First Drive: 2013 BMW ActiveHybrid 3 – AutoBlog
For Those Who Want Their Top Trim 3 Series Greener
The business case is pretty simple: BMW wants a green (or blue, if you like) “liaison” line of models between its standard lineup of cars and the upcoming mega-wow i models. This maximizes choices, fills all niches, and buys time while BMW waits to get those i cars just right before the start of deliveries.
These ActiveHybrid full parallel-hybrid electrics are also acting as the closest BMW can get to its amazing range of turbocharged diesel motors that not enough people want in North America and Asia. In European terms, there is no business case for these hybrid cars apart from curious and cash-heavy early technology adopters, since the EU is awash in BMW’s wonderful oil-burners. Those beloved turbocharged diesels would be a far better product in North America and Asia as well, but, hey, let’s not get all pipedream-y, now. And, no, we’re not trolling here.
So BMW has created a lineup of pretty darn good heavier and pricier models, coining the new brand word ActiveHybrid with versions of the X6, 7 Series, 5 Series and now the 3 Series, called “F30h” internally in this case. The efficiencies gained by this powertrain are fairly good as well, so we’ll try tempering our doubts.
Continue reading 2013 BMW ActiveHybrid 3
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Four Myths About NHTSA’s Proposal for Mandatory Black Boxes – CarandDriver
Twenty-four-hour news networks interrupted their coverage of skydiving cats earlier this week to light a fire under NHTSA’s announcement that it planned to mandate event data recorders, or black boxes, be installed in all new cars. Amidst the frenzy, it almost seems as though many reporting on the announcement didn’t actually read the proposed NHTSA rule or anything about what the event data recorders actually do. We’re here to debunk some of the rumors in circulation.
Myth 1: NHTSA’s Announcement Last Week Said Something We Haven’t Heard Before
Nope. NHTSA has been talking about mandating event data recorders since at least 2006, when it first set rules about how voluntarily installed EDRs had to operate. The only thing NHTSA announced recently is that it plans to put this rule into effect beginning in 2014, which was the date floated officially and unofficially during the past year.
Myth 2: The White House “Signed Off” on NHTSA’s Proposal for Event Data Recorders
A number of major news outlets based their reporting of the black box topic on a story published in the Detroit News, which was titled “NHTSA gets White House OK to mandate vehicle ‘black boxes.’” This makes it sound like Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood brought a bottle of brandy to the Oval Office, kissed Barack Obama’s ring, and said, “Mr. President, even though it’s not the day of your daughter’s wedding, we’d like your blessing for our plan to require automakers to install black boxes in every car. Can we go ahead with this?”
In reality, any time an executive agency proposes a new regulation—whether it’s NHTSA or the Forest Service—they have to clear it with the Office of Management and Budget to make sure the new reg doesn’t conflict with what another agency is doing, isn’t creating some new huge burden for the budget, and that the new rule wouldn’t be totally contrary to the president’s stated goals. The OMB is part of the White House organizational structure, so while it’s technically accurate that the White House cleared the black box plan, this routine rubber stamp is meaningless. [Read More]
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