Starting in 1996, Alexa Internet has been donating their crawl data to the Internet Archive. Flowing in every day, these data are added to the Wayback Machine after an embargo period.
Goodyear recommends that you check your car's tire pressure once a month. But who has time to waste the seconds, maybe even minutes (!), that it takes to check your tire pressure? Isn't there is a gadget that makes checking your tire press a little simpler, possibly involving LEDs? Yes, yes there is. The Air Alert is one of several products I have found that replaces your regular tire cap with a device that includes a pressure sensor and LED. If your tire pressure falls 4 psi below the set pressure, the Air Alert blinks, alerting you to your limp tires. It's not TPMS and it's not perfect: some of the Amazon reviews complain of problems with the battery and leaking but most reviews gave it a 4 or 5 stars rating.
Renault Trucks has designed a new "innovative, urban, hybrid technology concept vehicle." I think this truck simply must have been named with an eye towards the Google age, to be the first result in an internet search. How else to explain the name "Hybrys"?
Anyway, the Hybrys is a parallel diesel hybrid concept truck designed for refuse collection. It would be powered by a DXi7, 320 hp engine, an Optidriver+ robotized gearbox and an MDS (Motor Drive System) electric motor. While the press release doesn't mention idling, it seems like there's a lot of potential to seriously reduce emissions while the truck is standing still thanks to a feature of a key-less start that can power up "the wholly-electric power system before the diesel engine takes over." The system does offer "very much lower fuel consumption."
Renault's press release also talks about the marque's natural gas trucks and the potential to use B30 in a truck like this. Renault will display the Hybrys at the 29e Salon du transport routier d'Amsterdam later this month. There's another image of the trash truck of the future after the jump.
Below the fold is an hour-long video of a Google talk by Reed Benet, a bio-fuels-focused Ph.D. student at the University of California Davis Institute of Transportation Studies. Much of the second half of the talk has the audience asking, where is my diesel-hybrid and why are there no diesel-hybrids? As you may know from my article on VW, I don't think clean diesel is that great. Others think otherwise.
IMHO, a diesel hybrid would get amazing mileage but it could also be a marketing oxymoron. About 33 minutes into the talk Reed says there is really no invention that puts diesel engines "in compliance" with gasoline ones. Carbon is not the only problem with fuels, just like fuel efficiency is not everything. Diesel engines are a lot cleaner than they used to be, but diesel vehicles are not perfect.
I stumbled upon this rather gratifying article on Wired, and thought you might like to see it too. It's apparently become "hip" to ride a bike in many large metropolitan areas. Seattle, Chicago, San Francisco and London are all burgeoning bike markets, to the point where each of these cities and more have their own bikes named after them. According to the article, it's the simple single-speed bike that is becoming the most popular. I can totally understand why, with no gears to change and adjust, the appeal is in their simplicity. Sure, it might be nice to go down to the granny gear for that particularly steep hill near your favorite hangout, but you can always get off and push if need be. And, you'll probably get in good enough shape in a little while that you won't need to.
"My friends in Boston were getting into these bikes, and it was just sort of appealing to me. It's like there's nothing to worry about, and they're just a blast to ride," says Matt McDonald, in the article. That they are, Matt!
Japan's Toray Industries Inc says it will be the first company to mass produce carbon fiber auto parts. Toray will invest 20 billion yen ($170 million) into new carbon fiber car parts, targeting chassis and car bodies. Toray will build a research center next year and start auto parts production in 2010. Toray expects its sales of auto parts (including non-carbon fiber ones) to grow from 124 billion yen this year to 350 billion yen in the year 2016.
Toray is currently the sole supplier of carbon fiber for Boeing's 787 Dreamliner. Toray has said it intends to invest 55 billion yen into expanding the carbon fiber market by 24,000 tons: more than tripling the capacity in 2003, securing 40 percent of the carbon fiber market.
