Future Cars

MIT’s folding car concept is best ride for cramped spaces

2010-10-25T22:19:00.000-07:00

With the rise of the bourgeois class, cars are seeking a place into every household. Consequently, parking lots are running out of space. Well, to make the best out of the bad situation, geeks at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) aim to solve the problem in congested cities with their City Car concept.

City Car from MIT is a zero emission vehicle which is foldable, similar to the way grocery and shopping carts stack. And when folded, City Car’s lithium-ion batteries are automatically charged. With the seating capacity for two, the vehicle promotes socially responsible transportation in heavily populated and pollution congested urban centers.

The car concept which is equivalent to a golf cart in size is equipped with computers that locate parking lots and a mechanism that collapses it in half, taking one-eighth the size for parking to an average car. This car weighs merely 1,000-to-1,200-pound and will available for use at its parking lot after swapping a credit or debit card.

City Car concept doesn’t have central engine and traditional power train, for it is powered by in wheel motors. Each wheel unit contains drive motor – that also enables regenerative braking – steering, and suspension, and is independently digitally controlled.

Ferrari X-Racer concept hovercar races at Mach 2

2010-10-25T17:32:00.000-07:00

We thought that the Scout concept was too fast for its own good, but this Ferrari X-Racer concept leaves it far behind in speed, and in imagination. Designer Vincent Montreuil’s X-Racer concept can move at Mach 2, and that is 1522 mph which makes the Scout’s 500 mph sound rather tame. Two turbostar engines power the Ferrari to those unbelievable speeds, and there’s something called the “Xtrem FireForce” as well, which we believe would be some kind of a futuristic nitro boost to the racer. Whatever, it’s just a concept, and the designer probably forgot about things like practicality, pragmatism and real world all together.

Monza Ferrari racecar concept by Iman Maghsoudi

2010-10-25T17:28:00.000-07:00

Iman Maghsoudi has created a Monza Ferrari racecar concept that can reach speeds of 200mph and also comes with a very useful autopilot feature in which the computer intervenes and takes over control if the car exceeds certain speed limit. It also has a great aerodynamic design, which allows for great movement and improves fuel economy and performance. It has small tires but that is something, which can be corrected if the concept ever hits the production plant. This concept combines great design with functional features and also a very sleek look. We hope it gets to become a product from the stage of being a concept.

Ferrari Zobin Concept inspired by Formula 1

2010-10-25T17:25:00.000-07:00

Formula 1 cars have the best technology around, and automakers constantly try to get the technology from F-1 cars into production models. Designer Siamak Ruhi Dehkordi intends to do the same with his Ferrari Zobin concept. The concept, inspired from the Ferrari F-1 cars is a single-seat aerodynamic sportscar. The front is much like the original, with integrated front spoiler and fenders for the “open wheels” look. Power comes from a motor mounted in the mid-rear position.

An interesting concept that follows its inspiration faithfully and is pretty much worth the effort.

China Astounds Again, Designs Negative-Emission Car Concept

2010-06-23T21:37:00.000-07:00

China keeps coming up with some incredible designs, and with solid technology behind them. Well, maybe they’re not exactly world leaders or trend setters when it comes to design, but then again that should not come first when talking about taking care of the environment…or diminishing petrol reserves. So we get (it’s pretty self-explanatory) what zero-emission cars, like the Nissan Leaf (word’s best EV vehicle) , but what’s that, negative-emission? Read on to find out. Designed by Chinese partner of General Motors, Shanghai Automotive Industry Corporation (SAIC), this car looks SF and has skills that could fit in the same genre, in a positive way. Meet the YeZ, named so from a metamorphosis of the Mandarin name for “Leaf”. Go figure..

The YeZ, world's first negative-emission car, via China researchers upper view, wow it really looks like a leaf

The “negative carbon emissions” vehicle features an all-electric drive-train that draws the bulk of its power from photoelectric converter mounted on the yez…uh, roof of the vehicle. Similar to the way a plant grows towards the light, the solar crystal films that make up the system can track the movement of the sun to maximize solar energy collection. Illuminated power lines that mimic the veins of a living organism carry the electricity to the battery of the vehicle via streams of light. Additional electricity is generated by small windmills mounted on each of the wheels.

