smarter traveling, driving and spending
Which 2010 or 2011 model gets your vote of the most desirable vehicle of the year? The best green car? There are three important awards being announced at the press preview days of the important 2010 Los Angeles Auto Show next week. First, is the title of Automobile of the Year, awarded by Automobile Magazine. The
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The long-awaited Chevrolet Volt goes on sale Fall 2010. A real problem for owners of electric cars and plug-in hybrids is that recharging stations are still limited. General Motors and its partners will reduce what’s called range anxiety by making 15,000 charging stations available to Chevy Volt buyers. These are heavy-duty 240-volt charging stations, which
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Car sales are a great indicator of the state of the economy. when car sales are down, so is the economy. In April 2010, car sales were up 20% over April 2009. That’s a good sign that the economy is turning around. Of course, some brands did better than others. Nissan had the largest increase
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Who says Germans don’t have a sense of humor? Audi ads on the XLIV Super Bowl are a funny serious look at saving fuel and saving our natural resources. Green police go after the bag guys — the ones who use styrofoam cups and paper plates, and the ones who do not drive fuel efficient
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Talk about sustainable energy — recharge your electric car with solar power. There are a handful of solar-powered charging stations around the world where drivers can juice up their EV vehicles, and one of them has just opened in New York City. Solar power to recharge EV cars could be a game-changer, and especially this concept design,
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The Audi brand is in the fast-lane, for sure. Audi models have been sweeping awards at recent auto shows. Let’s start with the 2010 Detroit Auto Show, now underway. The all-new 2011 Audi A8 luxury performance sedan took top honors in the prestigious EyesOn Design awards, which recognizes — you guessed it — design. The A8 is a
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When Lance Armstrong is not riding a bicycle, he will be riding a Nissan vehicle. The car maker has announced it is sponsoring Team RadioShack, the new Lance Armstrong profssional cycling team. Nissan becomes the team’s official vehicle of Armstrong’s Team RadioShack. This posting is from 2010 Nissan support of Team RadioShack is no longer in
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Time magazine is justifiably famous for its annual “Person of the Year” awards. But that’s not the only award it bestows each year. I was delighted to find an electric car, the plug-in Nissan LEAF on the list of Time’s top inventions of 2009. It is the only vehicle on the 2009 list. What makes the Nissan
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Green cars were the big news at the Frankfurt Auto Show in September and the Los Angeles Auto Show in December 2009, and the expectation is that hybrid cars, plug-in electric cars and hydrogen fuel cell cars will be making headlines at the important Detroit Auto Show in January 2010. The rumor is that Toyota will introduce
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Getting smart: The first plug-in electric Smartfortwo minicar has been delivered to customers in Berlin, close to the Stuttgart home of its parent company, Mercedes-Benz. The first two owners — an artist and a dental technology company executive — currently own the regular gas-powered Smartfortwo. The compact two-seater is the first emission-free vehicle in the world with
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