2011 Nissan Juke S Sport Utility 4-door 1.6l Awd Gun Metallic/black Cargo Cover on 2040-cars

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Tesla, BMW and Nissan meeting in secret to discuss charging tech

It's interesting what's happening in the electric vehicle field. It used to be that BMW and Tesla were competitors. Then – and of course they're still competing, especially in the public mind – they were working together on ... something. Maybe. And now, the Financial Times reports that the two luxury automakers are meeting with Nissan. Again, maybe. The scuttlebutt is that the three companies are interested in working together on something to do with charging electric vehicles, potentially a global recharging standard. Currently, when it comes to fast charging, BMW uses the SAE Combo standard, Nissan uses CHAdeMO and Tesla uses its own Superchargers. The meeting was prompted by Tesla opening of all of its patents the other day, FT says. Speaking during the recent annual shareholder meeting, Musk said he was "more than happy to have other manufacturers" use Tesla's Superchargers but that, "there is no other electric car that can accept anything close to 135 kilowatts." Let's assume the technical hurdle can be overcome. With any potential patent/licensing problems out of the way, these discussions with BMW and Nissan might be revolving around this other angle that Musk mentioned: "They (other automakers) just have to contribute to the capital cost, so figure out what percentage of the time are their cars using the Supercharger network and then they can make a contribution proportionate to their customer usage of the Supercharger network." That certainly sounds like something that could take some time to figure out. News Source: Financial TimesImage Credit: Elbilforeningen / Flickr Green BMW Nissan Tesla Electric supercharger chademo sae combo

Nissan Note getting a little louder with Nismo versions this fall

Nissan's Nismo performance division has been getting more chances to shine recently with tuned models like the Juke Nismo RS and GT-R Nismo. But its latest creation moves closer to the bottom of the Japanese brand's lineup to make a hot hatch out of the (Versa) Note.
At least in Japan, the new model is due this fall, and Nismo is keeping a lot of the details about its latest creation a secret for now. What we do know is that it'll be available in two trims - the Note Nismo and the sportier Nismo S. "The development concept of this model was to build a car that makes you want to keep driving, no matter where your destination may be," said the division's chief product specialist, Hiroshi Tamura, in the company's announcement.
Aesthetically, the Note Nismo looks the way a tuned Nissan should, with the division's signature red trim outlining the car. It also wears a new, mesh grille, lower air dam, red side sills and rear spoiler. Inside, the S gets standard sport seats with full Recaro buckets as an option. Nissan didn't release technical specs for either version, but it promises that the S also gets a tuned engine with a five-speed manual.

Rob Parsons, paraplegic, can drift better than you

"When something happens, you deal with it, and you move on. You don't dwell on something you can't control." Those are positive words coming from anybody. But it's particularly inspiring when the speaker is Rob Parsons. He was a competitor and later an event judge in the Dsport series until a dirt bike crash took Parson's ability to walk. He didn't let that get in the way of custom building a drift car that works with hand controls. And now that it works, he's plans to use his car to help other who share his automotive passion but can't operate pedals. The vehicle itself is based around a 1991 Nissan 180SX chassis with a 5.7-liter supercharged LS1 V8 under the hood, according to his website. To make the machine drivable for people without the use of their legs, Parsons made a hand control setup, and he claims to be faster now than years ago. This story of fighting past the seeming insurmountable challenges is truly heartwarming, and it's amazing to watch Parsons at work. A warning: there is some brief, not-safe-for-work language early in the video. News Source: Chairslayer, Keep Drifting Fun via YouTube Motorsports Nissan Coupe Racing Vehicles Performance Videos drifting drift