Digital license plates
Like phones, books and cars before them, license plates may soon go smart. Several companies, notably California-based Reviver Auto, are trying out digital license plates, a development that could save resources and even help police locate stolen vehicles, and may also turn cars into small-scale billboards.
Reviver’s digital plate, currently being tested in a California pilot program, can be validated via cellular signal when drivers pay registration fees, meant to save states on postage and materials for paper renewals, according to The New York Times. Additionally, the plates can change to indicate if a vehicle is stolen, and they can also flash Amber Alerts. An RFID tag can be used to pay tolls, substituting for an E-ZPass. And when the car is parked, businesses can display advertisements on the plate, using GPS to target the ad to that specific geographic area.
The RPlate, as Reviver’s model is known, uses the same E Ink technology that tablet book readers like Kindle and Nook use. The current RPlate model is out of most consumers’ price range – $699 for the plate itself, plus additional yearly fees to connect to Reviver’s cellular network – but the company aims to eventually lower the cost to $150.
Farewell tour for Beetles
The 2019 Volkswagen Beetle will be the last production year of the Volkswagen Beetle, seven decades after it first came to the United States in 1949, the company announced. But the Beetle will be getting a year-long sendoff, beginning with Beetle Final Edition models for 2019 and continuing over the next several months.
“As we move to being a full-line, family-focused automaker in the U.S. and ramp up our electrification strategy with the MEB platform, there are no immediate plans to replace it,” said Hinrich J. Woebcken, president and CEO, Volkswagen Group of America Inc., speaking of the Beetle. “But as we have seen with the I.D. BUZZ – which is the modern and practical interpretation of the legendary Bus – I would also say, ‘Never say never.’”
The Beetle Final Edition coupe and convertible sports two colors that echo the beige and light blue colors chosen for the end of the first-generation Beetle production in 2003. For those whose color choices run to more standard options, there are also shades of white, black and grey, while the convertible has an optional brown top. The Final Edition also has unique wheels, either a 17-inch aluminum alloy with a 15-spoke pattern or an 18-inch alloy “disc” design with white trim, similar to the body-color wheels of original-generation Beetles. In addition, all Beetle Final Edition models offer available driver-assistance technology. SE models include standard Blind Spot Monitor Rear Traffic Alert. Final Edition SEL models add standard front and rear Park Distance Control, and like all Beetles, the Final Edition uses the 174-hp 2.0-liter TSI® engine, paired with a six-speed automatic transmission.
Minivans are dope
Many drivers shun minivans in favor of sportier, perhaps tougher-looking SUVs and crossovers. But by doing so, they risk losing fuel efficiency and storage space, Tom Voelk writes in The New York Times.
Vans like the Dodge Caravan and the Chrysler Town and Country “were revolutionary transportation when they arrived in 1983, becoming an instant hit with active families,” according to Voelk. “But by 1990, suburban America had begun to shun the image of domestic drudgery that vans had developed.”
Minivan sales are down by about 5 percent from last year, he writes. But the few vans on the market today offer advantages over their SUV counterparts, he adds. The Chrysler Pacifica E-Hybrid, for example, uses a lithium-ion battery to fuel about 33 miles – an 84 mpg equivalent –before switching “seamlessly” to its gas engine.
When it comes to storage, the Kia Sedona has 78.4 cubic feet of cargo space behind its second-row seating, compared with the Ford Expedition SUV, which has 57.5 cubic feet.
“It drives like a regular car,” one driver says of her 2018 Honda Odyssey. “I know minivans have a bad rap, but it drives very well – kind of sporty, actually.”
Student design competition
University students will have a chance to improve drivers’ user experience – aka UX – during the second annual WardsAuto UX Student Design Competition this fall.
“New mobility solutions, including ride-hailing companies such as Uber and Lyft, ride-sharing apps and subscription vehicle leasing are leading to situations where drivers and occupants may find themselves in a vehicle for only a few minutes, or a few days, rather than years at a time,” according to a WardsAuto press release.
Taking into account these new driver-vehicle relationships, as well as the potential for more advanced driver-assist features to improve safety, WardsAuto and Michigan-based Lawrence Technological University are partnering to host the student design competition. A panel of UX designers will judge the work in December, and winners will be announced on WardsAuto.com.
Hey, did you happen to see the most beautiful electric car in the world?
The idea of a removing the “XK” inline-six engine from an early Jaguar E-type and replacing it with an electric motor might sound like sacrilege. Yet that’s exactly what Jaguar Classic did in creating what it calls the E-type Zero, reports Car and Driver. And it’s looking good.
Jaguar Classic will offer the conversion for vintage E-types and will also sell restored E-types with batteries under the bonnet in the same way that it sells factory-restored “Reborn” E-types with their original powertrain. Says Car and Driver, “We’ve now driven the E-type Zero, and we must admit that, for an apostasy, it works surprisingly well.”
Jaguar claims a range of 200 miles in optimum conditions and around 125 miles in regular use. Fast charging isn’t supported – it would have required active battery cooling, which would have added an unacceptable level of complexity and weight – but the Zero’s likely role as a sometime toy rather than everyday transport means that a 7.0-kW onboard charger capable of replenishing the battery pack in about five hours when connected to a 240-volt source is reckoned to be adequate; that will take longer from a standard 120-volt household outlet.
“To our surprise, the lack of any combustion noise is not the deal-breaker we feared it might be,” according to Car and Driver. “The motor produces a characteristic electric whine under harder acceleration, but the nearly silent running actually well suits the car’s relaxed dynamic character at low speeds.”