New Car2Go to launching electric Daimler's car2go car sharing service kicked off in Ulm, Germany in October 2008 before expanding to Austin, Texas in 2010. Earlier this month, Hamburg, Germany, became the first city with more than a million inhabitants to see the introduction of the car2go service, but the second won't be far behind with a launch set for Amsterdam before the end of the year.

Unlike Zipcar, Car2Go’s model is looking to be much simpler. Whereas Zipcar requires members to pick up and return cars from the same location, make reservations and pay by the hour, Car2Go members can rent vehicles by the minute without reservations and drop off the vehicles at designated points throughout the city.

The launch of an all electric vehicle fleet marks a new era in carsharing in North America,” said Nicholas Cole, President and CEO of car2go N. A. LLC. “San Diego is a forward-thinking city determined to meet future transportation demands of its residents. Our goal is to complement the existing transportation infrastructure by providing an emission-free carsharing service for short and spontaneous one-way trips.

ECOtality is currently installing approximately 1,000 publicly available Blink charging stations throughout the San Diego region as part of The EV Project. Data collected by the charging stations will be analyzed to better understand how EV drivers charge their car, and help to guide future rollouts of commercial charging stations.

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New Car Bmw Mini Coupe Prices $22,000 Mini has released official photos and pricing for the 2012 Mini Coupe slated to go on sale this fall. Prices range from $22,000 for the base model to $31,900 for the raciest version. The new photos follow the release two weeks ago of stylized prototype images.

The Coupe will be offered with three different engines—a 1.6-liter four-cylinder producing 121-hp, a turbocharged 1.6-liter producing 181-hp, and a John Cooper Works version producing 208-hp from its turbocharged four cylinder. All engines will come with a standard six-speed manual transmission or an optional six-speed automatic. EPA fuel economy estimates are not yet available.Mini claims the base Coupe will accelerate 0-60 mph in 8.3 seconds; the S Coupe is expected to clock in at 6.5 and 6.1 seconds for the John Cooper Works edition.

As for the specs and new features of the 2012 Mini Coupe we don’t have the full details yet. Like what mentioned, only leaked images were discovered. As you can see, the new Mini Coupe sports a weird-looking camouflage which actually hides the retractable spoiler in the trunk. This concept is not new at all although it wasn’t revealed during the Mini Coupe’s concept design back in 2009.

The basic Mini Coupe comes with standard electric power steering, dynamic stability control and park distance control. Among the options are adaptive headlamps and dynamic traction control with electronic differential lock control.

Notable optional equipment includes xenon headlights, adaptive headlights, automatic climate control, and automatically dimming rear-view mirror and electric exterior mirrors. Entertainment options include Bluetooth, USB audio interface, and connectivity functions including web radio, Google search and Send to Car services, RSS news feeds, and in-car use of Facebook and Twitter.

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How use taxi ford natural gas car The next time you hail a taxi, you could be jumping in to one that runs on compressed natural gas (CNG). Chicago and Los Angeles are now the two latest cities to roll out Ford Transit Connect Taxis fueled by CNG.

In Chicago today, Taxi Medallion Management will put 12 Ford Transit Connect Taxis powered by compressed natural gas (CNG) into service as part of an event celebrating the increased presence of CNG in Chicago. A CNG Ford Transit Connect Taxi will participate in the opening of a new Clean Energy CNG filling station and natural gas advocate T. Boone Pickens will speak at the event after arriving in a CNG Transit Connect Taxi.

The Chico Transit Connects feature a 2.0 liter I-4 engine that gets an estimated 21-26 mpg. It boasts a 30% improvement in fuel economy over traditional taxis, a 138 cubic feet cargo capacity, and 1,600 pound payload.

The Transit Connect Taxi was developed using market research we conducted with the taxi industry to better understand what customers wanted in a future vehicle, Gerald Koss, marketing manager at Ford Fleet Operations, said in a press release.

The more conversations we had, the more interest we saw in a taxi with the flexibility of offering a compressed natural gas version.For the average driver, logistics trump price, and the relative lack of CNG refueling stations in the United States has made the fuel a nonstarter. Honda has been producing the country's only CNG vehicle, the Civic GX, since 1998, but only to customers in California, Utah and, more recently, New York.

