nissan

Automakers used to innovate slowly, but this year the race is on for integrating apps into the car, and it is moving at a whirlwind pace. Last year Ford kicked off this new era of car technology by integrating Pandora through its Sync AppLink system, and this year nine other automakers jumped on the bandwagon to some degree.

We were impressed to see both Toyota and GM, in the space of a single year, demonstrate and prepare to launch app integration in 2012 model year vehicles.

App integration means bringing services such as Pandora, Google search, and Twitter into the … Read more

The Murano CrossCabriolet is an ugly car. You could say it is unique, but there's no use trying to make excuses for the thing. The Murano CrossCabriolet just proves that trying to fit a convertible top on a four-seat SUV is an exercise in awkwardness.

As we drove through the city and over freeways, the Murano CrossCabriolet did not exactly endear itself. The cabin suffered from wind noise with the top up, and the 3.5-liter V-6 offered merely adequate power. The best driving element was the continuously variable transmission, which was notable for its lack of intrusiveness.

Nissan'… Read more

They make limos out of anything these days. Stretch a Corvette? Maximize a Mini? No problem.

But how do you stretch a Nissan Leaf, with a lithium ion battery module the size of a kitchen table top integrated into its floorpan?

Imperial Coach Builders of Springfield, Mo., will begin making Leaf conversions this month with an eye toward supplying zero-emission limos to green-conscious fleet customers.

But it's no standard slice-and-stretch job, concedes Tom Catterson, Imperial's director of marketing. The company's engineering staff first had to tear apart a Leaf to figure out where the car could be … Read more

TOKYO--Nissan Motor, aiming to allay concern about high replacement costs for the Leaf electric car's lithium ion battery, says such repairs will run into the hundreds, not thousands, of dollars.

That's because fixing a damaged battery likely would require swapping out only certain modules, not the whole battery pack, Vice President Simon Sproule says.

"There has been a lot of chatter online about tens of thousands of dollars or euros to replace a whole battery pack," Sproule says on a company Web page.

"Really, you are going to focus on the modules, and the modules … Read more

Drag Racing for Android puts you in the driver's seat of your favorite street racer. With more than 50 real cars to choose from, dozens of upgrades, and a nearly unlimited pool of opponents, don't be surprised to find yourself behind the wheel for hours at a time.

The game offers four racing modes to choose from. You can Race Offline against the computer, Quick Race one-on-one against an online opponent, join the Pro League against a group of online competitors, or race against Friends. Also, you can choose either quarter-mile or half-mile races, with the shorter distance … Read more

Clean transportation-focused company ECOtality says it still has openings for The EV Project.

The EV Project, which is being operated by ECOtality, is what the company calls, the "largest deployment of electric vehicles and charging infrastructure" in the U.S. Only available in Tennessee for now, the Project is a pilot program that will measure how customers who own electric vehicles charge up their cars, where they do so, and other behaviors.

Charging stations are being deployed around several cities in Tennessee, including Memphis, Nashville, Knoxville, and Chattanooga.

To help coax customers into participating in The EV Project, … Read more

The EPA doubles fuel economy by 2025, BMW shows off an electric car, Nissan complains about an electric car review, and drivers think about stopping.

• New EPA regs are out

• BMW i reveals electric car concepts

• Nissan calls out 'Top Gear' over Leaf review

• Mazda Minagi concept becomes CX-5 at Frankfurt auto show

• Drivers put the brakes on with thought alone

Rather than cranking up a generator during a blackout, Nissan Leaf drivers may be able to tap into the electric car's batteries.

Nissan earlier this week unveiled its Nissan Leaf to Home system, which it plans to commercialize in Japan within a year.

The system uses the Leaf charging station to draw from the car's lithium ion batteries and feed current into a home's electricity distribution panel. The 24 kilowatt-hours of energy storage in the Leaf is enough to power an average Japanese home, which uses about half the energy of an average U.S. household, for … Read more

Nissan has just launched a pair of apps for the Android and BlackBerry platforms that put control and information about the automaker's electric Leaf at owners' fingertips.

The app connects to the vehicle via the CarWings system that is present in all Nissan Leafs (Leaves? Leafii?) and features a tabbed interface that is broken into six major sections. The Home tab is where you can view your Leaf's current battery level, whether the car is plugged in or not, and how long a quick, normal, or trickle charge will take. The Home screen also displays a graph with … Read more