Category Archives: Transport
Bananas have never been known to power cars before. In fact, bananas have never really had anything to do with cars before. Brazilian scientists however, have revealed that fibers from bananas, pineapples and other plants can be used to create plastic that is stronger and lighter than the petroleum-based materials, and is as strong as Kevlar itself! Also, the plastic is renewable, given that it’s made from green sources. And using this material for cars could make them a lot lighter than they are today, indirectly increasing fuel efficiency! Using a plastic like this, manufacturers can cut out a good 250 to 700 pounds from a car, making it 30 times lighter and four times stronger!
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The fast and tiny Audi TT just had a green makeover, this time chiseled out by the students of Georgia Tech, the Solar Jackets team. The TT was converted into a solar-assisted electric vehicle to participate at the World Solar Challenge in Australia. Using two batteries with the smaller one juice by the solar panels and the larger one charged up by a home electric socket, the first battery is used to power up the power brakes, power windows and power steering while the other runs the drivetrain. To be held in October this year, the race will cover six days, beginning from Darwin and Adelaide.
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Parking space woes will be history soon, with vehicles and contraptions for transport like being developed like this little electric scooter. Built by Terry Hope, an engineer on a Canadian schooner, this home-made scooter folds up and can be carried around in a suitcase! After having been told of by the captain of his sail that he couldn’t bring anything on board that didn’t fit into a suitcase probably, Hope designed this little electric scooter, the Kinetic Photovoltaic Vehicle (KPV), that he hopes will win the hearts of people around the world. The scooter uses a 396 W-h/24-volt battery, 28 W-h/12-volt booster batteries, 10.8-volt ultracapacitor bank and a 12-volt kinetic generator and can be charged in just 15 to 45 minutes, travelling 13 miles (21 km) per charge.
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Well, if the electric Renault you’ve been driving goes parched and starves for juice in the middle of nowhere, you need not worry. Renault now has a get-you-home guarantee, ensuring that you will safely reach home, if your electric Renault runs out of charge. However, the deal sticks only if you’ve been driving the battery-powered Fluence, Zoe, Kangoo or Twizy within a realistic range. The middle-of-nowhere seems too out of range. You might just need to rely on a towing company for that. The company offers a replacement vehicle that will reach you home while your electric car enjoys a drink of electricity.
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The greenest snow mobiles showed up at the 2011 Clean Snowmobile Challenge, a collegiate design competition put on by the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) and hosted by Michigan Technological University. This year’s competition was termed as the greenest yet, with an increased number of electric snow mobiles showing up and Clarkson University (New York) bagging the first position. Held at MTU’s Keweenaw Research Center in Houghton, Michigan, the competition had seventeen teams made up of students who participated in the zero emissions and internal combustion categorie. The competition encourages the development of eco-friendly transportation, snow mobiles that are cost effective, comfortable, and practical enough to use in the real world.
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The French sure have a taste for design and art. It no wonder they come up with vehicles that look like exhibits right out of a modern art museum. French designers Charles-Edouard Berche, Ugo Spagnolo , Adrien Fuinesl, Frédéric Dobbelstein and Jean-Philippe Paries put their brains together and came up with this mean machine. Christened the Saline Bird, this bike uses air compression to power up and was designed for Les Triplettes de Bonneville. Made out of carbon fiber that keeps all the extra pounds away, the rider needs to sit in a skier-like position to maneuver this one. This also helps reduce air resistance and help improve the aerodynamics of the bike.
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The Nürburgring 24 hour race this year will see a true-green Porsche revving up its engine at the starting line. The automobile firm will have its 911 GT3 R Hybrid to represent at the race scheduled for the 25th of June. The 2011 Version 2.0 car is fuel-efficient and light yet extremely powerful, more than its predecessor. Using a 470HP 4.0-liter six-cylinder boxer engine at the rear and two electric motors driving the front wheels, this Porsche has 75 kilowatts (100HP) electric motors and weighs in at 1,300 kilograms (2,866 lbs).
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Trains naturally work greener than road travel, given that leaving your car home and opting for mass transit does save up on a load of fuel and keeps the air clean to a certain extent too. Argentinean industrial designer Francisco Lupin designed the Inter Urban Eco Train, the eco4 for the Bombardier train competition, specifically designed to ferry business commuters and students around campuses. With no carbon emissions whatsoever, the train uses solar energy to power up its electromagnetic motors that create the propulsion and levitation for the train for a smooth and fat ride. The train also equips energy efficient LED lights and is made of carbon fiber and fiberglass, using natural daylight to light up in the day time.
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New Yorkers behold! The first solar powered EV charging station is here, settling down at the Brooklyn Bridge Park, waiting to juice up your EV with some juice from the sun. the 85-acre sustainable waterfront park will play home to this state-of-the-art solar-powered electric vehicle charging station designed and built by the Beautiful Earth Group. The charging station alone is expected to save up a good $200,000 in gasoline costs and a lot more in electricity costs over the next 25 years of its life span. The Park’s service vehicles will use the charging station, helping the save up a load of money and energy in the bargain. That’s not all. 530 tons of CO2 would have been emitted if the Park had chosen gasoline powered vehicles instead.
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The Autolib carsharing program in Paris has had a load of support from billionaire tycoon Vincent Bollore who generously helped with a good 100 million Euros last December. Now, Bollore’s company will also begin supplying cars for the program after having won a contract. The tiny and well designed battery-powered Pininfarina Bluecar will be used for the French car sharing program. 4,000 electric Bluecars will be built at Pininfarina’s Italian factory near Turin as part of the $19.3 million that ends with the year 2013. A part of the factory has been leased out to Cecomp, the company which will build these cars while 57 Pininfarina employees will lend a helping hand in building the green automobiles.
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Bananas have never been known to power cars before. In fact, bananas have never really had anything to do with cars before. Brazilian scientists however, have revealed that fibers from bananas, pineapples and other plants can be used to create plastic that is stronger and lighter than the petroleum-based materials, and is as strong as Kevlar itself! Also, the plastic is renewable, given that it’s made from green sources. And using this material for cars could make them a lot lighter than they are today, indirectly increasing fuel efficiency! Using a plastic like this, manufacturers can cut out a good 250 to 700 pounds from a car, making it 30 times lighter and four times stronger!