We’ve come across a few modes of transport that fold up and are powered by electricity before, like the CYOOO bike. Foldable options usually are limited to two-wheelers, though this time, Japan’s Good Design Expo 2010 saw a three-wheeler, foldable and powered by electricity. The contraption, known as the X-Frame Folding Vehicle was designed by the researches at the Nagoya Institute of Technology. This vehicle is adapts to its speed, the terrain and the number of passengers to quickly change its seat shape whenever required. To store, the X-Frame folds up vertically. The uniquely designed rear wheel of the X-Frame stores its battery which can be replaced. So you don’t really need to wait for this one to charge up fully. Just switch a drained out battery for a fully charged on!

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Tractors these days are bound to get a greener facelift. Take the New Holland's NH2 tractor, powered up using hydrogen fuel. Tractors as we know them are gasoline huggers, drinking up huge amounts of fuel and creating all the fumes they can manage. This one though is a lot different, and shuns away gasoline to use hydrogen and even solar energy instead. This one produces as much as 130HP and all that drips out of its exhaust pipe is, a bit of water. It has zero-carbon emissions. Also, it chooses to work silently, without all the noise and racket tractors usually create, producing just 55 decibels of sound. With a tank full of 110 liters of hydrogen, the tractor works for a good 1.5 to 2 hours, with a torque of up to 300 Nm. So where does the solar power come in? An electrolyser powered by the sun does the job of splitting water into hydrogen and oxygen that is then use to power up the green NH2.

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Southern California will now play home to three new electric vehicles that will do the rounds on the streets soon. We’re talking about three clean, green, electric buses, purchased by Foothill Transit, a public transportation agency serving San Gabriel and Pomona. The buses, EcoRide BE35 models, are all electric and can seat up to 68 passengers each. They charge up in just 10 minutes and will draw juice from two charging stations from Proterra. The buses, also by Proterra, are sure to grab hearts around, with San Antonio already planning for a fleet of its own. 12 more electric buses will be adopted by Foothill Transit later. The buses will be driven around an 8 mile long fixed route at speeds of anywhere near 12mph. this makes their behavior and energy needs pretty predictable, which is why just two charging stations will be set up for now.

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The United States of America will soon have its road go green, with the advent of electric cars and a whole 1MW load of electric vehicle chargers that will show up by the year 2015. The future sure seems bright for U.S. with public chargers like these showing up in a herd. People obviously would prefer home-based chargers that will juice up their EVs at home at night, though this surely won’t put away the need for public chargers too. More than one million public chargers by the year 2015 will be brought to the United States, all funded by the government that will offer low-fee or free charging for EV users.

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Vehicles that run o electricity do not have to be necessarily slow. They do have their adrenaline rushes too that make them go “zoom!” Take the battery powered vehicle a team from Ohio State University's Center for Auto Research brought to the Bonneville Salt Flats this week for example. The man at the wheel, Roger Schroer shot this vehicle through a previously set record of 245.5mph in an electric car by reaching speeds of up to 320mph. instead of the previous fuel-cell version that ran on hydrogen and reached speeds of 303mph, the new vehicle with a little aide from battery maker Venturi and A123 Systems lithium-ion batteries now goes a lot faster. The Buckeye Bullet 3 as it has been lovingly christened after the previous Buckeye Bullet 2; the vehicle is pulling up its sleeves and reading itself to break a whole load of more records.

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Oil rich countries in the Gulf currently haven’t paid much heed to the need for electric car use. Taken that oil resources there aren’t as scarce as countries around the globe, the Gulf countries haven’t felt the pinch yet. But then again, they could be a great place to market electric cars too, if the governments decide to help, thinks Nissan. The company currently is all set to bring out its electricity powered Leaf. A need for initial assistance in preliminary stages of the car’s release by the government is required however, not just in Gulf countries but just about everywhere. In countries like the United States, Japan and a few European countries, governments have supported the electric car market, which is why the cars will be successful over there.

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Kristen Rule will soon be spreading her music around, on a pair of wheels and with a little help from the sun. The last time The Unconventional Cellist hit the road was on a 20 week music tour, when she hopped on a motorcycle with a solar trailer, all ready to play with her cello. This time though, with the release of her new album, this cellist will use a bicycle instead on tour. The bicycle will be powered by a solar powered electric assist trailer. The Mechanarchy Watt-Bot trailer packs a 30 watt solar photovoltaic panel along with two 12 volt batteries. The power generated by this system can help assist the bike and its rider for up to three long hours.

