Norway will soon bring to the waters of the world the first electric ferry that will show up in 2015. A car-carrier that measures in at 262.5-feet long, this catamaran can easily carry 120 cars and 360 passengers. Kicking away the gas-powered engines for two humongous 11-ton electric motors that drive a propeller each, this vessel will make its maiden journey from Lavik to Oppedal.
Mercedes Benz is going the fuel-efficient way and ha just unveiled to extremely green BlueEFFICIENCY Edition models, the A180 and the A180 CDI BlueEFFICIENCY Edition. The A180 petrol model boasts a consumption of 5.2 l/100 km and 120 g of CO2/km and is easily one of the most efficient in its class. The A180 CDI on the other hand has a consumption of 3.6 l/100 km and CO2 emissions of just 92 g/km, making it the most efficient Mercedes-Benz car!
Autonomous vehicles that require no human intervention when it comes to maneuvering have long been on our minds. It’s been a while now since automobile big wigs have come forward with their plans for cars that need no drivers. French mobility solutions firm Induct has come up with a driverless electric shuttle that can be used in pedestrian-heavy areas called the Navia.
Planning to get around in a green way and lug around a load of stuff with you? Well, give the gas-gulping cars a skip and hope aboard the TruckIt! Now this vehicle is bound to draw a lot of stares, particularly if you wind up on a busy urban street in it. Resembling a rickshaw, the TruckIt is in essence a recumbent-bicycle with an electric motor and is amazingly inexpensive!
Bicycles are indeed one of the best ways to get around town, particularly if you live in a dense urban area where the streets are usually packed with chunks of metal on wheels. In such situations, hopping on a tiny two-wheeler and zipping through traffic is fabulously practical indeed. Which is why, we simply love the Swiss company Volitude SA’s V1 fold-up pedal assisted electric bicycle.
Wireless charging is indeed one of the most promising developments in automotive technology. Systems like these could make juicing up electric cars of the future a lot easier. All drivers will be required to do further ahead is drive their car over a charging pad and fill up their electric cars with clean and renewable energy! Now, Raleigh in North Carolina has adopted the technology and is easily one of the pioneers of wireless car charging on a larger scale.
Wireless charging is the way ahead, and we’ve been proclaiming it to be so since quite a while now. Using this concept, Utah State University’s Wireless Power Transfer team came up with a feasible way to mass transportation that could soon give cities a cleaner way to move commuters around. Called the Aggie Bus, this one functions just like a regular gas-powered bus. The difference is its electricity-powered insides and the way it charges up!
Nissan has given its lovable green car, the Leaf, an overhaul. The new 2013 version of the car sports a whopping 142 mile range on a single charge as per the JC08 test mode, increasing nearly by 20 miles from the previous Leaf. The 2013 model comes with regenerative brakes and lower weight high-voltage unit that help increase the car’s efficiency. That apart, the car’s motor now uses a combined powertrain unit with integrated functions, streamlined battery module and case structure.
Trust the Chinese to come up with some of the most unconventional ways to baffle and inspire the world. The country has chalked out a 78 million square foot site outside Chengdu in central China. The space will be developed into a one-of-a-kind city that will require no cars! To play home to nearly 80,000 residents, the city will be built from ground up, literally, and is a project by Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture. Called the “Car-Free City”, this project will significantly decrease the requirement of a car!
And if you’ve been thinking the Renault Twizy electric city car to be nothing more than a seemingly cramped-up way to travel around your neighborhood, think again! The French automaker has just unveiled a firefighting version of this tiny car that could somewhat do the job of a full-fledged fire-truck!