Lifeboat Foundation

The vast majority of scientific studies are high-level examinations of the mechanics that drive our reality. They often involve massive collections of data that the average person couldn’t even begin to parse, and a lot of times that makes them excruciatingly boring to read about.

A new paper published by the University of Richmond in Virginia is most definitely not one of those kinds of studies. In fact, it sounds like something you might want to just do for fun, since it involves building tiny cars for rats and teaching them how to drive.

Coupled with a high enough battery capacity to keep a vehicle running during darker hours, solar-powered cars have the potential to completely outdo other new types of tech that are currently in the pipeline — from hybrid vehicles to hydrogen-powered cars.

• Toyota, Sharp, and NEDO have teamed up to manufacture a unique car that could “run forever”, according to Bloomberg.
• There have been promising advances in developing thin enough solar panels for curved surfaces, as well as in tech for charging vehicles while they’re in motion.
• The solar cells the companies are working on attaching to the car are only 0.03 mm thick, so they can be attached to curved areas on cars like the roof, the hood, or the hatchback.
• By pairing more efficient solar cells with high-capacity batteries to keep vehicles running at night, solar cars have the potential to outperform hybrid vehicles and hydrogen-powered cars.
• Visit Business Insider’s homepage for more stories.

A solar-powered electric car that runs without needing charging may sound impossible, but Toyota, Sharp, and NEDO (New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization of Japan) have joined forces to hopefully make it a reality.

By pairing together the best solar panels on the market with the most efficient batteries available — not to mention years worth of experience with car-manufacturing — the companies are hoping, theoretically, to produce a vehicle that might run forever.

Introducing the Lamborghini Terzo Millennio.
… Lamborghini’s first rendition at a completely electric hypercar 😱😍.

Lamborghini’s first rendition at a completely electric hypercar 😱 😍

Supercar Blondie

WiTricity, a wireless power transfer specialist, announced licensing and technology transfer agreements with Green Power, which gears up for wireless charging of electric vehicles in South Korea.

Green Power is already engaged in wireless charging systems of vehicles from 1 to 300 kW, but not yet in electric cars, which might be possible using 11 kW WiTricity DRIVE 11 system.

As we can see in the image above, WiTricity’s wireless charging was already demonstrated in South Korea with Hyundai Kona Electric, but it’s probably still too early to judge that such an option is coming.

DETROIT — Electric vehicle startup Rivian Automotive got a big boost from one of its investors on Thursday when Amazon.com announced it was ordering 100,000 electric delivery vans.

Before Rivian has even begun commercial production at its factory in Normal, Illinois, the Amazon order rocketed it to the forefront of electric vehicle makers.

Amazon Chief Executive Jeff Bezos said in Washington that as part of the online retailer’s plan to be carbon neutral by 2040 it would order the electric vans from Rivian, with deliveries starting in 2021. The goal is to deploy all the vehicles by 2024.

A bit old news.

As the fast charging infrastructure progresses towards 150–350 kW power levels (for passenger cars and beyond in case of bigger vehicles), also plug/connector suppliers try to keep pace with change.

Here we see one of the ITT Cannon DC fast charging plugs, presented at the eMove360° fairs in Munich, Germany.

Continue reading “ITT Cannon Presents Liquid-Cooled HPC Plug For 500A At 1,000V” »

Solid-state batteries are the holy grail of battery technology for automakers, but it’ll be a while before they reach production.

Such a system would give China the ability to rapidly and unpredictably access space with a reusable orbiter.

Virgin Galactic lifted the curtain Wednesday (Oct 16) on its new line of Under Amour “spacewear” for passengers on suborbital trips aboard its SpaceShipTwo vehicles.