We Made This Podcast Artificially Noisy So You Could Hear Us Coming

We were charged up to return to the mic, but before we could talk about electric cars, which are now sexy, we had to get some work done.


Quality is Job One has been a motto for Ford for a long time. Well, all that talk is now backed up by some results. The latest J.D. Power Initial Quality Survey showed that Ford made big a big jump in quality, while Toyota's brands slid significantly.

Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG E-Cell (Wired) 

The White House is backing a proposal to spend up to $6 billion more on subsidies for electric vehicles, amid renewed interest on Capitol Hill in measures to cut petroleum consumption in response to the Gulf of Mexico oil spill.


Tesla stands to benefit from those subsidies, and from some fresh capital from an initial public offering in the coming weeks. As part of that the company has shown plans to develop many vehicles from its Model S platform.


Mercedes-Benz pumped up its SLS supercar with an electric version that would be crazy fast, and expensive.


Finally, a battle is brewing between people who want quiet electric cars and advocates for the blind who feel that artificially noisy vehicles are safer. The Nissan Leaf has a noisemaking system that can be turned off, which has garnered some interesting coverage this week.

GetThisShowOnTheRoad June 23, 2010.mp3