Cars & Transportation

The BMW Hydrogen 7 is the world’s first production-ready hydrogen vehicle. Yes it can fully work on hydrogen which I believe make it the world most eco-friendly car.

If the Hydrogen is created from renewable energy, it makes it 100% clean. Than you may ask why can’t you find it in showrooms? Like they say in this video there is no infrastructure to support hydrogen refuelling. If oil producers turned themselves to ward’s making hydrogen instead of digging for oil and causing environmental disasters, we could truly be heading into a greener more sustainable world. But that’s just IF.

In this video learn more about this car the BMW Hydrogen 7. For more information click Here.

One contribution you can make to improve air quality is to increase your use of alternative forms of transportation. In this video clip learn about alternative to driving such as car sharing.For more information click Here

Hi everyone I’m sorry for not posting for a few weeks. I was away on vacation and when I came back I got laser surgery to my eyes so I wasn’t able to sit in front of my PC for a long enough time.

So here is a starter for my comeback. Has always I love to post a video once in a while and I happened to stumble upon this video for watchmojo.com.

It’s a really basic explanation on how to save gas when driving your car. You probably know that there are many ways you can spend less money on gas and reduce your overall fuel consumption but the easiest ones are often the most efficient. Watchmojo.com Veronica Delfino talked to an expert who gave some tips on reducing fuel consumption.

Like you, I’ve come to hate my local gas station. Even though I drive a Prius, and patronize the cheapest gas station in my town (paying cash to get a discount), I still can’t help but adopt an attitude of disgust and disdain when I hand over my money. $20 doesn’t fill the tank anymore, and my car and my soul feel a little empty.

But there’s at least one person who hasn’t had to experience the humiliation of the fill-up more than once this summer. Meet Danni Brancaccio, a college student 20 years of age who has pledged to get through this summer using only one tank of gas.

Her shiny blue-green 1997 Honda Civic gas tank holds 11.9 gallons, and she is sipping that liquid as slowly as she can. The Vancouver, Washington native rides a bike 1.5 miles every morning to her nearby park-n-ride, then takes the bus to her law-clerk job 16 miles away in Portland, OR. Sometimes she catches a ride with her mom, but only if her Mom is going that way.

Her “one-tank-or-bust” idea is resonating with the media, and she’s been featured on ABC and CNN, where she represents herself with intelligence and humor. According to her CNN spot, the benefits of her experiment are not only publicity and money savings — she’s also lost five pounds.

And, it seems like she is walking and riding her way to success. With only a few weeks left in her summer, she’s still got a 1/4 tank left.

I find this kind of effort deeply inspirational, but I still don’t think it’s going to get me on an LA bus. Last time I took the bus, when I first got here 18 years ago, it stopped suddenly in the worst part of town, and the driver then demanded we all get off and wait for another bus, which took another 45 minutes to show. So I’m afraid I’m not the world’s best bus advocate. But hey — I’m only 30 miles from the beach — maybe I can ride my bike, or catch a ride from my mom.

Read Danni’s blog here.

Look at this thing.  It looks like something Doc Brown would drive in “Back to the Future,” doesn’t it?  Or that Woody Allen would steal in “Sleeper”?

It’s the Aptera Typ-1, a prototype three-wheeled, two seater road vehicle that the company claims can get 300mpg in its hybrid version (there’s also an electric version which can go 120 miles on a charge).  For $500 you can reserve one for when they start rolling them out in 2009.

Aptera, which apparently is Greek for “wingless flight,” is a company of a dozen employees based north of San Diego California.  Not only do they intend to sell these babies for “under $30,000,” they also intend to enter the car in the Automotive X-Prize competition.  You might remember the X-Prize, which awarded $10 Million to Burt Rutan for his first private manned space flight.  The Automotive X-Prize, funded by the same group, promises $10 Million to the competitor that can create a car that is mass-produceable and gets at least 100 mpg.

Although it looks like a pretty wide load, the Aptera folks claim that is will fit in a standard parking space.  Still, most parking spaces these days are that frustratingly narrow “compact” deal, so better to park on the street, I’m guessing.

I think I’ll hold onto my $500 and wait to see how the first batch of these performs on the road, but then I might be tempted, just to see the jaws drop when I pull it into my driveway.

Click on the video to see the darn thing in action:

Founded in October 2007 on $200 million of venture capital, Better Place, in its first six months, announced cooperative agreements with Israel and Denmark to transform their transportation infrastructure from oil-based to renewable energy and significantly reduce harmful emissions. Doing so they have committed to deploying the world’s first electric car networks.
Realized by Shai Agassi, a social entrepreneur formally working for SAP, Project Better Place was created after Shai left SAP in 2007 to follow his vision to end our world’s dependence on oil. Thomas Friedman quoted Agassi this past Sunday in the New York Times writing,

“His goal is to make his electric car so cheap, so trivial, that you won’t even think of buying a gasoline car. ”

Partnering with Better Place, the Renault-Nissan Alliance is building zero-emission electric cars for its recharge grids. The car will be 100% electric and powered by a battery developed by Automotive Energy Supply Corp.

Better Place hopes to continue to be a leader in alternative forms of energy and to sustain the conversation about lessening the worldwide dependence on oil. In this spirit, Better Place has launched a “10 Words” Campaign, where individuals can submit 10 words explaining for what reasons they believe ending the world’s addiction to oil is important. Contributors to the campaign have included those leaders who have made alternative energy a priority, including, Gavin Newsom, Mayor of San Francisco, who wrote,

Oil is the past. Our future is green and renewable

and US Congressman (D-MA) Ed Markey,

Four dollar gas, climate change forecast, and Middle East morass.

Please feel free to check out the campaign at 10words.betterplace.com and make your own “minifesto.”

- Thank you very much Sydney for telling me about this.

High gas prices are causing some major movements in the transport industry. In the car market we see more and more green cars coming out. We see mail services buying full fleets of hybrid and electric trucks and especially in Europe. Even airlines have to make some changes like reducing their airplanes weight or reducing the amount of available flights to maximize seating capacity of aircrafts.

WatchMojo.com sits down with Richard Gilbert & Anthony Perl, authors of “Transport Revolutions: Moving People Without Freight And Oil” to discuss the other options in sight. For more information click Here

High gas prices are causing some major movements in the transport industry. In the car market we see more and more green cars coming out. We see mail services buying full fleets of hybrid and electric trucks and especially in Europe. Even airlines have to make some changes like reducing their airplanes weight or reducing the amount of available flights to maximize seating capacity of aircrafts.

WatchMojo.com sits down with Richard Gilbert & Anthony Perl, authors of “Transport Revolutions: Moving People Without Freight And Oil” to discuss the other options in sight. For more information click Here