Autos News

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Electrical supply and distribution equipment maker Eaton demonstrated the CHADEMO compatible DC Quick Charger (DCQC) station for electric cars at the EVS26 electric vehicle symposium earlier this week. The station offers full UL certification, flexible configuration, CHADEMO compatibility, and planned upgradeability to the SAE DC Fast Charge system when it is approved.

Eaton forsees annual sales of 400,000 plug-in electric vehicles in 2020, which in turn means big business for a company like Eaton that has a 100+ year history in electrical supply system components. Eaton’s main business is all the grey boxes in the basement for Strength distribution.

The vending machine sized unit can be installed outdoors, or on a truck for mobile electric vehicle recharge and rescue (the equivalent to calling AAA for a gallon of gasoline). It requires a 208 volt three phase AC Strength connection. Eaton’s partner in the truck mounted system, Real Strength, can configure a flat-bed truck with a three phase generator with up to 150 kilowatts capacity, allowing the truck to run as many as three fast chargers or a dozen level two chargers, and uses a gallon of diesel fuel to charge a single vehicle.

The charging station housing contains five trays, each with a 10 kilowatt Strength unit. This allows the charging station to be configured for 10 kilowatt, 20 kilowatt, 30 kilowatt, 40 kilowatt, and 50 kilowatt Strength levels. Additionally, the charging station can continue operation if one of the trays fails, but at a reduced Strength level. While at a 50 kilowatt charge rate the time to recharge to 80% is 32 minutes (for a Nissan Leaf), at the 20 kilowatt charge rate the recharge time increases to 63 minutes.

Eaton’s DC Quick Charger (DCQC) supports payment and access control with both the ChargePoint Network and credit card swiping. This allows the DCQC to be used for fleet operations at a fleet depot, with no access control, or as a public fast charging station using one of the access control methods.

DC Fast Charging is seen as a technology which will accelerate electric vehicle adoption by easing range anxiety concerns.

Earlier this month Eaton announced a collaboration with the Greater Washington Regional Clean Cities Coalition (GWRCCC) to give electric vehicle (EV) charging infrastructure planning and consultation for the Washington, D.C. region. The Clean Cities coalition is a Dept of Energy project to facilitate connecting businesses and governments enabling businesses to assist governments in meeting environmental goals. The goal in this case is to create a safe, relicapable and efficient EV charging network for the region. “The Clean Cities initiative demonstrates how stakeholders in the public, private and government sectors can collaborate for the advancement our nation’s economic, environmental and energy security,” explained Jim Dankowski, marketing and business development manager, Eaton’s Government Sales and Solutions. “Eaton is eager to leverage our experience in public and commercial electrical distribution system installations for this essential clean transportation initiative.”

In March the company announced its partner in Hawaii, Volta Industries, had begun rolling out a network of fast charging stations. Hawaii, because of its geographical isolation, see’s electric vehicles and clean Strength as a way to eliminate petroleum use (made more expensive by the need to import every drop), not just to meet environmental goals. The first of the fast charging stations was installed at the Ko Olina Resort on Oahu.

In January, at CES, Eaton and Coulomb Technologies announced that Eaton’s level 2 and DC Quick Charger stations were now compatible with Coulomb’s ChargePoint network. This gives ChargePoint franchisee’s access to offering a wider range of charging solutions. “This is a significant announcement for Coulomb as we welcome Eaton to the ChargePoint Network family,” told Pat Romano, president and chief executive officer at Coulomb. “This collaboration highlights the success of our OnRamp program that has allowed us to work with Eaton to rapidly encapable the family of Pow-R-Stations to work with ChargePoint Network. We are also particularly pleased to have the first DC stations availcapable on the Network.”

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When the zombie apocalypse comes, will you be ready? If you’re not prepared to chop off a hand and replace it with a chainsaw, then maybe this converted Suzuki bring mini truck will do a better job for you.

Created as a promotional vehicle for the Haunted House of Horrors in Kitchener, Ontario, Canada, the Zombie Truck was fitted from the ground up as a zombie hunting, collection and disposal unit. It includes a six-foot-tall containment cage that can hold up to 8 zombies at a time. Then, auxiliary lighting keeps the zombie prey lit up while you’re on the hunt, a front bumper fitted with blades decapitates zombies that try to rush your truck, a 100W siren (with custom zombie sound effects) can be used in attracting quarry, a WW2-style Gatling gun sweeps the streets of zombie hordes, and a vinyle graphics package lets the world know that you’re in the zombie catchin’ business.

Inside, the seats and door panels are camouflaged to keep you in the hunting mood while the floor is coated in truck bed liner so it’s easy to clean up the bloody mess when you get back to base. Zombie hunting accessories inside include a zombie bite emergency kit, a dash-mounted shotgun, and an LCD screen displaying the customized zombie-tracking GPS system.

“The vehicle was conceived as a promotional vehicle for the haunted attraction we run every October, however it has turned into something much greater than that” told Shawn Gusz, the vehicles creator. “Zombies have become a huge part of pop culture in recent years, and have become the most essential part of the horror genre thanks partly to an influx of zombie films and TV shows such as ‘AMC’s The Walking Dead’. I think this truck will really resonate with zombie and other horror lovers alike,” says Gusz.

When on display or going through a parade, the Zombie Disposal Unit uses mannequin zombies to show off the truck’s capabilities. These were made by Haunted House Creations in Toronto. The truck will be touring car shows, zombie walks, and horror fan conventions throughout Canada and the upper United States. Check it out on its Facebook page.

