Category Archives: Transport
And if you’ve been under the impression that solar powered vehicles are more often than not beaten to the finish line by Fred Flintstone, test pilot Chip Yates has just proved you wrong! Hailed as the first person in the world to ever fly an aircraft faster than 200 miles per hour during a test flight at the Inyokern Airport in California’s Mojave Desert, Yates now has an electric-vehicle record to his name! The plane used for this particular flight is christened the Long-ESA (Electric Speed and Altitude) and is in essence a modified Long-EZ aircraft sporting a 258 horsepower electric motor developed by the electric aerospace company Flight of the Century (FOTC). Also, Yates’ recent flight lasted just 16 minutes though with better battery capacity in future, the guys running it all expect to touch speeds of 250mph and are also preparing for a flight across the Atlantic!
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Spending time away from the clutter of our urban lives is the need of the hour for the most of us, with people today looking for better ways to vacation or spend a day off. One of the best modes to recreation and mental relaxation is stepping on a yacht, a sea-faring vessel packed with enough luxury to calm your nerves, like this Zero Emissions Yacht by Ned Ship Group. Self-sufficient, eco-friendly and packed with creature comforts, this yacht is built 20 meters long and sports 4 luxury suites, an owner suite, a large saloon, a full-fledged kitchen, additional rooms for the staff and is topped with carbon-fiber solar cells to power up the yacht itself! Available in yacht or shuttle designs, with the latter capable of being used for luxury mass transit, the Zero Emissions Yacht also sports full-electric (at 10 knots for 6 hours a day) or hybrid serial or parallel dual motorization as per customer requirements!
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American hospitality honcho Marriott International has on previous account shown its green side, installing EV charging stations at its hotels in Hawaii and at the Courtyard in Hadley. The firm has now pulled the veil off its latest eco-friendly installation, an EV charging station at the Tysons Corner Marriot that will offer complimentary charges for guests. With two 30-amp charging stations set up in the hotel’s parking area, donations for the same were received from Nissan North America, Inc. also, this will be one of Virginia’s 100 EV charging stations and we hope to see more such businesses promote the use of electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles in the United States and around the globe.
[marriott]
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Bicycles are indeed one of the best ways to get around town in today’s day given the fact that these clean and green modes of transport quickly beat packed streets and the like. Giving bicycles a retro-look, Ideo came up with the Faraday, an electric bicycle that more than just a blast from the past. Built by Portland’s Rock Lobster Cycles, the bicycle is currently on KickStarter looking for funding with designer Adam Vollmer running the show. Sporting lithium-ion batteries that provide a throttle assist with a range of up to 10 to 15 miles, the Faraday charges up in 45 minutes and sports a pair of LED headlamps. Priced at $3,500, this electric bike will cost $300 when it hits production lines by next year.
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When General Electric first introduced the WattStation home charging station, electric cars around the globe breathed a sigh of relief. However, Nissan Leaf owners have recently begun facing issues with this home-based charging system and have brought it to the notice of the car manufacturer and GE who together will begin working on the problem. The GE WattStation is said to damage on-board chargers included in the Nissan Leaf that could very well disable the car from being able to be recharged! Currently, the Nissan Leaf is the only electric car facing the issue and GE has addressed the same and is expected to quickly come up with a solution for users around the globe.
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Sailing the seas isn’t really an eco-friendly affair these days with fossil fuel prices rising out of the roof, even the richest treat travelling the high seas as a not-so-leisurely experience. Dutch design studio Van Geest has now pulled the veil off the 32M motor yacht Global Explorer that’s set apart from the rest, using energy from the sun to partly power up. sporting Caterpillar C18 Acert 2x 448kW (609 BHP) at 1800 rpm powered by diesel and solar panels cleverly arranged on the bridge deck that power up the lights onboard the yacht, the Global Explorer packs two guest cabins, one owner’s stateroom, a captain’s cabin, a cabin for crewmembers, two lounges, a laundry, crew mess, galley, storeroom and large lazarette. Beautifully built and energy-efficient indeed, the Global Explorer is an environment-friendly way to cruise the blues.
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If the electric cars being produced today by the likes of Nissan and Chevrolet are too far flung to suit your exceptional taste, here’s a perfect way to sculpt out an EV that suits you best. A built-it-yourself electric car kit by Japanese manufacturer Modi-Corp, this one enables you to build a one-seat vehicle, street-registered in Japan as a “motorized bicycle”. Capable of a 15 mile (25 km) range and a 22 mph (35 kph) top speed, this electric car called the Pius uses a 1 HP motor (0.6 KW) and a 36 V battery pack. A great way to get around the neighborhood or introduce your child to the world of electric cars, this one’s available in six colors and sports a vintage-race-car design.
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Driving around a tiny electric car around town has its benefits and proves beneficial to your
pocket in the long run as well as the environment. Keeping that in mind, the Toyota Auto Body
Co Ltd has unveiled its newest brainchild, christened the Coms. A microcar with just a single
seat, this one powers up with electricity and sports a total wheelbase of just 1,530mm! weighing
in at 400-420kg, this rear-wheel-drive microcar is available in two versions, the P·Com meant
for private use and the B·Com for commercial use, which in turn is available in three types,
Delivery, Deck and Basic, each with different luggage space. With a maximum speed of about
60kmph, the Coms will be available for a price tag between $8,372 and $10,001.
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As per what we’ve noticed in recent days, designers seem to think personal transportation to pick up pace in future and have been tumbling out designs for electric single-user vehicles more than ever. Here’s yet another way to get around alone in the future caked the Eggasus. A tiny egg-shaped electric vehicle with three wheels, the Eggasus works as a great way to travel alone instead of pulling out your hefty gas-gulping SUV to do the same. With speeds of up to 25 mph (40.23 km/h) and a 50 mile (80.4 kilometers) range, the Eggasus is built to make urban travel more clutter-free and energy efficient. Priced at $5,000 a piece, the developers of this little travelling egg have begun taking orders lately.
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Who needs “horsepower” when you could very well power up a mass-transit vehicle with your own two feet! Fitness trainer Sandro Zumpe recently came up with the ‘Cycling-Class-Bus’, a mix and match of exercise and travel. You probably might have guessed by now, that this bus requires its passengers to power it up. Here’s how. Instead of a conventional gas or electricity-powered motor, the bus sports several bicycle-like contraptions inside, the type you’d find in a gym. The passengers are required to use these to set the wheels of the bus moving. A concept for now that still lacks a solid base for it to show up in the real world, this indeed could lead to a healthier and more energy-efficient lifestyle!
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