Category Archives: Electric/Hybrid

Interesting links dealing specifically with electric and hybrid transportation that doesn’t suck.

Jay Leno rides the Mission Motors Mission-R

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Mission Motors brought their Mission-R electric superbike to Jay Leno’s garage. The Mission-R is one of the best performing electric motorcycles currently made. It was a clean paper design and it has a mind boggling 14 kilowatt-hours of energy storage and a 120 kilowatt / 161 horsepower alternating current motor. This results in legitimate 600cc sport bike equivalent performance. The bike is really well presented since Mission sent a knowledgeable sales guy to Leno who had some good questions for him. I was actually surprised at how well read Jay was about electric vehicles. Head over to Autoblog Green for a high resolution gallery of the Mission-R as well.


Source: Jay Leno’s Garage

Oil and the Economy

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Epipheo put together this simple and effective explanation on how our economy is tied to oil. Every time we start to thrive, the US increases its demand for oil which drives the price up and slows our growth. The video advocates the starting of a “third industrial revolution.” This revolution would be the development of electric cars and multiple clean and renewable energy sources to ween us off our oil and fossil fuel dependence. I started this site and the electric vehicle conversion project because I believe that gear heads need to contribute and stake their claim in this third industrial revolution. It’ll leave us behind if we let it.


Source: Epipheo via Gizmodo

The Chibikart

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The Chibikart is the brainchild of Charles Guan, a student going for his Master of Science in Mechanical Engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He’s been tinkering with robots since 2000 when he was inspired by the Battle Bots tournaments. The Chibikart is the latest of his collection of awesome projects. It’s driven by 4 custom wound hub motors in 100mm skate wheels.

In the center of the frame is a 300 watt-hour battery pack made by A123 Systems which is a company started by an MIT professor. They supply lithium-ion batteries for a lot of high performance R&D electric vehicles, the Fisker Karma and the upcoming Chevy Spark.

Charles estimates the kart will hit 21 mph with him on it, but has yet to do any top speed trials. It definitely looks like it has some pep in the hooning video:


You should definitely head over to Charles’s blog called E To The Pi Plus One to see all of the details on the build of the Chibikart and his other projects.

Source: Gizmodo

Audi R18 E-Tron Quattro and Ultra Testing at Sebring by Drive

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This is an absolutely fascinating video posted by Drive on YouTube. They got an exclusive inside look at the Audi Le Mans racing program as they tested their new 2012 cars at Sebring. Audi will be fielding two cars this year, the R18 E-Tron Quattro and the R18 Ultra. Both cars use a V6 direct injection diesel engine to drive the rear axle. The only difference is that the E-Tron Quattro also has an electric motor that drives the front axle. For energy storage, the E-Tron is using the magnetic flywheel system that Porsche has been developing with the Williams F1 team in their 911 GT3 RS Hybrid endurance racer. Drive does an amazing job providing footage of the car as well as interviews with the drivers about how the cars have changed throughout the years and interviews with the team leaders about development of the cars as well as Audi’s Le Mans program.


Source: Drive

eSetta Concept

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Designer Tony Weichselbraun has re-imagined the classic BMW Isetta into this eSetta concept. His vision is to use the electric eSetta as part of an urban car sharing program. Weichselbraun says he wants to emphasize the positive aspects of car-sharing with its “highly recognizable and friendly appearance.” Head over to his portfolio page to see the rest of his renderings of the eSetta.

eSetta Concept by Tony Weichselbraun

1956-7 BMW Isetta 300 Cabriolet by http://good-wallpapers.com/auto/10714

Source: Tony Weichselbraun