The result is a national fleet in the hundreds, and drivers and alt-fuel activists who have interpreted Honda's rejection of would-be buyers, based on their access to fueling stations, as a full-blown conspiracy to limit CNG adoption. With its new Transit Connect engine-prep packages, Ford is avoiding any such accusations of Machiavellian handicapping, by skipping the awkward step of foisting an unfamiliar infrastructure on private consumers, and instead marketing the vehicle directly to taxi companies and state and local authorities.

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2013 MINI Cooper Mule Feature This ugly little duckling covered in what looks like oil stains might not seem all that important, but it’s actually a test vehicle for the next generation of MINI Cooper. This is the first time a prototype of the new model has been seen out in public, and we can see the car is growing a bit.

Spy shots of a prototype for the new third-generation modern MINI Cooper 2013 reveals a more aggressive, louder styling of the upcoming Mini. It is expected go on sale in line with the regular Cooper trim in spring of 2012.On this third-generation mule of the Mini Cooper S, it seems like nothing too radical is going on the outside except for the shell. Its overhangs look like.

The basic Mini shape is intact here, the doors look to be identical to the second-generation car there's some suggestion of a rear door based on the camouflage cutlines, but we think this is little more than a half-hearted sleight of hand. And judging by the forward-mounted front brake calipers, Mini is sticking with the whole front-wheel-drive thing.

The testers pushed the cars on a slalom course and generally put them through their paces. According to our source the three cylinder was noticeably louder with a very pleasing rumble on acceleration. Compared to the sound of the current 4 cylinder it almost seemed as if MINI has tuned the exhaust note to make you feel the car is going faster at low speeds than it really was.

After several runs back to back it became obvious to our source that the three cylinder MCS didn’t quite have the initial launch of the four in the current MCS. Specifically it lagged in the middle of first gear just a bit.

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Picture Sebastian Vettel The Winner Monaco grand Prix won at Monaco while Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso finished second with Button in third. The Monaco street circuit is one of the most difficult tracks to overtake but with the new DRS rule, an exciting race was definitely on cards. DRS sure did make the race more exciting but much of the entertainment was provided by the mid-fielders. Some of them escaped with minor bumps and scratches on their million dollar machines while other more unfortunate ones, totaled their cars.

Amidst the chaos, Vettel, Alonso and Button were able to keep out of trouble as the trio lapped one car after another. Hamilton was in his usual mood and muscled his way past Schumacher in the 0penning stages of the race. A similar move on Massa resulted in a collision with Hamilton being awarded a drive-through for being too aggressive. Eventually, Massa ran wide near the tunnel exit and crashed into the barrier ending the Ferrari drivers race.

The Monaco GP once again proved that the three-way influence of rapidly-wearing Pirelli tyres, KERS and DRS have turned Formula One on its head and is providing consistently exciting races.

Fernando Alonso (Ferrari) made up for the humiliation of being lapped last weekend in front of his home fans in Spain, by finishing second, with early race leader Jenson Button third - three world champions on the podium.
Mark Webber, who won at Monaco last year, set the fastest lap of the race - 1'16.234 - on the final lap to finish fourth and was followed by Kamui Kobayashi (Sauber) and Lewis Hamilton (McLaren).

11th-placed Kobayashi was lapping two seconds faster than Buemi and Heidfeld ahead of him and would surely be moving further up the leader board.
Lap 20 Positions
1 Vettel
2 Webber +3.6
3 Alonso +6.2
4 Hamilton +18.3
5 Rosberg +20.6
6 Massa +20.9
7 Button +24.1
8 Petrov +28.0
9 Heidfeld +28.9
10 Buemi +31.6

Rosberg was off the pace and had been overtaken by three cars. Massa attacked on lap 20, but the German managed to fend off the Brazilian for another lap. Massa got past on the next lap and while Rosberg was pre-occupied, Button came in to attack too. Rosberg defended bravely and forced the 2009 world champion wide, but Button just drove around him on the outside of Turn 14 to emerge into the main straight on fifth place and close behind fourth-placed Massa, as team mate Hamilton was the first of the front-runners to pit a second time for fresh tyres and emerged in tenth place.

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