The idea of creating a solar-powered car is nothing new, though much of what is holding back adoption of this technology is practicality. Can these cars cover long distances solely on the sun? How fast can they go? If you don’t plan on driving on highways and would much rather amble along a country road, there may just be a car for you yet.
The company Sunn has created an easy to build and use solar powered car, perfect for small country roads and drives around campgrounds. While the “car” appears more like a cart than anything else, it certainly works and is pretty cheap considering all those solar photovoltaic cells. All in all, the cost of the kit comes to about $6,500 (batteries not included… seriously).
The problem with green personal transportation, as far as I am concerned, is that there is nothing sexy about any of today’s options. What good are those hundreds of miles to the gallon if no one wants to drive it? Today at the Tokyo Motor Show Yamaha looked to change all of that with it’s new Y125 MOEGI concept.
This retro beach cruiser style bike sports a super efficient polished 125cc four-stroke motor capable of of taking riders a cool 150 miles, in style, with one tank of gas. This 176lb work of art also features fuel injection, a four speed transmission, belt drive, and LED lights.
Although beautiful, the general simplicity of the design and four-stroke engine means the Y125 will be cheap to both run and maintain. That practicality accompanied by the undeniable style makes it easy to see a future where mass adoption of this green two wheeler could be a real possibility.
Unfortunately, this is all still a conceptual dream but, I can’t imagine anything but positive feedback driving something Y125-like into a not too distant Christmasey future.
The hands free mobile device mount from the future is here! Unlike the Terminator T1000, however, the Mountek MT5000 CD Slot Mount is here to prevent deaths.
My vehicle is quite old, and I will not be spending a few grand to turn my dashboard into something dazzling, or ingenious, and I will certainly not be spending a couple of hundred dollars on a cheap GPS when I have a smart phone.
Paul Moller of Moller International explains his invention in this video. It’s a little long and very dry so if you don’t have 15 minutes you may want to fast forward to 13:00 into the video. If you have the time though I would recommend watching the entire video, it’s pretty interesting.
“You feel like you’re being lifted up by a magic carpet.” Do you need any further convincing than the magic carpet quote and the pics above?
The M400 is a a vertical takeoff and landing vehicle or VTOL for short. That means that it can liftoff and land vertically like a helicopter but once it’s airborne it can fly like an airplane. It seats 4 passengers and has a top speed of 330 mph. It has a maximum range of 750 miles and actually gets about 20 miles per gallon.
It’s sleek, it’s sexy, it’s…environmentally friendly. The latest Suzuki prototype, the Crosscage, is an air-cooled fuel cell motorcycle combined with a powerful secondary battery to realize optimum power control. The fuel-cell unit is made by a British specialist company Intelligent Energy and delivers quick activation with low fuel consumption, and a lithium-ion battery that is safe with a low environmental burden.
South Korea has combined their serious technological skills with environmentalism. While magnetic levitation trains are nothing new, the on-line electric vehicle (OLEV), is the first of its kind.
The OLEV is an answer to the problem of recharging electric vehicles. While the technology is currently in testing phase at the Seoul amusement park, widespread application is not far off. The city government of Seoul and KAIST signed a Memorandum of Understating (MOU) on the development of the online electric vehicle. With increasing concern about the environment, both organizations agreed to introduce eco-friendly vehicles to the city’s public transportation system, beginning with a bus route in Seoul [Source: KAIST].The OLEV system receives it’s power from non-contact magnetic transmissions from recharging strips in the road.
The vehicles receive “micro-charges” each time they pass over these strips. These micro-charges are extremely efficient, only only 20% of the total bus route would need to contain recharging strips, and only at places like bus stops, parking lots, and intersections [Source: KAIST]. This allows for smaller battery size and better range. Not only that, the no contact power transmission reduces hazards associated with electric vehicles, such as electric shock.
How’s that whole Punch Buggy thing working out for you? Those not nursing a giant welt may want to plan some better entertainment for the next lengthy road trip. Those with a Volvo can think about the new RSEi-500 touchscreen.
Volvo says that its nifty web-connected rear-entertainment system includes Windows XP, Wi-Fi access and a 500GB hard drive. That means you can surf the web, download applications and even just enjoy video — all from a digital touchscreen in the backseat.
We’re guessing this might lead to less backseat driving and fewer pitstops. Or, you just might become the favorite in your carpool crew.
GM showed off their driver-free Chevy Tahoe at CES in an effort to remove “driver error” on the road. CEO Rick Wagoner says they expect to have these on the road by 2018. The video below explains more about this latest innovation.
When you’re just not on YouTube enough… in comes another product that’s ready to record when you’re in the car — for over 8 hours. That’s right, you heard me, 8 HOURS of mobile video. Sure, they’re touting it as a car camera built to record the road in front of you while you’re driving — great for when the car in front of you slams on the brakes and you plow into its plastic bumper, this can help prove your case with the insurance agency — but let’s be real, you’re just going to point it the other direction to catch your singalong video to “Suddenly I See” (what, you’re over it already?) and post it to the internet so all your friends can see how fabulous you are.
The Voyager comes ready to record, no installation needed, just plug it into your car power adapter or pack in 3 AAA batteries, and hit the one-touch record button. The removable 2 gig SD card makes it easy to upload to your computer, or use the TV output jack on the unit to connect directly to your video device. Available for $79.95 from BrickHouseSecurity.com, it’s a great gift for the road weary traveler or up-and-coming star on your list.
There isn’t a day that goes by that I don’t lose my mind stuck behind some guy doing 50 mph in the fast lane. What I would give for one of these train horn sets from Hornblasters just so I could let these self centered Massholes know that they aren’t the only commuters on the face of the earth.
With a complete high-efficiency and extremely loud (152 db) train horn kit there is no doubt you will get everyone’s attention. Now…I’m not saying you should be driving around in traffic sending people into cardiac arrest but, with one of these sets you will definitely have the ability to make that happen.
Check out the people running for cover in this soon to be classic web vid after the jump.
South Korea has combined their serious technological skills with environmentalism. While magnetic levitation trains are nothing new, the on-line electric vehicle (OLEV), is the first of its kind.
When you’re just not on YouTube enough… in comes another product that’s ready to record when you’re in the car — for over 8 hours. That’s right, you heard me, 8 HOURS of mobile video. Sure, they’re touting it as a car camera built to record the road in front of you while you’re driving — great for when the car in front of you slams on the brakes and you plow into its plastic bumper, this can help prove your case with the insurance agency — but let’s be real, you’re just going to point it the other direction to catch your singalong video to “Suddenly I See” (what, you’re over it already?) and post it to the internet so all your friends can see how fabulous you are.
There isn’t a day that goes by that I don’t lose my mind stuck behind some guy doing 50 mph in the fast lane. What I would give for one of these train horn sets from 
Follow