Air Pods

from http://blog.wired.com/cars/2008/11/passing-gaswill.html

Eco-Friendly AirPods Get Airport Test

By Jason Sattler November 05, 2008 | 8:16:29 PMCategories: Alt Fuel

A former aeronautics and Formula 1 engineer with the seemingly crazy idea of building cars that run on compressed air has convinced a European airline to use his "AirPods" to ferry passengers around airports in France and Amsterdam.

Guy Nègre has been tinkering with compressed air vehicles for about 20 years, but he and his company, Motor Development International, have done little more than build some prototypes that have garnered interest from the likes of India's giant automaker Tata Motors and an American startup called Zero Emissions Motors.

With Air France/KLM officials announcing they will give the vehicles a six-month test in the rough-and-tumble environment of two busy airports, Nègre may finally prove his vehicles are more than hot air.

The airline says AirPods will carry passengers between departure gates at Charles De Gaulle Airport in Paris and Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam. The AirPods slated for airport duty will be the first operational version of MDI’s Air Car concept, which is vying for the Progressive Automotive X-Prize.

The AirPod carries four people in a vehicle that is about 6 feet long and weighs roughly 450 pounds. It's single-piston engine is driven by compressed air. The tank holds 175 liters of compressed air, according to Zero Pollution Motors, and can be filled to 350 bar (5,076 psi!) in as little as 90 seconds. That's enough to give the AirPod a range of about 135 miles and a top speed of 43 mph.

MDI won't be building Air Cars. Rather, it's counting on licensing agreements with Tata and Zero Emissions Motors to bring the world Air Cars by 2010 or 2011. If the idea of a zero-emissions car that runs on air sounds too good to be true, we share your skepticism.

Besides the continuing production delays, a promised top speed of 90 MPH and range of 848 miles for the AirFlow model seem—to put it mildly—over promise. Tata isn't convinced the technology is quite ready for prime time, and Andrew Frank, a professor of mechanical engineering at the University of California at Davis, told The New York Times, “It's a losing game because the efficiency is just not there.”

Everything about the Air Car seems to suggest an “It’s a Small World”-sort of innocence. MDI's industrial model for “micro production” imagines incredibly green cars being produced all over the world at fractions of typical costs. But none of the technology has ever been proven, which is why the tests of the AirPod at Schiphol and de Gaulle airports are so important. Yet even the limited scope of the AirPod’s test run at two airports seems to speak to a major lag in a technology that may fill little more than a tiny niche.

A car that runs on air is a cool idea in theory. But as the battle to replace gas heats up, it looks the AirCar could be little more than vaporware.

Photo by MDI.

Insecta Car Concept

From http://blog.wired.com/cars/2008/10/ah-grasshopper.html

Insecta Concept Car Trades 6 Legs for 4 Wheels

By Keith Barry October 23, 2008 | 5:11:08 PMCategories: Concept Cars

Award-winning young designer Shao Yung Yeh drew inspiration from one of nature's smallest creatures when he designed the Insecta, a vehicle that is small and green like a grasshopper but has the brains of a much more advanced species.

The size, shape and color of the battery-powered personal vehicle reflects the characteristics of its namesake. Insects "not only inspire the styling but also the entire structure and the package of the car," Yeh told Wired.com. "The legs are connected to a central chassis as a thorax, while the canopy can be read as an insect's head. The battery pack at the back symbolizes abdomen."

Auto designers have long drawn inspiration from nature, and Jaguar founder Sir William Lyons famously said the automobile is "the closest thing we can create to something that is alive." But more often than not it is charismatic megafauna — particularly big cats — or birds that designers look to. That's changing, Yeh says, and the future belongs to insects. "They are lightweight, agile, versatile, efficient and ecological beings," he said. "Compare that to mammals, a common inspiration of modern car design. Insects are more suitable for cars of the future generation."

This automotive arthropod just might be the solution to millions of lone drivers buzzing around in five-passenger cars.

Yeh is a 22-year-old designer who studied industrial design at Cheng Kung University in Taiwan. The technology he envisions for Insecta is as advanced as its styling. The battery pack shifts according to the car's direction to maintain balance and handling. It uses hub-mounted wheel motors. And the adjustable suspension is one part bug-leg, two parts Citroën, changing the height of the car to suit traffic conditions.

Yeh doesn't see someone like General Motors or Toyota building the car of the future in the future. "I think there would be more and more independent companies building unique electric cars," he said. "They will be looking for innovative design languages and building up their own brand identities."

The way he sees it, the Insecta can be a unique brand identity that attracts buyers who value individuality as well as low environmental impact — and an emotional attachment to their vehicle. "Cars are always considered not mere products but also have life in some level, even like our pets," he said. "In fact, a lot of kids in Asia are having insects like big beetles as pets. Maybe when they grow up and see some cars like Insecta, they might feel intimate with them. It is important to look for new design elements to appeal to upcoming customer generations."

Post updated 6:20 p.m. PST.

More pictures and video, courtesy of Yeh via Car Body Design:

A2B Electric Bicycle

from http://blog.wired.com/cars/2008/08/from-a2b-on-an.html

Go From A2B on An Electric Bike, Praying The Battery Doesn't Die.

By Chuck Squatriglia August 13, 2008 | 5:16:27 PMCategories: Bicycles, Electric Vehicles

Behold the A2B, an electric bicycle so named because it gets you from Point A to Point B - at least until the battery dies. Then you're sitting on a 73-pound bicycle even Kristin Armstrong would bust a quad riding.

