Electric Car Blogging

Filed under: Hybrids/Alternative, Government/Legal, Green, Police/Emergency

Law enforcement officers have more reasons to be excited with Carbon Motors‘ release of a few more images and a video of its purpose-built Police car. The E7, as it is currently known, looks to be much more capable than the thousands of Crown Vics, Impalas and Chargers currently roaming our streets due to its rather amazing list of specifications and gadgetry. Included are a diesel engine capable of accelerating to 65 in under 7-seconds, composite body panels attached to an aluminum structure, 360-degree built-in police-duty LED lights, suicide rear doors with hose-out passenger compartment and a separate front compartment with plenty of techno-goodies. Radar, LoJack, an automatic license plate recognition system, radiation and biological threat detectors and Carbon’s exclusive On-board Rapid Command Architecture (ORCA) which features a large touch-screen display plus keyboard (see above), are all included. We think that this sucker should get the job done rather nicely. Click here for a short video of the E7 in action.

[Source Fox News Chicago via Jalopnik]

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Filed under: Convertibles, Hybrids/Alternative, Sports/GTs, Green, Hirings/Firings/Layoffs

Tesla is now on its fourth CEO in just 12 months as the fledgling all-electric automaker has announced today that chief fund-raiser, architect and Chairman Elon Musk will take up the mantle from current CEO Ze’ev Drori. Early this morning Valleywag reported that Tesla would be firing up to 100 of its staff and that Drori might be leaving. A call to Tesla SVP Darryl Siry revealed that the story was not entirely accurate. Drori is not leaving the company, but will move over to become Vice Chairman. Exactly what that means is not entirely known at this point, although clearly Musk intends to take a more hands on role now that his Space-X rocket finally managed to get into orbit. Tesla is also laying off some staff, although the extent of lay offs is unknown at this time. Siry promised an official announcement sometime this morning, but we’re still waiting.

UPDATE: Tesla has finally published a blog post on the company site (sorta) detailing what’s going on. In short, the activity on Wall Street that’s decimated your 401k over the past week is part of the problem. Musk has decided to take the reigns as the company consolidates its efforts on shipping Roadsters and selling powertrain technology to other companies. Both of those will generate revenue. Almost everything else is essentially on hold for now. That means that Model S development is being scaled back temporarily and the Auburn Hills, MI engineering office is being shuttered. In the future all work will happen out of the new San Jose CA HQ. The slowdown will be in effect until Tesla is able to tap into low cost DOE loans that will help pay for development of the Model S and construction of the factory. Production of the sedan is now pushed back at least six months to mid-2011. Musk acknowledged a head count reduction, (aka lay offs) but didn’t reveal how extensive that would be.

[Source: Tesla Motors]

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Filed under: Hybrids/Alternative, Sedans/Saloons, Cadillac, GM, Rumormill

According to MotorTrend, General Motors is considering fitting its 4.5-liter Duramax V8 Turbodiesel inside the Cadillac CTS sedan as a stepping-stone between the standard V6-equipped CTS and the barn-burning CTS-V.

The report contends that the Duramax V8 would be an easy fit inside the confines of the CTS’ engine bay with the addition of the CTS-V’s bulging hood. The dual-overhead cam, four-valve diesel V8 puts out 310 hp and a tire decimating 520 lb.-ft. of torque and GM already has a transmission that can handle the grunt. The oilburner currently meets the tougher 2010 emissions standards which would allow it to be sold in all 50 states, and with a reported 20-25% increased fuel economy over the V8 model, the diesel CTS could provide some competition to similar offerings from Audi, BMW and Mercedes-Benz. According to MT, the amount of modifications would be minimal and the addition of the CTS diesel would help to boost GM’s CAFE certification to meet the stricter 35 mpg requirements in 2020.

[Source: MotorTrend]

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