BMW’s Electric Scooter Packs 75 mph – The Green Solution for Crowded Urban Centers

Electric scooters have been dabbed as one of the greenest practical solution for crowded urban centers. BMW’s electric scooter is designed to achieve the performance specification of a gasoline-fueled scooter. This all-electric scooter will pack a top speed of 75mph, and a full charged battery range of 100 kilometers or 62 miles plus the range added with the use of its regenerative braking system. And it plugs into standard electric cars charging stations.

Read full article at Got Eco Technology.

Green Cars at NAIAS 2012

This is a featured news via ecogeek.org by Philip Proefrock

Two years ago, automakers were scrambling to out-green each other and to emphasize their green halo, and the show's main floor included an 'Electric Avenue' with all manner of unusual vehicles (most of which have not returned). But the age of the bamboo thumb drive has already passed. As we noted last year, hybrids and electric drive vehicles now just seem to be an expected part of the mix in a manufacturer's line. Along with this, relatively simple features like auto-start/stop are becoming more prevalent in more models.
A couple of new companies on this year's show floor were particularly interesting. These include Coda, a company that is selling electric drive cars. They seem to have just a single model, but the company looks like a more complete contender than BYD, another Chinese manufacturer that has been at show the past couple of years, was not present at this year's show. (The Coda body and battery are manufactured in China, but final assembly takes place in the US.)

Lithium air Battery - Holy grail of EV technology

IBM's lithium air battery could make electric vehicles (EV) as cheap as a typical family car. IBM is leading the research, together with four US technology giant laboratories and commercial partners, in creating a battery that will power an EV up to 800 kilomtres (500 miles) in  what a coalition dubbed as The Battery500 Project.

Despite the advances of the EV techonology for the past years. Current EVs can travel only about 100  miles on a single charge, using the latest Lithium-oi (Li-on) battery technology today. This creates a major drawback to switching to a cleaner and cheaper energy source electric vehicle.

IBM claims to have solved the main problem with electric vehicles. With a new type of battery,

Compressed Air-Powered Car EnigineHow does it work?

On my previous post I tackled about the up coming release of MDI and TATA Motor's Air-Powered vehicle, the MiniCAT, this year. You were probably in disbelief of the idea that your vehicle can be powered by air from your surroundings. Well I also asked the same question when I first heard about it. How does a compressed air-powered engine work?

 

MDI's AirPod One and its compressed air engine, at MDI's headquarters near Nice, France.

Lionel Cirroneau/AP Photo

The Compressed Air-powered Engine (CAE) works with the laws of physics. As the law dictates that unconfined air (gasses) will fill up any given space. That is how the CAE works. But this principle is best seen with a simple inflated balloon and a pin. The balloon's elastic skin contains the air tightly inside it. At the moment you bore a hole on the balloon's surface, using the pin. The air inside the balloon will expand outwards with such energy that the balloon explodes.

Compressing air into a small space builds up pressure, this is way of storing energy. When the air is released, it expands with such energy to to work. The expansion of pressurized air has the same characteristic with fuel combustion. Both moves the engine's pistons using the energy generated on expansion or combustion.

TATA Technology's Compressed Air-Powered Car Engine In 2012

The world's first air-powered vehicle is set to for release in India this year - 2012. The car runs on compressed air making it a zero carbon emission vehicle. To make it even greener, it also uses vegetable oil as engine oil. This amazingly clean and green vehicle is called the "MiniCAT".

The Compressed Air Engine (CAE) was developed by ex-Formula One engineer, Guy Nègre, for the French company Motor Development International (MDI). TATA Motors, India's largest automaker, has invested on MDI's engine to produce the world's first air-powered vehicle.

Powered by compressed air the vehicle produces 0% CO2 emissions. Clean air is expelled by the exhaust pipe has a temperature between 0-15 degrees below zero. Which can be used for the vehicle's air conditioning, with no loss of power and mileage.

The MiniCAT is a light urban car, which is suitable for city transportation. It is a six-seater vehicle built with aluminum rod chassis, fibre and injected foam body, 800cc four-cylinder engine with a maximum power of 25hp at 4,000rpm and a regenerative braking system, which recovers 13% of used power. It can reach a top speed of 110 km/h and can travel up to 200km between refills. Its 340-litre carbon fiber air tank can be filled with 4350psi air.

Amazing Clean and Green technologies

Have you ever wondered what we are doing to fight global warming or save & preserve the Earth or save Ourselves?.
I have asked this question, and it triggered a curiosity in me. This curiosity lead me into writing this blog. For me writing doubles my chances of remembering what I have read and learned, and it also allows me to share as well as learn from the insights/comments of the readers.
In searching for answers, I have come across a lot of amazing technologies. And not just concepts or technology for the future, but real ones. Some I never imagined had already existed today. There are also non high-tech solutions which are being applied and studied. Very simple yet very amazing and incredible. The fact that they have thought and came up with the ideas are just so amazing.
Here are the technologies and solutions that has topped my list so far. These will be the topics of my next posts.

TATA Technology's Compressed 
Air-Powered Car Engine

India's largest automaker is set to launch the world's first commercial air-powered car on Indian streets by 2012.

Nano-Solar Technology : low-cost Printable Solar Cell
Nanosolar grows a thin film semiconductor using a printing and annealing process that is far faster than conventional high vacuum deposition. This creates cheap and efficient solar panels.

Corals Revived by Electricity

A weak electrical current is used to charge underwater metal structures.  The metal frame known as "the crab" is covered with huge corals in shimmering colors where hundreds of fish have made their homes. 

Amazingly clean and green technology solutions.