Category Archives: Transport
One of the best ways to spend a lazy afternoon is sailing the azure, and doing so without stamping an ugly carbon footprint has never been easier before! Rome-based Tamarack Lake Electric Boat Company has just unveiled an eco-friendly way to boating called the Loon. In essence a full-fledged 10-passenger boat, this one uses solar energy to power up and is indeed a unique and energy-efficient way to cruise offshore. Also, the company previously based in Ontario, has received incentives worth $300,000 from the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority and is looking forward to using the cash for bettering its current solar technology, pushing the Loon farther into sea without harming the environment!
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When the California Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) first introduced its HOV sticker program for EV drivers, we envisioned electric car users piling over one-another to grab one of these. However, the initiative that enables EV and plug-in hybrid owners to use the high-occupancy-vehicle-lane hasn’t really caught on, yet, with the DMV handing out as little as 4,000 of these lately. On the other hand, the previous yellow hybrid-driver stickers being handed out seemed a lot more popular, with about 2000 drivers picking up these every month! The new green sticker program unveiled by the DMV expires on the 1st of January 2015 and has a 40,000 limit, and we do hope these turn just as popular as the previous initiatives being put into place to promote the use of clean and green modes of transport in the Golden State.
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After having successfully launched a luxury car-sharing program across Germany, BMW has finally introduced the same in the United States. Called the DriveNow program, this car-sharing initiative by the German automotive honcho will kick off in San Francisco and will offer luxury automobiles for 32 cents a minute. Enabling you to locate these cars with your smartphone or computer, the DriveNow program will cost $12 for the first half an hour requires users to leave their hired ride at the eight current locations in San Francisco once done. with 70 all-electric cars on offer, this is an interesting way to get around town without choking the eco-system and will make use of BMW Acitve-E vehicles.
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When designer Harikrishnan P K decided to come up with a jolly green way to get around, ordinary wasn’t enough. Called the Hercules Topgear-S, this fabulous bicycle is a futuristic rendition of the current bicycle available in the market and is a paradigm shift away from the conventional bicycle.looks apart, what sets this one away from the rest is its automatic gear system, enabling you to glide through traffic without fiddling with manual gears. Using a contactless dynamo that charges the onboard battery pack which in turn powers up the bicycle’s quick-shifter, the headlights, the horn and the turn signals with the controls all integrated in the handlebar, the Hercules Topgear-S also sports a USB charging port to juice your smartphone or portable media player on the go!
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Solar energy is indeed a promising way to power up not just our homes but also the modes we use to travel. It could take a while for the world of aviation to finally swing away from fossil fuels and use the energy of the sun to transport people around the globe but that hasn’t stopped developers from around the globe from experimenting with the same. A new Mexico startup recently unveiled this six-foot-long unmanned aircraft that powers up completely with solar energy. Called the Silent Falcon, this aircraft is capable of staying in the skies for a good 14 hours powered by the sun alone and could very well be used for surveillance and security operations. These however aren’t being mass-produced yet and are currently priced at a whopping $250,000 to $300,000, a price most government agencies wouldn’t mind shelling out for an eye in the sky.
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Gas powered cars might have been the best way to get around in the past but with the dawn of alternative energy sources, fossil fuels could pretty much turn obsolete, paving the way for greener and more eco-friendly cars like this new development by Tata. Barely a looker though sincerely green at heart, the AirPod powers up with nothing but air! Using compressed air to its advantage, this three-wheeled one-seat ride from the Indian car manufacturers stables is capable of touching speeds of up to 43 miles per hour and packs a tank full of compressed air on board that requires refilling. Also, the AirPod sports an electric engine that can alternatively be used to pump in air from the outdoors, which in turn is powered by regenerative breaking. A development that could change the way we travel forever, the tiny AirPod is bound to grab tons of attention.
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German car manufacturer Audi is all set to revolutionize the supercar industry with its upcoming R8 e-tron. In essence an electric version of the current Audi R8, this one’s more than just a cleaner and greener version of a supercar. For one, the upcoming electric supercar will ditch the traditional rear-view mirror for a more technology-packed solution, a Samsung 7.7-inch AMOLED display hooked up to a camera fitted on the rear of the car, giving the driver a better view of what’s coming up behind. Initially used in the Audi R18 Le Mans race cars, this digital rear-view screen gives the driver a wider field of vision and works great for a car that lacks the conventional rear window.
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Copenhagen maybe the cycle hub of the world, but Portland in US is all game to get its number of cyclists up too! A generous donation from Cycle Oregon has bought the city of Portland a European style bike counter on the old Hawthorne Bridge as part of the company’s 25th anniversary. The ‘birthday gift’ to the city of Portland will count the number of cyclists that go on the track, encouraging more number of people to live a healthy lifestyle.
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And if you’ve been under the impression that solar powered vehicles are more often than not beaten to the finish line by Fred Flintstone, test pilot Chip Yates has just proved you wrong! Hailed as the first person in the world to ever fly an aircraft faster than 200 miles per hour during a test flight at the Inyokern Airport in California’s Mojave Desert, Yates now has an electric-vehicle record to his name! The plane used for this particular flight is christened the Long-ESA (Electric Speed and Altitude) and is in essence a modified Long-EZ aircraft sporting a 258 horsepower electric motor developed by the electric aerospace company Flight of the Century (FOTC). Also, Yates’ recent flight lasted just 16 minutes though with better battery capacity in future, the guys running it all expect to touch speeds of 250mph and are also preparing for a flight across the Atlantic!
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Spending time away from the clutter of our urban lives is the need of the hour for the most of us, with people today looking for better ways to vacation or spend a day off. One of the best modes to recreation and mental relaxation is stepping on a yacht, a sea-faring vessel packed with enough luxury to calm your nerves, like this Zero Emissions Yacht by Ned Ship Group. Self-sufficient, eco-friendly and packed with creature comforts, this yacht is built 20 meters long and sports 4 luxury suites, an owner suite, a large saloon, a full-fledged kitchen, additional rooms for the staff and is topped with carbon-fiber solar cells to power up the yacht itself! Available in yacht or shuttle designs, with the latter capable of being used for luxury mass transit, the Zero Emissions Yacht also sports full-electric (at 10 knots for 6 hours a day) or hybrid serial or parallel dual motorization as per customer requirements!
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