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Recharge Wrap-up: Smart Silvretta E-Car Rally, Uber's autonomous Teslas

Daimler took part in the 2015 Silvretta E-Car Rally with seven electrified cars from Mercedes-Benz and Smart. It is the automakers' sixth year competing in the competition in the mountains of Austria's Montafon region. Mercedes fielded two B-Class Electric Drives, an SLS AMG Electric Drive, C350e, S500e and GLE500e 4Matic alongside a Smart Brabus Fortwo Electric Drive Cabriolet. The Silvretta Rally sees some 150 vintage cars and 30 electric vehicles take part in the event, which took place from July 2 through 5 this year. Read more in the press release from Daimler below. Uber CEO Travis Kalanick says that he'd want to buy all of Tesla's autonomous vehicles if they were available in 2020. Venture capitalist Steve Jurvetson relayed Kalanick's comments from the Top 10 Tech Trends dinner in June. Jurvetson also praises self-driving cars, saying, "I believe they are already safer than my parents, and I would trust my kids with them. And they're just going to get better." Jurvetson also believes that taxi services will prosper from the use of autonomous cars in the future. Read more at Hybrid Cars. A Michigan legislator has introduced a bill that would count burning industrial solids — such as tires and plastics — toward the state's renewable energy mandate. Aric Nesbitt's bill would "remove unnecessary burdens on the appropriate use of solid waste as a clean energy source" in order to meet the state's requirement that 10 percent of energy come from renewable sources. Critics argue that these materials are not truly renewable, and that burning them causes pollution and emits greenhouse gases. The proposed bill would also repeal a law requiring utilities to work toward reducing energy use by one percent per year. Read more at Treehugger. Will the cars National Electric Vehicle Sweden (NEVS) builds in China bear the Saab name? While NEVS is the newest parent company to Saab after being acquired in bankruptcy from Spyker, there's no confirmation that the electric vehicles it builds at its Tianjin plant will be sold as Saabs. Swedish defense firm Saab AB, which held the rights to the Saab name, withheld permission to use it after NEVS declared bankruptcy last year. "The exact models and brands are not finalized yet," says a NEVS spokesman. The company says it is spending $200 million to build the new factory in China, with an expected annual capacity of 200,000 vehicles. Read more at Automotive News Europe.

2015 Mercedes-Benz S550 PHEV offers the best of both worlds it's ready to conquer

The Mercedes-Benz S-Class just keeps growing – both in terms of dimensions and in terms of variants. Nevermind the S-Class Coupe for a moment and focus only on the sedan: in North America alone, you can get the big Benz in S550, S600, S63 and S65 spec, and at the Los Angeles Auto Show this year, Daimler has rolled out the new Maybach version as well. But if it's a more environmentally friendly way to woosh around town in serene luxury that you're after, you'll want to look at the new S550 Plug-In Hybrid. Joining Daimler's growing range of battery-powered models alongside the E400 Hybrid, B-Class Electric Drive and Smart ED (the latter soon to be replaced by an all-new version), the S550 PHEV is the German automaker's first plug-in hybrid. It was first announced over a year ago and made its debut at the Frankfurt Motor Show last year, but now the US-spec car is making its North American debut in LA. Promising "the performance of a V8 and the fuel consumption of a compact model," the S550 PHEV pairs a 3.0-liter twin-turbo V6 to an 80-kW electric motor, the S550 PHEV packs a combined 436 horsepower and 479 pound-feet of torque to reach 62 in just 5.2 seconds, top out at 130 miles per hour or drive up to 20 miles on electric mode alone. On the European combined cycle, it'll return an impressive 84 miles per gallon, all the while never skimping on the luxury. Scope it out in our gallery of photos from the show floor in LA and delve into the details in the press release below. First PLUG-IN HYBRID with a star: S550 PLUG-IN HYBRID The new Mercedes-Benz S550 PLUG-IN HYBRID blends an ultramodern hybrid drive configuration with the unique innovations and the luxurious equipment and appointments of the S-Class. The luxury sedan impresses with exceptional dynamism and efficiency. Thanks to standard pre-entry climate control it also offers unique climate comfort. The first certified three-liter luxury sedan in the world is a further milestone on the road to emission-free mobility. "The S550 PLUG-IN HYBRID is the first luxury sedan with the performance of a V8 and the fuel consumption of a compact model. The greatest challenge in this is to translate efficiency into superior performance. In this respect there is a highly interesting parallel with our successful Formula 1 racing car, which likewise has a turbocharged V6 engine and a high-tech hybrid drive," says Prof. Dr.

'The best Lewis' Hamilton faces resurgent Ferrari in F1

SHANGHAI (Reuters) - Lewis Hamilton has raised his game but whether the Mercedes driver can deny Ferrari a second successive win of the season in China this weekend remains to be seen. On paper, the triple world champion is still the man to beat -- the most successful driver by far in Shanghai with four wins to date. "Lewis is the best Lewis that I've seen in the last four years, both on and off the track," said Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff after the Briton started on pole and finished second to Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel in the Australian season-opener. "He has become a pillar of this team and he proved that in Melbourne." But Vettel is leading the championship, the first time a non-Mercedes driver has done that since he took his fourth title with Red Bull in 2013, and once-dominant Mercedes have a fight on their hands. Mercedes, who have taken both the drivers and constructors' titles for the last three years, have won four of the last five races in China. As Melbourne showed, however, past form may count for little in a season of sweeping rule change. "If you think you are going to cruise to victory in the future, based on a track record of success, you'll be proven wrong very quickly," said Wolff. "Australia was a weekend full of lessons, now we go to China ready and excited for another battle." Ferrari have not started a season with consecutive wins since 2004 at the peak of the Michael Schumacher era, the Italian team taking 15 victories from 18 races that season. Vettel's win in Australia ended a victory drought for Ferrari stretching back to September 2015, and drew rare praise from company chairman Sergio Marchionne, but they must now prove they can be genuine contenders. "You really have to go step by step," said Vettel. "It's good to know that we have a great car but it's just the beginning: new regulations, new generations of cars so there will be a lot of progress." The cars this year are longer and wider, sporting fatter tires and more swept-back bodywork as part of a rules shake-up aimed at making them faster, more spectacular to watch and harder to drive. But overtaking has also become more difficult, with Australia raising concern about the lack of real moves. The long straights and wide sweeps of the Shanghai circuit saw 128 passes last year, more than at any other track, and should provide a more definitive verdict.