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Mini E Racing Series

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What the world needs right now is a new kind of racing. Electric car racing … not in a straight line, but through the twisty bits. BMW would do well to follow Volkswagen’s lead (with their successful Jetta TDI Cup program) and create a racing series for the Mini E. Imagine a Mini E racing … Read more

Mini E Field Trial Application Filed!

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When Mini sent the news about opening up the Mini E Field Trial application this morning, I jumped right on it. The email didn’t sit in my inbox for long. I immediately applied to become a Mini-E test driver. The honor of leasing a cutting-edge full-electric Mini E is only being extended to folks that live in the NY/NJ or LA metro areas. Chalk this up as yet another reason I’m glad I live in New Jersey (just don’t bring up the topic of taxes).

While I won’t share all the secrets of the Mini E Field Trial application process, I will say that it’s a Flash-based application that eats up all available monitor real estate. Needless to say, it was pretty cool to see the silver and yellow Mini E take over my iMac’s 24-inch screen. The application was fairly exhaustive (but fun), and took roughly an hour to complete.

I have my fingers crossed that we’ll be among the 500 people chosen to field test the Mini E for a year’s time. The Mini E is, without a doubt, one of the coolest transportation developments ever. This is a research project like no other and a remarkable chance to help make history.

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Electric Ford F-150

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Of all the vehicles shown at SEMA 2008, PML Flightlink’s electric Ford F-150 sits proudly at the top of the hill when it comes to pure innovation. Don’t look for an engine under this F-150’s hood … the means of propulsion has been put out to the wheels, with PML Flightlink’s HI-PA Drive electric wheel motors (clad in shiny green metallic paint) nestled behind each of the conventional rims. This is four wheel drive (4WD) in its purest sense: four wheels, four permanent magnet brushless motors.

The 4WD PML Flightlink F-150 has a range of approximately 100 miles. A 40 kilowatt hour Lithium ion battery, weighing roughly 1000 pounds, is slung between the frame rails. While typical charge time is six-to-eight hours with the 110-volt charger, a fast three-phase charge can be completed in under an hour.

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Hybrid Audi A1 Sportback: First Look

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Audi pulled the cover off their shiny new plug-in hybrid A1 Sportback concept this week at the Paris Auto Show.

The five-door sub-compact four seater is fitted with a 150 horsepower (HP) 1.4 liter TFSI engine along with an electric motor, which drive the front wheels through a S Tronic dual-clutch transmission. Needless to say, this isn’t your Aunt Emma’s pokey hybrid. The A1 Sportback’s 27 HP electric motor delivers an extra 110.6 foot pounds of torque during acceleration, and can provide a very respectable range of 62 miles when driven at low speeds in full-electric mode. Leave it to Audi to build a hybrid that can both crawl and fly. The simultaneous drive provides the A1 Sportback with the ability to reach 62 miles per hour (MPH) in 7.9 seconds, with a top speed of 124 MPH.

Audi A1 Sportback front view

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Drill, Baby, Drill? Pffffft.

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Drill, Baby, Drill isn’t an answer. It’s a cattle call … for sheep. When you actually look at the numbers, you’ll see that whatever oil America has untapped is but a tiny fraction of what we will ultimately need. Yes, we should increase domestic production, but only on shore. In order to quickly create jobs … Read more