2003 Toyota Highlander Limited Sport Utility 4-door 3.0l on 2040-cars

Auto blog

Recharge Wrap-up: 'Racing Extinction' Tesla, Wards praises 3 hybrids

The makers of Racing Extinction used a tricked out Tesla Model S for their movie. The artists and activists used the electric car as a platform to project images from nature in various cities to raise awareness about imperiled wildlife. In addition to a the high-powered projector, the Model S features a electroluminescent paint job that emits light to mimic creatures found in the wild, such as bioluminescent sea life. It also has a thermal imaging camera in the front of the car with a filter to view CO2 emissions. Check it out in the video above, and read more at Ecomento. WardsAuto has named the 2016 Hyundai Sonata Plug-In Hybrid's powertrain to its list of 10 Best Engines. As the first plug-in hybrid to make the list, WardsAuto World Editor-in-Chief Drew Winter praises Hyundai engineers for their "impeccable job blending fuel efficiency with refinement and daily usability." Wards notes the car's smooth transitions between electric and hybrid modes, and a well-connected six-speed automatic transmission. Other electrified vehicles to make the list are the 2016 Chevrolet Volt and 2016 Toyota Prius. Read more from Hyundai, at Green Car Reports. FEV's plug-in hybrid battery pack has gone into vehicle series production. The 10-kWh battery pack, developed by the German development services provider, offers an all-electric range of about 30 miles. FEV says its battery management algorithms are just as important as choosing the right battery hardware. "The core system for the battery development is our own mature battery management system (BMS), now in its third generation, that together with optimized algorithms allows a very reliable and stable control of the battery," says FEV's Dr. Michael Stapelbroek. Read more at Green Car Congress, or in the press release from FEV below. Hybrid Vehicle Goes Into Series Production FEV development competence consists of batteries, controls, as well as complete drive systems FEV has demonstrated competence in the development of alternative drive concepts for almost twenty years. Most recently, yet another plug-in hybrid vehicle has gone into series production with technology provided by the Aachen-based developer. In addition to using an innovative transmission concept which is based on a FEV patent, FEV also developed the battery technology of the plug-in hybrid vehicle to series production readiness.

DoJ fines Japanese parts firms $740M in massive automotive price-fixing scandal

Nine Japanese suppliers have pleaded guilty in US court over charges of price fixing in the automotive parts industry, resulting in the Department of Justice doling out a total of $740 million of fines, according to a report from Bloomberg. The scandal, which has resulted in General Motors, Ford, Toyota and Chrysler spending up to $5 billion on inflated parts and driving up prices on 25 million vehicles has sent the DoJ hustling into investigations. "The conduct this investigation uncovered involved more than a dozen separate conspiracies aimed at the U.S. economy," Attorney General Eric Holder (pictured above) said during yesterday's press conference.
As the investigation stands, the DoJ has issued $1.6 billion in fines against 20 companies and 21 individual executives, with 17 of the execs headed to prison. Deputy Assistant Attorney General Scott Hammond said, "The breadth of the conspiracies brought to light today are as egregious as they are pervasive. They involve more than a dozen separate conspiracies operating independently but all sharing in common that they targeted US automotive manufacturers."
Big-name suppliers indicted in the investigation include Mitsubishi Electric, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Hitachi Automotive and Mitsuba Corporation. A list of fines and other corporations named in the investigation is available at Bloomberg.

Toyota, Morgan Spurlock say hydrogen can be bullsh*t

Toyota wants the world to know that it's not full of crap about hydrogen as the future of fuel. Months before the Mirai arrives at dealers on the West Coast, the automaker is trying to get the word out through documentary series called Fueled by Everything. In the first episode, director Morgan Spurlock (best known for Super Size Me) shows how to make the futuristic fuel cell sedan run on a load of dung. After some processing, anyway. The whole point of the series is to show viewers the myriad sources available to generate hydrogen, and Toyota starts at an attention-grabbing extreme. A pickup truck takes a bed full of cow manure and demonstrates the steps needed to make it into hydrogen for the Mirai. Of course, the new model gets lots of screen time, too. For those in the audience curious to learn more, Toyota also digs a little deeper into the generation process on the series' website. Fueled by Bullsh*t Toyota Taps Morgan Spurlock to Direct First Video in "Fueled by Everything" Series TORRANCE, Calif. (April 22, 2015) – Sometimes reality stinks. Toyota has tapped award-winning documentary filmmaker Morgan Spurlock to show how calling hydrogen fuel cell vehicles "bullsh*t" isn't far from the truth. "Fueled by Bullsh*t" is the first online video in a multi-part "Fueled by Everything" series aimed to educate a broad audience about the innovative ways hydrogen fuel can be made from renewable sources. Spurlock directed the 3-minute piece which features a dairy farmer and mechanical engineer as they follow cow manure from a mooing supply source to its ultimate use in powering the hydrogen fuel cell electric Toyota Mirai. "This project gave us the opportunity to dive into a world that most people don't understand but has the potential to change our world," said Spurlock. "Witnessing manure, something most of us view as being pretty disposable, being transformed into hydrogen fuel to power a car was pretty remarkable. I think this short film is pretty compelling evidence of what could be possible in the years ahead." Beyond high quality dung, hydrogen can be manufactured from other renewable energy sources like solar, wind and biogas from landfills. These production methods can result in a domestic and locally sourced fuel that powers the Mirai while emitting only water vapor from the tailpipe. The multi-series video campaign is launching through the Toyota Mirai website (www.toyota.com/mirai) and additional digital properties with paid online media support.