1996 Mitsubishi Eclipse Gst Hatchback 2-door 2.0l on 2040-cars

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Uber promises 100% electric cars by 2040, commits $800 million to help drivers switch

Uber Technologies Inc on Tuesday said every vehicle on its global ride-hailing platform will be electric by 2040, and it vowed to contribute $800 million through 2025 to help drivers switch to battery-powered vehicles, including discounts for vehicles bought or leased from partner automakers. Uber said that vehicles on its rides platform in the United States, Canada and Europe will be zero-emission by 2030, taking advantage of the regulatory support and advanced infrastructure in those regions. Uber, which as of early February said it had 5 million drivers worldwide, said it formed partnerships with General Motors and the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi alliance. In addition to the vehicle discounts, Uber said the $800 million includes discounts for charging and a fare surcharge for electric and hybrid vehicles, the cost of which would be partially offset by an additional small fee charged to customers who request a "green trip." The deals with GM and the Renault alliance focus on the U.S., Canada and Europe. Uber said it was discussing partnerships with other automakers. Uber's plan follows years of criticism by environmental groups and city officials over the pollution and congestion caused by ride-hail vehicles and calls for fleet electrification. Lyft Inc, Uber's smaller U.S. rival, in June promised to switch to 100% electric vehicles by 2030, but said it would not provide direct financial support to drivers. Uber said its goal is to reduce the overall cost of ownership for electric vehicles, which are currently more expensive than gasoline cars. The company also released data on its emission footprint and said it would publish reports going forward. Before the pandemic, electric cars accounted for only 0.15% of all U.S. and Canadian Uber trip miles — roughly in line with average U.S. electric car ownership. At around 12%, the share of plug-in hybrid and hybrid cars was roughly five times as high as the U.S. average. Ride-hail trips overall account for less than 0.6% of transportation-sector emissions, according to U.S. data, but the total number of on-demand vehicles has significantly increased since Uber's launch nearly a decade ago, with 7 billion trips last year, according to Uber's February investor presentation. Uber said its U.S. and Canadian trips with a passenger produce 41% more carbon dioxide per mile than an average private car once miles spent cruising between passengers are included. Uber's plans could be a boon to the auto industry.

The worst rally driver you've ever seen

Fast cars and excellent driving skills might be the easy answers when asking how to succeed in rally racing, but after watching this video, a good teammate is obviously an important aspect of this sport, too. During the 2013 Rally of Coimbatore in India, driver Samir Thapar and his co-driver, Vivek Ponnusamy, didn't seem to be on the same page as the two attempted to navigate the course in their Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution.
We'd probably hear drastically different stories if we talked to Thapar and Ponnusamy about this particular event, but you know things are bad when "stay on road" and "turn the wheel" are commands given by the co-driver (and yes, that's a man running for his life in the screen shot shown above). As it turned out, though, it seems like the Ponnusamy was justified in his concerns to take care of the racecar. Race results show that despite winning three of the seven stages, this team ultimately ended the race with a DNF.
Scroll down to watch the video, and even though it's been edited down from almost 40 minutes to less than four, we get the idea that it wasn't a pleasant experience for driver or co-driver.

Renault to propose joint holding company with Nissan, Nikkei reports

TOKYO — Renault SA will propose to Nissan Motor Co a plan to create a joint holding company that would give both firms equal footing as the French automaker seeks further integration with its Japanese partner, the Nikkei newspaper reported on Friday. Under the proposal, both firms would nominate a nearly equal number of directors to the new company in which ordinary shares in both Nissan and Renault would be transferred on a balanced basis, the newspaper said, without citing sources. This would effectively dilute the stake held by the French government in Renault to around 7-8 percent, from its current 15 percent, it added. The new company would be headquartered in a third country, such as Singapore. Renault plans to make the proposal to Nissan soon, the Nikkei said, having modified an earlier merger idea that Nissan rejected on April 12. Nissan declined to comment on the issue. The Financial Times newspaper reported that both Nissan and the Japanese government have refused to engage in merger talks with Renault. The report of the proposal comes as the outlook for the alliance — one of the world's top automaking partnerships — has clouded since the arrest in November of its main architect, Carlos Ghosn, for suspected financial misconduct. It also comes as Nissan's financial performance struggles following years of focusing on volume sales over building its brand, particularly in the United States, its biggest market. Nissan slashes its forecast This week, the Japanese automaker slashed its profit forecast for the year just ended to its lowest in nearly a decade, citing weakness in its U.S. operations. Renault for years has been vying for a closer merger with Nissan, which it rescued from the brink of bankruptcy two decades ago. Ghosn had been working to achieve a deeper integration before his arrest on financial misconduct charges in November last year. While the automakers have been consolidating many of their operations over the past decade, including procurement and production, many executives at Nissan have opposed an all-out merger with Renault. Instead, Nissan has argued for a more equal footing with Renault, which holds a 43 percent stake in its bigger partner. Nissan holds a 15 percent stake in Renault. It was unclear whether Renault would hold the casting vote in major decisions at the new company, as it did in Renault-Nissan B.V., a strategic management company jointly held by both companies that oversaw operations for the partnership.