The Smorgasbord

I just read a post about Solar Roadways that was pretty damn interesting. There’s a company called “Solar Roadway” that’s proposing we quit making Asphalt roads and replace them all with solar panels. They say that if we did this nationwide, we’d have 3X more free energy available than the entire nation uses. I believe each panel of 2 lane road is 12×12′ and costs $7,000 to make. The surface (glass) is said to have the exact same traction as asphalt roads, but these have the ability to use lit-up LED lights to paint the lines and write warnings on the road. They could even melt snow and ice, and warn cars of animals on the road.

If you want follow this pipe-dream to full fruition, if all the roads in the nation were replaced it would create 2.8 million jobs and make this company the nation’s largest employer. Sounds pretty good doesn’t it? Free energy, no more unemployment, and it also says every mile of road can fully power 428 homes.

Guess what – it would cost 7 Trillion dollars! That’s 7 times the cost of the entire Obama health plan. Now, if it creates 3X more than is even needed to power the entire United States can’t we just charge people for the energy and pay for the solar roads? Who’s in charge of harnessing this power and distributing it to the nation? This new company – or the government? What happens to all the people working at every electrical company in the nation when all those utilities go out of business. What happens to every paving company in the nation? Will they have new jobs at this new company? Irony.

This is a great idea. Too complicated to come to fruition in our lifetimes. For gosh sakes – we still don’t have flying cars or moving sidewalks other than an escalator. Things are getting better though, I just read the other day about a company making a new-age battery the size of your refridgerator that you can buy for about $2,000 that can power your entire house. I guess it can last up to 9 years, and it’s self powering. Who knows what great idea will actually change the world, and which will remain pipe dreams.

What do you think about the possibility of solar roadways?

The Airpod (Air Powered Pod) is probably the greenest car you’ll ever see, since it actually runs on compressed air. That’s right, you can actually refill it with an air-hose at the gas station in just few minutes, or a compressor at your house. It seats 3, has 3 wheels, goes about 40 mph and can drive about 120 miles per charge. You can already find it in France, and will probably find it in India next. It might be in the US for 2010 if we’re lucky. Check out Gizmodo’s writeup of the airpod.

You know, there are smart cars on eBay too, I saw quite a few the other day when I was looking for second used car for our household. Here are a few in auctions ending soon:

[UEAL]smart car used:siteid=100:rows=8[/UEAL]

High gas prices got you down? Check out this 280mpg VW car!

So you’re thinking you might get a Prius to enjoy that 60mpg at the gas pump, or maybe a Honda Civic with 35mpg? Maybe you were even thinking of getting motorcycle or moped. I get that you didn’t think there was a car currently being tested that gets 282mpg – did you? The pic below is from Wired, and this car is called the “One-Liter”

This concept they’re calling a “microcar”, and they plan to build a limited number of them in 2010. It’s a two seater car (one behind the other) with aerodynamics much like an airplane or jet sans wings. Made of carbon fiber, magnesium, and titanium, the One-Liter weighs less than a third of a Toyata Echo and has less the coefficient of drag of a Honda insight. It has a one-liter (of course) diesel engine, anti-lock brakes, and airbags. It can do 65 on the freeway, and the engine shuts off at lights and automatically restarts when you hit the accelerator. By the time it hits the market it’s sticker price could be $20-30,000

VW is only slated to build 1,000 of these per year, but I bet they’re sold out completely well before they are even available. To go as far on one gallon as an entire tankful means that the average person driving 10,000 miles per year at $4 per gallon of gas could drive the one-liter for $160. A traditional car that gets 20mpg would cost $2,000 per year in gas.

Caveat emptor though, it’s only a 2 seater, and if something goes wrong your little exotic green car could cost a lot to get fixed! Would you feel safe driving this? Would you give up your SUV for something like this?

If you’re thinking being green, saving gas, and looking futuristic – the “UNO” motorcycle has all that and more!

They call the “Uno” an electric unicycle, but I don’t think that’s actually a good descriptor since it has two wheels (side by side) and it doesn’t require any balancing like a unicycle does. It has an internal gyroscope – like the Segway to keep it balanced. This blog says it’s a Segway with a seat.

There are lots of quick blog posts about the Uno and it’s creator, like this one on MakeZine, but none are quite as in-depth as the Motorcycle Mojo interview. It turns out that they found the Uno at the 2008 International Motorcycle Show in Toronto. The bikes inventor is from Canada as well, Ben J. Poss Gulak. What you might not know is that he is only 18 years old and just now enrolled in MIT.

So, how does one invent something so unique and innovative at such a young age? Well, Ben’s grandfather had a machine shop in his basement, and Ben made plenty of projects like model rockets and trains. In the 9th grade he invented a simple model car that “shot round a track using accelerator coils” that allowed him to represent Canada in an international science fair. His grandfather passed away within a month of that competition, but the machine shop was willed to Ben – who continued to learn and work on projects.

So, for the next international science fair he invented the Uno (version 1). What you see in the picture above is revision 3. The difference being, Ben got a little help creating the body and programming the digital gyroscopes for this version. Follow the Motorcycle Mojo link for the full details. You can read about version 1 of the Uno here on engadget, and here on canoe technology.

