Category Archives: Transport
You probably might’ve seen the Disney Pixar animation WALL-E and all those fat humans of the future moving around on contraptions after having forgotten the real uses of their legs. This vehicle we just came across sure reminded us of one of those contraptions, and might just decrease the distance we usually tend to walk today, in the future. Designed by Thierry Fischer, Kevin Biolluz, Karim Bennani and Frederic La Sciellour for Peugeot, the XB1 powers completely by electricity and might just be the reason for us to quit walking in future! The vehicle touches speeds of 35km/hr which sure beats walking and supports smartphones too. Integrated with a GPS system to help you find your way, the XB1 is an environment-friendly mode of transport.
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Searching for juice for your EV won’t be all that difficult anymore, not if you’ve got Google Maps installed on your smart phone. Google Maps has recently chalked out EV charging stations too, making it easier for you to locate the nearest and select the best route there. The world is in for a greener automobile industry in the future as gas-powered cars are slowly bowing down to electrics, and EV charging stations are indeed the need of the day.
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It’s all about the Geneva Motor Show these days. Here’s a bit more of green sprouting out of the 2011 edition of the show. Renault has unveiled a newer version of its Kangoo Maxi Z.E. van. This one’s 15 inches longer than the previous version and is juiced with electricity. The electric van features a 44kW electric motor and a 22kWh lithium-ion battery packed below. With enough space for an extra 12 feet of cargo or a crew of five members, the van delivers a good 100 miles on a single charge. With a top speed of 80 mph, this one sure isn’t meant to travel fast.
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The Geneva 2011 Motor Show had Tata unveil a car that’s left just about everyone nostalgic of the Tata Nano, the world’s cheapest car. The energy-efficient and eco-friendly Pixel by the Indian automobile company is seriously small, just like its name suggests and somewhat seems to be the space-age version of the little Tata Nano. With enough space to comfortably seat four adults, the car returns more than 60 mpg and only releases 89 grams of C02 per kilometer, using a 1.2-liter three-cylinder turbodiesel, regenerative breaking and stop-start technology. The car is probably one of the easiest to park, thanks to its zero turning radius system that has its rear wheels rotate in separate directions.
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The very looks of this mean –machine on wheels has been giving us the goose-bumps. We jumped out of our skins after reading up the specs! Christened the 908 HYbrid4, this beast rolling out of Peugeot is a diesel-electric hybrid that’ll show up at the Le Mans race. Designed to comply with endurance racing’s latest regulations, the car by the French automotive biggie uses a 3.7-liter diesel V8 with 550 horsepower and a 60 kilowatt (80 horsepower) electric motor powered by regenerative braking. Nestled deep inside is a lithium-ion that stores all the juice to appease this parched beast’s tongue. The electric assist will help keep this ride up ahead, helping around tight bends and at pits. Though not too much of a concern in races like these, hybrid technology could just help save a precious few drops of fossil fuels too!
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Remember those dual-tone minibus’ that reigned in the hippie era by Volkswagen? The good old set of wheels will now get a fresh new look, and a cleaner heart, powered by electricity! The VW Company plans to resurrect the iconic bus with the old German name, the Bulli. Using an electric motor that generates 85 kW of power and travels as far as 186.4 miles on a single charge, the bus also has a place to hook in your iPad on its console for GPS navigation and hands-free communication. It does pick up a lot from its ancestor though, like the bench-seats, the two-toned exterior and yes, it’s just as slow, with a top speed of 87mph.
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This is probably just what you’d get if you had a tank and a submarine to mate. Pathfinders have in the past reached places human beings simply wouldn’t tread on and have helped researchers better understood unknown regions. Here’s a green pathfinder that paves the way for human kind and is expected to work below the sea, crawling across ocean floors and giving researchers a lot more to study. Powered by a lithium battery storage unit, this electric pathfinder uses either four wheels, tracks or a combination of wheels as per requirements. This one’s expected to go well below 4000 meters and above, with a pilot, a co-pilot and a communications engineer inside. Also, a support vehicle will keep an eye out for the electric pathfinder.
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It started off with sails. Then came steam. Then came all the technology money could buy. And now the shipping industry is turning back to wind power to power up! Cargill hand in hand with SkySails GmbH & Co. KG (SkySails) from Germany will make use of a computer-controlled 320 square meter kite that will take the energy of the wind to propel the ship forward, reducing fuel consumption by 35% when the winds blow right. Today, it’s the ships that bring in 90% of all the stuff we use. With wind power being used for cruising, imagine all the fuel the shipping industry could keep out and the huge favor it could do the environment!
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The best you can do to appease your growling belly at times is call for a pizza. Now the next time you bite into that cheesy slice, do give the environment a thought and think about just how much carbon probably ended up in the air while the pizza made its way to your front door and into your belly. Here’s a greener way to deliver pizzas, an eco-friendly and environment-friendly delivery bike, the Eco-Delivery Electric Bike. Now don’t try hitting the highway to deliver a pizza far off into the country-side with this one. It might just turn out to be a bit unfaithful, not till it sports solar panels in the future at least. For now, it sure works a lot better than a gas-powered bike, taken that it saves up on fuel costs and doesn’t harm the environment while delivering your pepperoni and cheese.
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All the waste oil that has been flowing out of the ISU’s (Iowa State University) campus dining facilities will finally be put to use, thanks to all the efforts taken by the ISU BioBus, an entrepreneurial student initiative with o David Correll, a Ph.D. student in ISU’s College of Business and co-founder and president steering. Students who’re part of the BioBus initiative are installing their new processor in their Biorenewables Research Laboratory headquarters over the next couple of weeks that will produce a supply of fuel. The fuel will then be used to breathe life into the CyRide bus. Financially assisted by a grant from the College of Business, and a Coleman Entrepreneurial Fellow grant, the BioBus has 20 active members working with green initiatives.
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