The Progressive Automotive X-Prize is heating up as the May 2010 start date approaches, and one of our favorite entrants is the eVARO, a three-wheeled plug-in hybrid from Future Vehicles Technology. The sleek electric vehicle can go from 0 to 60 MPH in 5 seconds and purportedly reaches 275 mpg under certain conditions. And for those times when there isn’t a gas station in site, the eVARO can cruise for up to 90 miles on pure battery power.
The U.S. postal service currently owns of one of the largest vehicle fleets on the planet, and they recently announced a monumental measure to replace 6,500 aging gas guzzling vehicles with more fuel efficient vehicles. The plan includes 900 hybrids and 1,000 alternative fuel vehicles purchased by the U.S. General Services Administration as part of a $210 million dollar plan to green the government’s fleet. Since these vehicles see heavy use and are essential for many of the USPS’ operations, their introduction stands to create a massive reduction in carbon emissions and fuel costs.
Heads-up all eco-enthusiasts looking for a slick new summer ride! Our Pimp my Eco-Ride Contest is closing tonight at midnight, which makes this your LAST CHANCE to convince us why you should win this limited edition Strida 5.0 SX folding bicycle! To enter, simply click on the link below and submit a photo and comment explaining why we should Pimp your Eco-Ride, and we’ll be selecting our favorite entry to win this ultra-light and eco-chic folding bike valued at $950!
Up-and-coming Swiss auto company GreenGT recently unveiled plans for a fully-electric vehicle that is heralded to be the most powerful and cutting-edge electric race car ever built. Designed with the famous Le Mans race in mind, their Twenty-4 vehicle is currently undergoing development and will boast two 100-kw electric engines that provide 350-400 horsepower and a top speed of 171 mph.
We keep on saying that smaller, more efficient vehicles are the way of the future, but we never thought we’d see one this tiny! In a bid to create the world’s smallest car, Perry Watkins of the U.K. has repurposed a “Postman Pat” children’s ride into a street-legal vehicle that pushes far beyond clown-car dimensions. The car measures 39 inches tall by 26 inches wide, is capable of accelerating up to 40mph, and gets 70 miles per gallon!
After months of teasing, Tesla has finally announced the highly expected and hotly desired Tesla Model-S. In keeping with the Tesla Roadster, the Model-S is a gorgeous looking electric vehicle that is capable of rocketing from 0-60 in 5.5 seconds and traveling up to 300 miles on a single 45 minute charge.
Although it’s certainly not a new idea to combine landscaping with public transportation, we love the sight of these European trams gliding along on beds of grass. From Barcelona to the Czech Republic, Frankfurt, St-Etienne and Strasbourg, these public transit greenways are showing the potential of incorporating landscaping into good urban design.
Recently Aptera announced that they have rolled out the first pre-production model of their eagerly anticipated 2e. The sleek electric vehicle features an incredibly strong and aerodynamic body, a lithium-based battery, front wheel drive, and an improved door design, marking a significant landmark on the road to release by October of 2009.
Amidst the current rapacious progression of planes, trains, and automobiles there’s something singularly beautiful about this elegant floating Aeolus Airship designed by Christopher Ottersbach. Lifted from the earth by a streamlined sail filled with helium, its serene sun-soaked form makes us want to forgo expeditious travel altogether and drift off amidst the clouds.
The new year is the perfect time to reflect on some of the crazy and exciting accomplishments of the past year– and to think about the future. As you might have noticed this past week, we’ve been pondering our favorite stories we’ve run this year, how we could be more eco-conscious in 2009, and where 2009 might bring us in becoming a greener and cleaner planet. And …
Today San Francisco’s Board of Supervisors is meeting to review plans that would combat congested roadways by instituting the United States’ first traffic toll. A congestion pricing plan would most likely create a charge for motorists entering the city via the Bay Bridge or Golden Gate Bridge, encouraging the use of environmentally-friendly modes of transportation. Although the initiative comes at a turbulent economic time, the plan stands to get people out of their cars and empower San Francisco’s public transportation, pedestrian, and bicycle projects while increasing traffic speed and cutting carbon emissions.
