Posts by: Wayne Cunningham

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Redox flow battery will be refillable

Wayne Cunningham | Nov 11, 2009

This radio-controlled model car is powered by a battery that can be refilled with an electrolytic fluid. (Credit: Fraunhofer Institute)

Imagine that you're driving your future electric car down the road, and it gives you a low battery warning. What do you do? Instead of spending a few hours at a recharging station, new battery technology being developed by the Fraunhofer Institute in Germany would let you pull into a service station and refill the battery with an electrolytic liquid.

The Fraunhofer Institute is using a redox flow battery, a type of cell that uses two electrolytic fluids exchanging protons through a membrane. This process generates electricity. Although this type of battery isn't new, the Fraunhofer Institute improved the energy density, making it equivalent to that of a lithium- ion battery.
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Filed under: Green Tech
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Robot head assists with road navigation

Wayne Cunningham | Oct 30, 2009

MIT's concept robot head mounts on the dashboard to assist with navigation.(Credit: MIT)

AIDA's robot head can show warning signs. (Credit: MIT)

MIT intends to revolutionize GPS navigation by making it friendly and predictive, using a friendly robot helper to anticipate your needs. The Affective Intelligent Driving Agent (AIDA) is a robot head on an articulated neck, reminiscent of movie robots from the 1980s, that mounts in the center of the dashboard.

It incorporates an expressive "face" that can smile, look sad, show warning signs, and even wink at you. AIDA was developed as a collaboration between the Personal Robots Group at the MIT Media Lab, MIT's SENSEable City Lab, and Volkswagen Group of America's Electronics Research Lab.
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Filed under: Cars
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Toyota plugs in to electric cars biz

Wayne Cunningham | Oct 22, 2009

The Toyota FT-EVII is a new electric concept car based on the iQ platform. (Credit: Automotive News)

Toyota does away with a traditional steering wheel in favor of modern art. (Credit: Automotive News)

Although a leader in hybrid cars, generally conservative Toyota has seemed uninterested in developing electric cars--until now. At the 2009 Tokyo Motor Show, Toyota unveiled the FT-EVII, an electric car concept.

In putting together the FT-EVII, Toyota used its own off-the-shelf technologies, such as the iQ platform and components from its Synergy hybrid system. Although not on sale in the US, gasoline- and diesel-powered Toyota iQs are sold in Japan and the UK. For the power train, Toyota went to lithium ion batteries for the FT-EVII, as opposed to the nickel-metal-hydride power pack from its current hybrid vehicles.
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Tokyo Motor Show spotlights electric two-wheelers

Wayne Cunningham | Oct 22, 2009

Breaking away from traditional motorcycle design, Yamaha explores an electric-powered two wheel commuter bike using an x-shape frame. The purpose behind the EC-f is to design a motorcycle for people with no riding experience. (Credit: Japan Automobile Manufacturers Association, Inc.)

Just as carmakers develop electric cars, motorcycle manufacturers also see the writing on the wall, showing off a collection of electric bikes at the 2009 Tokyo Motor Show. The Tokyo Motor Show has always played host to a substantial display of motorcycles, and this year is no different--except that the highlights of the show all have a green angle. Honda, Yamaha, and Suzuki all brought concepts to the show that could spell the future of riding, and possibly a new way for future commuters to get to work.
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Car vendors sell their spiel with wacky USB drives

Wayne Cunningham | Oct 18, 2009

This USB drive from Mercedes-Benz is shaped like a car key, and holds information and photos about the new E-class. (Credit: Josh Miller/CNET)

As a change of pace, we gathered up the most unique USB flash drive press kits we've seen from automakers to date. These kits range from diverse brands--Bentley, Ferrari, Kia, and Toyota, among others, and with a sidestep to Caterpillar. Typically they hold photos and documents about a particular car, or sometimes the automakers' entire lineup, and are handed out during the press days at auto shows. Your typical automotive journalist will have a drawer full of these drives.

While many of the drives we receive are fairly standard, some are instances of marketing genius. The most interesting of these drives try to say something about the car they represent, such as the bamboo drive for the Lexus HS, or the key replica for the Mercedes-Benz.
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Filed under: Cars, PC & Peripherals
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