If you're not sure what a Mouse Trap Car is, watch the above video for starters, then click here for a short article on the subject. Now, if you think that's cool, consider getting with your kids and building one. If you do find the time to build a car powered by nothing more than a mouse trap, and you want a chance to win a Lego Star Destroyer -- and really, who wouldn't -- submit your vehicle to Geekdad.
The young 'uns and the young at heart can both learn something from this quick little exercise in science. There are many ways to store energy and turn that stored energy into motion. We're not suggesting that someday we'll be driving around in cars with energy stored up in a big spring, but the principle is the same for many alternative propulsion methods. Whether energy is captured in the form of electricity, hydraulic pressure or a big rubberband (or not!), parallels can be drawn back to this simple toy car powered by a mouse trap. Plus... it's fun!
With the growing popularity of electric vehicles in England adding public charging stations seems like an obvious idea. Electricity producer EDF is partnering with manufacturer Elektromotive to install 250 new charging points over the next six months in London and elsewhere in the country. EVs like the Reva G-Wiz have gained a foothold because they are exempt from the congestion charge that drivers have to pay to go into central London. Two hundred of the 240V charging stations will go into London with most of the rest in Brighton and Sheffield. Charging fees will be determined by local governments with some expected to offer the service for free.
Last night's NBC Republican presidential debate took an unexpected turn to the green. For almost half an hour, the candidates talked about alternatives to oil and ethanol. Senator Sam Brownback even talked about a flex-fuel, plug-in hybrid car. Sam went into specifics saying he would like to see an electric-only range of 20 to 30 miles on plug-in hybrids. You can watch the video of Sam talking about plug-in, flex fuels below the fold. Here is the quote:
"We've got to get more electricity involved in our car fleet. There's a Chevy Malibu parked out front here that's a hybrid flex fuel. They've got hybrid cars; they've got flex fuel cars. I think that's a big part of the answer. I'd like to see us move forward with getting those first 20 to 30 miles off of electricity that you plug into at night. That's technology. We're putting forward tax credits and incentives to try to move that forward. That's something Detroit here needs to grab on, and is. And that can move us forward as an industry and as a country."
As for ethanol, Ron Paul does not support subsidies and neither does John McCain even though he drinks a glass of ethanol daily. In one of the funnier moments of the night, Mike Huckabee said we have to increase the pace of our support for ethanol. All the ethanol plans, Mike says, are for 15, 20 years in the future. Mike thinks we can do it in less than a decade if we worked at it like a mission to the moon or (because Huckabee knows his audience) a Nascar pit stop. You can also watch that video below the fold. Here is the quote.
"We can't wait until another generation. Instead of running it like Nascar, we've been running it like taking the family station wagon in for letting Goober and Gomer take a look at it when they get time, under the shade tree."
Here's a concept vehicle that I know would sell well. Four doors, seats five, all-electric, and can go 200 clicks (124 miles) on a charge. Salivating yet? Someone call Subaru and tell them we want the G4e now.
Of course, just how much we'd have to pay for one of these EVs is unknown. Those lithium-ion batteries, stored under the floor, certainly don't come cheap. Still, Subaru will show off the G4e at the Tokyo Motor Show later this month, just to tease us. The marque's theme for the show is "Fantastic moments," so this might be more fantasy than we'd like. Relevant portions of the press release (PDF) are pasted after the jump. We can expect more information on October 24, when Subaru's Ikuo Mori talks to the press.
Proving that Aptera is not the first manufacturer to choose a three-wheeled configuration is this BSA model TW35-10. Using a four cylinder engine of just under 1100cc's (1.1 liter), the front wheel drive BSA featured a three speed transmission with reverse. The body is made from lightweight aluminum. The vehicle is rather reminiscent of the Morgan three-wheelers which came from England as well.
The current owner of this vehicle states that it runs and drives well. The vehicle does not appear to have undergone any serious restoration work, but the car seems to be complete, although it certainly needs a little work. Vintage BSA motorcycles can be quite collectible, but we're not to familiar with these three-wheelers, and we're not sure what parts (if any) are interchangeable between the two and three-wheeled cycles. Still, this is a cool ride and would likely still return good fuel mileage. Emissions would be another story entirely! Even if not driven regularly, this vehicle is a clear reminder that what's old is new again.
