Category Archives: Transport
The safety and practicality of using hydrogen powered cars has long been questioned, given the fact that carrying hydrogen in the boot of a car isn’t particularly the safest means to power up journeys. As a reassurance to the automotive industry and to potential buyers, automobile manufacturing colossus Toyota recently shot bullets at the fuel tanks of a fuel-cell prototype. While small caliber gun bullets simply bounced off the carbon-fiber tanks, .50 caliber bullets barely caused dents!
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Volkswagen managed to turn quite a few heads at the ongoing Detroit Auto Show with the unveiling of one of its greenest sedans, the new Passat BlueMotion concept. Based on the production Passat, this one packs an extremely efficient powertrain beneath its hood, giving it the highest highway fuel economy rating of any non-hybrid mid-size sedan! The BlueMotion concept comes with Volkswagen’s 1.4-liter engine with direct injection and turbocharging with 150 horsepower and 184 lb-ft. of torque. That apart, the high efficiency engine also sports Active Cylinder Management (ACT) technology that intelligently deactivates the valvetrain on cylinders two and three when a driver applies a lighter throttle pressure.
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Sitting back and relaxing or probably taking a nap while your car drives itself around has always been a long-cherished dream, particularly when you find yourself surrounded by honking impatient drivers in a traffic jam on a Monday evening, right? As an answer to this extremely long and unpunctuated question, here’s presenting to you the first self-driving vehicle that’s ready to take to urban streets, without leaving behind a trail of collateral damage. Called the Navia, this is the world’s first commercial driverless car, developed by a French company called Induct.
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Here’s yet another reason to love London, the city gets its first all-electric mass-transit bus! Mass transit in the city is now sure to hit the highest green note as the authorities have begin putting out electric buses to do the rounds, with bellies full of batteries carrying clean juice. These buses will join the ranks of the hybrid and fuel cell buses that have been introduced in London a while ago and will help the city lighten its carbon footprint substantially. Chinese manufacturer BYD Auto predicts that the zero-emission buses will reduce running costs by about three quarters as compared to diesel-run vehicles.
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Adding to the electric muscle of cars around town is one drive that could well raise the bar. Tesla’s Model E will arrive as an all-electric sedan for mass production in a little over a year’s time. Franz von Holzhauzen, the Chief Designer of the Tesla Model E, let out some rather intriguing details about the upcoming electric car. He told AutoBild that the car is almost ready with just the aerodynamic subtleties to be tackled.
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American electric carmaker Tesla Motors, has finally stepped onto British soil! The company opened its first outlet in the UK in the Westfield Shopping Centre in London’s White City. The showroom will sell left hand drive versions of the Model S at this showroom, while a right hand drive version of the car will only be made available after March 2014. The car will come with a pricetag of £49,000, after the £5,000 government grant and we think this will indeed attract quite a few takers in the United Kingdom.
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German auto-manufacturing giant Volkswagen has finally given its lovable hatchback, the Golf, an electric overhaul. The company has announced the all electric version of the Golf and will show off the car at the LA Auto Show. The 2015 e-Golf chucks away the gas and diesel engines and uses an electric motor instead. The motor manages to churn out about 115 horsepower and 199 pound-feet of torque. Powered by a 24.2-kWh liquid-cooled lithium-ion battery pack, the e-Golf takes 10.4 seconds to touch the 60mph mark, good enough for an urban electric ride.
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The United Kingdom seems to have fallen head-over-heels and completely in love with electric cars and government figures prove just that! The sale of EVs in UK has taken a 25% leap and is currently at a record high! According to a government report, new registrations under the government’s £5,000 grant scheme touched 1,149, the highest recorded number since the initiation of the scheme in January 2011. This news does re-enlighten our hope for a greener future where people around the world will step away from environment-killing fossil fuels and settle for much greener and less carbon-emitting options, like EVs!
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Just a couple of years back the idea of electric vehicles had little acceptance with masses as the fear attached to the environment friendly vehicles outweighed its immense promise. Back then, the technology was still a work in progress and the lack of range and charging issues impeded sales. But since then, EVs have not only become more refined but have successfully been able to shed its celebrity toy image. BMW, a company know to build driver focused cars, entered the market by launching its first mass-production electric vehicle, the i3, in July this year. With its radical design, the i3 exhibits a superior level of sophistication. Designed ground up to be powered by an electric drive system, BMW claims the i3 doesn’t compromise on driving pleasure and feels natural, just like regular cars.
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Soon, the iconic yellow school buses that have been prowling American streets, making sure kids reach school and home safely, will turn electric! Motiv Power Systems and Trans Tech Bus took the first few steps towards this dream with the development of the SST-e type A bus for Kings Canyon Unified School District. The bus is as electric as a Nissan Leaf and is based on the Ford F450 chassis. Using an all-battery, all-chassis Motiv electric Powertrain Control System (ePCS), this bus can also have its batteries changed and updated whenever required.
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