If ‘cycle chic’ is something that you have been trying to master – that is, looking totally fabulous on a bike while dressing functionally and with panache, look no further than those clever, design-savvy Londoners. We love the idea of melding sustainable style with green transportation, and Cycle Chic is a great online guide featuring ways to cycle safely while sporting some rather fashion-forward ideas. Any opportunity to wear tartan plaid with a biking helmet always gets me rolling, and I am happy to see that girls everywhere are being totally adventurous while sending the message that style needn’t be sacrificed when one opts to pedal to their next destination.
It’s been an exciting month as we’ve seen green transportation records set on the ground and in the sky, so naturally we are taking the next step and bringing you to the sea with the Earthrace, a 78 ft tri-hull “wavepiercer”. The biodiesel boat recently completed a carbon-neutral tour of the globe in an incredible 60 days and 23 hours, besting the previous world record by 14 days!
Mazda recently announced that it will unveil it’s Kazamai crossover vehicle at the Moscow International Motor Show in August. Specifics on the sporty vehicle’s environmental performance will be revealed next month, but to date the car maker is touting this ride as a car that will “deliver exciting driving dynamics, frugal fuel consumption and greatly reduced CO2 emissions.”
Photo by Roger Cullman
Next time that you are in Toronto and need a quick ride, you might be able to call upon one of the city’s new EcoCabs. Starting May 1st, Go Mobile Media will introduce 28 EcoCabs throughout the city to provide eco-friendly transit to weary travelers and in-city commuters. And, in addition to being an emissions-free form of transport, Toronto’s EcoCabs are provided free of charge!
We are always on the lookout for non-petroleum based means of transportation so its no wonder that the stylish Vectrix electric motorbike caught our attention. If you are going to live life in the fast lane, this sleek, all-electric, zero-emission motorbike might just be your best green solution for reducing fossil fuel consumption and emissions while riding around town. It runs clean, super far per charge and extremely fast, making it a smart alternative to four-wheeled city travels. See just how fast the Vectrix gets around in the video after the jump.
If you’re a fan of the Mini Cooper but want something a little greener, the Norwegian THINK car might just be your answer. It’s compact, it’s electric, it’s a zero-emissions zippy little car that’s a feat of design and engineering. Topping out at 100 km/hr and running for 180 km on a single charge, THINK is a lot of power for such a tiny thing. All the other systems are well-thought out too, with 90% of the energy going straight to the engine, compared to traditional combustion engines that lose up to 70% of their energy to heat and friction.
The Geneva Motor Show is right around the corner, and just as you may expect, the announcements are about to start pouring on about the latest news in green vehicles. Here’s the first one we spotted: the Morgan Life Car, a stunning hydrogen powered vehicle that, according to the designers, it’s fun to ride and is as environmentally friendly. And boy, does it look sharp.
We’ve already seen the massive success of urban bike sharing in Paris, but now the super-smart Velib Bike program is taking to the streets of London! 15,000 bikes, 1,000 stations and more than 7.5 million miles of combined biking later have already been implemented in London, and the new scheme will contribute £75 million and 6,000 shared bikes to the mass biking scheme. Spearheaded by London Mayor Ken Livingstone, the new ‘granny bike’ sharing scheme will reduce traffic congestion and help clear up the air of England’s sprawling capital city.
Meet the ZiPee, a cute and functional electric scooter and one solution the UK’s pollution problem (ZiPee stands for Zero Input of Pollution from Emissions into the Environment). The ZiPee is a scooter marketed for London commuters, enticing them to trade in their gas guzzling vehicles for their everyday journeys. Hoping to change the outlook of passengers and urging them to make a choice in their commuting habits, the ZiPee is ideal for travel within London and other cities.
A UK initiative called ConnectingSouthwark.com is putting the green in public transportation with an EcoPod tram station that provides information and a great teaching tool for environmental responsibility. Made from recycled shipping containers and powered by renewable energy such as solar panels and wind turbines, the EcoPod is a great symbol of the green principles underpinning both the tram and its recent regeneration program.
