Brammo just released this pretty sweet commercial for their Empulse R electric sport bike. This is how I think electric vehicle manufacturers should be approaching marketing. EV’s can be fun, cool, sexy and way better for the environment and economy at the same time. This commercial certainly turned out better than the photoshopped Pump Rebels hybrid car calendar.
Lawless Rocket Assembly at OCC via gizmag
Lawless Industries of Ohio teamed up with Orange County Choppers to produce this drag racing bike, the Lawless Electric Rocket. Larry “Spiderman” McBride piloted it to a record 6.94 second 201 mph quarter mile run at Virginia Motorsports Park. The Rocket uses a 13 inch DC motor, a 355 volt lithium-ion battery pack from A123 systems and a 4000 amp Zilla controller. The bike is listed at 1350 hp, but can probably put down more based on the voltage of the batteries and the current rating of the controller. Here’s a video of the run. The engine noises at the beginning are from a car in the background.
Subaru Advanced Tourer Concept – 2011 Tokyo Auto Show via Carscoop
Motor Trend is reporting that the Advanced Tourer Concept (ATC) that Subaru unveiled last year is actually the prototype for the new WRX. The all new 2012 Impreza is currently for sale, but Subaru is looking to separate the WRX from the Impreza. The WRX’s chassis will be a heavily modified version of the Impreza’s, but it will be different enough to warrant it being its own model. Continue reading
Jalopnik just posted this pretty comprehensive article on the viability and future of the use of Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) to fuel America’s fleet. While it is true that we have a lot natural gas here in America, most of it is being accessed through a method called fracking. In fact, fracking has been a hot topic of debate in the natural gas arena for much longer than it has been for oil. Check out Part 1 about why we should consider building electric cars to find out more about fracking and the other new environmentally destructive methods that are giving us access to new stores of fossil fuels.
The EDWARD Electric Diwheel is a project built by mechanical engineering students at the University of Adelaide. It’s a great demonstration of what you can do with mechatronics (electric motor control). They first got the rig up and running so that it would give you basic movement in response to throttle inputs. However, there was some instability issues under power due to the balance of the vehicle. They fixed it by modelling the motion of the Diwheel and programming a motor controller that would automatically maintain stability based on feedback from position tracking sensors.