How can a speed bump harvest electricity?

Ever wanted to power your home with speed bumps? It’s not as crazy as it sounds. Read on for more! “There was a time when debates surrounding speed bumps revolved around whether or not a community needed speed bumps to slow down drivers on a certain road. Safety was the key issue. Now, a new key issue is making its way into the discussion -- the question of whether or not speed bumps can actually harvest unused energy from a car. Many energy discussions involving vehicles focus on how to reduce the fuel consumption or overall energy cost of operating that vehicle. Hybrid car technologies seem to focus on either reducing the amount of fuel...

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Hyundai, Kia split up roles for eco autos

Eco-friendly cars, coming right up from Kia and Hyundai! SEOUL--Hyundai Motor Group plans to carry out a role-sharing between Hyundai Motor and its affiliate Kia Motors in developing eco-friendly cars. Hyundai Motor will take on developing models of “plug-in hybrids,” which utilize rechargeable batteries, and hydrogen-powered “fuel cell vehicles,” group vice chairman Yang Woong-chul said. He said Kia Motors will mainly focus on “electric drive vehicles” which use electric motors or traction motors for propulsion. “Kia is set to launch sales of the TAM, an electric powered vehicle, as early as later this year,” he said. “We have the yearly...

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How are cars becoming more user-friendly?

Are we approaching an era of self-driving cars? “Fred Flintstone had a car that he had to power with his own feet; by that standard, all of today's cars are pretty easy to use. But cars are becoming even more user-friendly -- so user-friendly, in fact, that they may not even require a user at all. That's because much of the new car technology involves taking over the role of the driver. For instance, no longer does a driver need to mind the blind spots, as certain cars come with detection systems that will alert the operator to obstacles in other lanes. If a driver should start to drowse off and drift into another lane, the steering wheel...

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Hyundai Announces Pricing For Blue Link Service

Hyundai announces pricing for Blue Link Service. Fresh off of winning two major honors for its innovative Blue Link system at the recent 9th Annual Telematics Update Awards, Hyundai provided an important telematics update of its own by announcing that Blue Link service would be available to its drivers for as little as $79. Blue Link, which is set to debut this summer on the 2012 Hyundai Sonata and roll out through the majority of the Hyundai lineup by 2013, will offer more than 30 different connectivity features and safety services, available in three different packages: Assurance—Designed to offer enhanced peace of mind for Hyundai...

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Is texting while driving really worse than drunk driving?

Is texting while driving really worse than drunk driving? That’s the question that  Christopher Neiger from “How Stuff Works” asked. Read more to find out his conclusion.  Texting, or short message service(SMS), is a quick form of communication that allows users to send 160 characters or less to and from their cell phones and smartphones. A study by the Pew Research group in 2009 and 2010 reported that out of the number of Americans who have cell phones, 58 percent of adults and 66 percent of teens use them to text [source:Motavalli]. With these high percentages of Americans using text messaging every year, many are bringing...

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What cars have the lowest cost of ownership?

What cars have the lowest cost of ownership? Read on to find out! There's more to the cost of owning a car than just paying the sticker price; in fact, the car with the lower sticker price might just turn out to be more expensive over the long haul. In other words, you might have the cash to buy a car, but not the income to afford to own it. That's the difference between price and total cost of ownership (TCO). The total cost of ownership (over five years) includes six factors: Depreciation accounts for 46 percent of TCO (the average model depreciates 65 percent). Fuel costs mount up quickly -- especially for...

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