i-auto

Chevy Volt officially priced at $41,000, $350/month on a three-year lease

Nicr — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 04:00:12 +0000

It may not exactly be a huge surprise at this point, but GM has finally revealed that the official base price for its Chevrolet Volt will be $41,000 (including a $720 destination charge). That price is before the $7,500 federal tax credit, however, which will bring your eventual end cost down to a slightly more reasonable $33,500. Those looking to get on the road for even less up-front can also opt for a three-year lease, which will run you $350 a month after a $2,500 down payment. As Autoblog ……

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Nissan Leaf gets early review: you might just forget its an eccentric electric car

Nicr — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 04:00:12 +0000

It still won't be widely available until 2012, but Nissan's Leaf is already leaking out to a few select media outlets. Our comrades over at Autoblog managed to get behind the wheel of the all-electric whip down in San Jose, and while they didn't find anything that changed the admittedly developing game, what they did find was a solid, refined EV that's “ready for primetime.” They were quick to praise the design, which doesn't scream “oddball” like some of the earlier electri……

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ECOtality and Frog Design debut eye-catching Blink EV chargers

Nicr — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 04:00:12 +0000

Coulomb Technologies isn't the only company that's announced some new electric vehicle chargers at this week's Plug-In 2010 conference in San Jose — ECOtality has also taken advantage of the show to debut its new Blink EV chargers. Those were developed in partnership with Frog Design, which is responsible for the eye-catching look that the companies hope will become a “new icon for a smart EV ecosystem.” Of particular note with the home version is a modular set-up that lets you pla……

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Windows Phone 7 in-depth preview

Nicr — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 04:00:22 +0000

It's been a long road, hasn't it? Well, in some respects, it hasn't — in fact, it's only been about two years since development of Windows Phone 7 as we know it today kicked off — but when you consider that this product will be replacing Windows Mobile 6.5, that puts things in proper perspective. In fact, even the very latest maintenance releases of good ol' WinMo are based on the same rickety underpinnings as version 5.0 was way back in 2005, at a time when WVGA smartphon……

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Google signs 20-year deal to power data centers with wind energy

Nicr — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 04:00:22 +0000

It's not the first investment Google has made in wind power, but anyone wondering about its commitment needn't look any further than the company's just-announced deal with NextEra Energy. It's agreed to buy wind power from NextEra's wind farm in Iowa for the next twenty years, which it says will provide enough power to supply “several” of its data centers. What's more, Google says that the size and length of the deal (taking 114 megawatts of energy off the market) will……

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Yves Behar-designed GE WattStation electric vehicle charger spruces streets, juices cars

Nicr — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 04:00:10 +0000

We've dug deep within the mind of Yves Béhar, and when that man designs something, we take notice. Particularly when the object of reference is an all-new electric vehicle charger that looks good enough for the sparkling streets of Minneapolis. Introduced today, the GE WattStation is a beautifully engineered EV charger designed to “accelerate the adoption of plug-in electric vehicles,” and furthermore, allow “utility companies to manage the impact of electric vehicles on the local an……

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VW Passat takes the red pill, jacks into Nokia's Terminal Mode (video)

Nicr — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 04:00:10 +0000

We've seen flashy concepts of what Nokia's seamless cellular infotainment initiative might look like, but it took a pair of Germans from Volkswagen to give us our first glimpse of Terminal Mode in action. At MobileBeat 2010, engineers showed off the video after the break, which shows how a prototype VW Passat might be rigged — in this case duplicating the phone's display in its entirety (plus additional controls) on the auto's larger touchscreen. Sadly, VW said the tech's s……

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Google Maps Send-To-Car feature goes live on Ford SYNC systems

Nicr — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 04:00:10 +0000

Avid OnStar users received this here functionality a fortnight ago, and BMW owners have been bragging about it for years. But it looks as if the world's other automakers are finally coming around to one of life's undeniable facts: Google Maps is top-notch, and in almost every instance, trumps whatever factory mapping system that any given consumer has overpaid for. Today, drivers of Ford, Lincoln and Mercury vehicles in the US enabled with Ford SYNC can send business listings or addresse……

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Audi Cam lets you watch the entire repair from your mechanic's point of view

Nicr — Thu, 08 Jul 2010 04:00:12 +0000

Need to get a critical tune-up, but don't trust the factory techs not to Ferris Bueller your ride? If you live in the UK and drive an Audi, you'll have technology on your side. Following a successful pilot program, the German manufacturer's outfitting each Audi Centre in Britain with helmet cameras and two-way radios to let customers monitor the entire job. While this sounds fantastic from a consumer standpoint, you'll see mechanics and IT professionals in the audience sadly sha……

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Honda shows off conceptual, solar-powered station to refill your conceptual, hydrogen-powered car (video)

Nicr — Thu, 08 Jul 2010 04:00:12 +0000

Hydrogen-powered cars, like Honda's FCX Clarity, face a lot of hurdles, not the least of which being a fuel source requiring more energy to produce than it in turn gives out as energy. Honda is showing one way to mitigate that with its conceptual home-based recharging station. It relies on a six-kilowatt solar array to power an electrolyzer, splitting water molecules into hydrogen atoms. Eight hours of sunlight generates a half-kilogram of hydrogen, enough for the FCX to cover about 30 mile……

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