Car built by high school students achieves 444 mpg

This story will challenge your beliefs about what high school students, especially

those who live below the poverty line and face alcohol and drug problems, are

capable of. Autopia, a blog at Wired.com, reported on the story of a class

project at the Automotive Design Studio at the DaLeSalle

Education Center which serves as an alternative high school. The project was to

design and build an electric car that weighed less than 1500 pounds,

half the weight of 98% of most electric vehicles today.

The car the students had to work with was a damaged 2000 Lola

Champ Car which was purchased for $2500 and repaired by students who had

collision repair courses. One of the eye-catching traits of the car is its

transparent body, which is made of a material by 3M which is the same that is used

to shrink wrap windows. The student’s attached the film to the bottom wire of

the body and then stretched it using a heat gun across the rest of a wire frame

in a process that takes an hour. To date, the skin has shown no fatigue or

damage after trial runs.

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Want to take an electric vehicle for a test drive? You are not alone.

When, exactly, did cars become considered consumer electronics? I suppose when the market for the gadgets inside them became one that that the likes of Microsoft cannot ignore. In any case, electric vehicles will be featured for the first time at the Consumer Electronics Association’s 2011 International CES. The rationale? CEA has just released a new survey indicating that 40 percent of American adult consumers would like to test-drive an electric vehicle.

According to the online study, called “Electric Vehicles: The Future of Driving,” about one-third of consumers are aware of hybrid vehicle options while only a quarter know much about electric vehicles. The three biggest perceived disadvantages of electric vehicles:

1. Running out of battery power on the road
2. Lack of charging stations or places to recharge
3. Limited mileage potential

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Chief Mentor: Reinventing the Wheel for India

The transportation sector in India is witnessing rapid
growth as India urbanizes and the economy continues to expand. Car sales for
July recorded a jump of 38% from a year earlier, rising to an all-time
high. Delhi, Bangalore, Mumbai and Kolkata are all building up mass-transit
systems. The national capital has just opened a swanky new airport
terminal and the civil aviation industry has never been more competitive.

Consumers today have lots of choices in how they choose to
get around. This is a far cry from the earlier times when government carriers
dominated the skies and entry into the automotive industry was heavily
regulated and just a handful of players allowed to manufacture cars. With the
exception of railways, which continue to be a government monopoly, every sector
of transportation is witnessing a vibrancy never seen before in India.

The upward shift in the standard and quality of
transportation in India is one of the most visible and tangible benefits
bestowed by economic growth. The problem - and investment opportunity - is that
we have only scratched the surface.

India currently has just one automotive company, Tata
Motors, in the global top 20, while China has three in the top 20 and ten in
the top 30. Interestingly, many of China’s large automotive firms are
home-grown, while international auto companies like Suzuki, Honda and Hyundai
dominate the Indian market.

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Toyota to sell 5mn hybrids by 2015

Toyota Motor Corp says it wants to nearly double sales of its gasoline-electric vehicles to reach cumulative sales of 5 million units by the middle of this decade.

The Japanese company, already the biggest player in the hybrid market, has a goal to sell one million hybrids annually in the first half of this decade, Reuters reported.

The world's largest automaker announced earlier this month it had sold more than 2.68 million hybrid vehicles globally since it launched the first model in 1997.

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Electric cars to be in the spotlight

After taking a hiatus last year because of the struggling economy, the Inland Empire Auto Show returns this weekend charged with electricity.

Appearances by electric vehicles soon to be on the market, including the long-touted hybrid Chevrolet Volt and fully electric Nissan Leaf, are planned. Toyota is sending two electric concept cars for display.

The emphasis on electric and other energy-efficient cars signals the advances manufacturers are making in the market, event organizers said.

"As green products become more available, the technology's changing, and that's what manufacturers will be showcasing," said Bob Brown, general manager of the Ontario Convention Center, where the event is set to take place Friday through Sunday.

Last year, organizers canceled the show after manufacturers suggested pushing it back, Brown said. The show is in its third year.

"The economy and state of the auto industry last year was really prohibitive for manufacturers to come in," Brown said.

At least 20 manufacturers are scheduled to display vehicles this year. Missing from the lineup is Honda.

The Volt, the plug-in hybrid electric car that General Motors has marketed as its commitment to green vehicles, is set to debut in California, five other states and Washington, D.C., in November. Sales for the Leaf, Nissan's first all-electric vehicle, which can run for 100 miles on pure electricity, will also begin in coming months.

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DF Cast: Getting Infrastructure for Electric Vehicles

With the Chevy Volt and Nissan Leaf being rolled out this fall across the country … and the more pricey Tesla Roadster already making its electric vehicle debut … the next concern is where to charge these electric vehicles. While most folks will have or will be getting the capability to do it at home, the lack of infrastructure for these new cars could be problematic.

In this edition of the Domestic Fuel Cast President of Car Charging Group Andy Kinard says his company will be able to provide these away-from-home chargers at a variety of locations, including shopping centers, parking garages and movie theaters. He explains his company’s system is put in for free at these types of locations, and then the revenues generated are shared. There’s even an application for smart phones that will help electric vehicle owners find the charging locations, generating traffic for that business that has a charger put in.

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