What takes the car to the new levels of environmental friendliness, however, is a body comprised of metal-organic framework materials, or MOFs, that capture water and carbon dioxide from the surrounding air through adsorption, and combine the two through a process of artificial photosynthesis that not only generates electricity, but also creates air conditioning refrigerant and “exhales” oxygen back into the atmosphere. Hence, “negative carbon emissions”.

The YeZ, world's first negative-emission car, via China researchers

So my car could work on nothign but solar and wind energy, for ever and ever, and while I’m driving around (probably not at 120 mph, but still …) and rockin’ to my solar powered speaker system I’m also cleaning the atmosphere?! Yes, the technology behind the YeZ is theoretically sound and the team behind the concept assures us it could work, especially if the Chinese government continues to invest in research (nota bene United States Gov, and Dear President Obama who just cut half of NASA’s funds).

But don’t rush to contact dealers, this YeZ car or similar ones will only start being made as of 2030 or the sort, as SACS admits. So long life and strong health to you, as a Chinese greeting goes, and let’s hope we’ll take our first retirement trip in negative-emission “cleaners” such as the YeZ car. This Chinese Leaf (or Tree, cause it’s more than the Leaf in many ways) can be seen in this year’s Shanghai 2010 Expo. And in the gallery below, thanks to Fox News.

[ PHOTO GALLERY: The YeZ, world's first negative-emission car, via China researchers ]:

GALLERY: THE YEZ, WORLD'S FIRST NEGATIVE-EMISSION CAR, VIA CHINA RESEARCHERS

BMW Megacity

2010-05-30T03:07:00.000-07:00

BMW's Megacity Moves

New EV Due In 2013

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BMW has announced its Megacity Vehicle will be released in 2013. Designed for use in the world's biggest metro areas, the Megacity is an electrically driven vehicle lightened by a lot of carbon fiber in place of steel. The launch date announcement shows how serious the Munich automaker is now taking electric vehicles -- previously BMW had only said the Megacity would be out before 2015.

There will be three vehicles in the Megacity Vehicle family, bundled together under the Project i moniker: a two-wheeler, a three-wheeler, which steers by leaning like a BMW's super-exotic Street Carver skateboard, and the model-year-2014 four-wheeler the firm is now beginning to discuss.

BMW's design director Adrian van Hooydonk told Motor Trend that designing the Megacity Vehicle has been a challenge. "It had to be ultra-light and ultra-low drag because that really affects range. And it must communicate its abilities through its style." He says many of the design cues of the low-slung Vision EfficientDynamics concept car will appear on the Megacity Vehicle.

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The electric drivetrain will be closely related to the system BMW announced at the 2010 Detroit auto show for its experimental fleet of electric-drive 1 Series, called the Concept ActiveE. "We will test the preseries version of the Megacity Vehicle's electric powertrain in the Concept ActiveE," said BMW engineering chief Klaus Draeger.

This has a specially developed 170-horsepower motor with a wide torque band, driving the rear wheels and a new lithium-ion battery that BMW claims has a range largely unaffected by the ambient temperature thanks to liquid thermal control. The battery pack is modular, so different sizes can be used for different members of the Project i family.

BMW has announced partnership to make the fibers with the carbon fiber company SGL Group, including building a plant in Moses Lake, Washington, which will employ 80 people. BMW will assemble the car in Leipzig, Germany. The company claims this will be the first application of carbon fiber in a high-volume vehicle.

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BMW officially will provide cars for the London Olympics in 2012 and will use the ActiveE prototypes to transport athletes and officials. Motor Trend has repeatedly asked senior BMW figures whether this will be the occasion to launch a Megacity concept. Each time, we've been answered with a silent smile and no denial.

The concept will be sold as "a sub-brand of BMW" -- not "of the BMW Group," so it will be less separate than Mini or Rolls-Royce. It could be a modern day BMW Isetta (which is, after all, how the Isetta was sold in the late '50s), though it would be difficult to incorporate design cues from the Concept ActiveE into a modern Isetta. This indicates that more than one design proposal exists, and that BMW may ultimately offer the sub-brand with more than one four-wheel body style.