Category Archives: Transport
On of the largest electric vehicle initiative put together in the United States, the EV Project by Ecotality has gone bigger. Last July, the project spread over to Texas and is currently being added on to San Francisco Bay Area. The EV Project has now spread across 17 cities and major metropolitan areas in six states, besides the District of Columbia. 2,750 home charging stations and up to 30 DC fast-charge unit will be installed in the Bay Area region, most of which will be Ecotality’s Cisco-connected Blink stations. The project is funded partially by a $114.8-million grant provided by the U.S. Department of Energy. With that, San Francisco’s Bay Area will now have a lot more EVs than before, with buyers breathing a sigh of relief, and EV chargers being a lot more accessible.
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A few years from now, gasoline-powered cars might just turn into museum artifacts, given that automakers are quickly changing over to the greener side and embracing electric motors instead of the old gas-powered ones. And one of the many companies mixing around with the green is BMW, with the 2010 BMW ActiveE Concept car. The car was unveiled at the 2010 Detroit Auto Show, and left everyone impressed. The company has planned a test fleet of 1000 vehicles that will enter the American, European and Chinese markets. Using an electric motor that develops, the car crosses the 60mph mark in 9 seconds, using lithium-ion batteries with a range of 100 miles.
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Aircrafts are known for all the pollution they cause. They leave a trail of carbon emissions behind every time they shoot through the skies above. Well, if not the skies, aircrafts in future could maneuver around runways in a greener way, with technological advancements like the new hydrogen fuel-cell propulsion system. A system like this could help commercial aircrafts cut on-ground emissions by one quarter. The German Aerospace Center’s (DLR) researchers have created an electric nose wheel to enable aircrafts to move around airports, powered by electricity.
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Supercomputers are built to be smart, and today, these man-made machines perform complex medical procedures, send stuff up into space and do a lot more. Well, they design green trucks too! The Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) and BMI Corporation teamed up and had ORNL’s Jaguar supercomputer do a lot of thinking recently, and the results were just as expected. the supercomputer designed an energy-efficient trucking addition, the SmartTruck UnderTray system that could just turn the whole truck-industry greener. By improving the aerodynamics of semi-trucks, that usually are just a bulk of mass rumbling down highways, fuel savings of 7 to 12% are expected.
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A three-wheeled contraption like never before, Citroen has unveiled the designs for its own version of future-transport. Known as the E-3POD, the vehicle was part of the designs in a Citroën sponsored project shown off at the Royal College of Art’s Interim Degree Show in London that required RCA MA second year students to design an ultra-compact vehicle that could just show up on streets in future. Designed by Heikki Juvonen, the electricity powered E-3POD Antistatic is a single-seat vehicle with aerodynamic styling, two smaller wheels up ahead, with the driver strategically seated inside the third bigger rear wheel that uses a hub-less design.
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For Tamarack Lake Electric Boat Company, the Loon is no longer a drea. The solar powered electric vessel is now closer to reality than ever. Creator Monte Gisborne sure hated spilling hydrocarbons in lakes, just as much as we do. The vessel measures 22 feet (6.7 meters) long, and boasts a resin-infused fiberglass hull. Inside its belly, this one packs a 48-volt lead-acid battery charged with a 115 or 220-volt mains power. With a powerful 5.5hp mtotor and a 1,000-watt rooftop solar array hooked on to it, the Loon boasts a 50 mile range. It alsi brags of a cruising speed of 6.5 knots (7.5 mph/12 kph) and a top speed of 8 knots (9.5 mph/15.3 kph), making it a great green vessel.
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Nissan has finally decided to unveil its shiny new electric brainchild, the Esflow. The Chicago Autoshow has recently seen a load of debuts, and the company has thought of the show as a perfect place to show off its brand new electric car. So what makes this one different from the good old Leaf? Well, its a sports car to start off with. And will use Nissan’s engine setup with a RWD setup. Also, the new Nissan has to-die-for interiors unlike the sets of wheels that have previously rolled out of the company. Powered by two electric motors that are charged by laminated lithium-ion batteries, the Esflow has a motor designated to each of its rear wheels. The car is capable of crossing the 60mph mark in a good 5 seconds, going a good 150 miles on a single charge!
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Japanese company Tommykaira is known for its kit and complete car makeover, especially in the Japanese Domestic Market car business. Now, hand in hand with Green Lord Motors, the company has pulled the veil off the first EV prototype, the ZZ-EV Sport. The car packs in a DC150V Motor with Lipo batteries beneath its hood. This enables it to go a good 100kms with a 150Km/h maximum speed. The best sports car powered by electricity to ever roll out of a Japanese car manufacturing shed, the ZZ-EV Sport has all that speed demons would need from an electric car. Its fast, looks great, and saves those dollars that you would probably blow up on gasoline.
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It sure seems like people now need their electric cars to go faster. It’s no wonder we’ve seen an uprising of electric sports cars lately! The good old Tesla sure has a load of competition on its back that might just jump ahead. What we’ve got here this time is yet another electric sports car, by Etox. The car, named the Zafer, is an all-electric vehicle with pure Turkish blood pumping in its veins. And this one might just leave its peers behind, taken that it costs a lot less than the electric sports cars we’ve had surfacing lately. The car boasts a 250 kilometer range, though it sure isn’t as fast as we expected, leaving a load of disappointment when it comes to speed. A sports car sure is required to go faster than 75mph, the top speed of the Zafer.
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Electric cars need their juice and for that, they need to be plugged in from time to time. Well, pluuging in your EV now gets a lot simpler with Chargepoint Services range of electric vehicle charging solutions that focus on single handed operation. This also makes the task of plugging in an EV a lot easier for the disabled and the handicap. The firm has to offer single and three phase, three pin and seven pin connectivity with unique RFID keys that automatically activate the charging unit and open the access door too, allowing for a single handed operation. So no matter what you carry in your hands, be it a baby or your shopping bags, you can always you a single hand to balance your load with the other plugging in your EV after you’ve parked.
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