‘Jeopardy’ on the road
Jeopardy fans can now download the Drivetime app and play the trivia game on their next road trip, reports CNET. Each game is hosted by Alex Trebek and has trivia from the past 35 seasons. Jeopardy joins Drivetime’s other voice-based and hands-free games, and will offer a free game every weekday. Drivetime offers subscriptions for $10 a month and an auto-renewing yearly subscription at $100 a year. The app is available for iOS and Android devices.
Jessi Combs remembered
The newly created Jessi Combs Foundation is dedicated to educating, inspiring and empowering the next generation of female trailblazers and stereotype-breakers. Combs died in August while attempting a speed record on a dry lake bed in Oregon. She was driving the North American Eagle Supersonic Speed Challenger – a repurposed F-104 fighter jet which she had piloted to previous women’s four-wheeled speed records. She was 39. A submission to the Guinness World Records could give Combs the record as the fastest woman in the world, reports Motor 1. She successfully completed runs going 515.346 miles per hour and 548.432 mph, for an average of 531.889 mph. Kitty O’Neil set the existing record of 512.7 mph in 1976 – shattering the land-speed record for women by about 200 mph.
Hand-me-downs
In the U.S., battery-powered cars make up fewer than 2 percent of new vehicle sales, reports Wired. That desultory number, though slowly increasing, makes clear that for all the technology’s upsides in performance, design and environmental impact, consumers remain skeptical of the high prices and limited range that come with a charging cord. But new data shows that EVs are starting to catch on in used-car shopping sites. One site, Shift, says that in the first half of this year, electrics tripled their share of sales compared with the same period of 2018, to 4 percent. Add in hybrids and the number gets more impressive. “Twenty percent of what we sell is hybrid or electric,” Shift co-CEO Toby Russell is quoted as saying.
Gotcha!
Electric-car owners: Enjoy – for now – the fact that you’re free from your state’s gasoline tax at the pump. The fact is, numerous states have crafted workarounds, and are charging EV owners far more than the standard gas tax, reports MSN. Among the 26 states that already impose fees, Arkansas, Colorado, Mississippi and Alabama charge the most, according to a study by Consumer Reports. Each state’s fees are 198%, 197%, 158% and 127% more than the gas tax, respectively. EV owners in Arkansas will cough up $200 annually to operate an electric vehicle on local roads, for example. The lowest current fee is Virginia at 5% more than the gas tax.
Finance charges way, way up
It’s going to cost you more to buy a new car this year, reported the AAA in September. Finance costs on new car purchases have jumped 24% in 2019, pushing the average annual cost of vehicle ownership to $9,282, or $773.50 a month. That’s the highest cost associated with new vehicle ownership since AAA began tracking expenses in 1950, and a reminder that the true costs of owning a vehicle extend far beyond maintenance and fuel. “AAA found finance charges rose more sharply in the last 12 months than any major expense associated with owning a vehicle,” said John Nielsen, AAA’s managing director for automotive engineering & repair. The spike in finance charges – which rose from $744 to $920 – comes as 72-month car loans have become increasingly common, meaning car buyers are paying more, and longer, for their vehicles. Long-term loans offer lower monthly car payments, but they ultimately cost the consumer more. AAA found that, on average, every 12 months added to the life of a loan adds nearly $1,000 in total finance charges.