Prius

Alcatel-Lucent puts big data pipes in Prius

LAS VEGAS--The connected car is a big theme at CES, but most companies rely on a user's mobile phone for an in-car data connection. However, this is not so with Alcatel-Lucent, which demonstrated a heavily modified Toyota Prius with its own LTE data connection. This broadband connection enables many in-care functions, including vehicle-to-vehicle communication, a Wi-Fi hot spot, and various Internet applications including our old friend Pandora.

LTE, or Long Term Evolution, is a term for a 4G wireless network being implemented by Alcatel-Lucent for Verizon. Although data speeds vary greatly depending on conditions, according to Alcatel-Lucent, LTE's … Read more

Car Tech Live 149: Ohmygod that Bentley Continental Supersports is fast! (podcast)

We drive the most audacious Bentley ever, Saab gets sold off like a parts car, Ford opens up SYNC to app developers, and an Aston Martin even you can afford!

Subscribe with iTunes (audio) Subscribe with iTunes (video) Subscribe with RSS (audio) Subscribe with RSS (video) EPISODE 149 SHOW NOTES

• CNET drives the Bentley Continental Supersports

• Saab gets sold off like a parts car

• The baby Aston Martin--the Cygnet

• Vote for CNET Tech Car of the Year

• BMW previews an electric 1 Series concept

Toyota to sell 'affordable' plug-in hybrids in '11

Toyota Motor will begin selling "affordable" plug-in hybrid cars in 2011, upping the ante on General Motors and Nissan Motor as they aim to take the lead in the field of rechargeable cars.

Toyota's first plug-in model, the Prius Plug-In Hybrid (PHV), will add an external charging function and more batteries to the popular Prius to enable longer-distance driving on electricity alone.

Because it can also run on gasoline, plug-in hybrids--such as GM's upcoming Volt due for sale next year--eliminate the "range anxiety" seen as one of the main shortcomings of battery-powered pure electric … Read more

Which of these cars deserves to be called the 2010 Green Car of the Year?

Every year, for the past four years, Green Car Journal picks its Green Car of the Year at the LA Auto Show. Well, the LA Show will be here before you know it, so it's time to start thinking about this year's contestants, which have been narrowed down to five finalists.

The finalists include the Audi A3 TDI, the Honda Insight, the Mercury Milan Hybrid, the Toyota Prius, and the Volkswagen Golf TDI. That's two VW turbodiesels and a trio of hybrids; or four small hatchbacks and a small sedan. No matter how you look at it, … Read more

Tommi Kaira builds the world's sexiest Prius

Apparently, the 2010 Toyota Prius was feeling a bit frumpy and has decided to shake things up with a new look. So, the humble hybrid has gone under the knife of Japanese vehicle modifiers Tommi Kaira. The result is a new, sexy look and not much else.

Post-op, the Prius' front bumper has been replaced by a more aggressive unit with an integrated lip spoiler and larger intakes. Updated side skirts and rear bumper round out the Prius' new look. Peeking from beneath the bumper is a dual-muffler, quad-tipped exhaust that probably sounds good, but most likely doesn't do … Read more

Car Tech Live Podcast 136: Our inaugural video edition: Welcome to 'Car Tech Live'!

All the droolworthy stuff from Frankfurt, what it will *really* take to sell the Chevy Volt, Toyota's gonna' call everything a Prius, and this is the first episode of 'Car Tech Live', the new live video edition of the CNET Car Tech Podcast.

Subscribe with iTunes (audio) Subscribe with iTunes (video) Subscribe with RSS (audio) Subscribe with RSS (video) EPISODE 136 SHOW NOTES

• CNET coverage of the Frankfurt auto show

• What's the funny noise coming from your electric Nissan?

• Hertz NeverLost supports USB drives to load your navigation destinations

• Calculate if a plug-in hybrid makes sense for you… Read more

99-cent iPhone app could save your life

As I noted in my previous post on subjective sound quality, I primarily listen to my portable music players in my car. It's a 2010 Prius, and Toyota cleverly designed it to support portable music--under the armrest between the front seats, there's a small plastic container that's the perfect size to hold an iPod or cell phone, and below that platform there's an auxiliary input and DC outlet (cigarette lighters are so 1973) to plug it into. (You can see the set-up in the third photo in the "interior" gallery here.)

There's only … Read more

Wi-Fi flowers sprouting across U.S.

SAN FRANCISCO--A pair of Los Angeles artists have teamed up with Toyota on an unusually functional art project: a set of large, colorful flowers that have been providing free Wi-Fi and power outlets in public places around the country.

Currently on display in San Francisco's Yerba Buena Gardens, the flowers--the creation of a company called Poetic Kinetics and its principals, Patrick Shearn and Cynthia Washburn--are part of a campaign for Toyota's newest generation Prius.

Brightly colored by day and lit up with LEDs at night, the flowers have been on tour around the country for several weeks. According … Read more

Lexus HS250h, luxury with a dab of efficiency

When we were introduced to Lexus' new hybrid, we were assured that the HS250h was more than just a Toyota Prius with a premium price tag. Having spent time with the "world's first dedicated hybrid luxury vehicle," we can safely say that in many ways, it is a very different animal.

Most obviously, the HS has a standard-issue sedan profile instead of the Prius' efficiency blob shape. The HS also has a bigger engine (2.4-liters) and a more refined suspension. Better interior materials and a higher grade of available cabin tech and safety tech combine to … Read more