Archive for the ‘Vehicles’ Category

Solar Sailor-Winged Ships

Tuesday, November 18th, 2008

With renewable energy sources like wind and solar constantly on hand, it is no wonder that everyone wants to harness this energy with constantly evolving technology. Cars and buildings are going solar, why not boats and massive cruise ships?

Solar Sailor, an Australian company that owns the patented ’solarsail’ technology, has developed devices comparable to ‘wings’ that attach to ocean-going vessels to harness the ever-popular wind and solar energy. Both sources of energy are especially abundant when floating on the ocean.

This hybrid marine power (HMP) technology comes in the from of a ’solar wing’, which typically rests on top of the ship like a solid metal sail (to take advantage of wind) and is covered with shimmering solar panels that rotate according to the sun’s position in the sky.

Boats have less design restrictions than cars, which is why giant solar panels can’t be strapped to the roof of vehicles that end up swerving around on a small road. Boats have no problem with these huge appendages and the extra weight of the attached chargeable batteries are not a problem either. In fact, they act as a ballast and improve the whole boating experience.  

The main safety issue with boats are storms. Heavy winds and giant waves are incredibly dangerous, and in these situations, the solar wings fold down against the boat and out of harm’s way. According to Solar Sailor, the system is “engineered to operate in 40 knots of wind, with 300% margin of safety.”
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Photovoltaic sails harvest energy from the wind and the sun.
(Photo: Solar Sail Holdings, Ltd.)

Captains of a boats equipped with solar sails have the option of controlling the airfoil wings automatically with a computer or manually.  SolarSailor explains that “in automatic mode the computer generally gets 3-6 knots of boat speed in a 20-knot wind depending on the wind direction on tourist cruises. Experienced sailors adjusting the wings manually have achieved steady 8-10 knots of boat speed - so we know there is further potential there.”

A boat equipped with HMP technology is typically 20-30% more expensive than vessels without the winged design. But, as with most green technologies, the design eventually pays for itself. In this case, payback occurs in as little as 3 to 5 years.

Solar Sailor technology is incredibly efficient and CEO of the company, Dr Robert Dane is certain that the solar wings will soon be a given when designing any ship: “We are confident we can build everything up to ocean liners and in fifty years time,” says Dane on the company’s homepage, “people will look back at boats of the 20th Century and they’ll say “where are the wings?”.

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Posted in CleanTech, Energy, Photovoltaic, Solar, Vehicles, Wind | 1 Comment »

Aptera-Wingless Flight

Tuesday, October 21st, 2008

San Diego is an urban paradise. Temperatures are always comfortable, the sun shines most days of the year, and locals can spend any day enjoying their time at beaches, museums, zoos, stadiums or any number of shows that occur there. The San Diego Convention center is always booked with events ranging from tech conferences to bridal bazaars and the world renowned International Comic Convention.

Traffic can get out of hand in such a popular place, and paradise isn’t so pretty when seen from the inside of your car in 90 degree weather. The answer to this dilemna lies with smaller electric vehicles that allow drivers to safely speed by traffic with the use of the carpool lane.

Just north of San Diego, sits Aptera, a small company of 15 engineers and fabricators who have produced a sleek, 3 wheel hybrid vehicle of the future. CEO Steve Fambro dreamt up the idea of a safe, fuel-efficient vehicle 5 years ago, when he himself had to deal with the San Diego traffic. His futuristic vehicle design is fundamentally based on aerodynamics (hence the look of a small plane) and environmentally friendly engineering.
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The amazingly futuristic Aptera Typ-1. When will we see these on the roads?
(Photo: Aptera)

According to Aptera, “What emerged, after much designing, conceptualizing, and constructing, was a prototype two-seat, three-wheeled vehicle. This first operating prototype achieved a stunning 230 miles per gallon, Building on this success, Steve expanded his Aptera team and created the Aptera Typ-1, which has been re-designed, re-engineered, and refined into a production ready vehicle. We are excited to announce that the Aptera Typ-1 is now available for reservations.”

$30,000 is the expected price-tag for one of these vehicles, which makes them relatively affordable. This electric car is no weakling either: the production model went from 0-60 in under 10 seconds and reached speeds of 85mph without any problems. This little car also has a range of around 150miles between charges, which is plenty for the average daily commute. Solar panels on the roof provide added energy to run to the air-conditioning that keeps the vehicle at a comfortable temperature, even when it is just sitting in a parking lot. The only bad news is that the cars will only be available in California at first

The Aptera is technically classified as a motorcycle, but is a much safer option. The company made an extra effort to exceed the minimum safety requirements, especially because of the publics’ attitude towards motorcycle dangers: the roof can withstand the pressure from rolling over, the doors exceed the necessary strength requirements, the car boasts airbag in seatbelt technology and the frame is designed to take a large impact and redirect the energy around the passenger and driver.

