EV coach drives from California to Seattle and back using public chargers

The coach averaged 280 miles between charges, which took between 2.5-3 hours each.

The Van Hool CX45E that completed the 1,700-mile round trip.

Enlarge / The Van Hool CX45E that completed the 1,700-mile round trip. (credit: ABC Companies)

An electric coach just completed a 1,700-mile (2,743-km) trip from Newark, California, to Seattle and back. The journey was a demonstration of battery-electric transport and was organized by the coach operator MTRWestern and ABC Companies, the US importer for Van Hool coaches.

What makes this trip noteworthy—some might even say amazing—is that it relied on public fast chargers. The coach averaged 280 miles (450 km) between charging stops, with some stretches of over 300 miles (482 km).

The coach in question is a Van Hool CX45E and uses a Proterra battery pack similar to the one that powered a Proterra bus that completed a 1,101-mile (1,772-km) journey on a single charge in 2017. Van Hool picked Proterra as its battery supplier later that year.

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Schleswig-Holstein: Datenpannen steigen um 60 Prozent

Vergessene Akten auf der Parkbank, unverschlüsselte USB-Sticks und zahlreiche Hacking-Angriffe: Die Bilanz der Datenschutzbeauftragten fällt nicht gut aus. (Datenschutz, Internet)

Vergessene Akten auf der Parkbank, unverschlüsselte USB-Sticks und zahlreiche Hacking-Angriffe: Die Bilanz der Datenschutzbeauftragten fällt nicht gut aus. (Datenschutz, Internet)

Spotify Car Thing is a $90 thing that plays Spotify in your car

Spotify tries to make streaming while driving easier (for Premium members).

Spotify's Car Thing thing in a car.

Enlarge / Spotify's Car Thing thing in a car. (credit: Spotify)

Spotify is entering the hardware market with Car Thing, a smart music player meant to sit on your dashboard.

The company released Car Thing to a limited number of subscribers in October, and it announced on Tuesday that anyone can buy the device for $90—but you need a Spotify Premium subscription to use it. Spotify Premium currently costs $10 per month for individuals, with plans going up to $16 per month for six accounts. Car Thing also requires a connection to your phone for mobile data or Wi-Fi.

The device is meant to provide a way to listen to Spotify in your car without the need to look down at your phone or deal with clunky built-in car interfaces, which can be dangerous to use on the road. A 12 V power adapter connects to Car Thing and your car's auxiliary power outlet, and the device then connects to your phone via Bluetooth. Finally, you connect the device to your car stereo via AUX, Bluetooth, or USB. The player also supports Apple CarPlay and Android Auto.

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Framework’s modular laptop is now available in Europe (or part of it anyway)

The Framework laptop is a modular computer that’s designed to be both easy to repair and easy to customize thanks to an expansion card system that lets you swap out ports or even replace a port with up to 1TB of solid state storage. When the laptop first launched it was available exclusively in the […]

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The Framework laptop is a modular computer that’s designed to be both easy to repair and easy to customize thanks to an expansion card system that lets you swap out ports or even replace a port with up to 1TB of solid state storage.

When the laptop first launched it was available exclusively in the US and Canada, but last week Framework began shipping its laptop top customers in the UK, France, and Germany and now the company is also taking pre-orders in Ireland, Austria, and the Netherlands.

Customers in those countries can reserve a Framework laptop with a refundable €100 deposit, with the balance to be collected when the laptop ships in March.

The Framework laptop is available with Intel Core i5-1135G7, Core i7-1165G7 and Core i7-1185G7 processor options and support for up to 64GB of RAM, up to 4TB of storage, and customers can choose from expansion cards including:

  • USB Type-C
  • HDMI
  • DisplayPort
  • microSD card reader
  • USB Type-A
  • 250GB or 1TB SSD

Just note that the expansion cards you select when you purchase the laptop may be all you can get for a little while – the company does have a Framework Marketplace where it sells spare parts and additional Expansion cards, but the Marketplace isn’t yet live in Europe and the UK. Framework says it’s coming to those regions soon though.

The computer can also be configured with Windows or with no operating system at all, and Framework says it offers appropriate power adapters of reach region where the laptop is sold, as well as keyboards designed for French, German, and several different English layouts (including an English International ANSI keyboard for the Netherlands).

via Framework Blog

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Klima-PR-Kampf mit ungleichen Budgets: strafbare Autobahnblockaden und legitime Positionen

Die Atomlobby nimmt viel Geld in die Hand, um für ein Kernkraft-Comeback zu werben. Eine Hauptforderung der Klima-Aktivsten, die den Verkehr behindern, war vorher schon mehrheitsfähig

Die Atomlobby nimmt viel Geld in die Hand, um für ein Kernkraft-Comeback zu werben. Eine Hauptforderung der Klima-Aktivsten, die den Verkehr behindern, war vorher schon mehrheitsfähig

Inside “Project Tinman”: Peloton’s plan to conceal rust in its exercise bikes

Company insiders say execs hatched a scheme to cover up corrosion, avoid costly recall.

A Peloton stationary bike for sale at the company's showroom in Dedham, Massachusetts, U.S.

Enlarge / A Peloton stationary bike for sale at the company's showroom in Dedham, Massachusetts, U.S. (credit: Bloomberg | Getty Images)

As Peloton’s stock price began to tumble last autumn and just months after a costly recall of the connected fitness company’s expensive treadmills, its executives were confronted with a new crisis.

In September last year, staff at Peloton warehouses, which receive high-end bikes originally manufactured in Taiwan, noticed that paint was flaking off some of the exercise machines.

The cause was a build-up of rust on “non-visible parts” of the bike—the inner frame of the seat and handlebars—and did not affect the product’s integrity, Peloton recently told the Financial Times.

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Headset: Sony zeigt Playstation VR 2

Das Design erinnert an die PS5: Sony zeigt erstmals Playstation VR 2. Das Headset wird leichter als der Vorgänger und bekommt einen Lüfter. (Playstation VR, Sony)

Das Design erinnert an die PS5: Sony zeigt erstmals Playstation VR 2. Das Headset wird leichter als der Vorgänger und bekommt einen Lüfter. (Playstation VR, Sony)