A little more than a year ago, we posted about the possibilities of electric aircraft. At the time, we also mentioned an upcoming competition that would test the mettle of these flying batteries: the CAFE Green Flight Challenge. It’s a NASA event (and purse), sponsored by Google, which like the X-Prize aims to fund innovation through competition. Entrants would have to fly 200 miles in under two hours, while using less than a gallon of fuel (or equivalent energy) per passenger.
Tough terms, but 10 teams put their designs in flight in a quiet, efficient battle for the $ 1.35 million prize.
The competition just wrapped last week, and the winners were revealed at an expo in Mountain View on Monday. The team taking home the big prize was Pipistral’s Taurus G-4. The four-seater more than doubled the required 100 passenger MPGe, traveling the 200 mile test distance with the electrical equivalent of just over over one gallon of gas, and at an average speed of over 100MPH as well. Here they are holding up their “very large check”:
The runner-up was e-Genius, a two-seater that hit 375 PMPGe. It received $ 120,000, plus a bonus prize for being the quietest: at takeoff, they recorded only around 60 decibels. That’s probably about as loud as me typing this.
Joe Parrish, NASA’s acting CTO, said that the $ 1.6 million in funding used to create the competition had generated over $ 4 million in spending by teams and their sponsors. The winning team, from Penn State, vowed to reserve $ 100,000 of their prize money for a future competition for supersonic electric aircraft. Elon Musk, who has evinced interest in creating such a fantastic conveyance, is no doubt pleased at this development.
[via GizMag; photos: NASA]
Ladies and members of the so-hip-it-hurts demographic, Toyota’s got a Prius hybrid just for you. The curved, futuristic-looking EV first did the dais spin for us at the Detroit Auto Show earlier this year and now, armed with a hue-matching ‘Aqua’ moniker, is prepping to rollout to lots in January of 2012. A report in Nikkei indicates this fuel efficient gas / electric car will get just about 40km/l (or 94mpg), besting its current Prius family member’s 32km/l (about 75mpg). And as for that price tag, look for it to retail at around 1.7 million yen (or $ 22,000) when it makes its eventual splashy blue bow in the Japan and US next year.
Toyota Prius C undergoes name change, comes out feeling ‘Aqua’ blue originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 30 Sep 2011 04:04:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Yesterday we attended Toyota’s Green Drive Expo where we were given the opportunity to take the production version of the Prius plug-in hybrid (PEV) — and its smorgasbord of technology — for a spin. We spent a couple hours driving interfacing with the computers aboard the Advanced model, which besides being outlet-friendly, includes some unique features within the Prius lineup. Explore our gallery below, and hit the break for our impressions and hands-on videos with the latest incarnation of Toyota’s iconic vehicle.
Gallery: Toyota Prius production plug-in hybrid
Continue reading Hands-on with Toyota’s Prius plug-in hybrid (video)
Hands-on with Toyota’s Prius plug-in hybrid (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 17 Sep 2011 21:11:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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The summer sun shined a light on several breakthrough solar technologies this week at Inhabitat as Semprius unveiled a powerful micro photovoltaic cell that can fit on a pinhead, and MIT developed a solar power system that can produce energy without sunlight. We also spotted plans for a shape-shifting solar home with a perforated facade, a series of luminous photovoltaic trees that grow real plants, and Nuon unveiled its super aerodynamic Nuna6 solar-powered racer.
Speaking of green transportation, this week President Obama set a goal of 54.5 MPG for all US automakers, BMW unveiled its breakthrough i3 and i8 electric vehicles, and Toyota unveiled a mind-reading Prius bike that can shift gears with just a thought. We also showcased several incredible examples of vehicular architecture – including a prefab house made from recycled Hummers and a shipping container pool set on a barge that purifies water as it floats through france.
As temperatures continued to soar this week we brought you seven solar-powered wearables guaranteed to give you a charge, and we saw Japanese citizens turn to air-conditioned clothing to beat the heat during power shortages. We were also relieved to hear a Swiss study announce that cell phone use is not linked to brain tumors in kids, and we showed you the dizzying view from the world’s tallest tennis court, which is set atop the Burj al Arab in Dubai.
Inhabitat’s Week in Green: photovoltaic trees, a mind-reading Prius bike and solar-powered garb originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 31 Jul 2011 19:32:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Hybrid cars are sleek, efficient, and even occasionally sexy. Cheap they are not, however, though Toyota hopes to stir up the market in 2014, with affordable plug-in models that also boast much-improved mileage ratings. That year’s Prii will ship standard with plug-in, and will quietly conquer at least 90 highway miles per gallon (compared to about 50 mpg for current models), according to Autoblog. The 2014 Prius will also be priced comparably to current non-plug-in models — around $ 25,000 — assuming Toyota can successfully reduce the cost of batteries and other key components. We can only hope that fuel prices aren’t any higher three years from now, but even if they are, at least you’ll still be able to afford to commute in something larger than a Vespa.