Aptera means “wingless flight” in Greek, and even if the owners of the sleek, white car don’t feel like they are flying, pedestrians will eye the Aptera like something that just arrived from outer space.

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Posted in Green Cars, Transportation, Vehicles | 10 Comments »

Zap Electric Vehicles - Plug It In And Drive!

Sunday, January 20th, 2008

Driving is not as fun as it could be. Gas prices, congested roads and the pollution that constantly sputters from the engine all put a damper on the weekend road trip or commute to work. Electric cars might be able to solve many of these problems. Imagine quietly rolling by a gas station in car that reduces pollution by 98% and smiling to yourself comforted by the fact that you don’t need to shell out almost 70 dollars to fill the tank. It is funny to think that watching TV can cost more than running an electric car.

The first electric cars date back to the 1830s! Unfortunately they didn’t catch on with a range of about 10 miles and a huge price tag. Electric cars used to be up to three times more expensive than the internal combustion engine vehicles that came along later. This is definitely no longer the case: In fact, with the tremendous increase in gas prices, an electric vehicle can pay for itself within a year.

ZAP or ‘Zero Air Pollution’ Vehicles, based in Santa Rosa, California, distributes a variety of electric vehicles that fit everyone’s needs. Trucks, scooters, motorcycles, off-road vehicles and cars are all available through http://www.zapworld.com Prices for these vehicles range from 500-50,000 dollars and these cars and bikes come in every color imaginable-There is even a vehicle available that has the option of painted zebra stripes!

Don’t think that you are restricted to driving to your neighborhood grocery store before you need to recharge your electric car. The range of these vehicles is constantly rising. A typical electric vehicle has a range of 100 miles which is perfect for the daily commute to work or running errands and the price of running an electric car can be compared to about 600 miles/gallon, which is an incentive in itself.

Many people assume that you have to give up power and luxury when buying an electric car. This is not the case. Like with anything else, you get what you pay for. The higher end Zap-X, for example, boasts 644 horsepower, gets 350 miles per charge (which averages to about 1 cent per mile), comes with an electric touch screen and GPS system and can seat up to 7. A car like this is not going to be mistaken for an inferior vehicle on the road. (http://www.zapworld.com/electric-vehicles/electric-cars/zap-x )

There is a demand for cars that are efficient and environmentally friendly. Who doesn’t want a car that just needs to be plugged in to run? It is more complicated to run an electric razor (maybe even more expensive.)

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Posted in Green Cars | 8 Comments »

Vehicles Comment Wall

Tuesday, January 1st, 2008

Posted in Vehicles | No Comments »

Honk If You Love Traffic

Saturday, December 22nd, 2007

Most people hate nothing more than being stuck in traffic. Migraines aren’t popular either, but since many head aches are traffic induced, there doesn’t seem to be anything worse in a daily commuter’s life.

The main cause for traffic is obvious with the average household owning 2-3 cars. Distance traveled to work has doubled over the years and with millions of cars on the road during rush hour, congestion is inevitable.

The Department of Transportation indicates that “over the last 20 years or so, nearly twice as many miles are driven today on a road system that has increased in size by only 5 percent. Such heavy demand, coupled with temporary reductions in capacity resulting from causes such as crashes and work zones, are making traveling increasingly costly and frustrating.”

So what is the solution? 3/4 of traffic accidents are caused by driver error. Same thing goes for congestion. With this in mind, ‘smart-cars’ and vehicle-to-vehicle communication seem like the next step: Honda has already developed a system where the car is nudged automatically once in a while to stay in the center of the lane. Cameras tell you how close you are to a curb or car behind you.  Even though technical advancements in this field are constantly made, cars that chauffer their owners around through smooth flowing traffic are not going to exist for a while.

With the constant rise in gas prices and environmental awareness, hybrid vehicles and no-pollution cars are attractive options. But this still does not help the traffic issue.

The main solution right now seems to be the carpool. In attempts to organize carpools at work I am often met with raised eyebrows. I hate traffic so much that I gave my 2 weeks notice right after enduring my first 3 hour commute at a job. Unfortunately, carpooling has not proven popular enough to seriously reduce traffic on the roads.  In a blog published by the ‘Daily Kos’, a computer organized carpooling program is described in detail: http://www.dailykos.com/story/2006/4/22/225134/764

Not only does carpooling save all participants money, but it reduces traffic and pollution. Companies benefit as well by reducing the number of parking spaces needed. In fact, many carpoolers receive rewards from their company or county for carpooling.

The U.S Department of Transportation states that then an average 40-hour work week per year is spent in congestion! This accounts for a tremendous amount of stress, wasted gas and environmental pollution, not to mention wasted time.

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Posted in Green Cars | 1 Comment »