The Aptera trike will be available in electric and plug in hybrid versions. The electric Aptera has a range of around 120 miles on a full charge, whilst the hybrid can achieve anything up to 300 miles per gallon. They’re taking pre-orders (for California only at the moment) prior to launching next year.
It’s possible the vehicle will make it over here, priced at less than £15,000. I’m going to start saving now.
Or, as the people at Toolmonger call it “Biodiesel for dummies”. The BioPro 190 from AGR Energy can produce 50 gallons of biodiesel every two days, runs off a domestic power supply and has a small footprint so it could sit unobtrusively in the corner of a garage. You still need to handle chemicals- methanol, lye and sulphuric acid- but they have tried to cut this to a minimum, claiming that one batch requires just half an hour of priming.
You could build your own biodiesel reactor for less, but I imagine a creative fast food outlet that incorporated one of these to fuel its fleet would have less trouble with health and safety than if they set up a bodge with oil drums in the back yard.
The foundation that handed out $10million to the makers of SpaceShipOne for being the first non-government space craft has announced a $10million prize for the first team to produce a commercially viable car capable of 100 miles to the gallon. So far 30 teams have announced their intentions to participate.
Technorati tag: EcoHouse, X Prize, Fuel Efficiency
Lithium Technology Corporation has developed lithium iron phosphate (LiFePO4) cells which can greatly increase the fuel economy of hybrids. There are issues with safety, which mean Toyota are not yet ready to start using them.
Another way to increase a hybrid’s mileage is to get Solar Electric Vehicles’ fitted solar panel roofs.
Somewhere out there is the ideal combination of solar panelled garage and car, with high capacity batteries.
Technorati tag: Hybrid Car
Solar Electric Vehicles make roofs for hybrid cars that charge a supplemental battery and increase the cars’ fuel efficiency by as much as 29%. Prius owners have fitted solar panels to their vehicles before, but these convex panels won’t mess with the aerodynamics as much.
Solar Electric Vehicles website
Technorati tag: Solar Power, Hybrid Car
BMW has announced changes to the Mini line that could see its diesel model achieving up to 72.4mpg. Utilising “hybrid like” technology, the little car will only engage its alternator on deceleration, rather than having it be a constant drag, and the manual versions will will turn the engine off rather than idle and give the driver hints on teh best gear to engage.
The caveat, as always, is that we should all be using cars less. However, for those of us who must, we should all consider the new breed of economical super-minis and/or alternative fuels.
If you must use a car, then you should at least try to use it as efficiently as possible. Jalopnik has some simple suggestions for improving mileage. Obviously, I would have put “Don’t use your car when you don’t have to” at the top of the list, but I don’t have a car, so it’s my only option.
Should I ever need to get a car I’ll be looking for something I can run on biodiesel, or possibly a biodiesel/ petroleum diesel mix because you can’t always get to a green fuel pump. I hanker for a Volvo estate or small van to cart my bikes around in. Efficiency isn’t such a concern with a closed circuit fuel supply like biodiesel, but VCACarFuelData.org.uk, allows you to search for your next ride by this and other criteria. If I could forgo the space considerations then the Citroen C1 would be worth considering, the most efficient of the cars currently listed on there.
Of course, another option is to do something as inventive as this Russian driver, who replaced his Opel’s engine with a 50kw motor and filled all the spare space with batteries.
Technorati tag: Electric car, Fuel Efficiency, Transport
The Velozzi is a concept car promising supercar performance- 0 to 60 in 3 seconds and a 200mph top speed- with 200mpg fuel consumption. It achieves this by recharging its batteries with a micro-turbine which can use any “heavy fuel”- such as gasoline, ethanol, methanol, diesel or bio diesel. It’s also super light, being built out of composites and liquid metal.
The research and development company behind the concept wanted to produce the most spectacular demonstration of the technology possible. The use of a turbine to charge the batteries means the car isn’t tied to electrical supply points and the versatility of teh fuels means it can use the existing petrol infrastructure. Everyday production vehicles are going to be heavier and less efficient, obviously, but still a vast improvement on current motorcars.
via Jalopnik
Technorati tag: Electric car, Micro turbine
Ford’s internal combustion hydrogen bus. Definitely an interesting technology, but we need to work on less harmful ways of extracting the hydrogen in the first place
In the long term this and fuel cell technology are going to become cheaper and increasingly used in Public Service Vehicles. It sounds like the internal combustion system, at least, is too cumbersome for smaller vehicles.
The world’s most gruelling solar vehicle race is about to start in Australia.
via Jalopnik
Technorati tag: Transport, Solar car, Technorati tag: Solar Power
I said there would be a market for hybrids that utilise solar panels to recharge their batteries, and Canadian engineer Steve Lapp has already gone ahead and stuck photovoltaics onto his Prius. The energy provided gains the car several free miles a day, upping its fuel efficiency.
Technorati tag: Solar power, Hybrid car
The QuickSolar Blog is recording one team’s construction of a solar powered car.
Technorati tag: Solar Power, Solar Car
It might be worth investing in a solar powered car if, as one analyst predicts, oil prices are set to soar to over $100 a barrel by Christmas.
But [Texan oil analyst Matt] Simmons believes surging demand will keep prices bubbling well above $50. ‘We could be at $100 by this winter. We have the biggest risk we have ever had of demand exceeding supply. We are now just about to face up to the biggest crisis we have ever had,’ he said.
Technorati tag: Oil, Peak Oil, Technorati tag: Solar Power
The Power House is a science toy that teaches about renewable energy. It includes experiments with solar power, wind and plant growth, as well as featuring an electric car.
via Treehugger
Technorati tag: EcoHouse, Solar Power