Human-electric hybrid car expected next year (w/ Video)
A human-electric hybrid vehicle, the "Imagine PS," capable of 100 kph (60 mph) on the flat and 50 kph uphill, is expected to be commercially available next year.
A human-electric hybrid vehicle, the "Imagine PS," capable of 100 kph (60 mph) on the flat and 50 kph uphill, is expected to be commercially available next year.
Dear EarthTalk: If you have an electric or plug-in hybrid car, you're paying for electricity rather than gasoline all or most of the time. How does that cost compare to a gas-powered car's cost-per-mile? And since the electricity ...
Environment
Mar 30, 2009
16
1
(PhysOrg.com) -- Toyota is developing a solar charging station for electric cars and plug-in hybrids, making a green technology even greener. It has also designed a battery charger for mounting inside an electric vehicle ...
(PhysOrg.com) -- While car companies race to develop electric and hybrid electric vehicles, one of the biggest challenges they face is finding a suitable energy storage system. Lithium-ion batteries, which currently power ...
(PhysOrg.com) -- Volkswagen has unveiled its new, prototype super-efficient hybrid vehicle, the XL1, at this week's Qatar motor show. The car has been under development for a decade and Volkswagen claims it is the most economical ...
(PhysOrg.com) -- Scientists know that using supercapacitors in conjunction with batteries could greatly increase the fuel economy of hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs) due to the fact that supercapacitors can recover and supply ...
Engineers at the University of California, Riverside have taken inspiration from biological evolution and the energy savings garnered by birds flying in formation to improve the efficiency of plug-in hybrid electric vehicles ...
Energy & Green Tech
Jan 10, 2017
2
1001
British engine maker Rolls-Royce revealed plans this week to develop a hybrid electric vehicle, dubbed the "flying taxi", which takes off and lands vertically and could be airborne within five years.
Hi Tech & Innovation
Jul 17, 2018
3
334
If you've run out of juice for your environmentally friendly electric car, a recharge may be only a phone call away, literally, under a new scheme unveiled by Telekom Austria here Tuesday.
Energy & Green Tech
May 4, 2010
7
0
A US manufacturer said Tuesday it had developed a new automotive battery which can perform in extreme temperatures, offering the potential to cut the cost of making electric cars.
Energy & Green Tech
Jun 12, 2012
9
0
A hybrid electric vehicle (HEV) is a hybrid vehicle that combines a conventional internal combustion engine propulsion system with an electric propulsion system. The presence of the electric powertrain is intended to achieve better fuel economy than a conventional vehicle. A hybrid electric vehicle is also a form of electric vehicle; a variety of types of HEV exist, and the degree to which they function as EVs varies as well. The most common form of HEV is the hybrid electric car, an automobile driven by a gasoline internal combustion engine (ICE) and electric motors powered by batteries.
Modern HEVs make use of efficiency-improving technologies such as regenerative braking, which converts the vehicle's kinetic energy into battery-replenishing electric energy, rather than wasting it as heat energy as vehicles equipped with conventional brakes do. Some varieties of HEVs use their internal combustion engine to generate electricity by spinning an electrical generator (this combination is known as a motor-generator), to either recharge their batteries or directly feed power to the electric motors that drive the vehicle. Many HEVs reduce idle emissions by shutting down the ICE at idle and restarting it when needed; this is known as a start-stop system. A hybrid-electric produces less emissions from its ICE than a comparably-sized gasoline car, as an HEV's gasoline engine is usually smaller than a pure fossil-fuel vehicle, and if not used to directly drive the car, can be geared to run at maximum efficiency, further improving fuel economy.
The first gasoline-electric hybrid car was released by the Woods Motor Vehicle Company of Chicago in 1917. The hybrid was a commercial failure, proving to be too slow for its price, and too difficult to service. The hybrid-electric vehicle would not become widely available until the release of the Toyota Prius in Japan in 1997, followed by the Honda Insight in 1999. While initially perceived as unnecessary due to the low cost of gasoline, worldwide increases in the price of petroleum caused many automakers to release hybrids in the late 2000s; they are now perceived as a core segment of the automotive market of the future. Worldwide sales of hybrid vehicles produced by Toyota reached 1.7 million vehicles in January of 2009. The second-generation Honda Insight was the top-selling vehicle in Japan in April 2009, marking the first occasion that an HEV has received the distinction. American automakers have made development of hybrid cars a top priority.
This text uses material from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA