Eco Cars: Reconnoitre – Hybrid car assures better mileage with a lightweight body

When it comes to cars, lightweight is the key to better fuel economy. The ever rising prices of fuel and the demand to go green have tempted designers to develop cars that are light in weight and reduce the use of fossil fuels to a minimum. Reconnoitre is one such car that utilizes its carbon fiber body to get the most out of the precious drops of fuel burning in its diesel-electric reverse hybrid engine.

The car has been designed for the city of Boston where parking a luxury sedan can prove to be a nuisance. The hatchback design of the car reduces the amount of boot space but makes sure that the car can easily be driven in congested roads. Reconnoitre comes with a hybrid engine that uses lithium-manganese spinel batteries that last over 40 years before needing a replacement. The car has can fit 4 people with a fold flat rear bench. Apart from a carbon-fiber body the car is designed to have a height adjusting suspension system that promises a comfortable ride on all road conditions.

The Dark Side:
The carbon-fiber body will result in better mileage. However, adding the cost of carbon-fiber and lithium batteries to the already expensive diesel engine the car would be out of reach of most people who would otherwise love to go green.

Via: Local-Motors

Eco Cars: iChange – Just another zero-emission car from Rinspeed

Rinspeed has got a reputation to developing weird and unusual cars for the Geneva Auto Show. While we were still thrilled about the sQuaba, which was launched last year at the same show, news has surfaced that the company’s plans for next year rest in a car they call “iChange”.

The iChange will be a “1-2-3-seater” powered by a zero emission electric motor generating 130kw of power, and that’s where a normal car ends and Rinspeed takes over. The car will essentially be a sports car with a single seat for the driver, but if you want to use it a multi-purpose vehicle, you can just flip a button and it turns into a compact sportsvan with two more seats towards the rear. The car will feature an extremely low weight and aerodynamic drag, thus reducing the power consumption. The iChange will be showcased at the 79th International Motor Show to be held in Geneva from 5th March 2009.

The Dark Side:

Like always, this time too Rinspeed is building a car that has no or little practical use. If the engineers at Rinspeed can focus their creative minds into a more useful car, they surely can save the planet from disaster.

Via: Rinspeed

Eco Cars: 'Mutant-X' electric car for a green drive in 2020

Glimpses of the future have always attracted one and all. These visions get even more exhilarating if they show green and non-polluted urbanities. The “Mutant-X”, designed by Rajeev Nair, is one such car that has the potential to clean the future with its electric, zero emission engines.

The car can carry three passengers and is powered by a battery that powers the independent motors fixed on the wheels of the car. The car comes with thin wheel spokes, sharp rear view cameras, a center-mounted steering wheel with all touch sensitive multifunction displays, advanced passive safety systems and other safety features that include posture sensors and emotion sensors, which sound an alarm in the car if the person on the wheel gets lazy.

 
The vehicle also includes advanced cruise control, which enables the car to change its wheel base according to the speed at which it’s cruising. The rear wheels along with the extended wheel arc can shrink inside along the axis of the vehicle, thus changing its wheelbase, which betters the aerodynamics of the car, making it more energy-efficient. The car is intended for the 2020 market.

The technology included in the car would ensure a comfortable, safe and sustainable ride, but all this would come at a cost, which most people are not likely to be able to afford. However, if the cost factor is set aside the car could do wonders for places where high traffic and high CO2 levels will have made life miserable by the year 2020.

Crazy-looking Fiat Phylla electric car has solar panels for charge assist

Is this a real electric vehicle or a clown car? It's as real as a prototype can get, put together by Fiat and a few other designers, all of whom must have a substantial sense of humor. The Fiat Phylla is an 80-mph electric car that takes between 3 and 4 hours to charge from a regular wall socket. Adding to its energy efficiency are solar panels on the roof, the reason for naming the car "Phylla," the Greek word for leaf.

We like it. If you're not fond of its green-and-white color scheme, imagine the little electro-buggy in shiny midlife-crisis red. While its 0-30 acceleration in a poky 6 seconds is certainly not exciting, this tiny go-cart might be a foreshadowing of what many vehicles will look like in the next decade. In fact, the trend toward diminutive and bulbous battery buggies has already begun.

Via Ubergizmo

The Powerwagon – An Ecofriendly generator to provide green electricity

A Huntington-based company is on a mission to provide a solution for green electricity through a portable gasless and noiseless generator. The result is a machine they call The Powerwagon. The battery-powered generator can be recharged by hooking it on the back of a vehicle and driving it 45-65 miles. The inventors of the generator say that the size and capacity of the machine can be altered in anyway according to the requirements and it can be a great machine to provide power to areas which have been hit by natural disasters.

The Dark Side:
The generator would be wonderful if it’s hooked up on the rear of a donkey-cart or a pedal powered car. However, hooking it to a car powered with fossil fuels would just be a great waste of precious fuel.

Via: Herald-Dispatch

Eco Cars: Ecotricity aims to develop a wind-powered sports car

Eco Factor: Retrofitted Lotus Exige to run on wind power.

Ecotricity is known for harnessing nature and developing systems that provide green and affordable electricity to all. The energy company has now taken up the task to develop a wind-powered car, which would actually be a retrofitted version of the Lotus Exige.


The company’s founder, Dale Vince, states that he and his team are currently working to transform a Lotus Exige couple with no aspect of the car going untouched. The car would contain 96 batteries and it is expected that the car would have a top speed of over a 100mph and would be able to accelerate from standstill to 62mph in about 4 seconds.