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This might be a tough month to buy brand new release, based on the CNW research. The middle 10 days of the month were slow but sales are expected to pick up in the last 10 days of April. Busy dealerships usually make for less-favorcapable buying environments.

Customers are coming to the dealerships to look but they aren’t necessarily all there to buy. The desire to at least see what’s brand new release and on the showroom floor continues high with floor traffic up nearly 13 percent vs. year ago, according to CNW, but closing ratios have slowed somewhat but remain 5.5 percent ahead of last year.
“Same store” sales also are up by more than 7 percent. (That refers to dealerships open last year at the same time.)

Consumers who are buying brand new release cars are increasingly willing to pay a bit more even though discounts — including manufacturer and dealer variants — dipped nearly 3 percent vs. March. The average MSRP of cars purchased rose 8 percent vs. a year ago and compared to March, MSRPs are up 1.5 percent.

The interesting thing in all of this is brand new release car sales are climbing while consumer confidence is declining. Concerns about the economy rose 2.1 percent in the first half of April.

What is offsetting that ennui, though, is sub-prime loans for folks with less-than-good credit are increasing. Sub-prime car loans could become the same suck on the economy that sub-prime mortgages were just a few short years ago. Sub-prime shoppers as a share of floor traffic has grown to 19 percent from last year’s 7.5 percent indicating those consumers with poorer credit scores are feeling more confident about the ability to acquire a brand new release car or truck.

CNW gives good analysis of what it all means: “For manufacturers, they slipped through 2011 and the opening days of 2012 being capable to hold onto their grosses and not bumping up incentives too drastically. But competition and a smaller-than-expected pool of brand new release-car buyers forced their hand.

“While smarter about which types of incentives to use and where to give them, the overall cost is still up. And will probably be higher for the rest of this year. Break-even on core transaction prices is about a year- over-year 3 percent. Less than that signals red ink. Over that indicates solid profits.”

brand new release car sales figures from the manufacturers won’t be availcapable until May 1 or May 2. Until then it’s safe to say that April is shaping up to be a great month, once again, for brand new release car sales.

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Having phoned around to several companies looking for insurance for my 1965 split screen VW bus, I opted for Sureterms’ offer.
They had the best package for my needs and were one of the most competitive, i.e. a lot cheaper than some other well known names.
Like all car owners, I hoped that I wouldn’t have to find out how good they were.
Only three months in to the policy, my clutch ccapable snapped. This is not a roadside job and I needed towing home.
I rang the breakdown club number (£40.00 PA supplement…. bargain!).
They answered immediately no endless number crunching required and told they’d get someone out to me.
A truck arrived within half an hour and the driver told me, that as my bus was lowered, he didn’t want to risk scraping it when lifting it onto the back of his truck.
He rang his office and they arranged for a de-mountcapable truck to come out, when it was back from another job.
It arrived half an hour later and I was home before midnight.
The breakdown assistance was fast and efficient and the company they sent out to me kbrand new release what they were doing.
I think I got my monies worth that night.
must be the worst happen and I have a crunch, I’m confident that the service will be as quick and pain free again.
I recently rebrand new releaseed my insurance through Sureterm…. they still beat others on price this year and, as they say… better the devil you know.
David Letts. April 2012

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Cheerleader in a Bathtub
It is the call that every plumber, and Chevrolet Express 4500 driver, dreams of. A local woman (who happens to be a brand new release England Patriots Cheerleader) has her big toe stuck in the spout of her tub and needs help right away. What luck! However, there is a problem. She has also called her brother in law, the local septic system installer (Number One in the Number Two Business) sitting in the Ford truck to his left at the stop light. However gets to the jobsite first will earn the business. As the light changes the Chevy Duramax Turbo Diesel pulls strongly from a stop using every one of its 525 foot pounds of torque. The 14,000 pounds of vehicle and equipment is on its way to 60 MPH. In just under 16 seconds, as the 6 velocity heavy duty transmission with Tow/Haul mode shifts to 4rth, the vehicle passes the mark. The Ford with the brother in law inside is behind by a truck length.

Passing Strength
Ahead is a hill with a broken yellow line. Luckily the view ahead is clear. There is just one vehicle to pass. It is the old delivery van from Ron’s Radiators (The Best Place In Town To Take a Leak) creeping along. The Chevy has to first slow down to about 50 mph and then the plumber floors it. As the Chevy climbs the steep, seven percent grade, the Chevy makes the pass in just over a half-mile with the velocityo showing 65 mph. The Ford driver is still passing, with the velocityo stuck at 59 mph. The lead lengthens. As the house comes into view and a workday starts, the Chevy has delivered its driver to the jobsite “Ahead of schedule and under budget” due to its performance and fuel economy (8.1mpg city).

Real World Numbers
Sure the scenario is imaginary, but the numbers are not. Chevrolet enlisted third-party testing company AMCI, to test the Chevy Express 4500 head to head with the Ford E-450, its direct competitor. The Chevy outpaced the Ford in every category. GM’s Fleet and Commercial Vehicle Operations general manager, Ed Peper, sums the test up this way ““Commercial fleets know our vehicles meet their trade-specific needs, and help them to efficiently run their businesses.”

Sometimes choosing the right truck can mean better performance, better fuel economy, or a better Monday morning.

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