The BMW Lovos (Lifestyle of Voluntary Simplicity) concept is an interesting solution to how to integrate solar technology into a car body. The scale shaped cell panels can lift and turn to adjust themselves to the angle of the sun and absorb the most reflective light. The “scales” can also affect handling by lying flat for maximum aerodynamic performance or lifting to create airfoil braking and stabilization. Read the rest of this entry »
Classic details meet minimal styling in this bike by Areaware. Designed in bicycle friendly Amsterdam, where else? Powder-coated aluminum makes the bike as beautiful up close as from afar. My only regret is that a warm material with brown tones in the petals would have balanced out the leather in the seat and handles nicely. Accommodates heights range: 5’10″ – 6’6″ (179cm – 200cm). Pre-order it here for $600.
You may have remembered last year when we wrote about Tata motors showing the $2,500 Nano hailed as the new car of the people. Tata has just announced that the production version of the Nano will be available for purchase in India April 9, 2009 and has been squeezed even further down to a base price of $2,000.
What do we like about the Nano? We think that the most impressive feature (aside from the rock bottom price) is that it gets a reported 50 mpg. While this is not a hybrid engine, if it consumes less gas and emits less pollution we’re all for it. On top of that, the Nano is barely 10 feet long, which has distinct advantages when trying to park in a crowded urban area like Los Angeles.
The downside of course is, the Nano is a funny looking little car with tiny rollerskate like wheels. The top speed on the Nano is 65 mph, which means your going to get honked at even in the slow lane. There’s the obvious safety concerns that a small car has over getting hit by a large truck, but millions of Prius drivers seem safe enough so far.
The Tata Nano will be released in it’s home country of India first and is expected to do very well by Indian standards. We respect the concept as your faithful Editor-In-Chief’s first car was a ‘73 VW Beetle which served millions of people around the world well for many decades. We think in fact, that the destruction of the the US auto industry has had a lot to do with building cars that are often half the price of the owners pretax income, became increasing difficult for the average owner to fix without expensive computer based tools, and broke down more and more frequently. It’s one thing if your car is cheap and when it breaks down you can fix it yourself (which we often did with the VW with $50 and some duct tape). It’s another when it’s a $20-$40K item that breaks down and you have to shell out another $500-$1000 every time it breaks down, which happens every 4-6 months.
Tesla officially unveiled it’s new Model S electric luxury sedan yesterday and it has all the makings of a winner. This new model scheduled to be released in 2011 is set to compete against hybrid and EV offerings from Mercedes Benz and BMW with an MSRP of $49,900 after a $7,500 tax credit. The Model S is slated to be available with 160, 220, and 300 mile battery packs, but still no word on how pricing varies between options.
Provided this edition is actually released as scheduled and is widely available (a problem for Tesla’s ground breaking Roadster) the model S is certainly competitive. The Model S gets high marks for looks and seeing as it’s coming down the line from the Roadster we would expect it to handle well.
Where we think the Model S may shine most brightly is the “Environmentalist Status Symbol” area. While driving a Prius announces to your friends “I’m putting my money where my mouth is when it comes to saving the planet”, it looks like you’re doing it in your mom’s car. If the Prius didn’t have a hybrid engine, it would just be a slightly more sophisticated Yaris.
Honda has experienced the flip side of this problem with the Accord hybrid, because it looks just like a regular Accord. With out the status symbol value it’s hard to justify the extra cost (which currently out weighs the gas savings) unless you just like the personal satisfaction of saving the planet anonymously.
In would could be a step forward on a road to a greener future Better Place is looking to get electric cars out on the road sooner rather than later, and according to NY Times columnist David Pogue, it’s a plan that might be just crazy enough to work.
If you want the low down, Better Place want to sell you a car, and lease you a battery that you can charge up at home or trade out at charging station. The idea is you own your car, but but your pay for the miles like you’d buy minutes on a cell phone plan. According to Better Place CEO Shai Agassi in fact, the company will subsidize the price of the car if you buy enough miles in the same way that cell phone companies subsidize handsets.
