the compact and small car segments, largely ignored by the big American three until recently, Honda and Toyota are getting hosed by their competition.  The recent news of the Honda Civic model falling out of Consumer Reports recommended rankings is some of the most damming evidence toward complacency.  The redesigned Civic, a perennial recommended model, received poor rankings in interior fit and finish (never a Japanese maker strong-point), as well drivability matters like stopping distance and tactile handling.  

In the small car class that the Civic and Toyota’s Corolla belong to, there has been serious competition that has come into the marketplace.  From Mazda’s 3, Ford’s new Fiesta and Focus models, and Chevrolet’s recently released Cruze model, there are many tastier options available.  While Honda’s Accord model is still a top contender in the larger sedan category, Toyota’s Camry has fallen by the wayside.  Once a Bud Light-esq argument of taste great versus less filling, if you were in the market for a family sedan it was probably one of those two.  A new Camry design is forthcoming but much of the photos floating around the www look pretty underwhelming. 

While its notable regarding the decline of Japanese automaker’s product, that the American makers have stepped their small and midsize car game up, the biggest threat undoubtedly comes from South Korea.  Kia's second quarter profit for this year is reported at a gain of 67%.  New models from Kia like the Optima, and from Hyundai the Elantra, Sonata and Genesis are all appealing.  

Sometimes when you’d get into a conversation about cars with one of those old timers, a Ford or Chevy guy, you’d likely hear a diss toward Japanese makers referencing the quality of their early imports to the U.S. Now those roles could be said to be reversing.  In a what goes around comes around way, I’ve found myself slagging a South Korean made vehicle based on the reputation of their earliest imports.  I try to keep an open mind about what’s out there, and these new models have certainly made me reconsider my thinking.  In this tough economic climate, with competition between carmakers as tight as ever there’s no room for error.  It pains me a little bit to say, but there’s not a Honda model I’d buy if I needed to purchase a new car today.