Down the Road, by Kate McLeod
Buying a Car? Bottom Line, Check Your Bottom
A friend is deciding whether she will buy a new car or pour money into her older model. She’s very unhappy with her current front driver seat and that, along with her current car’s $1,700 repair estimate, is compelling her to shop for a new car.
“The seat back does not support my back — the bottom cushion padding is inadequate to give proper support. I get searing pain, especially in my left hip while driving my car even short distances. The seat ends halfway between my hip area and knee so that half my leg has no support. And the seat adjustment levers are clumsy and do not work well.” Continue reading
Tech Out My New Car, by Lynn Walford
Car Tech Gets Disruptive to Give Humans Better Days
Automakers are building smart mobility services, offering new safety technology and working on better ways to interact with drivers.
At the 2018 Consumer Electronic Show, Ford’s CEO Jim Hackett told how the automaker is being reengineered to help lead the shift to mobility through the design of smart vehicles for a smart world to help people move more safely, confidentially, and freely.
“We’re here today with a generation of new disruptive technologies feathering into the automotive world. These new technologies and innovations make it possible to share resources in ways we thought could never be done before,” said Hackett in a keynote address, noting, “It’s not about the cities getting smarter, but the humans having a better day.” Continue reading
Down the Road, by Brandy A. Schaffels
Why Does My New Car Start-Stop?
The average driver spends 16 minutes each day idling in traffic — or approximately four days a year without actually going anywhere, which adds up to a staggering nearly 4 billion gallons of gasoline wasted in the U.S. each year due to idling.
Carmakers are under intense pressure to meet strict fuel economy standards and are using ever more creative ways to wring out every last bit of fuel efficiency from their vehicles. One of the easiest ways to improve fuel economy is to implement “automatic start/stop” technology into their engines.
Engine stop/start is designed to minimize fuel consumption by automatically shutting off the engine when the car comes to a stop at a red light or in standstill traffic; some vehicles even disconnect the engine from the drivetrain when coasting at highway speeds. When a driver takes his or her foot off the brake to press on the gas, the engine restarts almost instantaneously, and the car is again ready to drive forward. ~by Brandy Schaffels
Green Wheeling, by Evelyn Kanter
Electric Vehicles Super-Sizing Large Truck Market
Electric vehicles are getting supersized. If you think EVs are just for commuter cars, then you’re not “plugged-in” to some of the biggest news in electrification. Here’s what’s new: Nikola has teamed with Bosch to market and develop a plug-in hydrogen-electric truck lineup that will deliver more than 1,000 horsepower and 2,000 lb.-ft. of torque. That’s nearly double the horsepower of any semi-truck on the road. Nikola estimates its big rig technology can save around 117,000 gallons of fuel per rig per year. ~by Evelyn Kanter
Rolling Homes, by Julianne G. Crane
RVers Can Bank on Casino Industry for Boondocking
The popularity of Recreation Vehicles continues to skyrocket for both retirees and millennials. Many of these RVers are looking for ways to trim their overall cost of overnight campground stays.
This is especially true when RVers are traveling long distances and simply want a safe place to pull off the highway and sleep for a few hours before continuing their journey.
Enter the casino industry. Hundreds of casinos across the country are taking advantage of this niche market by offering free overnight stays in their parking lots. This practice, also referred to as blacktop boondocking, or dry camping, is when an RVer parks for free on casino property, without the benefit of hookups or other amenities common in fee-based RV parks.
“In our early years on the road,” said Jane Kenny, author of Casino Camping: Guide to RV-Friendly Casinos, “every time we would stumble upon a casino, we pulled in to play for a few hours and sample the buffet. No matter what the State, we often noticed a number of RVs parked in the casino lot, usually grouped together at the far end.” ~by Julianne G. Crane