Vehicles Archive

  • Little Bee, Rustic, Sugar Drop: Panasonic rolls out three new e-bikes in Japan

    Little Bee, Rustic, Sugar Drop: Panasonic rolls out three new e-bikes in Japan

    Posted on May 3, 2010 | No Comments
    Japan is to get another three electric bikes, two of which are being marketed as "sporty", while one is targeted specifically at women. All three models are made by Panasonic (which announced one of the coolest e-bikes ever just a few weeks ago). The two sport bikes [JP] are called the "Rustic" (BE-ENHL63/pictured above) and the "Little Bee" (BE-ENHB03/pictured below). Technically, both models are very similar, offering an assisted travel range of 32km (Rustic) to 37km (Little Bee), three different driving modes (eco, power, and automatic), and a charging time of about three hours for the lithium-ion battery.

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  • Test drive: 2011 Ford Fiesta

    Test drive: 2011 Ford Fiesta

    Posted on April 25, 2010 | No Comments
    The 2011 Ford Fiesta isn’t the status quo. No longer do consumers need to compromise on creature comforts for the practicality of a compact car. The top Fiesta trim level is loaded with enough gizmos to keep a baby boomer confused for months. However, while items like the comfy leather seats, voice-controlled Sync system, and [...]

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  • GM’s Enhanced Vision System brings augmented reality to vehicle HUDs

    GM’s Enhanced Vision System brings augmented reality to vehicle HUDs

    Posted on March 17, 2010 | No Comments
    Heads-up displays are far from new. They’ve been around in GM vehicles since the late-80s and they’ve gone from a just displaying a speedometer, to night vision, and soon to augmented reality thanks to lasers, cameras and navigation. The Enhanced Vision System is designed with safety in mind just like previous implementations, but takes it to a whole new [...]

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  • Hybrid garbage truck picking up trash in NYC

    Hybrid garbage truck picking up trash in NYC

    Posted on December 3, 2009 | No Comments
    Hybrid commercial vehicles are the answer to the environmental crisis, not passenger vehicles. Sure, your Prius is greener than, say, a Suburban, but even the large GM SUV has a lot smaller carbon footprint than full-size commercial vehicles. But slowly hybrid powertrains are being tested for commercial applications. NYC is currently testing a garbage truck that [...]

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  • FedEx converts 92 delivery trucks to diesel hybrids

    FedEx converts 92 delivery trucks to diesel hybrids

    Posted on July 22, 2009 | No Comments
    I've said over and over again, along with a lot of other people, that hybrid technology would make the biggest environmental impact if used in delivery trucks, municipal vehicles, and mail trucks. Vehicles like these are often limited in range but are gas hogs that travel in low gears where hybrid technology can really shine. Plus, the fuel savings of even 10% can be immense when a whole fleet of vehicles are converted. FedEx obviously knows this too and has slowly been converting delivery trucks to diesel hybrids which have been known to improve fuel economy by 44% and decrease emissions by 96%.

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