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MSN
Seat belt use is at around 90 percent, according to the NHTSA, which is surprising or not depending on your view of humanity. Still, that means many who don’t use them, and, of crash deaths last year, over half of them were unbelted, The Wall Street Journal reports.
Across the U.S. last year, fatalities in which vehicle occupants were ejected rose 20% compared to 2019, and such deaths were higher among young men than other demographic groups
Sgt. Dan Silvia, who heads the traffic unit at the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office in metro Denver, said he heard different excuses as he handed drivers $75 citations. “It’s usually, ‘I forgot,’” he said. But he said some drivers complained about the government telling them what to do, and one man vowed he would never wear a seat belt.
Read the article at MSN.
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Electrek
Electric vehicle chargers that are embedded into and flush with the sidewalk are now officially live for testing in the London Borough of Brent. The chargers have no permanent raised street furniture at the sidewalk edge.
Scottish startup company Trojan Energy – “flat and flush EV charging” – has designed the system for those without access to off-street parking, garages, or driveways, which is a major impediment for charging, not only in London, but in most cities around the world.
Fifteen flat EV chargers are installed in parallel from one electricity network connection, with power distributed across the chargers. The user inserts a personal lance into the charger, which then locks it in place. Once charged, the lance can be removed by key fob or smartphone and stored in the car.
Read the article at Electrek.
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Ars Technica
For years, Toyota was a leader in eco-friendly vehicles. Its efficient cars and crossovers offset emissions from its larger trucks and SUVs, giving the company a fuel-efficiency edge over some of its competition. By May 2012, Toyota had sold 4 million vehicles in the Prius family worldwide.
The next month, Tesla introduced the Model S, which dethroned Toyota’s hybrid as the leader in green transportation. While Toyota invested in Tesla, it saw the startup not as a threat but rather a bit player that could help Toyota meet its EV mandates.
In tethering itself to hybrids and betting its future on hydrogen, Toyota now finds itself in an uncomfortable position. Governments around the world are moving to ban fossil-fuel vehicles of any kind, and they’re doing so far sooner than Toyota anticipated. With EV prices dropping and charging infrastructure expanding, fuel-cell vehicles are unlikely to be ready in time. In a bid to protect its investments,
Read the article at Ars Technica.
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CNN Business
The #vanlife movement was already in full swing before the pandemic, fueled by envy-inducing posts on Instagram and DIY van conversion videos on YouTube.
A typical van conversion starts starts by gutting a utility van before replacing the interior with the makings of a mobile home: loft beds, mini sinks, toilets, refrigerators and built-in seating. For Cascade Vans, one of the worst shortages has been windows, which are three months to eight months back ordered, Alexa Owens, co-founder of Cascade Custom Vans in Bend, Oregon said. Cascade anticipates at least another year of supply shortages while vendors play catch-up.
Read the article at CNN Business.
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By Jennifer Warren, Sales Executive, Motus
Motus
Mobile phones play an important role in the way many employees function within their company. But just as important is how the company manages those mobile phones.
If the business isn’t using a bring your own device program, they are tasked with mobile phone asset management. Unfortunately, depending on the approach, it can be expensive and difficult to track and manage those assets. In this post we’ll share some challenges to implementing the right mobile phone asset management system and potential solutions.
Corporate-Liable Devices
When a company provides employees with mobile phones to be used for business, these are called corporate-liable devices. Also referred to as company-provided devices, businesses face the biggest challenge trying to manage this program in-house.
The reasons are simple. Companies naturally expect IT departments to manage, support and trouble shoot these devices. However, these departments are rarely equipped with the knowledge, experience or manpower to provide adequate support. As a result, in house mobile phone asset management results in an excess of unused phones that quickly become outdated.
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By Adam Danielson, Sales and Business Development Director
Data is abundant in the fleet industry and can be overwhelming.
There is data flowing to a fleet manager like an open firehose from many sources and in varying formats.
To make the data actionable a few things need to happen: automation, normalization, and aggregation.
Fleet managers need to consume several different types of data to create a holistic view of the driver and accomplish their driver safety goals.
When data collection is automated it is possible to collect from additional sources – the more sources of driver data that can be consumed, the clearer the view of the driver becomes. To accurately assess driver behavior and create a holistic view, multi-sourced, real-time data needs to be collected and automated.
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CNBC
The average transaction price for a used car was $25,410 in the second quarter of 2021, up from $22,977 in the first quarter and 21% year-over-year, according to data from online automotive resource Edmunds. That figure marks the highest average price over a quarter for a used car that Edmunds has ever tracked.
Several automakers, including General Motors and Ford, have cut new vehicle production due to semiconductor chip shortages, putting further constraints on inventory and driving up prices. The boosted value of trade-in opportunities will likely prompt new car buyers to offer their current vehicle up to dealerships and retailers. The average trade-in value of a used vehicle in June was $21,224, up 75.6% year-over-year, according to Edmunds.
While Jeff Dyke, president of Sonic Automotive, said he does expect the chip shortage to “alleviate here in the coming months,” the tight car supply has been beneficial to companies like Sonic Automotive that sell used cars. However, Dyke says there are signs that the market is leveling off, with prices dropping by as much as $2,000 for a used car over the course of July as the supply of new cars is starting to increase.
Read the article at CNBC.
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