Remember the Silver Surfer who showed up in the Fantastic Four flick? This vehicle we just stumbled across could make for the perfect ride for the planet destroyer, if he ever did chose to jump off that gleaming surf-board and chose to drive instead. Called the SPV (solar powered vehicle), this futuristic contraption on wheels is powered by solar energy and uses flexible thin-film modules on its aluminum structure to power up. By designer Omer Sagiv, the SPV is sleek and shiny as ever and is seriously energy efficient too. However, its sheer size and uniqueness doesn’t really make it for an ideal way to travel to work, particularly on a rainy day!

[tuvie]

London will now play home to greener taxis, beginning with two Renault Fluence Z.E.s that have finally been commissioned and authorized for hire. These cabs by Climatecars are low on carbon emissions and are the future of green taxis in London. The taxis are available at the same rate as conventional gas-guzzlers, though hiring these instead does the environment a favor. The taxis in particular sport a 115 mile range on a full charge and are comfortable enough to suit all the expectations you’d look for in a taxi! A better alternative to the iconic black London cabs that have been known to spew out enough smoke in the environment to create little trails of clouds behind them, these green taxis make public transport in London cleaner.

[thegreencarwebsite]

Nissan chose to go green with its delivery system this time and seems to have made an efficiently green choice by using a solar powered ship to deliver its Leaf vehicles throughout Japan. Called the Roro ship, this vessel is partially solar-powered and uses 281 solar panels. Complete with light-emitting diode (LED) lighting to save energy. The Roro can carry up to 1,380 cars at a time. The ship will make the 1,100-mile from Oppama Wharf near Yokohama to the southern Japan island of Kyushu. The ship has about 18% lower Co2 emissions than a convention ship of its size with the panels helping save up on more than 1,300 tons of fuel annually!

[green.autoblog]

In an attempt to provide for a better service in the Big Apple, New York’s Bike-Sharing program is now asking city dwellers to suggest places where the Bike-Share stations should be ideally located! The new program will bring a whopping 10,000 bicycles to the city, with stations set up in and around Brooklyn and Manhattan. The final and exact locations however still need to be determined and the NYC Department of Transportation (DOT) will host workshops where citizens can show up and suggest the exact locations that’ll ideally suit these stations. A simple yet fantastic way of ensuring every New York City dweller has his or her say in the setting up of these stations, we applaud the NYC-DOT for the effort.

[treehugger]

Travelling around the world is remarkable indeed. Travelling around the world, solely powered by solar energy however is more than just a super human feat! SolarWorld, the largest U.S. solar panel manufacturer, has now sponsored a sun-powered car that will attempt a journey across the globe, feeding on solar juice only. Called the SolarWorld Gran Turismo (GT), the project was set up jointly by SolarWorld and Bochum University of Applied Sciences in Germany. The car in question is a two-seat sports car powered by roof-integrated solar cells and completion of the feat will be rewarded with an entry in the "Guinness Book of World Records" for the longest distance covered by a solar car. We wish the SolarWorld Gran Turismo (GT) a bon voyage and all the success it deserves!

[marketwatch]

In the near future, driving around in Europe is destined to turn into a micro affair. With the Hiriko micro concept car to soon hit production lines in Spain, the very way Europeans commute in personal vehicles is destined to change. These little cars do not succumb to urban space crunches and quickly fold into themselves to save up on parking space. With a bunch of Basque businesses, the Spanish government and the US's renowned MIT Media Lab at its back, the Hiriko capsule car has enough room for two and sports four in-wheel motors, making it a one-of-a-kind way to commute for the near future.

[telegraph]

At first, this beastly black ride seems to be grinning pretty wickedly. However, its insides seem to be unreasonably kind, both to the environment, as well as your wallet! Called the PG Elektrus, this electric roadster was developed by German manufacturer PG and Düsseldorf-based automobile designer Michael Fröhlich and is based on the Lotus Elise. Sporting an electric motor powered by a lithium-ion battery, the PG Elektrus’ insides produces the equivalent of 272-horsepower and 350Nm (258.2 lb-ft) of constant torque, pushing the car to the 62mph mark in less than 3 seconds! With a claimed 186mph top speed, this car boasts a range of up to 217 miles and comes with a price tag of €240,000 (US$312,400).

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As plug-in hybrids and electric cars slowly begin swarming, charging technologies are quickly being modified to better suit the user’s tastes. Power Assist Technology Ltd and Shimane University together have come up with the world's smallest charger for plug-in hybrid and electric vehicles. This little charger measures 116 x 279 x 225mm, about 1/3rd the size of the conventional EV charger. Also, with an input of AC200V, output of DC400V and 3.3kW worth of electric power, this charger is about 92% more efficient than the rest.

