Category Archives: Electric/Hybrid

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

D3 Electric Drift Trike

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Don’t worry if you missed our first post about the Demon Energy Drift Trike Championship. The guys, who mainly consist of drivers from D1 New Zealand, have posted some new footage of them setting up for this year’s season. There’s a little **NSFW** language right at the end:


Normally that would already be some pretty cool content, but today we have more for you. You probably noticed that all this three wheel drift action is primarily powered by gravity. A company named D3 has decided to change all that in a Flux Auto approved manner. They added a 4 hp electric motor to it:  Continue reading →

BMW Tech Office – Translogic

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Translogic pays a visit to BMW’s Tech Office in Silicon Valley where they are working on the ActiveE and its integration. In addition to the creation of the actual EV’s, a lot of work still needs to be done in the area of smart charging grids. We have to be able to charge all of these cars without overwhelming our power distribution infrastructure. That’s what they’re working on here with smart appliances, solar trees and smart phone integration.


Source: AOL Autos on YouTube

The World’s Fastest Hybrid – Motor Trend

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Motor Trend’s Associate Road Test Editor, Carlos Lago, has a wonderful way with words. I’ve featured a lot of his videos here because he does an excellent job describing what a car feels like through video and he has a great understanding on what it means for a car to be balanced. It turns out he is also an exceptional story teller. Sit back and let him tell you about how Motor Trend teamed up with Volkswagen to try and set the record for the fastest production hybrid in the new Jetta hybrid on the Bonneville Salt Flats. The car they’re using is going to be the first turbocharged hybrid to be for sale in the US, but hopefully we’ll be seeing more turbo and diesel hybrids coming to market. The car gets a turbo upgrade to pump 300 horsepower out of the 1.2 liter engine with the factory electric drive system and battery pack.


Source: Motor Trend on YouTube

Proterra Ecoliner Electric Bus – Jay Leno’s Garage

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What? A Flux Auto post about a bus? Bear with me here. There are a lot of things that make this electric bus interesting. They mostly come from the fact that the Proterra Ecoliner has already been in operation for a year with a 24 hours a day duty cycle. This is made possible by a wireless AC induction charging station that recharges the battery through the roof. It can take the Ecoliner’s battery from 20% to 95% in a mind blowing 10 minutes. The drivetrain consists of a 250 horsepower permanent magnet AC motor by UQM Technologies running through a 2 speed gearbox adapted from offroad racing. The non-conductive body of the bus is made with a balsa wood and fiberglass composite process developed for the hulls of PT boats. The Ecoliner isn’t exciting in the sense that they drift the bus or do a burnout, but it is exciting because it goes to show what EV’s can be capable of when the charging technology and infrastructure get put into place. The Ecoliner addresses a lot of people’s concerns about the future of EV’s and it’s already been running for an entire year.


Source: Jay Leno’s Garage on YouTube

Monster Tajima Race Day Interview – Translogic

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Bradley Hasemeyer of Translogic got an interview in with Monster Tajima at this year’s Pikes Peak International Hill Climb before and after he attacked the mountain in his new E-Runner electric car in an attempt to set the new overall record. Tajima was the defending champion and was hoping to put an EV on top of the podium for the first running of the fully paved course. Unfortunately it was not meant to due to a motor failure on race day after qualifying well all weekend.

Source: Translogic