Archive for July, 2009

Toyota Not Likely To Shutdown NUMMI

Last Friday Toyota announced that they may have to abandon NUMMI (New United Motor Manufacturing Inc.). A car plant in Northern California, NUMMI opened in 1984 and is jointly operated by GM and Toyota…or at least it was up until last Friday.

Toyota’s decision to make this announcement on Friday the 10th coincides with the “new” GM’s emergence from bankruptcy . While it’s a little complicated, here’s why that timing is relevant:

1. As part of GM’s bankruptcy plan, a “new” GM was formed. The new GM got all the good, profitable assets.
2. The “old” GM retains all the unprofitable assets.
3. All the assets of the old GM will be liquidated over the next year or two.
4. NUMMI is part of the old GM.

In other words, now that GM has officially abandoned NUMMI, Toyota is considering the same action…and who can blame them? A case can definitely be made:

Popularity: 2%

Wet Okole Truck Seat Covers

Let’s face it – over the lifetime of your truck, chances are good that you’ll damage your seats. A lot of this is going to be unintentional – the occasional dropped cup of coffee, the mud during a surprise rain storm, or even the inevitable wear and tear on seat bolsters from climbing in and out of your truck. Of course, there is also the natural dirt and debris that finds it’s way into your truck as a normal consequence of not living in an hermetically-sealed bubble. This is doubly true if you introduce kids into the equation.

The tried and true solution to dealing with worn seats (or protecting new seats) is to install seat covers. For a large number of drivers, mention of the term “seat covers” evokes images of cheesy Hawaiian flower designs or ugly brown furry jobs held on with elastics that snake across the back of the seat. While those options might have been unavoidable in the 1970’s, modern seat covers have benefited from a quantum leap in both style and design.

Premium truck seat covers from Wet Okole are like wet suits for your seats.

In fact, seat covers aren’t just for covering up past mistakes anymore, they are also capable of protecting your seats from damage before it happens. Wet Okole seat covers are a perfect example of a premium-quality seat cover.

Popularity: 4%

Electric Pickup Truck Conversion Links

Are you thinking about doing your own electric truck conversion? Are you interested in learning more about electric truck conversions in general? How about some links?

Tim Nolan’s Electric Truck Conversion Project – A very cool website created by Tim Nolan, a full-time electrical engineer and a part-time electric vehicle conversion hobbyist.

Be sure to visit Tim's website where we found this image.

Mark Hazen’s Electric S-10. The story behind converting a 1996 Chevy S10 to run on electricity only.

Popularity: 2%

Commercial Electric Pickup Truck Conversions

Not everyone is comfortable hacking together their own custom electric pickup truck conversion. The technology used in this type of vehicle is often unfamiliar to even the most dedicated gearhead. It can also take a lot of time, garage space, money, and trial and error to accomplish…items not always in plentiful supply for people who lead busy lives.

Fortunately, there are a number of companies that now offer turnkey electric conversions directed at pickup truck owners. Both the United States and Canada have seen an explosion of entrepreneurs tuned into the electric vehicle movement. These organizations offer professional installations of a complete electric driveline, along with service plans and warranties to help preserve peace of mind while tooling down the highway.

Rapid Electric Vehicle F150 Electric Conversion Specs

Rapid Electric Vehicles Technologies (REV) is based in Vancouver, British Columbia. They are focused on both individual and fleet conversions of the Ford F-150 full-size pickup truck, the Ford Ranger compact truck and the Ford Escape SUV. The F-150 is classified as a plug-in hybrid because the company leaves the original gasoline engine as-is and adds an electric motor powered by a lithium battery. This gives the truck a 40 mile range on a single charge. What’s more, the battery itself can be charged by either the truck’s gas-powered motor or regenerative braking.

Popularity: 2%

25 Vehicles Less American Than The Toyota Tundra

Cars.com has found that 4 of the top 10 “most America” vehicles are made by Toyota (the Tundra, Camry, Sienna, and Venza all made the top 10). In light of Toyota’s dominance of the Cars.com list, Cars.com has named Toyota The Most “American” Manufacturer.

Instead of posting the fact that the Tundra is rated to be more “American” than both the Ram and the Chevy Silverado / GMC Sierra (just like the Tundra was last year and the year before), we thought it would be fun to list off all of the vehicles with less domestic content than the Tundra.

Here’s a list of 25 vehicles with fewer domestic parts than the Tundra:

Popularity: 3%