The Uno is said to be able to reach 40mph and weighs about 120lbs. It only has one control, an on / off switch. You just lean forward (or back) to move, and it’s powered by 36v wheelchair batteries. To charge – you just plug it into any standard outlet. It has a range of about 2 1/2 hours and would be perfect for commuting. I’ve read revision 3 has a top speed of 25mph for now, but with bigger motors that will increase. Even though the wheels are mounted side by side, they are independantly operated making turning more precise (treehugger).

Ben is currently looking for some investors to get this thing into production, visit the Official Uno Web Site (be warned, it’s kinda under construction a bit).

Is the Uno the only electric unicycle like thingie out there? Well, no, the Bombarider Embrio electric unicycle also exists.

This AC inverter fits in your cupholder, has a USB slot, AND a holder for your iPod or cell phone – w00t!

I’m in the car a lot – I commute over an hour to work – so having various accessories and gadgets in the gar is kind of a necessity for a geek like me. I also have two teen aged kids, and they have their own gadgets like mp3 players, cell phones, PSP’s, Nintendo DS, and who knows what else. I’ve had an AC power inverter in the car for quite some time just in case I need to plugin the laptop on the go, and it works quite well. We’ve used it on many vacations and trips too.

So when I found the “Smart AC Inverter” with the USB slot and holder I thought it was the coolest thing ever. Let me tell you about the cool geekery this thing has. First of all it’s 150 watts, and that’s enough to power most any laptop. Second it’s designed to fit in your cup holder! Third, it has a USB port for charging your iPod or any mobile device or portable music player with a USB port. Last, it has a holder to drop your iPod, cell phone, or mp3 player into while charging in ADDITION to the AC outlet! I’m sorry – this was designed by someone who knows that would be useful to people on the go! This would make an excellent gift for a commuter, road warrior, or geek on the go – especially for Dad on Father’s Day!

Click for price on the “Smart AC Inverter with USB Slot and Holder”.

Airless tires for cars that you can see through? Using some of the same technology as a “run-flat” tire Michelin is developing airless tires that will revolutionize the industry.

From the looks of the articles I’ve found online the “Tweel” (tire+wheel) developed by Michelin has been around a few years now – and for some reason I didn’t come across it until today. Apparently it’s not completely common knowledge since a search for “tweel” on the Michelin web site brings back no results – but there were previously press releases about it, since Michelin unveiled them at the Paris Auto Show in 2004. Time magazine selected it as one of the “Most Amazing Inventions of 2005″ (how did I miss that?). There is of course an entire Wikipedia article on it though. In that article it says that the Tweel is an airless tire with poyurethane spokes that can be different stiffness levels for different ranges of handling. The tread is replaceable when worn.

So in theory the airless Tweel looks like it’s the future of tires! Must be a drawback though – right? Well, above 50 mph it vibrates horribly, and it gets hot as hell. Oh – and it’s also very, very noisy too. So, for now it’s good for scooters, tanks, and construction equipment – things that operate at low speeds.

Here’s a quick video about Tweels:

Read more about Tweel in these related articles:

Radical New Wheel Technology
MDOLLA: Tweel
Michelin Takes It’s Time with Tweel

Seen any cool gadgets or technology in autos lately? Comment now!

I have become so frustrated by to cost of gasoline in America that day by day I’m out to “find the cheapest gas”. I use the web each and every day from daybreak until bed, so it’s only fitting that I created my own page to find cheap gas. Just click on the tab at the top of any page on this site for a map:

All you have to do is input your zip code at the top to get gas prices in your local area for all listed stations and immediately find out “who has cheap gas” by you!

I commute a lot, and spend a LOT on gas each week. This will help me save money on gas quite a bit I a logon to check the prices every morning before I leave the house. I encourage you to bookmark this page and regularly visit to find the cheapest gas by you too!

Check out this dude that made his own Panzer tank in college! It’s half scale, and so bloody scary that when he drove it down his parents street for fun the neighbors called the cops thinking it was WWIII or something! It runs on an old diesel generator motor, and the turret and canon actually work – shooting both paintballs and empty red bull cans (powered by a Co2 container in the rear). Who wouldn’t kill to have their own working tank? Maybe it was the geek in my, but I thought this was really cool!

Watch this BBC video of this car called the “Atom” that is one of the fastest cars on 4 wheels because of it’s design. It’s funny because it only has a supercharged Honda civic engine in it, but because of it’s light weight it can beat a supercharged motorcycle in a track race (as demonstrated in the video). Watch as the driver testing the car has g-forces rippling his face as this car accelerates from 0 to 60 in 2.9 seconds! This car company is going to be really busy with orders, they’d better expand since they currently only have 7 employees!

Here is something I’ll bet you’ve never seen before, AND you will want! It will probably also make you think. It’s a rotary car door that “disappears” and goes under the vehicle! Yes, I said “under”. Visit the Disappearing Car Door web site, and watch the video and you’ll probaby think just what I did – “why didn’t they do that years ago?”. In the beginning of the video they show a car with a traditional door and the narrator (complete with English accent) says “the modern car is still using a ‘door and hinge’ technology from nearly 100 years ago”, and I thought – that’s completely true! With all our technology automakers have stuck with the “cheapest” way for us enter and exit our vehicles when the advent of technology could make those doors open and close dozens of other ways! This is a REAL cool video to watch, and will make you want one of these real fast! Send this post to all your techie friends, they will love it!