For a long time, people have talked about the concept of roadways that can provide electricity to the cars, trucks and busses running above. While a cool idea, I always thought the economics of this didn’t make sense and it wouldn’t be implemented in our lifetimes. At least on a small scale, I’m proven wrong. South Korea has equipped fifteen miles of city streets with just such a system – underground cables that charge EVs that are either parked or driving above. It’s cool to see this technology progress…but I still question whether it’ll be widely adopted this century. It requires massive public infrastructure investment and commitment to this transportation technology. In the US at least, those are two things that we are so incredibly far from, at least politically. Maybe some other country can pull it off. I can see this working out well with only major roads having this charging capability…the EVs would still use a small battery to power them on trips off those main arteries.
Portable EV charger
The idea behind small trailers like the one shown here is simple, it’s a gasoline powered generator to extend the range of an electric car, but only for those rare times you actually NEED a range extender. It’s not a completely new concept, but so far, these are mostly still ‘in development’ so I wonder if it’ll ever manifest itself as reality. With battery technologies continuing to improve and Tesla rolling out its free nationwide EV charging network…the market window for devices like these is narrow and if they don’t start selling them soon, they’ll miss their chance.
(via gizmag)
Sora electric motorcycle
Range anxiety may be an issue with some electric cars, but not this motorcycle! At a bit over $40k it’s not cheap, but it’ll go around 185 miles on a single charge. One nice feature is that, if you input your destination into its GPS, it can calculate the energy required and adjust operating parameters to help ensure you’ll reach your goal. Seems like a great commuter vehicle!
(via Smartplanet)
Berlin Airport Fiasco
Building a new airport isn’t easy…but in Berlin, they’re facing a real mess. Rather than opening in 2011 as scheduled, their new airport STILL isn’t ready. What I found most interesting though, and what prompted me to share it here, was the fact that their fancy computer-controlled lighting system is so ineptly created that they don’t know how to turn the lights off. Yeah. Way to go. The list of problems just goes on from there. Escalators that are too short. Having to chop down hundreds of freshly planted trees. Fire and venting systems that may or may not work (they don’t know…). Just amazing…read more about it here.
Flying sailboats
The AC72 class boats being prepped for this year’s America’s Cup are truly impressive. Due to foils under the water, both hulls lift at speed and make it look like the boats are flying over the waves at incredible speeds…this is going to be quite a spectacle to watch! Check out this video from Oracle Team USA: