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Recharge Wrap-up: Mercedes B-Class Electric Drive is a rock star, FedEx tests electric trucks

The Mercedes-Benz B-Class Electric Drive is in a new music video for I Lived by OneRepublic. The band's singer, Ryan Tedder, has also been brought on as a brand ambassador for the German automaker. OneRepublic will also be performing the song at the Mercedes-Benz Media Night on the eve of the Paris Motor Show. No word if Mercedes plans to offer hordes of screaming teenage fans as an option package with the B-Class Electric Drive. See the video (the car shows up around the four-minute mark) or read more in the press release below. FedEx is testing converted electric delivery trucks with diesel range extenders. Looking to shrink its carbon footprint, the company has converted a handful of trucks as part of a pilot program. In addition to battery packs, each truck is equipped with diesel turbine generators (supplied by Ian Wright's company, Wrightspeed) to provide electricity when the battery is depleted. Because the diesel motors aren't powering the vehicle directly, they can continuously run at their most efficient speed, making the trucks about twice as efficient as those powered by traditional means. Read more at Wired. Ford's new aluminum-bodied F-150 will be 5 to 20 percent more efficient, the company says. The fuel economy gains depend on the particular version of the truck, but the biggest improvement will likely come from the 3.5-liter V6 and the 2.7-liter EcoBoost V-6. Automotive News predicts the F-150 SFE to be rated at 21 mpg city/28 highway/23 combined, which are identical figures to the Ram 1500 EcoDiesel. The result could be a noteworthy fuel economy battle between Ford and Ram trucks. Learn more at Automotive News. The US Department of Energy is providing $25 million in funding toward reducing the price of algal biofuels. The goal is to get the price of these renewable fuels below $5 per gasoline gallon equivalent (gge) by 2019, and less than $3 per gge by 2030. The money will fund projects to develop better algal cultures that produce biofuel and other useful bioproducts, and projects to boost biomass productivity. The DOE says it wants to help develop a "bioeconomy" that provides jobs, helps the environment and ensures energy security. Read more at Energy.gov. This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings.

2015 Mercedes-Benz SLK250 Quick Spin [w/video]

We car writers tend to have a occupationally limited focus. Autoblog's stock in trade is automotive news and new car reviews, which often steers us towards forgetting existing models about 17 minutes after we've driven it a second time. You guys like reading about the new hotness, too, so it tends to work out. But the wonderful fact is that every car sold today will have a rich/interesting/heroic/tragic life for years to come. And, occasionally, even obsolete makes and models stay interesting. That was my thinking when this 2015 Mercedes-Benz SLK250 came into our fleet. Set to be replaced with the SLK300, with that car's 2.0-liter turbo'd engine, the 250 is already running out the clock in Mercedes dealerships. What's more, my test car came complete with – are you ready for this? – a six-speed manual transmission. I can't tell you the last exact model of Benz that I'd driven with a stick shift, but I can assure you that its engine was carbureted. Considering the odd spec and replacement timeline, my question, as I drove the SLK for a week: was this a unicorn destined to be a driver's dearest find? Driving Notes: Let me not bury the lede any more: the six-speed isn't a game changer for the SLK. Yeah, over the course of a few days I came to be comfortable with the slightly vague clutch and notchy shifter, but I didn't love it. I went blasting on a few back roads, and found the hand-shaker more involving to use than the standard auto, but it was long to throw and not overly precise when I moved up and down between second, third, and fourth. On the other hand, the old 1.8T under the SLK250's bonnet still felt well matched with the base SLK's boulevardier mission. Output of 201 horsepower and 229 pound-feet of torque doesn't give enough gumption to move the hardtop German lump with authority, but it was still enough to be quick off the line and offer easy highway passing. The turbo four didn't sound bad under full throttle, either, but it did rattle like old plumbing when idling in the driveway. Speaking of rattling: the adjustable and Airscarf-equipped seats did a lot of it. (Airscarf, you'll recall, is M-B's brand name for an in-seat fan that blows hot air on your neck; it's nice on a cold day.) Though comfortable and mildly bolstered, the driver's chair made all kinds of funny noises when I got in, got out, or cornered over 20 miles per hour. That's rough for a luxury car with 6,000 (or so) miles on it.

Watch this perfectly nice Mercedes get crushed by a front-end loader

In a world where the YouTube hoax continues to thrive, it's hard to know what to think of this little vid, but here are the facts as we know them: a coupe that looks like a first-generation Mercedes-Benz CLK gets crushed by a giant front-end loader. There you have it.
Our questions arise in the aftermath - we know industrial resource machinery is heavy, but the Benz gets squashed so flat we wonder if someone's trying to play a joke on us. We hear that the white coupe may have been the heavy-equipment operator's foreman's car, but who knows? The on-camera interview seems awfully conveniently placed, yes? See for yourself in the video below and then leave us your thoughts in Comments.