The aviation industry lately has seen some great developments, both in terms of fuel-efficiency and eco-friendliness, like the Honda jet we came across. Flying around could just be revolutionized though, with the good old Zeppelin taking to the skies again, this time with a greener and safer touch. The Hindenburg disaster sure spoilt the image of the bulbous Zeppelin air ship, and this might just be the time for its resurrection, with Lieven Standaert, a Belgian engineer’s design called the Aeromodeller II. Made out of low cost materials that generate hydrogen via wind power, this one opts for a design pointed at both ends. It also never needs to land and can stay up in the skies forever, unless absolutely required to be brought back down on earth.
London is seeing an increase in its two wheel pedal pushers who’ve lately taken to the streets leaving home their gas guzzlers, all thanks to the new bike-lanes. These lanes have sure made cycling in the busy city of London a joy, superhighways indeed for cyclists. The cycle density has doubled on downtown London thoroughfares lately, with the two-way bike lanes featuring safety mirrors and a bright blue paint. These lanes also have signals at intersections and spaces for parking those two-wheels.
Sailing will soon be a hybrid affair, thanks to the efforts being put into introducing hybrid technology in the marine industry by a British Columbia startup company Corvus Energy. The company has recently patented an energy management system that will help produce battery systems that operate in the multi-megawatt range. After signing an exclusive agreement with lithium-ion battery manufacturer Dow Kokam, the company is all set to have vessels run on hybrid energy supplied from battery packs instead of depending solely on diesel to power up. Vessels like tugboats, ferries and yachts could just see a greener horizon with technology like this though costing a whole lot more than the usual diesel systems used today. Around 1,200 to 1,500 cells will need to be packed in a single ship with selling contracts costing a whopping $1.5 million to $5 million.
When we first heard of a robot-electric-car, all we could think about was one of those Transformers we’ve been seeing lately, walking around all over Hollywood. Well, this one creates no collateral damage in its wake, and doesn’t engage in battles of any sort too. What it does do though, is help you travel green, without stamping a dark black carbon footprint. Known as the RoboCar MEV, this one’s complete with sensors, control devices, motors and a lot more and seats just one. By ZMP Inc, the car measures 2.4 (L) x 1.0 (W) x 1.6m (H), weighing around 350kg and equipped with two 0.29kW in-wheel motors, both hooked on to the vehicles rear wheels.
For most of us, Formula 1 is all about fast cars, burnouts and pit stops. It involves a lot more technology, if we look at every aspect of these races under a microscope. Now, these races, with all their cutting edge technology, will soon have an event that matches up almost equally, though with not so much of a carbon footprint. Below the summer sun this year, the EV Cup will flag off which will have just electric cars competing for the finish line. The race will have three versions, a race for tweaked Think City EV cars, the Sports EV Class and the Prototype EV Class with non-production electric vehicles. Now maybe these cars aren’t as zippy as the ones Michael Schumacher is used to driving around, but sure will perform well and entertain us too!
We all know what a Rolls Royce is. We’ve seen Queens and Princes and celebrities roll around in some of these super luxuriously fabulous cars. Well, they do happen to be gas guzzlers and are known for their binge drinking. We’re talking about the cars, not their owners. These cars and their owners don’t usually pay heed to fuel efficiency. The company though thinks its time a green luxury car was put on offer, and it might just roll out a batter powered Rolls! CEO Torsten Mueller-Oetvoes blurted out that the company is working on an alternatively fueled experimental mode that we hope shows up at the next auto show we come across. No news as of yet as to just how this one will turn out to be.
Using the public transport system in Los Angeles County will now be a much greener affair, taken that the MTA, the Metropolitan Transport Authority is keen on phasing out all its old set of wheels making place for shiny new alternative-fuel powered one’s. The diesel buses will soon be put to rest, as the MTA’s new CNG, hybrid and electricity buses take their places. The last bus to be pulled of the asphalt is a 40-foot long New Flyer purchased in 1998 with 383,180 miles. The operators currently have 2,221 CNG-fueled buses, six hybrid coaches and one electric bus one road, and soon a few more will be introduced.
Honda has yet another EV added to its line up, all set to hit the asphalt in 2012. The Fit EV Concept by Honda is an advanced electric vehicle with a 5-passenger layout and powered by a high-density motor derived from the FCX Clarity fuel cell electric vehicle. The Fit sure will give its peers like the Nissan Leaf, with a 3-mode drive system adapted from the CR-Z sport hybrid. That’s not all. The car also packs a little remote that needs no internet or mobile phone connectivity, displaying the vehicle’s state of charge, initiate charging and activate the air conditioning while connected to the grid. The car charges up in les than 12 hours from a 120-volt outlet and boasts a a good 100 mile range.
BMW has released its new eco-friendly LPG-powered Hurricane M5 GS, which claims to be the fastest LPG-powered car in the world – with its ability to go from zero to 100kmph in 4.6secs. Tuning specialists G-Power has equipped the car with one fully sequential five-cylinder LPG system per cylinder bank. The reason they used LPG was, as they explained, because LPG cheaper than petrol and also reduces CO2 emissions by around 15 per cent. The car features a V10 engine producing 660 horsepower and 650Nm of torque at 5,500 rpm. It can reach up to 200kmph and other features include a G-Power RS coil-over sport suspension, high performance braking system, 20-inch Silverstone Clubsport alloys and 255/35 front and 285/30 rear tires.
After having shown off the Inizio to the world, the first true American electric sports car, Li-Ion Motors Corp announced at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit the release of two 100% electric cars to the public in 2011, the Wave II and the Inizio. The company is also the winner of the 2010 X Prize using 21st Century Design & Engineering and will give other automakers around some pretty serious competition if they keep rolling out cars like these. The Wave II is a two passenger vehicle with 28 cubic feet of storage space costing $39,000. The Inizio on the other hand costs $139,000, a price worth paying for the fastest 100% all electric car in the world. This one accelerates from 0-60 mph (97 kmph) in 3.4 seconds and boasts a top speed of 170 mph (274 kmph)!
