Appropriate Tech, 300mpg Car Top 2008 Innovators 155
longacre writes "While some giggles were floating around about the irony of a Microsoft product (Photosynth) finding itself on the same top 10 products list as a toilet, the true stars of last night's annual Popular Mechanics Breakthrough Awards were innovations of far more consequence. MIT professor Amy B. Smith won the marquis Leadership Award for her work on building simple, low-cost technology to help developing countries. Joining Smith from the appropriate technology field were a group of CalTech students who created all-terrain wheelchairs for the disabled, and a Procter & Gamble exec who developed a water purifying powder for the third world. Aptera Vehicles founders Steve Ambro and Chris Anthony made the cut for their 300mpg Typ-1e, which is expected to hit showrooms by the end of this year. Other winners ranged from the Mars Phoenix Lander team, to the developers of a low-cost cancer test, to the creators of Spore."
Re:Impressive car, but I'd like an extra wheel ple (Score:5, Insightful)
Pit this versus a full size truck or even a semi and it has little chance.
And what small economy car do you want to drive head-on into a semi? Frankly, unless it is another semi, you are going to have a very bad day... And even if it is another semi, the day won't be good.
Re:Impressive car, but I'd like an extra wheel ple (Score:5, Insightful)
Why does everyone cry "Safety" whenever a small car is introduced. Think of it as a motorcycle with a roof and it becomes much easier to envision driving to work every day. I doubt if I'm the only one tired of the safety cops trying to controll everything I do. Dangerous is FUN.
Re:here the question? (Score:3, Insightful)
Go down. Less demand with the same supply means lower prices. Of course OPEC might try to reduce supply, but it wouldn't go up overall.
Re:Impressive car, but I'd like an extra wheel ple (Score:5, Insightful)
by that logic we should all drive tanks so that when we get in accidents our cars survive but we die (crumple zones are designed so that the car absorb the energy from a collision rather than passengers). your attitude is more suited to destruction derby than road safety.
ICE engines are a technological anachronism no matter how you slice it--both environmentally and in terms of energy efficiency. so what you feel is based on irrational beliefs. the only reason hybrids are useful now is because we haven't yet built the infrastructure for plug-in electric vehicles to completely replace ICE vehicles. it's an intermediate phase. it would not make sense to have hybrids if electric propulsion did not have advantages over ICE propulsion.
but all forms of progress, whether technological, cultural, social, or political, there will be a strong rearguard reaction to overcome. therefore it's important to disseminate information and encourage people to take a rational approach to the issue rather than falling victim to knee-jerk responses based on ignorant reactionary attitudes. luckily there are companies out there [teslamotors.com] working to dispel false negative perceptions of electric vehicles as a lot of people still associate environmentally-friendly with poor performance.
Re:Impressive car, but I'd like an extra wheel ple (Score:4, Insightful)
It's muchmuchmuch easier to avoid a crash in the first place in a small, maneuverable vehicle than in a big one with a lot of mass. Semi dodges a kid in the road, swerves into another lane with oncoming traffic. Now try to get that huge mass to swerve back into the proper lane. Try the same dodge in a motorcycle, small car or something similar.
Re:Impressive car, but I'd like an extra wheel ple (Score:3, Insightful)
Losing the third wheel has a whole range of benefits. One, it gets the motorcycle classification, which allows them to have a lot more of a free hand in how to design things. To Aptera's credit, they're voluntarily doing the normal safety things, although some companies use the motorcycle classification to avoid things like crash tests. The other issues are practical, not legal. Given that the ideal shape is either a teardrop or a truncated teardrop (depending on the situation), the aerodynamic benefits of a central rear wheel are obvious. Another hypercar -- the Volkswagen 1L car -- has four wheels so it can retain the car classification, but it puts them right next to each other, basically making it effectively into a three wheeler. There are some major weight benefits from ditching that extra wheel. Not only do you lose the weight of a wheel and a tire, but you also lose the weight of a driveshaft, differential, etc. And not only does losing these parts cut weight, but it also cuts manufacture cost and time as well as maintenance costs (less to break). Lastly, three wheels improves vehicle response time since the average distance from the center of mass to the wheels gets reduced and the mass is decreased. So, lots of benefits.
With a "tadpole" configuration (two wheels in front, one in rear), you retain essentially all of the stability for driving in "normal" conditions. However, you lose stability in "unusual" conditions (a good example being skidding backwards or nearly backwards at high speeds). Basically, don't be an idiot and try to pull a J-turn in a tadpole trike unless you're fond of injuring yourself.
Re:Stupid exaggerated mpg claims (Score:5, Insightful)
"lying" is a bit of a mis-statement.
Re:Impressive car, but I'd like an extra wheel ple (Score:5, Insightful)
Why do you need to take your whole family shopping? Can't you buy your Rice Krispies by yourself? ;-) And even if you needed to take the whole family, then you can just take two cars. Mom and kid in the Aptera; dad and kid in the other. The combined 150 mpg is still a LOT better than the average 20mpg SUV.
Very few people need to carry a Ford Living Room everywhere they go.
For those wanting four wheels, Volkswagen will soon have a 1L/100km (240mpg) car.
Screw the car, PUR is far more important (Score:4, Insightful)
The mixture includes flocculants, which cause suspended solids, heavy metals and parasites to clump together. The resulting "floc" can then be filtered out with a cotton cloth. Time-released chlorine kills bacteria and viruses. Within 30 minutes, about a teaspoon of the powder can treat 2.5 gal. of water. "The visual improvement is dramatic," says Eric Mintz, chief of the CDC's diarrheal diseases and epidemiology section.
A flying car would not even compare to this, not even a flying car that gets 300 miles per gallon. Having grown up with Star Trek (original series) this too me is the closest to Star Trek I have seen. A powder to make water safe. Screw that silly looking three wheeler, this helps the world far more than any vehicle.
I was very surprised not to be able to find mention of it on Wikipedia, even under http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portable_water_purification [wikipedia.org]
It apparently never made it big in the news which is a disappointment, hopefully this "award" will give it its due
Re:Impressive car, but I'd like an extra wheel ple (Score:3, Insightful)
Agreed. This car is way too impractical to ever see common use on American roads. Pit this versus a full size truck or even a semi and it has little chance. Honestly though, with the advances in TDI diesel engines and hybrid technologies, I feel the future is not in electric cars.
Well, nothing is going to go up against a semi and survive.
Semis are one of the 3 vehicles that always win: semis, buses, and trains.
Re:Impressive car, but I'd like an extra wheel ple (Score:2, Insightful)
Besides that, if you keep splitting people in many cars, you get a worst traffic.
Re:Impressive car, but I'd like an extra wheel ple (Score:3, Insightful)
So one parent can't go anywhere with both kids unless the other parent goes also, and what about families with three kids?
As for shopping, if the wife can't take the kids to the store during the day, she has to hire a baby sitter. Instead, taking the children shopping is an excellent teaching opportunity, so they can learn how to behave in public and how to shop within a budget just to name two.
Re:Impressive car, but I'd like an extra wheel ple (Score:1, Insightful)
Actually, people are curious about the unusual so she might just be intrigued enough to get in. And now there is no room for her cock-blocking friends.
Re:Impressive car, but I'd like an extra wheel ple (Score:3, Insightful)
A two seater really is a non-starter for most people with families. It's not just old-fashioned ideas. Nobody is going to want to split up their family every time they want to drive somewhere. Many people could possibly use an efficient two-seater for solo driving, and then have another car for hauling the family. However, most people would rather have one car that does it all instead of the expense (and the space needs) of two.