Solar power just made aviation history, as two Swiss adventurers revealed a prototype for a solar-powered aircraft they hope will be the first to fly around the globe in 2011. The Solar Impulse prototype was just unveiled yesterday and is an amazing feat of design and engineering. Made from light-weight and super strong carbon fiber, and covered with a thin layer of high powered photovoltaics, the plane has a wingspace of 262ft from wing tip to wing tip (about the same width as the new A380 Super Jumbo Jet). However, while the metal Airbus A380 weighs a whopping 580 tonnes, the dainty carbon fiber Solar Impulse weighs just 1.5 tonnes – which seems almost kite-like compared the gigantic heavy planes of the past.
The Toyota RiN has been unveiled at the Tokyo Motor Show as the ultimate healthy living automobile. Instead of stressing the high-performance aspects of the vehicle, Toyota wants RiN drivers to see driving as a relaxing and meditative experience. Plus, it’s compact and green! Literally and figuratively…
As evidenced by our recent Transportation Tuesday greener car posts, we’re all for the greening of the automobile. But the greenest car is the one that doesn’t exist. That’s the idea behind Carectomy.com, a blog with the goal of “removing cars from people.”
The Aptera (Greek for “wingless”) is an environmentally-friendly car that’s as clean and green as it is fantastically futuristic. The three-wheeled hybrid, which offers an all-electric or plug-in hybrid option, isn’t just a concept- you can reserve your own with just a $500 deposit. Seating 2.5 with plenty of room for luggage, the Aptera can get up to 230 miles per gallon at 55 miles per hour, and has an (electronically limited) top speed of 95 mph. Plus, it’s just so darn cool looking, we can’t resist the arthropod automobile aesthetic.
On July 3rd, a group of explorers started an epic 15-month journey in an uber-green solar-powered taxi. Following a route through five continents and 50 countries, they will travel a distance of around 50,000km. The Solar Taxi took 3 years of development and some of the most cutting-edge solar technologies- and has already made its way through Europe and into the Middle East.
So far at transportation Tuesdays, we’ve brought you the Top 5 Greenest Sports Cars and the Top 6 Sexiest Bicycles. Now, in the spirit of green civic pride, we’d like to focus on public transportation. Good public transportation can mean a number of things, but it is generally defined as being easy to use, efficient, clean, and get you where you want to go with as little fuss as possible. A tall order indeed. Here are our top five cities…
If you love the idea of biodiesel but can’t work out the practicalities- finding fueling stations, fixing up your car, or getting all your bio-fuel questions answered, look no further- BioBling has got you covered. The Southern California-based service connects eco-conscious people to green cars and the clean, renewable fuel to run them. Let them turn your old Mercedes into a lean green automotive machine, or have them hook you up with a biodiesel distributor who will deliver the fuel right to your garage door.
In the way of eco-minded transportation, it really doesn’t get much greener than your own two feet- ah yes, those two built-in vehicles that we all-too often forget these days. Aside from the lack of carbon output, walking is great exercise and allows you to be more engaged with your surrounding environment and community. In fact, “walkability” is a primary principle of good urban design, and a quality that can now be quantitatively measured using Walkscore, a website that calculates the walkability of an address by locating nearby stores, restaurants, schools, parks, etc. (My urban apartment scored a 91/100!)
Calculate your home or office’s Walkscore here >
Regardless of your occupation, age, or travel habits, it’s safe to say that almost all citizens of our contemporary world have the need to get from Point A to Point B. We’re not going to stop needing to get places anytime soon, so the demand for greener, cleaner transportation is great, but so far there aren’t a myriad of viable sustainable options, especially for longer distance travel. The ever-present issue of transportation shapes cities, infrastructure and home design, uses energy, and moves people. No matter how you look at it, transportation is a hugely important issue, and will play a pivotal role in the future of our society. With that in mind, Inhabitat is excited to launch of its newest weekly column, Transportation Tuesdays…
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