Category: In the News

World Automotive and Transportation News provided by industry press releases and posted with minimal editing by RPM News Staff.

Larz Anderson Auto Museum Collaborates w/ Boston MFA

This week RPM News Weekly kicks off its second season of programming and the launch of its all new website at rpmnewsweekly.com with a visit to the Larz Anderson Auto Museum in Brookline, Massachusetts where Boston Museum of Fine Arts Curator of Design Meghan Melvin gave a group of curious automotive enthusiasts a peak at the MFA’s transportation design collection.

Don’t worry. It’s not as stuffy as you might think. In fact, we were delightfully surprised that the Museum had such an expansive collection of original automobile design artwork from such highly regarded automotive illustrators as Carl Renner, Homer C. LaGassey, Wayne Kady, Karl Moravick, Richard Arbib and more.

So, stay with us and enjoy these highlights from the presentation.

RPM News Weekly would like to thank the Larz Anderson Auto Museum, the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston and especially Meghan Melvin for the opportunity to share these highlights with you. We hope that it inspires you to find out more about these automotive artists and encourages you to visit both the Larz Anderson Auto Museum and the Museum of Fine Arts.

Formula E from NYC to Montreal

Formula E wraps up its 2017 race season this weekend in Montreal, Canada with the Renault e.dams team holding a dominating 65-point lead in the competition. Ten teams, twenty drivers have been battling it out across the globe in the sport’s 12-race third season that commenced last October in Hong Kong.RPM News Weekly was on hand, last week, for all the excitement and energy these all-electric super cars brought to the streets of Red Hook in Brooklyn, New York with the city’s first-ever Formula-e races.
Having transformed several blocks of a gritty, industrial neighborhood on Brooklyn’s waterfront that faces the Statue of Liberty into a 1.2-mile race course, Formula-e is destined to leave its mark, not only in New York but around the world.
The idea of all-electric racing is still new and building an audience. There’s something to be said, too, about who’s been attracted to participate. With teams from Audi Sport, Panasonic-Jaguar Racing, Virgin Racing, Venturi and others, that are sponsored by some of the most invested names in electric vehicle development, it’s clear that there’s a message about sustainability to be found in the not so typical, high-pitched whirring of the powerful electric motors motivating these vehicles.Alejandro Agag
Described by Formula-e CEO Alejandro Agag as the “noise of the future”, the sound of the motors as the cars whiz down the track at speeds up to 140 miles per hour speaks to a new era of racing.
A Formula-e race is as much spectacle as it is entertainment. Out on the grid before the race, there’s a rarefied mix of anticipation and awe, tension and intensity where color and charisma collide. But once the race is underway, the energy is pure adrenaline.
Much of the excitement gets focused in the tight turns where a driver’s skill and determination create opportunities for advancing in the pack. It’s also where contact often happens.
In New York, Virgin Racing driver Sam Bird put on a supercharged performance winning 1st place trophies in both Saturday and Sunday races.
The season finale in Montreal this weekend features races Saturday and Sunday on one of the ePrix’s longest tracks. To take a simulated ride around the track, go to fiaformulae.com. Meanwhile, here are more highlights from Formula-e New York City.

Tesla Powerpack in Australia, Volvo Expands Electrification

 

This week, Tesla announced that it’s been selected to provide grid-scale energy storage for the South Australian Government via a Tesla manufactured Powerpack system with 100 megawatts of capacity.

It was a busy week for Tesla that also saw the automotive innovator start production of its long awaited Model 3.

The South Australian project pairs Tesla with global energy provider Neoen’s Hornsdale Wind Farm near Jamestown, South Australia and calls for charging the Powerpack system using the wind farm’s renewable energy. The electricity can then be delivered as needed to the South Australia electrical infrastructure.

Continue reading “Tesla Powerpack in Australia, Volvo Expands Electrification”

2017 NYIAS: Challenger Demon, FT-4X Concept, Ascent, Trackhawk, Lucid Air

This week RPM News Weekly reports from the 2017 New York International Auto Show opening with highlights from the pre-show reveal of the monstrously potent Dodge Challenger Demon. Then it’s on to the Javits Convention Center show floor with Toyota’s new FT-4X Concept.
Meanwhile, Subaru had some big news to announce, too, with the debut of the all-new three-row Ascent SUV, and Jeep was not to be outdone by the Dodge Brotherhood of Muscle, showcasing the new Jeep Grand Cherokee TrackHawk, describing it as the culmination of efforts to design the most powerful, quickest SUV ever.
We’ll follow that up with excerpts from the introduction of the all-new all-electric Lucid Air, a transformative luxury sedan that will potentially deliver up to an amazing 1000 horsepower.
Finally, we’ll conclude with an enthusing montage of happenings all around the New York Auto Show.
Follow all of our coverage of the New York International Auto Show on the RPM News Weekly youtube channel.

Music:
Special thanks to the Youtube Audio Library and the artists that provide royalty free music.
Jupiter One – Youtube Audio Library
(Subaru Ascent) Restless Natives – Doug Maxwell / Media Right Productions
(Dodge Demon) Taking a Beating – Ethan Meixsell
(Lucid) Lunar Landing – Silent Partner
(FT-4X) Prog Climation – Josh Kirsch / Media Right Productions