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Filed under: Transportation

With an electric MINI Cooper just around the bend, a Twin Drive hybrid Volkswagen landing in 2010 and Chevrolet’s Volt rolling into showrooms in a matter of months, Audi’s ten-year plan is looking a little awkward. Though we’ve yet to hear that it’s actually speeding things up, Peter Schwarzenbauer, who sits on the management board at Ingolstadt, recently confirmed that the company would be offering “a pure electric car” sometime in the future. Additionally, rumors of it being based on the A1 were dashed, opening the door for speculation that it will instead be built around the VW Up! (Lupo) concept. Here’s hoping we find our prior to 2018.

[Via Autoblog]

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Source: Darren Murph

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Filed under: Transportation

Not that electric MINIs are anything new, but unless you were willing to pay for all the mods yourself, procuring one wasn’t exactly simple. Now, however, we’re hearing that MINI itself will be bringing scads of these buggers to American streets in the summer of 2009. Yeah, like, one year from right now. MINI USA VP Jim McDowell was the source of said statement (so it’s pretty much official, yeah?), though he didn’t mention whether all of them would be reserved for California or if they would be available sold out nationwide. Hey MINI, we’d say you’ve got a hit on your hands.

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Source: Darren Murph

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Filed under: Transportation

Your dreams of riding in the ultimate cheapo deathbox have just gotten a little bit more real. According to a report, Tata will begin production of its diminutive, ultra-affordable Nano car this Fall. The $2500 vehicle is generally known as the cheapest car in the world, though worries over inflation suggest that its price-point may move above the intended figure. In other news, sources say that Tata plans a “greener” version of the vehicle in addition to the original model, which — if it happens — will likely be a real knockout punch for penny-pinchers with an Earth-hugging mindset. Still, you’ll probably have to ship it from India, which would burn a lot of fossil fuels, which would be bad for the environment… oh just buy an old Yugo.

[Via Autoblog Green]

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Source: Joshua Topolsky

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Filed under: Transportation

With the ability to surf the web in-car inevitably coming to more and more motorcars, ATX Group, the self-proclaimed “largest independent telematics services provider to the automotive industry,” has announced an initiative with the Connected Vehicle Trade Association to “convene an international work group to address how to safely access internet content through embedded and nomadic devices in vehicles.” Aside from that, it’s also proposing a generic top-level domain — .car — that would presumably dumb down websites for use in the vehicle. Of course, you won’t find us cheering on a movement to generate yet another worthless TLD, but we’d certainly be down with text-to-speech software that read the latest gadget headlines (just an example, is all) aloud as you cruised the freeway.

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Source: Darren Murph

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Filed under: Transportation

Although Brent Hatch’s homegrown solar-electric whip looks eerily similar (read: just as ugly) to the SUNN solar car kit, this one was actually created without the help of any pre-packaged parts or sophisticated schematics. After his gas bill rose well over $700 a month (he and his wife have seven kids, after all), he decided to purchase a rather unsightly eight-seater bicycle and figure out a way to enable roof-mounted solar panels to power an electric motor. Nah, the top speed isn’t very impressive, and you certainly wouldn’t want to head out on I-5 with it, but it sure makes picking up the offspring from their nearby school a whole lot less painful on the wallet. Check out the video in the read link for more.

[Thanks, Dave]

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Source: Darren Murph

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Filed under: CES, Gaming, Home Entertainment, Transportation

Let’s be honest, gaming chairs in all flavors of “enhancement” from vibration to sound to cup holders and beyond are quickly becoming a dime a dozen — but the ButtKicker not only takes a different approach to vibration enhancement than other options but also wins the “most notable name” award in the arena. For one thing, it’s not a chair — it’s a device you can install on any office chair to add vibration experience to not just gaming but anything producing sound on your computer including music and other media players. There are also two other versions of the device for use in home theater and auto installations (you can retrofit pretty much any old Lazy-boy in your living room). At $99 the gaming-focused version of the ButtKicker is cheaper than a lot of all-in-one gaming chair solutions as well. Oh, and how does the thing feel? Let’s just say it tickled us in many nuanced ways.

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Source: Barb Dybwad

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Filed under: Cellphones, Transportation

According to a report from the Boston Globe, a man claims that he was typing a text message into his cellphone when he lost control of his SUV and fatally struck a 13-year-old boy on a bicycle. In a stark and sad reminder of the cause for recent laws put into effect governing texting / phoning while driving, it appears the man was so distracted that he didn’t even realize what had happened until later that night. Ironically, the friend of the boy who had been walking with him attempted to call 911 on his phone, but was unable to get through. The driver is being charged with motor vehicle homicide, leaving the scene of an accident resulting in death, and driving without a license. A tragic story — and unfortunately not the first we’ve seen — but hopefully a cautionary tale for anyone who regularly juggles driving and texting. Don’t.

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Source: Joshua Topolsky

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Filed under: Transportation

After getting a good look at this thing, all we can say is that it better not take as long as the Tesla to get to market. Aptera’s ultra-aerodynamic Typ-1 most certainly has some outrageous claims behind it — most notably that 300 MPG rating — and some people are doubting how real or drivable this thing could be. Popular Mechanics got a chance take the little Jestons-mobile for a spin, and discovered that it does indeed exist, and in fact happens to drive quite nicely. The interior is just as sexy as the exterior, so we’d recommend you peep the video now before you end up the last person on your block to pre-order one of these.

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Source: Paul Miller

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