This is the Electro DeLorean, a fully electric retrofit of the 1981 iconic Back to the Future car. It’s also a completely wasted opportunity: If there’s a DeLorean version that needed a lightning hook system, this is the one. Still, you can add it yourself, because it is for sale on eBay for $US100,000 right now, including the obligatory flux capacitator prop. According to the seller, this is the “fastest and longest range electric DeLorean” you can buy, capable of doing 88MPH:
Jalopnik spotted the new Peapod–Chrysler’s GEM electric car for neighbourhoods–in the wild. Even while it feels like a glorified golf cart for “gated communities”, it looks great down to the iPod/iPhone dock in the middle of the dashboard. The design makes us smile for obvious reasons–although it’s also a little bit scary because it reminds me of the evil Stay Puft Marshmallow Man in Ghostbusters.
Points to Chevy for utilizing GPS in a brilliant way. Their new Volt features plug-in batteries powering an electric engine that, while promising, are only good for a 40-mile range without gas backup. So what do you do if you want to burn as little gas as possible, other than stay far below 40 miles of driving? To maximize battery use, the Volt’s GPS gauges how far you are from home and coordinates when/if the integrated gasoline-based generator should run to recharge the battery. In other words, the car is smart enough to know whether you’re 2 miles away from recharging or whether you are trapped in the desert with no hope in site. Nothing technically impressive here, just smart design. [Jalopnik]
