Fresh Fuzz

Leo’s Got Karma

by michael July 16th, 2011 - No Comments »

It’s always nice to see celebrities take action for what they believe in. Some celebrities are against fur and animal testing, others try to help poverty-stricken areas and some are environmentalist.

There are lots of perks to being famous, one of which is money but more importantly, you’re known. Your face alone can sell people on things, that influence alone gives you immense power.  One of the biggest things I’ve seen here in Los Angeles is the Prius Effect. I don’t know what sparked it but lots of celebrities started buying Toyota Priuse’s and they became cool, now they’re everywhere.

This trend has started up again with Leonardo DiCaprio, he will be one of the first to have a Fisker Karma, the electric sports cars. Cars like these are great, it’s amazing that people are swapping out their twelve cylinder Lamborghinis for EV’s like the Tesla Roadster and Fisker Karma.

In my opinion these cars are the revolution for electric vehicles. You have to make something appealing in order to make it popular and with cars its all about the styling and performance.

 

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It’s Not The Car, It’s The Driver

by michael July 13th, 2011 - No Comments »

When you think of good gas mileage, your mind normally goes to cars like the Toyota Prius and other hybrid electric vehicles; however, Top Gear recently proved it’s not so much the car as it is the driver.

The test that Jeremy Clarkson does, proves that driving aggressively in any car will kill your MPG’s.  In the video you see a car being pushed to its limits(Prius) and a car trailing it (M3) go 10 laps on a circuit.

This video really demonstrates that if you get an efficient car, you have to drive it efficiently. It’s been proven in the past that having a heavy right foot in an electric car will lower your range, which makes sense. More output requires more energy, watch the video to see the surprising results.

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Hybrids Will See Gridlock Soon

by michael June 29th, 2011 - No Comments »

California is now taking away the privilege of driving in the carpool lane from hybrid drivers. For the last 6 years Hybrids getting more then 45mpg, like the Toyota Prius and Honda Civic Hybrid, received a yellow sticker allowing them to hop in the carpool lane and bypass traffic. This used to be an added incentive for people who were considering a hybrid electric vehicle but now the standards are changing.

New regulations will only allow a select few to zip by the carpool lane. The lucky few will be plug-in electric vehicles like the much anticipated 2012 Toyota Prius Plug-In. These new electric all stars will now get a new Green decal to stick on their bumper to ride in the HOV lanes. Now that this incentive is gone, 85,000 hybrid drivers will join California’s gridlock traffic.

These drivers, who once laughed as they silently coasted by in peak traffic, will have to honk and wait with the best of the gas guzzlers. I suspect these new regulations will skyrocket any new plug-ins hitting the market in the next several years, especially in Los Angeles.

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1,000,000 Prius’s On US Soil

by michael April 6th, 2011 - No Comments »

In 2008, Toyota announced that it had reached 1 million worldwide sales of its Prius hybrid. Then in 2010 it reached 2 million sales around the world, today Toyota announced that 1 million Prius’s have been sold in the U.S. alone. It’t no wonder why where ever you go you will always see a Prius. Here in Santa Monica, you cant see more then 10 cars without one being a Prius, thats probably why Toyota has filmed there most recent commercials in Santa Monica.

Prius’s have saved Americans around  881 million gallons of gas, $2.19 billion in fuel costs, and 12.4 million tons of CO2 emissions, when compared to the average car. We cant wait for the new hybrid and plug-in arrivals Toyota is set to release.

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Prius Commercial shot in Santa Monica!

by michael January 19th, 2011 - No Comments »

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For the 10-Year Prius Anniversary Celebration, Toyota decided to thank their loyal Prius owners with impromptu carwashes.

They took to the Santa Monica streets bright and early with a car washing crew and two Prius Plug-ins. Once they washed the cars, with minimal water and eco-friendly soaps of course, they were off scouting for our next drive-by. With loads of Prius owners in Santa Monica, it wasn’t hard for the Toyota Team to spot them. Owners gladly celebrated with the crew by receiving a free car wash.

Essentia was lucky enough to have a Prius parked out front when they washed one of the cars. At 47 seconds the blue Prius is outside of our store, but only for a quick second. We at the Santa Monica store were lucky enough to also check out the two Prius Plug-Ins they had, which get 100+mpg!!

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