Clean (or Cleaner) Cars

Stanford’s 2012-2013 Solar Car Project Is Getting Underway: The Stanford Solar Car Project team is looking for new recruits. In case you weren’t aware, the team “designs, builds, and races solar cars to compete in the World Solar Challenge, a 2000 mile race across the Australian Outback.” The Stanford team also announced on Friday that IAR Systems has sponsored it. It granted the team “10 licenses for their Embedded Workbench compiler and debugger toolsuite,” the news release said. “Stanford Solar Car’s code team is now using industry-standard tools for developing our embedded code.”

**1st Electric Car Show in Cayman Islands: “Last Week, Cayman Automotive hosted the first-ever Caribbean International Electric Auto Show, an expo putting cutting-edge electric car designs on display.” This followed the passing of a new law allowing electric cars to drive in the Cayman Islands.**

See our story published in iNews Cayman Sept. 4^th “In Cayman, the Future of Electric Cars” original published in Caribbean Journal (link: http://www.ieyenews.com/2012/09/in-cayman-the-future-of-electric-cars/)

Jaguar Plug-in Hybrid in the Works: the Jaguar XJ_e (yes, that’s the name) concept plug-in hybrid will be on show at the RAC Future Car Challenge in London (November). “The Future Car Challenge is just the place to showcase a concept like this, since the event is all about the best of green vehicle technology and covers the gamut from hybrid and electric vehicles to fuel-cell cars,” Jon LeSage writes. “The XJ_e prototype is powered by a 2.0-liter turbocharged four-cylinder engine alongside a 69-kilowatt electric motor and a 12.3-kWh lithium-ion battery pack.”

Plug-in Hybrids Crushing 100% Electric Cars in Sales: Adam touched on this in his Thursday piece about the Chevy Volt’s record sales numbers. But Green Car Congress takes an even closer look: “In August, the US sales of plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) from the major OEMs (Chevy Volt and Prius PHV) totalled 3,336 units, while battery-electric vehicles (Nissan LEAF, Honda Fit EV, and Ford Focus Electric) sold a combined 728 units. Year-to-date, plug-in hybrid sales from these majors have totalled 19,579 units, while their battery-electric vehicle sales reached 4,406 units.” Not really that surprising. People are more likely to take baby steps away from gasoline-powered cars (to electric cars) than lunges. However, there are still those who are willing to lunge!

Electric Car School for Tackling Range Anxiety: Not sure how much of a money-maker this will be, but apparently Andy Barton of the Gateshead College AutoSkills Centre is running a course on tackling ‘range anxiety’, as well as “the mechanics of the technology and the advantages of batteries over the internal combustion engine.” The Guardian has a video (linked above) with physicist and science communicator Dr Melanie Windridge taking the course, and a summary of it all from Barton.

Bikes!

New Reward Program for Bicyclists in UK — BikeMiles: “Cyclescheme, a provider of the government’s cycle-to-work tax break incentive programme, is set to launch ‘BikeMiles’ in an attempt to reward cyclists with retail discounts and promotions based on the distance they travel by bike,” the UK’s BusinessGreen writes. “The scheme is expected to open at the end of this month and will be available to any of the 300,000 people who have ever bought or borrowed a bike to cycle to work via Cyclescheme.”

Bamboo Bicycles in Berlin: The Ozon Cyclery is apparently working on a pretty interesting bamboo bicycle, and testing it out in San Francisco. “What happens when an orthopedics technician, an aerospace engineer, an industrial designer, and, a former bicycle courier join their curiosity and obsessions? A bamboo bike is born in Berlin! I spotted in on the streets of San Francisco last week where a rider from the Ozon Cyclery is currently working as a messenger and testing the bike at the same time,” Petz Sholtus of TreeHugger writes [sic]. “From their workshop in Berlin, Ozon has developped more and more durable and lightweight bicycles over the last 3 years, and ridden them over thousands of kilometers, from Berlin to Paris, to the Baltic Sea and Poland…. Made from TigerBamboo and hand sculpted flax fiber composite joints, the bikes weigh around 1.75 kg, and, according to the designers, “have a ride quality similar to high end steel, but with better vibration absorption.”
Clean Technica (http://s.tt/1mRUC)
Bike Helmet with LEDs Included: Want a bike helmet that also doubles as a super energy-efficient light? Torch Apparel has your back with its new T1 bike helmet. “The design features ultra bright LEDs embedded into the front and back sections of a stylish bike helmet so riders can always see and be seen when cycling at night.” Currently, the helmet is available only through the Torch website for $120. However, it should be hitting also be hitting retail stores in early 2013. Here’s a short promo video of the helmet:

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