Although electric scooters are already on the market, they are rather slow and expensive. Sufat, a Vietnamese company is planning to produce a new electric scooter, able to easily drive 55 miles per hour and accelerating from 0 to 50 mph in less than 10 seconds.
Carbon nanotubes have been in the focus of many scientists and universities studying battery technologies recently. Now, a group of Rice University researchers found out the novel properties of carbon nanotubes surrounded by metal-oxide arrays for use in lithium ion batteries.
Ford Motor Co announced the collaboration with Smith Electric Vehicles on their first electric vehicle which will be released on the US market by 2010. The electric car will be based on Ford Transit Connect compact van.
Researchers from the University of Illinois have experimented with carbon nanotubes by pushing them close to their breaking point. They saw a huge increase in the current-carrying capacity of the nanotubes, considerably more than what was previously thought possible.
The â€Ã…“Fukuoka Hydrogen Town" project could be the beginning of what organizers say will be the largest hydrogen-powered city in the world.
From ancient times, people have been trying to find out the perfect energy producing machine. For that purpose, brilliant minds put themselves to work and researched the most sophisticated mechanical machines ever. Until nowadays, no such machines have broken through the filter of time, and no such wonderful inventors are known to have made the over unity device.
The researchers studied the butterfly wings, using them as molds or templates. They made copies of the butterflies' solar collectors, and transferred the light-harvesting structures to classic Grätzel (or dye-sensitized) cells.
Fraunhofer Institute for Ceramic Technologies and Systems IKTS in Dresden have recently developed a biogas plant that utilizes waste materials such as corn stalks and other agricultural waste.
The International Thermoelectric Society website reported that Volkswagen showed a prototype vehicle equipped with a thermoelectric generator, recovering the dissipated heat energy and converting it into electricity. The prototype has been shown at the "Thermoelektrik - Eine Chance Für Die Atomobillindustrie?" meeting held in Berlin in October 2008.
Hydrogen is the most looked for energy storage, but using it is very expensive due to the fuel cell - the device that has to convert the hydrogen into energy, with its only output pure water. Because fuel cells use a platinum based material to work, they are very expensive - about $4,000 for powering a normal passenger car. Solutions are being searched for making fuel cells cheaper, more efficient and more durable, with millions of dollars poured in every year.