Update: Oops! Toyota’s saying this report is not true, and that “there is no formal plan to make all Priuses [sic] plug-in by 2014.” Not even a possibility, Autoblog was told. Ah well.
All 2014 Prius hybrids to roll with plug-in and 2011 pricing, Hoitz and Gamble rejoice (update: Toyota says no) originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 10 May 2011 19:47:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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We’d rather see a more interesting Prius before we see a bigger one, but it’s the bigger one that comes first. The taller Prius V that was unveiled in Detroit is said to begin hitting Japanese showrooms next month, priced at ¥3 million (about $ 37,000) and packing an all-new Li-ion battery in the floor. This is different than the nickel metal hydride pack found in the current Prius, a smaller and lighter design that leaves room for a third row of seats. When the car hits the US, though, we’ll get a bigger set of cells like the one in the current Prius, meaning the American version won’t have those seats in the back. Irritating? A little, but the version we’ll be getting will also be available in Japan, where it will sell for almost $ 10,000 less than the Li-ion version. For ten grand in savings we’d probably skip the rear seats too.
American Prius V to get old-school batteries, Japanese version to get fancy Li-ion ones originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 13 Mar 2011 06:06:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Would you like a plug-in Prius, the sort that we spent a few days with last year, back when the seasons were changing and there was only a hint of this killer winter to come? Well, too bad, because you still can’t buy them. But Zipcar can, apparently, adding eight of the things to its fleet, and they’re available now in Boston, San Francisco, and Portland, Oregon. Given the company has 8,000 total cars available your chances of securing one of these particular Priuses (Prii?) is slim, but if you score, know that they charge in just three hours on a 110 outlet, and half that if you’re wired for 220, so no fancy-pants charging station is required for use.
Zipcar adds the plug-in Prius PHEV to its fleet, probably not changing name to Zapcar originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 29 Jan 2011 19:29:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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It’s a sure-fire bet that Toyota will unveil its upright Prius MPV at the North American International Auto Show in a couple of weeks, a rather more roomy and practical version of the hybrid that really started it all. And, of course, the plug-in model we tested in October will be surely rocking the floor. Now we’re hearing that another as of yet unreleased Prius will be on display, simply referred to as a “Prius concept vehicle.” Concept cars of course range from the mundane to the insane, and knowing Toyota we’re guessing this one will fall squarely into the former category. Just the same we’re hoping for a tire-shredding, slalam-eating, RWD hybrid Prius Supra model. We’ll be there in Detroit when the unveil happens and we’ll be sure to bring some tissues to wipe away our tears of disappointment.
Continue reading Toyota looks set to launch two new Prius models in Detroit, one’s a mystery
Toyota looks set to launch two new Prius models in Detroit, one’s a mystery originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 25 Dec 2010 08:07:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Think GM’s CEO sees the Toyota Prius as a worthy competitor that, in many ways, paved the the way for the Chevy Volt? Think again. Speaking to the Economic Club of Washington, D.C. this week, GM CEO Dan Akerson described Toyota’s hybrid as a “geek-mobile,” and flatly declared that he “wouldn’t be caught dead in a Prius.” Not surprisingly, it didn’t long for Toyota to respond to that slam, with a company spokesman telling The New York Times that “Toyota has sold more than two million Prius hybrids worldwide, and counting. Those buyers can’t all be geeks.” What’s most troubling to us about all of this, however, is the implication that a “geek-mobile” is somehow a bad thing — it sounds pretty awesome to us… geeks.
CE-Oh no he didn’t!: GM’s Dan Akerson says he ‘wouldn’t be caught dead in a Prius’ originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 12 Dec 2010 23:11:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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The future of modern transportation awaits us. By 2012 we expect to have multiple proper, reasonable choices for fully electric vehicles, but check your calendar and you’ll see it’s still 2010, leaving us still waiting for cars like the Leaf and the Volt to make their proper appearances. Toyota would like to remind you that the Prius is still here, celebrating an amazing tenth year of availability in the US and teasing us with the upcoming plug-in model, offering a taste of EV with the practicality of a hybrid. We just spent three days with one and managed a quite impressive 91mpg average — no hypermiling required. Click on through for our detailed impressions of this five-door eco-warrior.
Gallery: Prius plug-in
Continue reading Toyota Prius PHEV preview: three days in plug-in paradise
Toyota Prius PHEV preview: three days in plug-in paradise originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 18 Oct 2010 12:01:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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