The two main issues most consumers have with buying an electric car are, the price and the range of the battery. According to a couple recent studies, both of these worries are poised to rescind if not go away entirely in the coming years. Researchers at the Stockholm Environmental Institute found that the costs of lithium ion batteries are dropping by about eight percent per year. Because battery costs can make up for as much as half of the price of an electric car, if these prices continue to drop we can hope to see car prices drop alongside them. The batteries are performing better as well, not just falling in price. A study at Lawrence Berkeley National Lab shows that even after a battery has lost twenty percent of their original charge, it will still meet the needs of eighty-five percent of US commuters. Hopefully with these advances we will start seeing more and more electric vehicles on the road.
Thinking of taking the bus to work? Never done it before? Worried you may not be able to figure out how the system works and find your stop? Put the worries aside, it’s so easy that a four-year-old could do it. Literally. A four-year-old girl in Pennsylvania snuck out of her house at 3:00am and boarded a bus by herself. Why would she do this? She had a craving for a slushie, what else would cause someone to go out at 3:00am? So the next time you decide to drive to work by yourself because you’re afraid of the bus, just think to yourself “what would a thirsty four-year-old do?”
Paris has had trouble with pollution lately. The smog in the Parisian air has become bad enough to obstruct views of the Eiffel Tower. In an effort to combat the pollution problem, Paris is stepping up their green game. They are cutting the number of cars on the road in half. They are only allowing cars with even-numbered plates to drive one certain days, and cars with odd-number plates other days. The exception to this is unless you drive an electric or hybrid vehicle, or are driving with more than three people in the car. This inevitably will cause some issues for people that need to get around, so Paris has also decided to make public transportation free to the public. These drastic changes are sure to bring about positive change, curious to see exactly how much change and in what time though.
Mercedes-Benz is jumping into the autonomous driverless vehicle bandwagon. They debuted their futuristic concept car, the Mercedes-Benz F015, at CES this year. This is Daimler’s vision for the future of commuting; a fully electric, plug in vehicle with a driving range of 684 miles. The vehicle has a wheel base of 142 inches and the inside is set up like a lounge or meeting room, allowing the riders to conduct meetings, work, or just socialize while on their way to their destination. It is also equipped with plenty of onboard electronics so the commuters can monitor exactly what is going on with the vehicle and the environment they are driving through. Although there are still many legal restrictions to work out before we see autonomous vehicles on the roads, Mercedes-Benz hopes to have these on the road in the next decade.
We've written about (more like drooled over) the fleet of police vehicles owned by the UAE police force before. Today they've added another toy (I mean vehicle) to their already impressive list of supercar police cars. The newest member of the team is a $450,000 Rolls Royce Phantom. The newest cruiser will take its place next to the rest of the line up, which includes; a Lamborghini Aventador, Aston Martin One-77, Mercedes SLS, Bentley Continental GT, Ferrari FF and a McLaren MP4-12C. The new Rolls however will not be used to chase down criminals, but to help promote tourism. Seems to beg the question though, with such a line up of supercars is one more really needed to attract people that are into that sort of thing? Personally, it's not so much making me want to visit as it is making me want to join their police force.
