April 29, 2009
 Not that we need a fireplace when it’s 90 degrees in April, but the Eco-Smart is unique because it runs on ethanol instead of gas or wood. The freestanding model in the article’s picture is called the Zeta, apparently, and looks like something you’d find in Eldon Tyrell’s office. Not sure if their other models are as modern/sci-fi in design, though.
In any case, all the Eco-Smart models burn ethanol “at a rate of about half a liter per hour…(that’s about 0.15 gallons),” fed into it in liquid form. It’s also an open fire that burns clean into water vapor and CO2, so it’s a very clean alternative to wood and gas fires. Plus, who doesn’t want a portable fireplace? Communists and Freemasons, that’s who.
This is an avenue for ethanol use that’s worth exploring - if people are uneasy about fueling cars with it, or if electric cars really take off and drag all the R&D grants away behind them, stuff like Eco-Smart illustrates domestic uses for ethanol that could save people a lot of money down the road, and help the planet at the same time. If nothing else, a boost in ethanol generator development would certainly be nice.
April 23, 2009
Way back in May of last year, we laughed off the prospect of a chocolate-fueled car in our List of Things that Wouldn’t be Powering Cars Any Time Soon.
Well boy, are our faces red. Turns out a group of plucky young squires from Warwick University have designed a chocolate-powered race car. Really.
According to a write-up from Jalopnik, “its body is made of potatoes, the steering wheel is carrots,” referring to the recycled plant and fruit fibers/extracts used to build it, “and the fuel is derived from chocolate.” And it works, too; the car can hit 145 mph and apparently corners like a champ.
So we have to scratch chocolate off that list of ours. Anyone got any ideas for something to replace it?
April 22, 2009
Happy Earth Day, everyone!
April 18, 2009
Chrysler, if it survives long enough, is plugging into the electric car craze with the Dodge Circuit, a sporty two-seater “with a zero-to-60 time of under five seconds and a top speed of 120 miles per hour.” Not bad. They’d been debating whether to start with the Circuit or a larger vehicle - electric versions of the Jeep Wrangler and the Town & Country SUV had been bandied about internally, but the hype surrounding Tesla and the Chevy Volt forced their hand a little bit. Of course, this move also depends on their proposed deal with Fiat, which might go pear-shaped any moment now, so there’s a lot up in the air right now for them as a company. And even if they do manage to work things out with Fiat, the European automaker has been ridiculed as an acronym for Fix It Again, Tony; while that’s certainly an old joke, it’s also a credible one.
Meanwhile, here’s a list of automakers with serious plans to develop and mass-produce electric cars within the next decade.
April 9, 2009
Branching off yesterday’s Tesla Motors post, they’re one of the 111 teams competing in the Progressive Automotive X-Prize contest, which put an unnecessary “x” in its name about 7 years too late for cool points. Nevertheless, it awards “a $10 million prize to build a practical vehicle capable of getting the equivalent of 100 miles per gallon of gas.” Some of the other teams include Indian company Tata Motors Ltd.; Aptera Motors, another CA start-up with big/futile hopes for a three-wheeled electric car (look out, ladies); LINCVOLT, Neil Young’s conversion project that we wrote about last year, and many others, of course. None of the Detroit manufacturers are entering anything, but they’ve got other things on their plate right now, be it getting the Chevy Volt ready for consumers, being forcibly restructured by the government, or both simultaneously.
The road competitions for the PAX-Prize will start next year, so gentlemen, charge your engines!
April 8, 2009
People have been asking us about Tesla Motors a lot recently, what with the formal unveiling of their Model S prototype last month. Since Google is a major investor in Tesla, the Model S “will feature a 17-inch touch-screen with 3G connectivity, allowing drivers to check Google Maps or other data,” and as an additional plus, “the car’s electrical charge could…be monitored via an iPhone or a laptop.” We like the technological integration there, as it adds to the value of the car (which will boast a $49k asking price once it goes public) beyond the obvious environmental benefits of a no-emissions electric vehicle. You’d essentially be driving a computer around town, especially if they equip the Model S with Microsoft Auto, which provides voice recognition and other mobile device integration. It’s pretty cool stuff, and it shows that Tesla’s long-term thinking is multi-faceted. Let’s just hope whatever software they use has good firewalls, because putting the car in the shop to flush out viruses would be pretty embarrassing.
Back on topic, what Tesla isn’t prepared to do, according to CEO Elon Musk (a pretty interesting guy in his own right), is build an extended-range electric car like the Chevy Volt. Indeed, Musk has been pretty critical of the Volt, noting that it would turn to shit when/if the battery pack ran out and left an undersized engine to pick up the slack. He also nitpicked differences between the battery packs he’s using and the ones planned for the Volt, but how much of his criticism is based on his Model S competing with the Volt has yet to be determined.
In any case, we’ll keep following developments with Tesla as they, uh, develop. If nothing else, it’s nice to hear serious discussion of electric cars in the news again.
April 2, 2009
Word to the wise - we should get on this electric car thing now before China officially beats us to it. According to the New York Times, China is applying itself to leading the world in electric car development, in part because they can’t produce traditional cars fast enough to compete with other countries that have pulled ahead. But while other industrial powers - namely the US - hem and haw over infrastructural concerns and social/political expedience, China plans to leapfrog current technology while it still has a chance.
Another factor worth considering is that China really wants to “decrease its dependence on oil, which comes from the Mideast and travels over sea routes controlled by the United States Navy.” In other words, a head start on electric cars will get them out from under our geopolitical thumb.
Meanwhile, back in the States, GM is hoping that the Chevy Volt will be enough to put the company back on all four wheels (financially speaking, it’s up on blocks in the front yard right now). So of course everyone in the media is speculating that the Volt is too expensive, and even President Obama thinks it won’t be enough to keep GM from a mandatory restructuring. Thanks for keeping the faith, guys.
In the meantime, there’s still Tesla, who we’ll be talking about next time, and the way things are going, there’s definitely some promise in the Chevrolet Tantrum.
April 1, 2009
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