Enerdel is a company making extraordinary claims on the cost, capacity, safety, etc. of their lithium-ion, electric car battery. Possibly hoping to quiet some doubts, Enerdel has now held their first media event, unveiling the battery with the help of Congressman Dan Burton (guy on the left in picture below the fold) yesterday (Tuesday, October 9). The webcast of that event is archived online at Enerdel's website. According to the Enerdel press release, the event attendance included local television affiliates of ABC, CBS and FOX, the Indianapolis Star newspaper, a Gannett publication, and WIBC radio.
Charles Gassenheimer, Vice Chairman of Ener1 (guy on the right in the picture below the fold) said Tuesday, "marks the beginning of the future of the U.S. hybrid vehicle storage technology business." (The guy in the middle in the picture below the fold is the CEO, Ulrik Grape). The beginning of the video includes shots of a Prius with a wire sticking out the back. So, unless they got that from the stock footage of a Prius-with-a-plug sticking-out-it archive, I would assume this means Enerdel is converting a Prius. Can't wait to see that press conference because this one was kinda boring.
The Crown luxury sedan has been in Toyota's Japanese domestic lineup almost as long as the Corolla, but that doesn't mean there aren't any new tricks. For this year's Tokyo Motor Show, Toyota is showing off their new hybrid variant. The big sedan is equipped with the latest version of Toyota's parallel hybrid system as used in the new LS600h. It has a two-speed reduction gear for the electric motor to provide smoother performance and 10 air-bags to keep passengers confined in case of an accident.
Picking up the extreme personal mobility theme last seen in the i-Swing from the last Tokyo show, this time Toyota has the i-Real. As before, the battery-powered single seater has three wheels. The rear wheel can extend out back for greater stability and higher speeds. When the rear wheel is pulled in close, the machine stands up straighter and can maneuver in tighter spaces. Apparently Toyota is moving the i-Real toward commercialization although it remains to be seen if this thing will prove to be any more successful than than the two-wheel stand-up Segway.
First, Dodge was found guilty for mimicking the long-nose front-end of a semi when they introduced their entirely new Ram truck back in '94. Now, Toyota copies the look of one of those slab-like flat-nose trucks with their Hi-CT concept. Who cares about aerodynamics when urban enjoyment is the only criteria? With the nearly-absent overhangs, this vehicle would likely be very easy to pilot around the congested city streets of an urban metropolis. The power is provided by a hybrid drivetrain, mating a small 1.5 liter gasoline engine with an electric motor. Toyota uses words like "edgy" and "cool" to describe the car. We'll take a pass for now and wait until we see more real-life pictures of the machine before passing judgment. Sorta resembles half of a VW Vanagon though, doesn't it?
Click the photo for a high-res gallery of the LF-XH concept
Lexus has released photos and a little bit of information on what they will be showing at the Tokyo Motor Show in a couple of weeks and it looks like a new version the RX400h is just around the corner. This V-6 hybrid LF-XH crossover concept carries some hints of the current RX in the greenhouse and window shapes but with a lower roof-line and more aggressive looking stance than the current model. Other than the mention of the hybrid drive-train not much else is known at this point.
Goodyear recommends that you check your car's tire pressure once a month. But who has time to waste the seconds, maybe even minutes (!), that it takes to check your tire pressure? Isn't there is a gadget that makes checking your tire press a little simpler, possibly involving LEDs? Yes, yes there is. The Air Alert is one of several products I have found that replaces your regular tire cap with a device that includes a pressure sensor and LED. If your tire pressure falls 4 psi below the set pressure, the Air Alert blinks, alerting you to your limp tires. It's not TPMS and it's not perfect: some of the Amazon reviews complain of problems with the battery and leaking but most reviews gave it a 4 or 5 stars rating.
Japan's 
