Part of being an early technology adopter is a willingness to shell out some bucks, and the same goes for those getting in on electric vehicles before they go mainstream -- and not just for the drivers who have dropped $100,000 on a Tesla Roadster. Installing home charging stations can require a significant cost outlay. We say "can," because -- unlike Apple telling an early adopter that the first-generation iWhatever costs $600, take it or leave it -- the cost of a home power station for your EV can vary greatly depending on a number of factors.

In fact, the cost of the charger itself can take a back seat to the price of installation and labor, which is much more likely if you live in an older house. While houses built from the '90s on are pretty sure to have 200- or 400-amp service, which works well with EV requirements, older homes may not be equipped with the right stuff, meaning the homeowner is stuck with a costly upgrade bill.

But there must be a range, right? Something to help gauge how much it could cost, on the low end and the high? 

Two doomed General Motors brands--Saturn and Hummer--are getting their last hurrahs on the assembly line.

GM assembled 1,037 Saturn Outlooks last month after not making any Saturns since October.

“We are building out a few Saturns to utilize existing material,” GM spokeswoman Kim Carpenter said. GM will assemble Outlooks for a few more weeks, she said.

 

For more than a decade, the Ford Crown Victoria has held a special place in the hearts of two demographics: members of law enforcement and people who love "Matlock." It looks like the former may finally be bidding farewell to the car that’s inspired fear in the hearts of motorists everywhere and kept our streets safe from all sorts of nastiness. General Motors unveiled its Holden-based Caprice PPV not too long ago, but it would seem the Blue Oval isn’t ready to hand over the police-cruiser crown just yet. The company just announced the 2012 Police Interceptor, a car with more power and better fuel efficiency than the elderly Crown Victoria. But will it be a winner with officers? That all depends.  

(UPDATE: So, basically, Toyota went right up to the line of calling Sikes a liar -- but stopped short during its presser today. Like the results of NHTSA's tests, Toyota has concluded that his brakes should have been adequate to stop the car. Based on its findings -- again, corroborated by NHTSA -- everything pretty much worked the way it should have during testing.

Of course, as James Bell of Kelley Blue Book pointed out in an e-mailed release, the tests did not address whether Toyota vehicles can "momentarily malfuntion" and, in a sense, go haywire, with nothing working as it should. Personally, I don't think that's the case in this instance (the whole thing seemed a bit off from the start), but it would behoove Toyota to hang onto whatever customer loyalty it has left and put that issue to rest once and for all.)

More bad news for James Sikes, the man behind the wheel of the alleged runaway Toyota Prius in California, which garnered loads of publicity and which under scrutiny looks increasingly like a scam, as we reported on Friday. The official investigation into the incident, conducted jointly by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and Toyota, is under way, and the preliminary results don't jibe with Sikes' story.

For one thing, the wear on the brakes doesn't suggest that they were fully applied over a sustained period at high speeds, which is a key element in Sikes' story. Instead, the report suggests that Sikes' brakes were actually applied intermittently, and with moderate force.

More obvious, though, is the fact that Sikes' 2008 model-year Prius has an electronic brake override system that cuts power to the accelerator if it and the brakes are deployed simultaneously. The override system operated successfully during tests to re-create the alleged runaway scenario, according to The Wall Street Journal.

Actual unintended acceleration could not be re-created; however, as Sikes' lawyer pointed out, this has been true of all previous unintended-acceleration allegations.

[Source: The Wall Street Journal, CNN.]
 

Looks like GPS is good for more than just getting you there and back -- it can also point out when you're getting fleeced.

New York's Taxi and Limousine Commission used GPS data to uncover a scam by Big Apple cabbies who illegally charged fares double the going rate. All New York City cabs have been required to have GPS since 2007.

According to The Associated Press:

"The city said 1.8 million trips were illegally charged over the past two years. The average passenger was overcharged $4.45. In total, the scheme bilked passengers of more than $8.3 million."

 

Snarky New York media types (of which I knew many) have long said that the sure-fire way to know that a trend is dead is seeing it reported in The New York Times. I feel the same way about current events and "Saturday Night Live." Despite (very) occasional flashes of brilliance, when a story appears as fodder for an "SNL" skit, the funniest punch line is often how long it took the cast and crew to get around to skewering a news item or pop-culture moment long past its sell-by date.

That being said, this spoof car commercial featuring a runaway Prius does have a pretty satisfying payoff. Check it out after the jump. 

More bad news for James Sikes, the man behind the wheel of the alleged runaway Toyota Prius in California, which garnered loads of publicity and which under scrutiny looks increasingly like a scam, as we reported on Friday. The official investigation into the incident, conducted jointly by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and Toyota, is under way, and the preliminary results don't jibe with Sikes' story.

For one thing, the wear on the brakes doesn't suggest that they were fully applied over a sustained period at high speeds, which is a key element in Sikes' story. Instead, the report suggests that Sikes' brakes were actually applied intermittently, and with moderate force. 

Noted car collectors Sam and Emily Mann won their fourth Amelia Island Concours d'Elegance Best in Show award with a 1937 Mercedes-Benz 540K Special Roadster (with covered spare). This car is one of only three known to have been built.

Originally shipped to the German embassy in Argentina, the car has been owned by the Manns for about 18 years. This Best in Show from the 15th-annual Amelia Island concours goes with four Best in Shows from the Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance and three Bests from the Meadow Brook Concours d'Elegance.