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Ford has decided to go a darker shade of green, and will soon begin using recycled plastic bottles in its flagship 2012 Ford Focus Electric car. Using Repreve, yarn made from recycled materials, claimed to be one of the most earth-friendly fabric ingredients, will be used by Ford on a large scale in the building of the Focus Electric. The Repreve fabric will be used to make seats for the Focus, and Ford will also use recycled plastic bottles sourced from the CES and NAIAS. Also, roughly about 22 recycled bottles will be put to use in each vehicle interior, with Ford hoping to use more than 2 million recycled plastic bottles for about 91,000 cars in all.

[torquenews]

Sure driving around in huge gas-guzzling sedans and SUVs are pretty much the rage today. However, a group of UK businessmen think differently, and are looking forward to bringing tiny fuel efficient cars to the asphalt. If you know your automobile history right, you’d probably recognize the good old Peel automotive brand that has spent its past building extremely small cars. The company has now been breathed life into yet again, and is offering the P50 and Trident micro-cars. Using brushless electric motors producing 1.6 horsepower and 2.5 pound-feet of torque, these cars touch speeds of a slow, yet impressive 15mph and sport a range of 50 miles.

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Travelling green will soon be more than just a dream and an idea put through with concept vehicles and the like. With the dawn of the electric car, the world is slowly realizing the true potential in travelling without a dash of fossil fuels. The Rak e by Opel is more than just a concept electric car. This vehicle, made of recyclable synthetic materials, weighs in at just a third of a gas-guzzler. Also, the car symbolizes a hope for a greener future and boasts of zero-emissions. With a range of up to 61 miles on a single three-hour charge, the Rak e could be the predecessor of environment-friendly transport of the future.

[yankodesign]

When the Chinese decide to sculpt out a vehicle for mass transportation, they think big. And this time, the fruit of Chinese design, the Youngman JNP6250G will carry about 300 passengers at a time! That sure as hell beats just about any bus capacity you’d ever come across in the world. 13 meters in length, this massive bus will begin rolling in both Beijing and Hangzhou and seems to be a pretty efficient way to getting people around, encouraging commuters to leave their cars at home. Also, a smaller fleet of these buses is required to cater to the same number of people as opposed to the number of regular sized buses that would be required. With a top speed of just 50 mph, this snaking bus could very well do with hybrid insides too!

[inhabitat]

Not everyone in the world has access to clean drinkable water. Around 42 thousand people die every week from water-borne diseases alone. Designer Fernando Ocana came up with a design that addresses the water woes faced by millions of people today, with Honda 1+ motorcycle design. This renewable energy-powered vehicle uses tyre-less wheels that can be wrapped with waste rubber materials and the like. Using an in-wheel electric engine and batteries that charge up using renewable energy, the 1+ sports enough place to carry three jerrycans full of water around without too much of a hassle. Using low-cost long-lasting materials to build, this medium of transportation could very well serve to bring water to far-flung areas in an environment-friendly way. [RTCC]

Soon, plugging in your EV for a dash of electricity will be a phenomenon of the past. Jumping aboard the wireless-charging bandwagon, Qualcomm Inc unveiled its very own wireless EV-charging station at CES 2012. The system sports a power source, power-transmitting pad, power-receiving pad and control unit and wirelessly juices up electric vehicles using a wireless power transmission technology called Inductive Power Transfer (IPT) that is based on the electromagnetic induction method. Using frequency ranges from 20k to 140 kHz for power transmissions, these chargers could very well be the next best way to fill up your electric car in the near future.

[techon.nikkeibp]

Mercedes Benz showcased two new E-Class hybrid sedans at the 2012 Detroit Motor Show recently and these seem to have pretty much stolen the spotlight too! The cars, the E300 Bluetec Hybrid and the E400 Hybrid are, as Mercedes Benz chooses to claim, two of the most efficient full-size sedans out there. As for the E300 Bluetec, this one delivers 56mpg while the E400 delivers 27mpg. The E400 in particular also comes with a 302-horsepower 3.5-liter V-6 gasoline engine while both cars pack a 27-horsepower electric motor with 184 pound-feet of torque. All-in-all, these luxury green sedans promise to keep the environment clean, and we wouldn’t doubt Mercedes Benz when it comes to making efficiently beautiful cars.

[motorauthority]