Mercedes-Benz announced the BlueZERO concept which will be presented at the Detroit Auto Show, in January. Three different models will be available, all based on the Class B model, including the fully electric BlueZERO E-Cell featuring a lithium-ion battery that offers it an autonomy of up to 200 km, a 100 kW electric engine (equivalent to 136 horsepower) and a maximum torque of 320 Nm.
The company called RSi Solar has announced that they've created transparent, photovoltaic glass window. What is amazing is that these solar windows could generate 80 - 250 watts each, depending on the size.
Currently, platinum is used as a catalyst in hydrogen fuel cells, making them so expensive and hence unappetizing to customers. Lin Zhang, a Chinese scientist, has discovered a membrane that could make the usage of platinum history, and make fuel cells cheaper than ever.
James May evaluated a Honda FCX Clarity, with a positive attitude towards its environmental purpose. We don't enter the discussion as of how eco-friendly is the making of FCX, or its price, because these are all going to change in a few years to accomodate to the markets.
Of course, maybe you've watched Top Gear's Prius evaluation a few years ago. It was about the 2001 generation of the hybrid, and they've been a little harsh to it (Jeremy Clarkson showed us how fun it is to rifle a high tech car). Now, the all-famous Jeremy Clarkson didn't rifle anything (yet), but what he was trying to prove with this Tesla Roadster video just isn't fair.
It's no wonder technology evolves so fast: the Army uses it first. For their needs, the US Army will equip their troops in isolated areas, without any source of energy with a different kind of fuel cells: ones you put water in. The device's name is also military: MRC-201.
Its name sounds like it's taken out of Star Trek. Still, this is Chinese technology kicking some much bigger butts all over the world. BYD, the Chinese cell phone battery maker unveils today the F3DM, an all-electric sedan designed to show some more capitalist, more prudent, oil-led giant companies like Chevrolet, GM or Toyota, that you can do a decent electric car with a low price and high expectations.
When I was like 12, I did an interesting experiment: I connected a piezoelectric cigarette lighter to a halogen lamp based voltmeter measuring up to 3000V. The short spark easily raised the voltage above that figure. Of course, the current is very small, but the voltage is high - to the degree of about several tens of thousands volts.
Nevada researchers have recently found out that waste coffee grounds can be used to create biodiesel. Mano Misra, Susanta Mohapatra, and Narasimharao Kondamudi discovered that spent coffee grounds contain 11 to 20% oil by weight, as much as traditional biodiesel sources of palm, rapeseed or soybean oil.
We have been talking a while ago about refrigerators that needed no electricity or that were powered by the Sun, through evaporation, helping poor countries with a cool place to keep their food. Now, venture capitalist Adam Grosser teamed up with some Stanford scientists to create refrigerator that really doesn't need to be plugged in anything but the Sun.