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Charging up EVs quickly and swiftly is the need of the day, if people are to be expected to switch to electricity instead of gasoline anytime soon. Usually, electric vehicles take hours to charge up to their full capacity, instead of just the few minutes it takes to fill up a gasoline tank. Well, the largest taxi company in the city of Tokyo have come up with an innovative way to charge up an EV in just 59 seconds, and this sure has left everyone scratching their chins and wondering why they never thought of it before. The taxi company simply swaps a drained out battery for a replenished one! This could be the world’s largest AA battery, and could work best with fleet cars.

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The guys at De Tomaso car manufacturing will sure have their eyes widened and jaws dropped looking at what designer Frederik Tjellesen came up with, just for them. The car, known as the Ghepardo, has all the smooth lines, cuts and beauty one would expect from a mean machine. It also has a green heart, powered up using methanol fuel cells. The car is packed with an eco-boost technology that makes it all the more greener, besides just its power source. Inspired by cars from the De Tomaso Company itself, the Pantera and the Mangusta, the Ghepardo integrates some pretty sweet designing that will make sure it sticks to the roads at all that speed. It sports integrated spoilers that create a 0.25Cd drag. The car is powered by a Ford twin-turbo eco-boost 3.5 V6 engine producing 465 bgp or by four electric in-hub fuel cells producing 85 kW, that’s as much as 440bhp.

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We certainly wouldn’t need to walk around too much in the future, spoiling ourselves with innovations like these that make walking seem old-fashioned and a waste of energy. Designer Siqi Liu came up with the Urban Wheels, a solar powered vehicle that you can ride on and work in your garden, go shopping, or ride around the neighborhood, all powered up using the energy from the sun. The Urban Wheels uses a battery pack that powers up its electric motor. Using two large solar panels measuring around 33” x 24.5”, the eco-friendly vehicle sports a flexible body and a handlebar that can adjust between 38” and 51”.

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Sanyo Electric has teamed up with public transport operator, Ryobi to installed solar cells on the roof of a city bus, dubbed Solarve, in Japan. Sanyo claims that this is the world's first solar-cell-equipped public bus. Ryobi has developed this green futuristic bus to commemorate its 100 year anniversary. All set to start rolling on the streets of Okayama from next week, the solar powered roof of Solarve will illuminate the LED lights inside the bus. A total of 798 watts from Sanyo’s solar cells will power the interior lights and when sun shies away, the storage batteries of the bus will take over. Much expected from the land of rising sun!

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Plastic vehicles will soon replace heavy metal based trucks to clear waste in UK. In a bid to reduce their own carbon footprint a Kent based waste firm, Verdant, plans to introduce eight plastic trucks which in turn will drive to save up to 11 tonnes of carbon per year. Manufactured by Linktip, these trucks will help to save about $3,900 worth fuel per vehicle per year. At the same time these 'polybuilt' vehicles can ship up to twice the load compared to current traditional waste-carrying trucks. Weighing just 3.5 tonnes, these vehicles are based on either Mitsubishi Canter or Mercedes Sprinter chassis and sport a tipping rear body made of polypropylene plastic. Smart way to keep our environment as well surroundings clean!

[Greenbiz]

Back in 2009, we reported about hydrogen-powered fuel cell vehicle Buckeye Bullet 2 breaking records. This time again Buckeye Bullet 2 has set new records but in a battery-powered avatar. Teaming up with Monaco-based electric car manufacturer Venturi , Ohio State University team has replaced the fuel cells with lithium-ion batteries. This boosted the average speed to 291 mph which is a new battery-powered vehicle record. Expect such a green beast to hit the roads in 2011!

[Engadget]

The people of Tennessee can now have their electric cars charge all the way up while parked. A solar parking lot cropped up in Pulaski, Tennessee recently. Here, you can drive up, park your electric car and hook it on to the charger that will juice your car while you get on with your business. This is the first EV charging station of its type in the whole Southeast. The parking lot uses a 20kW solar array on its roof. Costing around $180,000, this one had most of its costs overcome by federal and state funds. All you need to use this parking lot is a plug-in hybrid or an electric car. Similar stations will soon sprout up in Nashville and Chattanooga too.

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Doing drugs bad, since it directly ruins your health and indirectly the environment and shortens the life line of both. Well, cannabis usually ends up being smoked around the world. Some folks use it to make cars instead. Amazing, isn’t it? Read on. The Kestrel, a car that will show up at the EV 2010 VE Conference and Trade Show in Vancouver, was produced by Motive, a company that uses advanced materials in car manufacturing. The four seats of the car had their bodies made of impact resistant bio composite material produced from fibers of the cannabis or hemp plant. This tactic sure helps decrease the weight of the car, hence increasing its efficiency by substantial amounts.

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