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Showing posts with label car. Show all posts
Showing posts with label car. Show all posts

Tuesday, June 7, 2011

REVIEW: AirCar - runs on compressed air

After apocalyptic scenarios related to the global warming began to interest scientists, there already began to appear results of exploration in the field of energy economy and some other ecological technologies. In June 2007 Popular Mechanics announced that India, specifically Tata Motors, had begun production of the first car moved by air. This year, Zero Pollution Motors (ZPM) announces that production of the similar model, destined for USA market is expecting to begin till the end of 2009, or at least 2010.

They have also tried to find some other solutions in nonpolluting propulsion domain. For example Daewoo a South-Korean company, created a Matiz concept with a hybrid engine: air – electric. Australian company EngineAir also developed a "rotative engine" moved by pressed air. K'Airmobiles presented two working concepts "VPA" (Vehicle with Pneumatic Assistance) and "VPP" (Vehicle with Pneumatic Propulsion) in the end of the last year; maximum weight of such a model being limited by 250 kg.

Propulsion technology of the AirCar's engine was developed by the former Formula 1 engineer for MDI (Motor Development International) from Luxemburg. While in the internal-combustion engines pistons are moved be the explosion of the fuel, then in an AirCar the moving is realized by air under pressure.

ZPM hope that soon the production of AirCars will be more than 10000 units annually. Models that will be launched will be OneCat, with two seats (as was produced in India) and MiniCat, with three seats. The company is also intending to launch a model called CityCat with six seats.

One refueling with 340 l of air under pressure will cost approximately 2 USD and will assure autonomy for more than 1000 km at the speed 100 km/h. The price for such a car is estimating to be 17800 USD.

It sounds too good to be true? We hope that not.
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REVIEW: BMW Vision EfficientDynamics to appear on the high tech horizon

Today is a lucky day for all BMW admirers as you can look at a brand-new model of BMW. Called BMW Vision Efficient Dynamics, this transparent replica appears to be a turbo diesel / plug-in hybrid. Scheduled to be showcased at the Frankfurt show in a few weeks to come, this splendiferous car is able to catapult from 0 to 62 miles per hour in staggering 4, 8 seconds so be ready for stylish high speed driving.

This mind boggling concept car runs on 1, 5 liter turbo diesel engine while producing as much as 163 horse power. Its marvelous hybrid drive system allows simple plugging into a conventional European 220 V power point with a battery making your driving possible for 2, 5 hours while the total drive system’s output equals to 356 horse power with a torque of 590 lb-ft.

The BMW Vision Efficient Dynamics concept car is touted to be able to drive around 31 miles when driven in all-electric mode while its 6, 6 gallon fuel tank boasts a range of 400 miles. The electrical power consumption is 26, 16 kWh per 100 miles. This groundbreaking super car features all-aluminum chassis as well as suspension. LED lighting allows additional power consumption.

The power train of the concept car offers a top speed of up to 155 miles per hour however the super car is able to exceed this speed limit. When the battery is recharged, the electric mode will produce the CO2 level of up to 50 grams per kilometer. The BMW Vision Efficient Dynamics concept car seems to be light weight to show high level aerodynamic performance.

The driver of this innovative marvel will be welcomed by changing gears with no power interruption at all. Another noticeable feature includes its lambo doors while its electric engine may operate as a generator and power the battery like when the driver applies the brakes. In order to charge this aggressive monster it will take a period of 2 and half an hour at maximum while most productive 380 Volts and 32 Amps power point reduces the charge time to be as least as 44 minutes.

The high tech tires of the BMW Vision Efficient Dynamics measure 195 / 55 with nice looking 21 inches wheels offering a perfect road grip while the roof with external doors’ skin are constructed from polycarbonate. This miraculous concept car measures 181, 1 inches in length, 74, 8 inches in width and 48, 8 in height and is comfortably suitable for 4 persons while the luggage capacity of 5, 3 cu feet.

The curb weight of this daredevil replica is 3 076 lb while keeping the gravity center low. Speaking about the power to weight ratio, the BMW Vision Efficient Dynamics concept car boasts a high performance being at the same level as regular combustion engine sport cars feature.
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Saturday, May 16, 2009

OBDScope for Nokia S60

OBDScope for Nokia S60OBDScope is a vehicle On-Board diagnostics software for S60 smartphones (3rd and 5th editions). It can be used with an ELM chip based Bluetooth OBD adapter. This is a hobby project and the software is freeware.

Free Download: OBDScope_0.1.2_unsigned.sis

(This is unsigned version. It needs to be signed before installing. Signing can be done e.g. at www.symbiansigned.com)
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Wednesday, February 11, 2009

Car Manager MIDlet

Car Manager MIDletThe Car Manager application is a helpful tool that can be used to monitor your car’s gasoline consumption and expenses. You can easily add new tanking up entries and edit old ones. You can also examine the automaticly generated report that will calculate average consumption and total values from your entries. Midlet is designed to be used on all devices that support Java MIDP 1.0 applications. You will need a phone with File Connection (JSR 75) support if you want to export entries to a CSV file.

Free Download: here
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