The team says its new cathode, made of a conductive plastic called PEDOT, could be manufactured for just several hundred dollars. Even better, PEDOT is much more stable than platinum and doesn't have platinum's pesky clumping problems or aversion to carbon monoxide.

The researchers are now planning on building fuel cells with the cathode in 3D, to maximize the surface area available to generate a current. With this new breakthrough and the solar-charged process engineered by MIT scientists a few days ago, it's been kind of an awesome week for fuel cell science. [ABC via Treehugger]

For your money, you'll be getting one of the fastest all electric vehicles around. The 2009MY can accelerate from 0 to 60 mph in 3.9 seconds, has a top speed of 125 mph, and can go 227 miles on a 3.5 hour charge. If you're especially opulent, you can add sweet extras like a painted carbon fiber top for $3,200 or a premium leather interior for $1,800.

Want to think a little more before you let this sweet lil' ride burn a hole through your bank account? Here's a couple of reviews to help you make your decision. Or if you're in California, scuttle over to their dealership in LA. [Tesla Motors]

[PlaySmart.jp via Trends in Japan]

Best of all, though there's no hints on pricing and the car is still in prototype stage, it may be available in a limited run as soon as Fall this year. [Gas2.org via New Launches]

But the reason it all sounds so great is the price, ranging from $578 to $656. For an in-dash system with this much functionality, that's a steal...even if it's not the fastest system on the planet. [product via techabob]

66%

So is this a situation of "we know it's for our own good," or, "those other people can't text while driving, but my super multitasking powers make it safe for me"?

I'm guilty of the non-crime. And yes, it's because I believe myself to have heightened (some may say spider-like) reflexes. Should it be banned? Probably. [prnews]

Not only do they have little light-up headlights that come on when you step in them, they're "ultra-soft" and plush, which means they'll be super comfortable on the cold floor of your bathroom. Plus, they cover your entire foot, so you won't have to worry about accidentally peeing on yourself thanks to horrible aim at 3 a.m. [Product Page via Techie Diva]

Vampire Jet Car [Jalopnik]

Jump!

Monday saw the first announcement, of the Chevrolet Sequel — an entirely hydrogen-powered and petroleum-free vehicle (except for, and we're only guessing here, but there's probably motor oil in it). The Sequel, originally introduced in 2005 at the Detroit Auto Show, was the first concept car to integrate a hydrogen fuel cell propulsion system and match it up to a bunch of cool gadgety goodness — like steer-and brake-by-wire controls, wheel hub motors, lithium-ion batteries and a lightweight aluminum structure. The Sequel's also got a crossover SUV form factor (the "CUV" appears to be the new hotness of form factors) with a range of 300 miles between fill-ups as it pulls fuel from three carbon composite high-pressure tanks for hydrogen which it's got mounted and sandwiched into the chassis in order to protect it from damage in case of a crash.

The BMW, announced on Tuesday, is a "hybrid" in that it uses both a gasoline-and hydrogen-powered drive. The BMW Hydrogen 7 is based on the BMW 7 Series (duh!), and is powered by a 260 hp twelve-cylinder engine and features a dual-mode power unit — controlled at the touch of a button — that can switch from the 17.6 lb. hydrogen fuel tank (125 miles worth) to the 16.3 lb. conventional premium gasoline tank (300 miles worth). The premium gas gives it some fuel economy issues, the Hydrogen 7 gets 15 mpg in the city and 22 mpg on the highway — but by providing both drive units, it's able to get a range of more than 400 miles. It also makes certain the car will still drive even if it isn't in range of a hydrogen fuel station. For some strange reason, finding one seems to be a problem for anyone but the Jetsons. The Hydro-7's got the same creature comforts as the regular 7 Series, with electric seats (now with lumbar support!), ISOFIX child seat fastenings (you know, for kids!) and interior mirrors with something called "automatic anti-dazzle" (we've no friggin' idea!). BMW's producing 100 of them to test as a concept, with around 30 of them coming stateside — and no, you'll probably not be able to drive one or buy one anytime soon. Neither car seems to have any performance issues requiring Levitra, with both getting 0-60 times of sub-ten seconds and top speeds of around 140 mph.

But what's funny about hydrogen power is yet again GM's finding itself actually ahead of the curve with a vehicle ahead of its time — like the electric car some accuse it of killing — and competitors nipping at its heels, coming out with half-steps hybrids. We'll have to see if GM's gonna have the balls to push the Sequel to, and keep it at, market — or will they let BMW become the hydrogen version of Honda or Toyota as GM goes on to star in a documentary sequel called "Who Killed The Hydrogen Car." We guess only time will tell.–Ray Wert

A Whole Different Kind of Fuelie: GM's Sequel to Be a Chevrolet [Jalopnik]
Burning the Midnight Liquid Fuel: BMW Reveals Hydrogen 7 [Jalopnik]

Jalopnik Reviews: 2006 Dodge Charger SRT8 [Jalopnik]

Of course, if you're looking for data strictly, and can do without the IPTV, we're going to go ahead and recommend you buy the Kyocera mobile EVDO router instead. It's only a few hundred bucks, vs the $2000 dollar sticker price for the TracNet.– Brian Lam

TracNet 100 Mobile Internet Receiver [KVH]

Next weird thing is the tip itself: Toyota, known for having the gadgety-est cars around, is developing a cell phone with Japan's #2 wireless carrier, KDDI Corp (in which Big T owns an 11 percent stake). Mike is all wordsmithy, so I'll let him tell you about the phone his own sentences.

