Top Gear ≠ Electric Cars

Top Gear fixes Tesla Roadster

If you've been watching Top Gear, you know that they're not all for electric cars, ever since their little fiasco with Tesla. Well, now it seems that Nissan may be knocking on their doors very soon because while Jeremy Clarkson was reviewing their premier electric car, the Leaf, it managed to break down. Let's not forget that the World Car Committee voted this car their 2011 World Car of the Year and the car itself has received outstanding reviews from many car reviewers, except Clarkson. So, like the Tesla, after only a short period of time, the Leaf's battery ran out of power and he, along with James May, had to find some electricity. Check out the video below to see what happened. Should Nissan be concerned?

The Super Cat

2011 Jaguar C-X75

Remember when Clarkson and the gang had this car over at the Top Gear studio? He said Jaguar wasn't going to bring this car to production. Well, today it turns out, he was wrong. With the help of the AT&T Williams F1 team, Jaguar will be bringing 250 C-X75s to production, each costing £700,000 ($1.149 Million). Williams will help with aerodynamics by perfecting the car's all-composite body, while Jaguar will deal with the motors and the engine. Let's not forget that when this car comes out, it will be the most powerful electric car/hybrid on earth with 780 horsepower's worth of electric motors (195 at each wheel) and a powerful turbo-4 engine. No information has been received on when the car will be produced, but this is good news for those who want to save and gas and be fast at the same time. 

Take This, Ugly School Bus!

2011 Superbus Concept

This one goes out to all you kids, even you Muhlenberg Shuttle dudes out there. Do you ever hate it when it takes a century for the bus to arrive at your stop? It could be because your bus driver is terrible or the bus itself is the slowest moving thing on the planet. I'll place my bets on the bus, because honestly, for a transportation vehicle that's supposed to get you to school on time, it's not doing a very good job. Also, how about a different color for once? Yellow's been on every single school bus since, what, the 1940's? It's boring now! We need somethin' new. Luckily, there is somethin' new. Debuting at the Dubai UITP (L’Union internationale des transports publics) Mobility and City Transport Expo, it's the SUPERBUS!! You know everything is always way better when the word SUPER is attached to it, like Superman, Superball, or even Supercar. Well, here's what happens when combine it with the word bus. It's 49ft. long, 8ft. wide, 5ft. tall, has 16 gullwing doors, and can seat 23 passengers. It's a heavy thing, though, tipping the scales at 10.5 tons (21,000 lb.). But, at least it will be quieter as the bus is powered by a lithium-ion battery that sends power to a massive electric motor that packs 805 horsepower. That's about as much as a Koenigsegg CCX. Because of this much power, it will easily hit 155 MPH with a 0 to 60 time of about 6.0 seconds. And, as you can tell, it's low to the ground, swoopy, and very aerodynamic, so it's better in the corners then the sloppy-handcrafted junk you call a bus. So far, the company that's been working on this concept bus are currently making a deal with Dubai to have it as a public transportation vehicle. If everything goes well, it might hit the streets in 2015, then later in the rest of the world.

Electric Suit

2011 Tesla Roadster S

Remember back in 2008 when this car was first introduced? Jeremy Clarkson decided to take two of these out for a spin, only to end his test drive by breaking both of them. Well, according to Tesla themselves, he really didn't break either of them. They only ran out of energy most of the time. Unfortunately, over 350 million people were watching that episode and they believe that they were both broken. And Tesla was also very unhappy when Jeremy concluded his test drive by saying that the Roadster, in the world, "doesn't really work." Well, Tesla is now suing the BBC and Top Gear for libel and malicious falsehood. On Tesla's blog site, the Vice President of Communications, Ricardo Reyes, released this statement.

"The show's script, written before the cars were tested, has host Jeremy Clarkson concluding the segment by saying, "in the real world, it doesn't seem to work." ...Yet the show continues to air. ... The programme's lies are repeatedly and consistently re-broadcast to hundreds of millions of viewers on BBC channels and web sites, on other TV channels via syndication; the show is available on the Internet, and is for sale on DVD around the world." - Ricardo Reyes

Whether their claim is true or not, I don't know. What I do know is that the BBC and Top Gear are going by their claim and may as a well drop the suit. As for me, all I have to say to Tesla is, "It took you 3 years to finally realize this? Step ya game up!"

Green Rover

2012 Land Rover Range_E Plug-In Hybrid

Land Rover has always been famous for producing gas-guzzling 4x4s, like the Range Rover. However, recently they've improved on fuel. The new Range Rover Sport has a re-worked V8 engine that produces less Carbon Dioxides than a standard V8. They've even introduced the Evoque, the first ever Range Rover with a fuel efficient turbo-4 engine. And now, unveiled at Geneva, we have this, the first Plug-In Hybrid Range Rover. They call it the Range_E and Land Rover does plan on putting this car into production. Right now, they're still testing it, but it seems that the tests are going well. Under the hood of this hybrid is a 3.0-liter 242 horsepower Turbodiesel V6 engine combined with a 69 kW, 93 horsepower electric motor. Altogether, that's 334 horsepower of diesel and electric power being sent to all four wheels. Unlike most hybrids with their CVTs (Continuously Various Transmission), the Range_E has an all new 8-speed ZF Automatic gearbox while the electric motor is fueled by a 14.2 kWh lithium-ion battery. With the diesel tank full and motor fully charged, you should be doing over 710 miles on one tank and one charge. That's very fuel efficient, seeing that my Range Rover can do only 300 miles on one tank of fuel. I hope this car works for Land Rover. It will change the way people think of the Range Rover.