Vince desires to preserve the tough looks of the car even after making it more aerodynamic and fuel-efficient. He is also keen to include a transparent rear boot so that the mechanics involved could easily be seen by everyone. The first prototype of the car is expected to be unveiled within the next few months with mass production to follow.

The Dark Side:
The wind-powered sports car would definitely make some heads turn. However, Vince just has to make sure that the cost of the car should not be much more than what one already pays for a sports car.

Via: MotorAuthority

Eco Cars: Peugeot OMNI – Sporty, aerodynamic car gets powered by the sun

In 1973, a Swedish automobile designer, Bengt Ilon dreamt of a car that could move sideways on “Omni-wheels”, which could speed up transport and take it to a whole new level. The concept was not obviously picked up or developed through the decades. Now, finally we have a model that has been designed for Peugeot – OMNI.

The car which is perfect for future megalopolis has a sporty, aerodynamic body that represents evolution of the new age. The small city car has been made for just two occupants, keeping in mind that in 95% cases a car just has one occupant at a time. The exterior body is intended to be developed with carbon fiber, which should guarantee strength without adding much to the body of the car.

Solar cells are placed on the body of the car to refuel the lithium batteries sitting beneath the hood of the car. Traditional side cameras in this car are replaced by cameras, which enable the driver to see all objects in sides on the dashboard mounted display.

The most stunning feature of the car still remains its ability to move sideways at a speed of 5 km/h, which would ease parking and will make sure that the car does not always get stuck in traffic jams.

 

The Dark Side:
Apart from high cost fears, the “Omni-wheels” technology still seems a couple of decades away from realism. However, if the technology is made then it could truly refine the way we drive.

Via: ProductDesignForums

Eco Cars: Scarab electric concept can impress James Bond

Some concepts vehicles look weird, some lack the basic safety features, some are just too futuristic, but Scarab is safe, developed using current technology and is one hot machine that could just be great for the next James Bond flick. Developed by David Miguel Moreira Gonçalves, Scarab is powered by a permanent battery plus three options for the main energy pack – battery, fuel cell or biofuel.

 Eco Factor: Concept vehicle powered by electric in-wheel motors.

 
Not only environmentally safe, the vehicle packs a big enough technical punch with multiple driving modes, perfect park mode, embedded sensors, Lidar, radar, transponders, GPS, Drive by Wire, tactile HUD embedded in the Lexan canopy, regenerative braking through EW brakes. The vehicle is composed of interchangeable modules that can easily be customized to give desired looks to the vehicle.

The Dark Side:
The high use of electronics in the car would utilize a major part of the car’s battery capacity, which could show its effect on the car’s performance, speed and range.

Via: YankoDesign

Eco Cars: EVA – Aerodynamic hybrid vehicle betters speed, range and efficiency

Eco Factor: Hybrid vehicle powered by lithium polymer batteries.

Electricity alone cannot provide the speed and distance we require sustaining our lives in future. Hybrids can take over conventional fossil fuel vehicles without making us too slow in the process. Cobus Marx has designed a futuristic vehicle called the EVA (Electric Vehicle Africa) that can carry two passengers on its three wheels and a hybrid engine.

The vehicle enhances the possibilities of a cost-effective alternative approach to a personal transport vehicle. The vehicle is based on the future needs of the urbanized user who needs extended range at a high speed to travel long distances when needed. The vehicle’s specifications needed it to be extremely aerodynamic, which the designer accomplished by a height adjusting air suspension system.

When the vehicle is stationary the suspension is at its maximum height enabling the commuters to get in and out of the vehicle easily. When the car is running at a high speed the suspension drops down taking the car as close to the road as possible.

Large door handles of appropriate shape and diameter will help the user open and close the door with ease if the car has been parked in a congested space. The body of the car has been designed in a fashion to reduce drag at high speed, which again helps in increasing the efficiency of the car.

 EVA is powered by a conventional 250CC, two-cylinder, four stroke engine generating 16 KW. This engine is coupled with a Li-ion polymer powered electric motor which generates an additional 120KW. Running on electricity the car has a range of 400 km at a top speed of 160 km/h, which can be enhanced by running the gasoline engine simultaneously.

The Dark Side:
The car can carry two passengers. With the growth in population, cars which can carry more and more people are likely to attract more customers in future. The ever increasing cost of fuel has already attracted many people to commute on shared basis. In such a time a car with two seats is unlikely to comply with the demands of the future.

Giant cargo ships are going green with solar sails

Some of the stuff we buy from China is so cheap, that I wonder how they manage to cover even the shipping costs for the selling price. Now China's biggest shipping company COSCO is giving us a clue. They just signed a deal with Solar Sailor of Australia, to fit some of their cargo ships with gigantic rigid sails, each the size of a 747 jet's wing. We've looked before at small scale versions of the same idea, but never anything this huge

Under ocean going conditions, the sails provide enough thrust to reduce fuel consumption by 20-40 percent, while the solar panels covering them deliver power to the crew quarters and navigation electronics. The ship's ballast is provided by rechargeable batteries, which can drive the boat electrically if needed, and if you have a really stiff wind, the screws can be reversed to further charge the batteries. The giant sails can also be folded flat onto the deck if there's a threatening storm.

Solar Sailor, via Treehugger.com