The A2B is Ultra Motor's entry in the growing peloton of electric bicycles, even if the company calls it a light electric vehicle. Whatever it is, you can ride it like an seven-speed bike or turn on the 500-watt ( 2/3 horsepower) electric motor and cruise along at 20 mph. "It's basically a bike on steroids - in a good way," says chief executive Chris Deyo.

With a $2,500 price tag, the A2B is almost as expensive as it is portly but Ultra Motor says it's competitive with high-end bicycles and still cheaper than getting around with fossil fuel.

The few bicycle bits listed on the specs aren't bad -- Shimano Alivio derailleur, Hayes disc brakes and full suspension with an aluminum frame -- but you're clearly shelling out the big bucks for the proprietary motor and 36 volt lithium ion battery.

Ultra Motor says the A2B is better than other e-bikes because it was "built from the tires up for superior performance." Those tires, by the way, are 3 inches wide. The battery provides just 20 miles range -- you can add another battery to double that -- and, according to one review, requires three to five hours to charge. Ultra Motor notes the U.S. Department of Transportation says nearly half of all trips people take each day are less than 3 miles, so it clearly thinks the A2B has sufficient range for most people. If it doesn't, well, you can start pedaling. That same review said, "In a test on a flat road, though, the bike was much easier to ride than expected." Still, we've gotta wonder what it's like climbing a hill.

Since it's an electric bike, you don't need a license to ride it. Just hop on and go. Look for the A2B in bike and scooter shops next month. Dealers are listed on the Web site.

Photo by Ultra Motor.

Toyota Winget Website

www.toyoto-winglet.com

Toyota Winglet

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Toyota unveiled the Winglet. Winglet is a “Personal Transport Assistants” similar to the Segway, balance on two wheels using internal sensors and gyroscopes to stay upright. The Winglet comes in three sizes, consists of the large (L), medium (M) and small (S) versions, the latter two of which don’t have handlebars and instead are gripped by the calves. Winglet’s body has a 10.4 x 18-inch footprint and stands 1.5-, 2.2-, or 3.7-feet tall (depending upon the S, M, or L model chosen).

Winglet is powered by an electric motor, these Winglets are capable of up to 3.73mph or 6km/h for up to 6.2 miles or 10km in the case of the L or M models, or half that in the case of the smaller S version. You control the Winglet by leaning in the direction you wish to move. The Toyota Winglet takes an hour to fully recharge.

Toyota is planning to start consumer testing at the Central Japan International Airport later this Fall of 2008, before graduating onto increasingly crowded environments sometime in 2009. Unlike some of the company’s earlier (and more bizarre looking) personal transporters, the Winglet is actually expected to go into production in 2010.

Images of the Toyota Winglet

Toyota Winglet - Prototype Transporter

Cargo Ship with Kite Auxiliary Power

from Treehugger
http://www.treehugger.com/files/2008/03/beluga-skysails-cargo-ship-kites.php

At the end of January, we wrote about the Beluga Skysails, a commercial cargo ship that was testing the use of giant kites as auxiliary power - a kind of hybrid wind/fossil-fuels system.

We're pleased to learn that the Beluga Skysails trip was successful: The ship set sail (literally) to Venezuela from Germany on January 22nd and reached the Norwegian port of Mo-I-Rana on March 13th after traveling a total of 11,952 nautical miles. "In even moderate winds, the first flights of an initial 160-square-meter towing kite propulsion system from the Hamburg-based manufacturer SkySails demonstrated how this innovative auxiliary propulsion system was able to substitute for 20% of the engine’s power." After the pilot phase, the towing kite will be replaced by one that is twice the size, providing twice as much energy and saving twice the fuel (which could mean $2000/day).

The shipping company will be giving part of these [fuel] savings – 20 percent – directly to the crew as an incentive. Kites with a sail surface of up to 600 square meters will be used on two larger Beluga P-Series carriers that are to be outfitted with SkySails-Systems in the future. Currently under construction, each vessel will have 20,000 tons deadweight and on-board cranes with a lifting capacity of 800 to 1,400 tons.

AMP Converts Saturn Sky to Electric

from http://www.autobloggreen.com/2008/08/02/video-amp-leaves-drawing-board-hits-highway/

VIDEO: AMP leaves drawing board, hits highway

Posted Aug 2nd 2008 at 7:03PM by Domenick Yoney

Filed under: EV/Plug-in, Saturn, USA

Advanced Mechanical Products (AMP), the company with plans to convert hundreds of Saturn Sky roadsters from gas to electric power, appear to have a prototype doing some on-the-road testing. A video on YouTube shows a black "AMP" whizzing down the road and the cameraman announcing "...wards [sic] us is the AMP Saturn Sky. Totally electric. This is our fourth test drive." The car comes to a halt in front of the camera and the hood is immediately opened to reveal the gas engine has been replaced with black boxes with orange wires going to them. The car sports the word "electric" in chrome letters on the side of the front fender.

If the car is true to the original design specifications, it is powered by lithium phosphate batteries sending current to twin brushless DC motors, one for each back wheel. They hope to hit 0 to 60 in under 6 seconds, have a range of 150 miles and a top speed of 90 mph. The company is now taking pre-orders for the first 300 vehicles. A $10,000 down payment goes towards the $25,000 conversion price tag which, of course, doesn't include the car. If you already possess a Saturn Sky you can have it converted instead of buying one for the purpose. One last catch? In order to provide after-sale service, the offer is only open to residents of the Greater Cincinnati, Ohio area, the home of the company. Video pudding proof after the break.

[Source: YouTube / Advanced Mechanical Products]