Laura Bertolli

By Tyler Pendleton      The Tesla Model S won the award for Car of the Year from Motor Trend last year for its speed and agility, while still being run almost completely electrically. It is claimed to be very efficient in its energy use, and help keep the planet “green” in comparison to other gas-guzzling cars, but is it truly helping the planet? The trick that the car pulls off to keep up their speed while not having all the power of using fuel is the material the car is made out of. The aluminum body helps boost speed while keeping energy consumption low, due to the fact that it is 40% lighter than steel. But aluminum isn’t all rainbows and sunshine. The way it is mined takes eight times more energy than steel mining, and then even more energy to extract the aluminum from the raw material. Aluminum cannot be found by itself, it is too reactive. So when mined, from a source called bauxite, more energy is needed to mine and extract the aluminum from the ore. This uses enough energy

By Tyler Pendleton When cameras started taking pictures and recording license plate numbers, the police  began building   databases filled with different cars license plate numbers and placement of these individuals for millions of people around America, at all times of the day. These databases were originally meant to be used to store information about each car that they get a picture of so they can identify them on the spot from cruiser cameras in the back of police cars, and will are able to identify stolen or cars involved criminal activity. But since these cameras keep track of every license plate number they get a picture of, which allows police to know where each of these cars are at any specific moment, it is not allowing the freedom of speech and association . The huge reservations of information on the license plate numbers is not the way the cameras were supposed to be tracking cars. But police forces are arguing that having this information at hand allows them to be ab

By Tyler Pendleton Last year, Ford Motor Co. had stated that they would be releasing a software update this year to increase mileage for the Ford C-Max models, Fusion models, and Lincoln MKZ hybrids. The update is aimed to narrow the range of reports for hybrid drivers’ fuel economy performance, but it will increase multiple things. With the mileage boost being just one, other updates include the electric speed maximum, going from 62 MPH to 85 MPH, and having the fuel economy improved for many driving conditions. This includes the change from driving on highways to just a short trip. American and Canadian owners of hybrid vehicles from Ford will be offered upgrades for free. This update is occurring due to the lawsuit that was about overstated gas mileage for their hybrids. Aggressive driving and weather were some reasons the hybrids gas mileage went down. Compared to gas-powered vehicles, hybrids have a wider range for gas mileage. Ford will also be making the active grille