So far the company has signed on it’s home country of Isreal, as well as Denmark, Ontario CA, and Hawaii, with San Francisco CA and a few other Bay Area counties on the way. The company has it’s share of critics as you can read on Tree Hugger and the Huffington Post. We think that while this may not be the answer it is an answer to the myriad of problems with both how we use energy, and how we move from one place to another.
As we have mentioned before, cars haven’t changed to tremedously since Henry Ford released the Model T, and we applaud anyone doing anything to re-think how a works or what a car is. As for the would we buy one question goes, we think there are three big issues to address in no particular order.
1. Is the price of the car and the miles more, less, or roughly equivalent compared to a gas powered model?
2. What happens if I forget to charge it and I run out of power? Will AAA come bring me a battery to swap?
3. What’s the quality of the car like? Is it reliable? Is it fun to drive? Aside from the feel good factor of saving the planet, will I love this car?
If there was a “Car Kitchen”, a “Finance Kitchen”, and a “Girlfriend Kitchen”, 90% of my issues would be solved. I came in to the Bicycle Kitchen with an awesome Chinese road bike covered in dirt I picked up from a friend who left it sitting in the back yard under a tarp.
I told the guy at the counter I’d never been in before and since I have zero experience working on bikes I asked, “So what’s the deal here?” He showed me how to put my bike on the rack, took a look at it and told me the wheel wasn’t straight. He showed me how to true the wheel (my new slang for the week, it means straightening the wheel, like you didn’t know, sheesh), then how to adjust the brakes. After we re-greased and packed the bearings, he told me I could get the rust off the rims with a little steel wool which worked like a charm.
All of this would have sounded like rocket science before I came here, but once I had someone friendly who knew what they were doing to show me what was what, it took less than an hour. They had all the equipment, taught me how to use it, and asked for a whopping $7 donation in return. I can see why this non-profit co-op is becoming the mecca for DIY bike set. If you’re looking for help, new friends to ride with, or even to make yourself something custom, the Bicycle Kitchen is exactly what you’re looking for.
The ‘On Route’ transportation system aims to transform the way people and cargo move through todays urban cities. By transporting freight and passengers within one zero emission vehicle, the city of London could directly address both of it’s greatest air quality issues. The zero emission propulsion system is designed to accommodate either a battery fuel-cell system or a small bio-gas generator to maintain fully charged batteries. In wheel electric motors allow the bus to maneuver in and out of bus stops with ease. Created as an entry into the New Bus for London contest held in Summer of ‘08, concept originator Hugh Frost hopes to have the design transcend it’s original purpose and address the larger issues faced by modern transportation systems. This is an innovative step in the right direction, but only time will tell if this system will be fully realized as a solution to the metropolitan emission reduction.
Shelby Supercars (SSC) is currently developing an amazing project, the Ultimate Aero EV will be one of the first ‘green’ supercars. Its predecessor, The Ultimate Aero, holds the Guinness World Record for being the fastest production car to date. The EV definitely will beat out all competition since it will be the first 100% Green Supercar to achieve speeds never before seen.
While the latest version of the Alta City Racer was released in 2006, we figured it was well worth considering as a potential alternative to gridlock. This sleek design was the product of much colaboration. Graphic design firm Bleed, furniture design firm Norway Says, industrial design firm Frost Produkt, and ad agency Shnel & Melnychuck came together to produce this ultra light streamlined vehicle. A specially designed wall mount makes this perfect for any apartment or for those of us who love to keep our toys on display. Rather than dig though the Frost Produkt site, you can e-mail them directly at post@frostprodukt.com to purchase this bike.
The Clever Car is in a class of motorized vehicles known as ’tilting three wheelers, which have been around since 1886. Although the concept is nothing entirely new, the team at Clever is developing an amazing, compact version mainly for urban use. The vehicle has the ability to carry two passengers, giving it very little mass resulting in very low consumption and therefore very low emissions. Housing a 230 cc one-cylinder compressed natural gas (CNG) engine complete with natural gas tank system that can be refilled at normal natural gas filling stations or even supermarkets. The replacement gas tanks weigh just under 15 lbs allowing for easy handling and easy refilling. You can also store additional tanks at home so you wouldn’t have to drive to a refilling point when on empty. Climbing from zero to 60 mph in less than 7 seconds The Clever will allow you to zip around town and finish your weekly errands.
