Category Archives: Transport
What do you get when you take the insides out of a Kia Soul and have Johnson Controls load in a bunch of green? An ie:3 of course! JC unveiled the ie:3 at the Detroit Auto Show recently, complete with a six-inch thick 23-kWh lithium ion battery pack to demonstrate the fact that car’s do not need to lose out on any space or creature comforts to go electric. The ie:3 uses a i-ion battery, which features 216 prismatic cells and is so positioned to allow for a flat layout. That’s not all. The ie:3’s seats fold flat too, allowing for enlarged cargo holding spaces. Also, these batteries do not eat out on the range either, with the car capable of going a good 100 miles before sticking out its parched tongue for more juice. Well, if the name has left you wondering, the IE stands for Inspired Efficiency while the 3 stands for the three benefits of this design, delighting buyers, allowing automakers to differentiate their products and expanding sustainability.
Continue reading 
Chinese automaker and battery maker, BYD Co has plans for the US auto market, and is busy tweaking up their electric called the e6 long before it hits the store shelves in California and a few other key markets. The company is making adjustments and improvements to the car’s rear seating area, causing release delays of around a year. The e6 turned up as taxis in China last March and was to start test marketing in California later this year. BYD also plans to release the S6DM, a plug-in electric hybrid SUV in the United States in future and plans to ship 50 e6 electric cars by the end of next year to fleet customers in Southern California.
Continue reading
Ah! A green Porsche! The long awaited wait has finally ended, with the company rolling out a race-bred version of the 918 Spyder Concept at the 2011 Detroit Auto Show. The 918 RSR as its known boasts 767 combined horsepower with a total of 563 provided by a 6.2-liter V8 that revs to an atmospheric 10,300 rpm and using two electric motors capable of 75 kilowatts, one for each front wheel. That’s not all the green this one boasts. It also stores braking energy in a flywheel accumulator for that extra power punch while accelerating. With a skeleton made from carbon fiber reinforced plastic, this new Porsche is a true green supercar.
Continue reading
The lovable Prius has new additions to its family, with Toyota fulfilling the promise of adding new versions to the line up. the 2011 Detroit Auto Show saw the unveiling of the new Prius lineup, complete with a minivan, a plug-in version with a lithium ion battery pack and a compact hatchback that’s sure to make your jaws drop. The hatchback, christened the Prius C concept is sure to hook on urban and younger generation buyers while the Prius V minivan has a raised roof for more cargo area and is larger, casing a bit of a fuel economy loss. The Prius plug-in, does away with the standard nickel metal hydride battery pack for a lithium ion version, with a range of 13 miles under electric power and taking 1.7 hours from a 220-volt outlet to charge up.
Continue reading
We heard of Mercedes planning for a super green super car before, and that dream is finally a step closer to reality. The automaker has pulled the veil off its much awaited SLS AMG E-Cell, a car with a Mercedes Benz promise of zero emissions. The car uses four electric motors, located at the rear wheel, and rev up to a sweet 12,000 rpm. With a total of 525 horsepower and 649 lb-ft of torque, this environment friendly supercar pushes up the speed needle from zero to 62mp in just 4 seconds, 0.02 seconds short of its gas powered twin.
Continue reading
CES 2011 is sure taking the world by storm, with all the sparkling new technology being unveiled. The 2011 edition of the trade show held in Las Vegas saw the debut of the world’s first wirelessly powered electric car, by automaker Tesla. A century ago, Nikola Tesla was busy fidgeting around with wireless power, and the company now is proudly showing off the Fulton Innovation. By simply parking this one over a 4” eCoupled-enabled pad, this one will run a whole 180 miles on a full charge. Monitoring the charging status is made simpler via an iPhone app. And of course, charging car’s wirelessly means pulling out the plug forever, with charging cables turning into museum artifacts.
Continue reading
Solar power hasn’t really had much to do with land speed record before, until now, as the Sunswift IV broke the record for the fastest vehicle powered by solar energy. The “car”, more a bunch of solar panels on wheels, was created by the University of New South Wales, and has officially broken the Guinness World Record, touching speeds of 88km/h, over the previously held record by 9km/h. The timers were set and the car was flagged off at the HMAS Albatross naval base at Nowra. The Sunswift has in the past touched speeds of 100km/h in a race between Darwin and Adelaide in 2009, though for the record run, the vehicle’s operators were required to remove its 24.75kg lithium-polymer battery, having it powered completely by the sun.
Continue reading
No longer will Honda’s be limited to traveling on land. Not with the company stepping closer towards unveiling its very own jet. And here’s the best part, this jet by Honda is fuel efficient and eco-friendly! The jet uses 20% less fuel than its peers and flies faster too. The light jet will enter market shelves next year, and can seat five to six passengers. Using composite materials, combinations of carbon fiber and resins for construction, this one makes sure its as light as a jet can get, keeping away the extra pounds. The materials used for this one has also enabled Honda to shape it uniquely, with the engines above the wings, instead of being located below the fuselage, decreasing drag at higher speeds.
Continue reading
We’ve seen electric cars from all over the world before, be it the Leaf, or the Volt, or the Prius. And just a while ago, we heard of Russia’s very own hybrid minicar, built by billionaire, Mikhail Prokhorov. This car’s as true to Russia as Vodka is, and is sure to steal hearts world over. Known as the ë-mobile (pronounced yo-mobile), the car will be on display at a pavilion near Tverskoy Boulevard until January 11th, with all its three variants shown off. The car weighs in at 1,543 pounds with a max speed of 75 miles per hour and a range of 249 miles. It also boasts a fuel economy rating of 67 miles per gallon and will begin production in 2011 and 2012.
Continue reading
Skeptics always try searching for the tiniest black dots on a white surface. And mostly, their doubts confirmed positively. And so was the case with skeptics challenging the battery lives of electric cars. These cars that will be the dawn of green transport, have always had a negative response until recently, with the world switching to battery power instead of gasoline. Researchers at MIT have confirmed that just 10% of a battery’s life decreases when charged 1,500 times over. There have been doubts before of batteries loosing out on their years with every charge. The Electric Vehicle Team at MIT used an A123 battery pack, had it discharged 1,500 and rapidly charged over again to prove this wrong. And that’s not all. The team has also developed a rapid charge system, that juices up cars in less than 30 minutes, without reducing battery life.
Continue reading
