Chances are you spend a lot of time in your car. Here’s something that might help you appreciate your home-away-from-home a little more.
Jump start
Having a reliable portable car battery charger is important for vehicles with older batteries, inclement weather and unforeseen circumstances that might require a jump start, according to CNET. Car battery jump-starters were developed as a safer, more convenient alternative to traditional cables for jump-starting a car with a dead battery. “Car battery jump-starters and chargers are also dense little storage bins for electrical energy, and many come with useful built-in accessories. They’ll recharge with standard extension cords, wall-plug adapters, USB ports in running vehicles or cigarette lighter-style 12-volt male adapters. Most offer some combination of the four recharge options.” CNET offered a list of the best car battery jump-starters:
- The best compact jump starter battery: Antigravity Batteries XP-10 Micro-Start
- The best compact jump starter battery with a bit more kick: Antigravity Batteries XP-10 HD Micro-Start
- The best all-in-one car jump starter battery: Black & Decker Portable Power Station Jump Starter PPRH5B
- The best big cranker jump starter battery with a compressor: DeWalt Digital Portable Power Station DXEJ14
- The best basic compact jump starter battery with cool graphics: NOCO Genius Boost Plus GB40 UltraSafe
- The best power bank battery for a camping trip: Schumacher ProSeries 2250 Jump Starter
For the full list, visit www.cnet.com/roadshow/news/best-portable-jump-starter-for-your-car-in-2020.
The case for self-driving delivery vehicles
While most autonomous vehicle startups and their automaker partners have focused on rideshare, there is a more compelling case to focus first on fleets of self-driving delivery vehicles, Colin Langan, auto analyst with UBS, told Motor Trend.
There are lower technological hurdles and better economics behind driverless delivery vans, Motor Trend reported. Removing the passenger from the equation will only speed up adoption of robo-delivery vans, said Langan who gave an overview of his study in a webinar for the Society of Automotive Analysts. He released his findings on the day that VW closed its deal to invest $2.6 billion in Argo AI, joining Ford in funding Argo’s development of self-driving technology. Argo will take over VW’s self-driving unit in Europe.
Wells Fargo dropping independent dealer loans
CNBC reported in early June that Wells Fargo, one of the biggest lenders for new and used car purchases in the U.S., sent letters to hundreds of independent auto dealerships in May telling them that the San Francisco-based company was dropping them as a customer. A Wells Fargo spokeswoman confirmed that the bank, which only makes auto loans through car dealerships, will no longer accept loan applications from most independent shops. Independent dealerships typically sell used cars, unlike franchise dealerships that focus on new vehicles from specific manufacturers. The bank had “an obligation to review our business practices in light of the economic uncertainty presented by COVID-19 and have let the majority of our independent dealer customers know that we will suspend accepting applications from them,” Natalie Brown, the spokeswoman, said in an email. “The independent dealers we will continue doing business with are those with deep, long-standing relationships with Wells Fargo.” Read more at: www.cnbc.com/2020/06/02/wells-fargo-cuts-back-from-making-loans-to-independent-car-dealerships.html.