2012 Dodge Grand Caravan Sxt on 2040-cars

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Watch Atieva's electric van outrun a BMW i8 and Dodge Viper

A little while back, automotive startup Atieva drag raced its electric van, called Edna, against a Tesla Model S and a Ferrari California in order to compare its performance against known and revered mechanical athletes. Again, the Silicon Valley-based company is putting its prototype up against electrified and conventionally powered performance vehicles on the drag strip. Last time around, Edna, the Mercedes-Benz Vito van equipped with a 900-horsepower, all-wheel-drive powertrain, bested both of its foes. In that showcase, Edna was hitting 60 mph in a little over three seconds. Comparatively, BMW lists the i8's 0-60 time at 4.2 seconds, though Road & Track clocked it at 3.8 seconds, with a quarter-mile time of 12.3 seconds. The Viper does 0-60 in 3.4 seconds. Before you even watch the video above, you can imagine how it will end, as the retuned Atieva Edna rips 0-60 mph in 2.94 seconds. Atieva clocked the quarter mile at 11.3 seconds at 117 mph. It's worth noting that driver skill can have a lot to do with a car's straight-line performance. We've witnessed Viper's elapsing the quarter mile in well under 12 seconds, which means it should be quicker in this test than the i8, if not the Edna. Still, the performance showcased in the video is exceptional. To improve Edna's stats, Atieva says it has used testing data to fine tune its AC induction motors at higher speeds once it got low-speed performance locked in. After testing in the hot California sun, including the race you see above, Atieva drove Edna 90 miles home with range to spare. As for production plans, Atieva will put this powertrain into a sedan slated for sale in 2018. In the meantime, the company will keep testing and tuning its working prototype, and has even invited the public to put their cars up against Edna in future sessions. Related Video: Related Gallery 2015 BMW i8 in Petoskey, MI News Source: Atieva, YouTube: Atieva via Electrek Green Motorsports BMW Dodge Automakers Electric Future Vehicles Videos drag race atieva

Chrysler readying Hellcat V8 with Viper-like power

A monstrous supercharged V8 engine could be in store for Chrysler and SRT products, if recent rumors are to be believed. Allpar is reporting that the forced-induction V8 - Chrysler's first, if this goes down - could make its debut this summer.
The story goes that the Hellcat would be based on a 6.2-liter Hemi engine, rather than on the existing 5.7- or 6.4-liter versions of the company's vaunted mill. In any case, the general consensus is that the motor will have gobs of power. Modest estimates call for between 500 to 570 horsepower, with some outliers predicting a figure as high as 600 hp. That figure would put the output would place the Hellcat awfully close to that of the 640-hp V10 in the SRT Viper, too. Allpar contends that a slightly lower powered version would allow Chrysler to keep costs below that of the more powerful Ford Shelby GT500, which might be a sweet spot.
The Hellcat could debut in a number of SRT products. SRT versions of the Charger, Challenger and 300 are all up for grabs, as is the rumored SRT Barracuda.

General Patton's Dodge WC57 Command Car headed to auction

Indiana will see some excellent vintage metal on several auction blocks this summer. Mecum Auctions has the 1965 Pontiac GeeTO Tiger and 1963 Shelby Cobra that was a Ford demonstrator planned for in Indiana in late June. Two weeks before that, and as noted by Carscoops, Worldwide Auctioneers will offer what could have been Gen. George S. Patton’s Dodge WC57 Command Car. We say "could have been" because although the WC57 came out of the National Military History Center in Auburn, Indiana, a few years ago and is fitted with the modifications Patton made to his personal WC57, the auction house doesn't have paperwork explicitly linking Patton to this car, and there are other replicas of Patton Command Cars out there. That could help explain why when RM Auctions put this WC57 up for sale in 2017 with a pre-sale estimate of $100,000 to $150,000, the vehicle failed to make the $60,000 reserve. Dodge had been making vehicles for the U.S. military since before World War I, most of them based on civilian models. Before the U.S. entered World War II, Dodge turned its civilian TC pickup into the 1940 VC-1 military truck. The VC-1 quickly evolved into the WC range, the WC57 Command and Reconnaissance Weapons Carrier riding on a three-quarter-ton, 4x4 chassis and weighing almost 5,400 pounds. Built from 1942 to 1945, they were powered by Dodge's T214 side-valve, 230-cubic-inch inline-six with 92 horsepower.   This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings. General PattonÂ’s Dodge WC-57 Command Car - Offered Without Reserve The WC57 was simple, reliable, capable, and at the end of the war, was part of the inspiration for the Dodge Power Wagon. The story is that soldiers returning from active duty badgered Dodge for a civilian version of the indefatigable WC warhorse, so Dodge responded with the postwar's most hardcore pickup in 1946. The open-topped WC57 rig was also popular with U.S. Army officers, and because of that, it was popular target practice for German infantry and Luftwaffe pilots. So Patton, before heading to France in 1944 with the Third Army, had the motor pool in Cheltenham, England, modify his WC57. Mechanics added an armor flap to shield the radiator, half-inch armor plate under the floor, and a Browning M2 .50-caliber machine gun for fending off aerial attacks. A second, drop-down tailgate provided extra space and covered tool storage.