It's not just any throwaway burner, mind you; the handsets — dubbed "TiMO" — which are based on an existing KDDI phone made by Toshiba, will tie in via Bluetooth to navigation and other systems already installed in the company's cars. The service will include downloads of music, games and various manner of digital media, as well as an emergency telematics dealie that may or may not involve a team of unicorns that cascade down a sparkly rainbow to provide 24-hour road service. The phones will go on sale this October in Japan at the company's automotive outlets.

Unicorns! I read it on the internet, so it must be true. Maybe they'll put the RFID engine starting signal inside the phone for the sheer convenience of being able lose both your cellie and your car keys at once.

The third weird thing is that I have a nest of Yellow Jackets burrowing into my kitchen wall. I hear them scratching at the wood, hungry for my eye-flesh. You can't make this shit up.– Brian Lam

Toyota to Make Cellphones [Jalopnik]

The squat and hedgehog-lookin' 19,000 lb beast-of-an-armored-vehicle ain't just built to shrug off a roadside bomb with its high strength ballistic aluminum armor, or stop a bullet from an AK-47 with its ballistic glass. No, it's also pretty fast for its size — with a top speed of 93 mph.

Armet Gurkha [Jalopnik]

But even the Tesla car can't park itself. Explanation of how the Advanced Parking Guidance System works, information on how this thing rips CDs, and other e-goodies, after the jump.

UPDATE: The video had some hiccups. Fixed.

Here's how it works.

1. You drive past a parking spot at 12mph or less. The four rear and six front sonar sensors detect the cars, and the gap between them.

2. Putting the car into reverse activates the wide-angle backup camera. There's a little button on the bottom of the screen that looks like a car parking. Hit it. If the spot is more than 6.5 feet longer than the car itself, the car enters Advanced Parking Guidance System mode. This is where the magic happens.

3. Crawl backwards, keeping your foot on the brake. If you touch the gas, or the wheel, the mode shuts itself off. Make sure to stay under 2.5mph, or it'll shut off, too. The wheel, as you can see from the video above, spins itself like its being ghost-driven. The sonar system is constantly measuring distance, beeping with more urgency as you get closer to obstacles.

4. When you're in the spot, the computer will announce that parking is complete.

Sonar Panels

Parking Mode buttons

Pretty sweet. Dan Neil, automotive journalist for the LA Times, and one of my favorite writers evar, sat next to me when I got the demo. He said he thought it was a pretty neat system. And that he could use it, since his better half was also the better parallel parker.

That's the best part of this car, but it's not the only awesome thing about it.

The car has adaptive cruise control, which uses millimeter-wave radar to slow you if a car in front of you hits the brakes. If the system detects a collision, it'll add pressure to the brakes to help stop time, and electronically tighten seatbelts.

It has the world's first 8-speed transmission, which uses fewer moving parts than the old 6-speed, in about the same space. I thought a car with 8 gears would flip through them like playing cards, but they were geared fairly tall to take advantage of the grunty 4.6-liter, 380-horsepower V8 engine. By the way, the pair gets the car up to 60mph in 5.4 seconds.

Like the Prius and other late-model Lexus cars, its key uses radio frequency to enable the door lock and starter buttons from a few feet away. Seems like a hack waiting to happen. But there's another drawback: One journalist took the car back to SF from Marin county, and left the key at the restaurant. The car keeps going, until you shut it off. Then, get ready to call AAA for a tow.

The headlights were inspired by crystal wine glasses. When they modeled a plastic assembly after the glasses, it didn't shine the way they wanted it to. So they took the headlamp, made it out of crystal, and studied the way it refracted light to get a similar look. The taillights are made from LEDs.

The car is so quiet, they had to redesign motors in the windows and locks because they were intrusive at first.

The backseat is not a bad place to be. The seats are adjustable in position, and feature heating, as well individual climate controls. There's a refrigerator big enough to hold a four cans of...soda. There are individual vanity mirrors, and a 9-inch motorized fold-down screen for the DVD player. The screen also can view and control (not sure if that's by remote or touch) the navigation, in case the driver is too busy speeding. There are rear sun shades that go down when the car is in reverse, and back up automatically when the car goes over 9mph.

The controls...for the back seat.

The tire pressure monitoring receiver sits on the roof, checking all 5 tires, yes, even the full-sized spare.

Finally, we reach the center console.
The nav system is the fifth generation of Toyota's system, centered around a 9-inch, 800x600 screen. The system uses XM to receive live traffic data, with icons for traffic jams, accidents, closed roads, construction, bad weather conditions, etc. But that data is only available in some areas. The system also has integrated Bluetooth for pairing with a cellphone, for speakerphone and addressbook access. The entire system can be controlled by voice commands.

The stereo's 7.1-channel surround, with some 19 speakers pushes 15 discreet channels. The total power? 450 watts. It sounded...okay. The optical drive in the dash plays back CDs, DVDs, and CDs burned with WMA and MP3s. What's cool is that the same HDD that the satellite nav system uses to store maps can also hold MP3s that the car rips from CDs. First car, to my knowledge, that can do this.

The Intuitive parking system is the more simple of the two parking aids. It uses the car's sonar to increase the tempo of beeps as you get closer to cars you're parking near.

How does it drive? It moves a bit like a hurricane-driven cloud, quickly running through its 8 gears to its electronically regulated 135MPH, or something close to that. The car moves, but without much confidence that the road won't fly out from under you in corners. – Brian Lam

Lexus LS 460L [Jalopnik]