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Recharge Wrap-up: Google Street View maps gas leaks, Rolls-Royce helps kids build electric racer

Google Street View is looking for gas leaks. Natural gas leaks are not only extremely dangerous, they're a terrible waste of resources and, as a greenhouse gas, a threat to the environment. Unfortunately, with the decaying infrastructure in many of America's older cities, they're pretty common, too. That's why Google is teaming up with the Environmental Defense Fund to map gas leaks. With sensors attached to the Street View cars, they are sniffing out methane leaks and documenting them. So far, they've covered Boston, Staten Island and Indianapolis, with Los Angeles and Syracuse up next. Read more over at Gizmodo. Consumer and environmental groups are calling on the Federal Trade Commission to change the way car advertisements disclose fuel economy. Nine groups, including Sierra Club, Union of Concerned Scientists and Consumers Union, want mpg figures to be clearer and more complete. They have requested that when mpg is advertised, that it includes the EPA's city, highway and combined ratings. They also, among other requests, want mile-per-gallon-equivalent ratings for electric cars to state that they are for comparative purposes only, and to include separate gas and electric ratings for plug-ins and range extended EVs. See what else the groups have requested at Kicking Tires. Rolls-Royce has a new electric car, and it's not the 102EX. The luxury automaker worked with a group of elementary school students in the UK to build an electric car for the IET Formula Goblin project, where students build and race their own electric "car." Rolls-Royce lent the 9, 10 and 11 year-olds a bit of engineering and manufacturing assistance to build the car, which they then raced at the Goodwood Motor Circuit. Read more at World Car Fans, or check out the press release, below. ROLLS-ROYCE SUPPORTS LOCAL PRIMARY SCHOOL'S RACING DEBUT A team of school children mentored and supported by Rolls-Royce Motor Cars successfully completed the Greenpower IET Formula Goblin race at the Goodwood Motor Circuit on Sunday. The group of 10 boys and girls from Years 5 and 6 built and piloted a specially developed electric car in a race against teams from schools across the UK. 'Team March', from the March CE Primary School adjacent to the Home of Rolls-Royce in Goodwood, finished well up the order and scooped the prize for 'Best Bodywork'.

Buyers flipping a Rolls-Royce Spectre won't be tolerated, company says

The act of flipping cars — that is, buying a limited or highly desirable model and then reselling it for big profit — wonÂ’t go unnoticed, or be tolerated, by Rolls-Royce. Specifically referring to the new Rolls Spectre — the first electric car from the brand — Rolls-Royce CEO Torsten Muller-Otvos told Car Dealer that any customer who sells or try to sell one will be blacklisted for life if he attempts to buy another from a dealer. Speaking at the launch of the new car in California, he said: ‘I can tell you we are really sanitizing the need to prove who you are, what you want to do with the car – you need to qualify for a car and then you might get a slot for an order.” But those who violate the policy and resell the vehicle at a higher price are “going immediately on a blacklist and this is it – you will never ever have the chance to acquire again.Â’ The super-luxe Spectre is to open its order books soon with deliveries to start in the autumn. Base price in the UK is about $425,000. The response from some dealers in Britain, who say the inflated price resales are legal, was resentment at Rolls. London dealer Tom Hartle, known for selling secondhand Rolls-Royce models, said that he has already agreed to collect GBP50,000 ($65,000) premiums for two Spectres. He said he will have a Spectre for sale at his used-car dealership "within two weeks of it being launched.” ”I do not think it is fair for carmakers to tell customers who have spent close to half a million pounds on a car what they can do with it,” he told Car Dealer. Last year, General Motors said it would ban flippers "from placing future sold orders or reservations if the vehicle is resold within the first 12 months of ownership." Those high-demand products were the Corvette Z06, the Cadillac Escalade-V, and the GMC Hummer EV. And years ago, Ford famously sued wrestler and actor John Cena, who flipped a Ford GT in violation of his purchase contract. This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings. At Rolls, the company maintains that it has paid close attention to SpectreÂ’s specifics while in development. "To do this, “ Muller-Otvos said, “we have conceived the most demanding testing program in Rolls-RoyceÂ’s history. We will cover 2.5 million kilometers – a simulation of more than 400 years of use for a Rolls-Royce, on average – and we will travel to all four corners of the world to push this new motor car to the limit,"

Rolls-Royce sketching out SUV for possible 'late 2017' release

With each new story on the Rolls-Royce SUV, the Goodwood automaker comes off as more at ease with their reluctantly birthed yet necessary sport ute. Company design chief Giles Taylor told Autocar that his team is still "sketching to assess the viability of the concept," which to ours ears means they're trying to figure out if such a beast is even possible within the confines of the brand. If it is, Taylor says it will be "a shooting brake, not a crossover with a sloping roof. A proper SUV."
A different company source, unnamed, seems confident that Taylor's team will figure it out, telling the magazine it would start at 200,000 pounds ($335K US). However, that same source said the vehicle will be "a kind of Mercedes-GLK-plus-plus," which is a baffling description in several ways. More reasonable is the speculation that it will ride on Ghost, not Phantom, architecture and make its debut sometime around late 2017.
That Ghost platform is expected to take cues from the carbon, aluminum and steel bones that supported the BMW Vision Future Luxury concept shown at the Beijing Motor Show and destined for the 9 Series. Some of those tricks will also go into the next-generation Phantom, which Autocar says will come in 2017 and not 2020.