Archive for: electric
If you’re a resident of Michigan and currently dote around in an electric vehicle, you’re going to want to add Meijer to the list of places to stop — for necessity and food. Julie Croll, Senior Vice President of Properties and Real estate at the popular Hypermarket, announced that the company is currently in the process of installing new electric vehicle chargers (in partner with Coulomb Technologies) at several of their Michigan stores, though the first station is already live in Warren, Michigan. Allen Park and Holland are the next to Mejier locations scheduled for installation.
The best part for consumers is that each one of these SAE J1772-compliant stations are 100% free, and provide 110v or 220v charging options. Right now, the maximum number stations per store is two. Croll added, however, that up to 20 more Meijer stations would be “electrified” by the end of 2011.
Any mid-westerners going to make the trek up to Michigan to check the new charging stations out?
Fancy saving a tree or two and happen to title yourself a nerd? There’s no doubt that Chevy’s ambitions Volt project has been a long time coming. Since the truck market bombed out a few years back, they’ve been scrambling to catch up to other manufacturers more fuel efficient and alternative fuel-powered vehicles. And up until now, the biggest mystery about the Volt was the price. Price it to high no one will buy it. Lucky for consumers, it looks like Chevy will make it relatively affordable, at a now confirmed base price of $41,000. Interested parties may even get a stab at the electric wonder vehicle for a far cheaper price, however. At stake is a tax credit totaling up to $7,500 as well as leasing options. Speaking of the latter, the leasing program looks like it’ll hit a little closer to more individuals’ homes with a $350 monthly payment and $2,500 due at signing.
But what good is a hot new geek car with relatively new and untested reliability without decent warranties and protection from the factory? Oh dear reader, jump on in and find out…
Image: AmadeusPhotography
I try as hard as I can to make my carbon footprint as little as possible. Though I’m not some living with the animals, wearing loincloths type of extreme. Still, every little bit counts. Along that same path, an all electric bike would be a pretty neat way to traverse our little blue marble floating in space and time wouldn’t it?
If I had to pick my all electric ride, I’d pick the MotoCzysz E1 without hesitation. Why? Oh, only the fact that this rather small bike has 10x more batteries than a Toyota Prius and tops out at 140mph. Also noteworthy, the MotoCzysc E1 has 2.5x more torque than a Ducatti 1198 — wow! You may be criticizing the 140mph top speed as it isn’t exactly blazing by sport bike standards. But then again, most sport bikes don’t have 10 Prius’ worth of batteries strapped to their frame, do they?
The story goes, the E1 was designed to compete in the bike race of all bike races — Isle of Man TT. If a bike can withstand the 37.7 of nerve torturing road and maintain an above 100MPH average, you have on your hands a good bike. Unfortunately, the team behind the E1 barely got to stretch the E1′s legs as an electric spike killed the ECU, putting an end to their race day festivities. Though at the time of the E1′s electric stroke, it was supposedly way out front.
And this all from a 6-person team more or less is rather impressive. There’s always next year…
- February 25, 2010 9:16 pm
For the more classic “hot rod” guy or overall car guru, countless cars fill their dreams. Many of them have vast amounts of horsepower, torque, cylinders, and so on. For a geek car however, the requirements are a tad different. Normally instead of how many liters does it have, we’re asking about speakers and TV screens. But there’s one thing we can all agree on, crazy fast is cool. The Tesla electric sports car is one such car that has the rare power to seduce both gear heads and geeks alike. It’s all electric nature has nerd written all over it and it’s modest 248-horse rating hide a rather caged animal who will run sub-4 second runs to 60 all day long — well, until the battery dies that is.
Until now, picking up such a fine piece of engineering would cost your upwards of $100k up front. Either feeling the economy pinch or growing a heart, Tesla is making the geek’s hot rod more easily available with a new leasing option. A cool $1,658 per month will give you all the electric power you’ve ever wanted with no strings attached at the end (save for a “small fee”). Though, if by the end of your extended honeymoon you still feel like taking your bride home, Tesla will do your right by that as well, giving you the option to purchase the car outright.
Whataya say? Is nearly $1,700/month too much to ask for to drive around the hottest all electric (and downright coolest) sports car on the market right now?
VentureBeat
- November 19, 2009 1:08 pm
Just when I thought I’ve seen the most clever use an iPhone app can take on I pleasantly get surprised. The fact of the matter is, even though the title says “iPhone”, controlling a wheelchair with a consumer device is actually open to a few more Apple branded devices: iPhone 3G, 3GS, iPod touch V2.0 and 3.0. Right off the bat, I’m sure many of you are filling your heads with endless and meaningless (in my head) code that will need to be executed in order to get the hardware above speaking and controlling the compatible wheelchair systems: Dynamic Controls DX2, DX or Shark wheelchair. That’s the beauty of this whole union — the chairs don’t need to be reprogrammed. Plug-n-ride entertaiment!
The obvious benefit is the ability to control normal movement with the iPhone/iPod Touch screen. But the developers and engineers behind this project didn’t stop at simple navigation. Besides navigation controls, chair riders can see many other diagnostics of their chair, talk to and recognize other devices connected to the chair, as well as pull a charge from the chair battery. Modern gadgetry coming together with practical medical uses is always fun to see for us and I’m sure extremely exciting and life changing for those who depend on it. Pretty sweet huh? Almost makes me want to buy a motorized wheelchair and zip along all future-like. Wanna join my wheelchair gang?
9to5 Mac
9to5 Mac > Dynamic Controls
- September 18, 2009 6:34 am
Fuel efficiency. Miles per gallon. Fuel Range. Big things to consider when purchasing a car these days as gas prices are still higher than they should be coupled with the onslaught of story after story of dwindling crude oil supplies. The U.S. auto industry has failed for the most part to innovate in a “green” direction until very recently. Their fascination with big, gas guzzling vehicles has caused them to be in a desperate position of playing catch up with the rest of the world. *Helpful hint* If you (U.S. auto makers) need something lofty to set their sights on as to match, the new L1 concept by VW would be a good goal to seek. While Chevy claims 230+ MPG for the Chevy Volt, the math and logic used is fairly misleading, as in reality, the actual number of miles you travel will be far less. Getting back to that goal, the L1 concept by VW is ignoring Chevy’s Volt and proclaiming their L1 concept, which isn’t set to release until 2013, as the most fuel efficient vehicle at 170 MPG. Clearly their number is smaller than Chevy’s and in this game, bigger is better. So what gives?
Well, the drag coefficient of the L1 is an uber slippery 0.195 compared to the Chevy Volt’s ~0.28(ish). While it may not seem much, that gap is huge as drag is a big factor when fuel efficiency is concerned. Futher details will take a decent bit of reading on your part. If you feel so inclined, stop by the Auto Blog and give it a looksie.
Source: Engadget, Auto Blog
