Tesla to sell Roadster in Europe

Schwarzenegger is expected to receive this electric Tesla Roadster within a few months. He paid $100,000 for this car. His pals in the Old World won't have to wait too much longer before they can buy their own, for a cool €100,000 ($156,000.) The Roadster will be sold in Europe beginning in Summer, 2008, CEO Ze'ev Drori has told the Financial Times.

The upstart California auto maker decided to offer its vehicles in Europe for a number of reasons. Favorable tax treatment of electric cars as well as other incentives are among the measures the continent hopes to employ to lower carbon emissions. The weak dollar also makes Europe an attractive market. Although the chassis and body are made in the U.K., with no plans for a right hand drive version the English rich and royal are out of luck.

Brammo Enertia motorcycle

Is an Injury Proof Car Possible

Volvo has come out with an ambitious plan to eliminate any injuries or deaths in their cars by 2020. They also want to go one step further and design cars that don’t get into accidents at all. Though it may sound unreal, automobile industry experts believe it is possible.

Automakers, parts suppliers, governments and global agencies from the United Nations to the OECD are all looking at ways to relegate to memory the roughly 1.2 million deaths and 50 million injuries caused by motor vehicle crashes each year.

But in what some analysts see as a bid to hold its lead in consumer perceptions of safety, the Swedish carmaker now owned by Ford is the first to set a target date to eliminate death and injury in its cars.

“I think if you look into the future, we as a community will not accept that we have injuries,” said Jan Ivarsson, leader of the Volvo safety team with specialists in everything from biomechanics to engineering to behavioral science.

The HID Advantage

Bottom line, HID headlights provide better visibility than ordinary halogen bulbs. The difference is even more evident during poor driving conditions. A significant percentage of road accidents take place during bad weather, especially at night. HID lights allow drivers to overcome these conditions by providing up to 3 times more light. Added visibility contributes to driver confidence, which provides for a more relaxed, safer driver.

HID lights are able to provide greater light output with less power consumption. Studies show that a 35 Watt HID lamp produced 3 times as much light compared to a 55-Watt halogen bulb. Also, the 55 Watt halogen bulb uses a continuous power draw of 10-15 amps, while the HID system uses 20 for start-ups but drops to a mere 3 amps during operation. In addition to high output and low power usage, your HID headlight provide a longer service life. Under normal driving conditions, the bulbs will last approximately 4 years (3000 hours). That's up to 4 times as long as an ordinary halogen lamp.