Rust Free California Blue Plate 1978 Champagne Edition Westfalia! on 2040-cars

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Recharge Wrap-up: Tesla Model S full speed, Pheonix EVs at LAX

A Tesla Model S driver shows what it's like to maintain about 125 miles per hour on the German Autobahn. In the video, Bjorn Nyland records his trip from a stop at a Supercharger 25 miles to the Danish border while driving about 200 kph for about 12 minutes. Upon entering the Autobahn, he hits the limiter at about 212 kph, or almost 132 mph. As he's driving, the car's estimated driving range adjusts for his speed, and he quickly loses quite a few miles. He doesn't care, though. He's having fun. See the video above, and read more at Inside EVs. Phoenix Cars has provided an Electric Shuttle Bus to an airport parking company at the Los Angeles International Airport. As LAX's first electric shuttle bus, it is expected to run two shifts seven days a week, saving more than 60 tons of CO2 emissions yearly. The electric shuttle bus will be on display from June 29 to July 2 at the International Parking Institute Conference and Expo in Las Vegas. Phoenix also recently supplied its ZEUS electric flatbed to the US Navy. Read more in the press release below. Ballard will operate a fleet of eight hydrogen-powered buses in London for an additional five years. Transport for London uses the buses, powered by Ballard fuel cell technology, for its central Covent Garden-Tower Gateway route. The first five buses went into service in 2010 as Transport for London aimed to reduce CO2 emissions by 60 percent from 1990 levels by 2025. The three additional buses joined the fleet in 2013. "This contract extension is a positive endorsement of zero-emission fuel cell technology in transit applications, based on the demonstrated performance of these buses over the past five years," says Ballard Chief Commercial Officer Steve Karaffa. "Clean transportation is a growing concern for transit authorities globally and our fuel cell modules deliver a proven solution." Read more from Ballard. Volkswagen and SAIC are expanding electric vehicle operations in China. The partners will expand the main Shanghai Volkswagen plant to build electric vehicles. "Over the next four years, we plan to localize more than 15 different electric vehicle models in China, including plug-in hybrids and fully electric vehicles," says Volkswagen's Prof. Dr. Jochem Heizmann. Volkswagen will also step up fuel cell and plug-in hybrid research in China. In about four years, Volkswagen will build a new EV, based on the popular Lavida, at the Anting plant outside of Shanghai. Read more from Volkswagen.

VW's Skoda says Ukraine partner making wire harnesses again

PRAGUE — Skoda Auto, part of the Volkswagen Group, said on Tuesday its supply partner in Ukraine had decided to restart production of wire harnesses which should allow the Czech carmaker to resume production of its electric ENYAQ iV model. Russia's invasion of Ukraine has added to supply chain problems for global automakers — which were already struggling with semiconductor shortages that have cut production — with a break in deliveries of wire harnesses from the war-torn country. While Skoda, the Czech Republic's biggest exporter, said it expects the supply of semiconductors to improve in the second half of 2022, it said the war in Ukraine and supply bottlenecks will put a significant burden on its operating business. Skoda's 2021 deliveries fell 12.6% year-on-year and earlier this month it stopped production of the ENYAQ because of harness shortages, saying that two other models were at risk because of the lack of availability of the component. "Our partner ... in Ukraine decided to restart production of wire harnesses this week, with full service and full security for workers there," Karsten Schnake, Skoda's board member for purchasing, said during its online 2021 earnings presentation. Wire harnesses form a key part of a car's electrical system, which group and guide cables inside the vehicle. "We decided to double the production in case something is going wrong, and this production will be ramped up in an alternative factory," Schnake said, adding that work there would start in three or four weeks. "Hopefully we can restart production of ENYAQ one or two weeks later when we have wire harnesses," Schnake said. Skoda delivered 878,200 cars worldwide in 2021, the first time that this had fallen below the 1 million mark since 2013. Nevertheless, the VW group brand's sales revenue rose 3.9% to 17.7 billion euros ($19.5 billion) in 2021 and operating profit rose 43.2% to 1.1 billion euros ($1 billion) as it took cost measures. Skoda did not give a financial or production outlook, saying there were still considerable uncertainties as a result of the conflict in Ukraine and the impact on its Russian operations. Skoda, like VW, has suspended production and other business activities in Russia, which was its second-largest market last year, with 90,400 vehicles delivered. ($1 = 0.9089 euros) (Reporting by Jason Hovet, Editing by Louise Heavens, Kirsten Donovan and Alexander Smith) Related video: Green Plants/Manufacturing Volkswagen Skoda Electric ukraine war

2013 Volkswagen Jetta Hybrid

More Fun Than A Prius, Less Sensible Than A TDI
Let's have some fun, and do some math. We're talking pretty rudimentary stuff, multiplication and division, to figure out if the upcoming Volkswagen Jetta Hybrid can make a baseline case for itself against two very strong competitors in this segment. The competitors in question, at least for now, are two more Jettas: the diesel-drinking TDI and the fit-for-the-masses SE with VW's long-serving 2.5-liter engine.
To keep the equations clean and simple (hey, we're writers), we'll calculate based on the most flattering EPA miles per gallon stat from highway driving for all cars, assume a healthy 20,000 miles driven per year, and factor in today's average cost for the respective fuels these three require: diesel (TDI), regular (SE) and premium (Hybrid). We'll also start with the base prices for all models.