It seems that recent reports suggest that Dodge has increased the towing capacity of their 2010 Ram without actually making any hardware changes. The increase is from 9,100 pounds to 10,450 pounds and Dodge points to the coil-sprung sprung suspension for the added performance.

Autoblog says that Dodge merely underestimated the towing power of their latest Ram hence the out-of-nowhere increase. We now also know that the 2010 Ram will include 22-inch wheels, iPod integration, trailer-towing mirrors and an engine management upgrade giving the truck better gas mileage by cutting the fuel during deceleration.

Tags: Dodge Ram, engine management, hardware, increase, iPod, towing capacity

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It looks like we may be seeing an electric vehicle that traces its roots from the Hummer H3 concept come this 2009 SAE World Congress. FEV, Incannounced today that it will unveil the Hummer H3 Range-Extended Electric Vehicle (ReEV) demonstrator at the upcoming 2009 SAE World Congress, held at Cobo Center in Detroit on April 20 – 24.

FEV partnered with Utah-based Raser Technologies (Raser) in the development of the H3 ReEV, the first vehicle equipped with Raser’s range-extended electric vehicle technology. The H3 ReEV will be on display in the FEV booth. The unveiling of the H3 ReEV comes one year after FEV and Raser first showed the technology as a concept at last year’s World Congress.

The announcement was made jointly by Gary Rogers, FEV, Inc. president and CEO and Jim Spellman, Raser VP of Business Development.

The Hummer H3 ReEV is the first range-extended electric vehicle based on a full-sized SUV. The Raser scalable plug-in series hybrid design provides 40+ mile all-electric range and 100+ mpg fuel economy. FEV performed the full vehicle integration including electrical and mechanical design. Additionally, FEV developed all software for the hybrid control unit and in-vehicle graphical display.

Propulsion comes from Raser’s 200 kW traction motor mated to a 4-speed automatic transmission. Raser’s 100 kW generator, driven by a 2.0L SIDI turbocharged engine, provides electrical power. Although a full-sized SUV, the concept has been achieved with only minimal sacrifice of acceleration performance, cargo space, or towing capacity.

(Source) Press

Tags: automatic transmission, cargo space, demonstrator, electric vehicle technology, electrical power, fuel economy, HUMMER, hybrid control, hybrid design, jim spellman, mechanical design, sae world congress, towing capacity

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