I seriously wish that this car is either sold in Chicago, or that I am out of this city and in Austin, where I am almost certain it will be sold very shortly: Lovely, isn't it? The rumors are that Best Buy who recently started selling the Brammo Enertia Electric Motorcycle will also sell the Aptera. I have been a regular client of Best Buy since I moved to the USA seven years ago and I am definitely going to have a look at these cars when they come to the showroom floors near where I am.
I also wish that these cars are marketed outside the USA. There is fantastic scope for them to sell in countries like India and Sri Lanka in South Asia and in much of the Carribbean. Here's waiting to see Fossil Fuel finally shown the fist
Showing posts with label Aptera. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Aptera. Show all posts
Sunday, September 27, 2009
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
Superb Show India! Now When Will These Cars be Available to Indians?
The Geneva Auto Show is the world's biggest and the most important in terms of new car models that come to be displayed every year. So why am I celebrating during a time of gloom? India's Tata Motors have managed to hog a considerable portion of the limelight with their Euro spec Tata Nano (a car that many so-called "experts" said could never be built - the same "experts" who gave AAA+ ratings to crappy Wall Street Banks, I'm sure) and, more importantly, since this is a blog meant to show Fossil Fuels the Fist, because of Tata's new Norwegian engineered Indica Electric car: http://www.autobloggreen.com/2009/03/04/geneva-2009-euro-spec-tata-nano-its-bigger-and-all-electric/ When a prestigious website like Autoblog Green raves about this, there is something for everyone to cheer.
This is a good beginning, no doubt, but there is competition that is certain to come. Several Chinese manufacturers have started working on electric cars and countries as diverse as South Africa and the UK have designed commercial vehicles that work on electricity. But I do think that if Tata have made it this far, there is no reason why they would not go further - a lot further in fact. And yes, I am rooting for them to succeed - and rooting for every other designer of electric vehicles to succeed as well. This means YOU Aptera, Tesla and all other creative companies out there. All the very best and may you all win!
This is a good beginning, no doubt, but there is competition that is certain to come. Several Chinese manufacturers have started working on electric cars and countries as diverse as South Africa and the UK have designed commercial vehicles that work on electricity. But I do think that if Tata have made it this far, there is no reason why they would not go further - a lot further in fact. And yes, I am rooting for them to succeed - and rooting for every other designer of electric vehicles to succeed as well. This means YOU Aptera, Tesla and all other creative companies out there. All the very best and may you all win!
Friday, December 5, 2008
Redone Aptera Website
Everyone who visits here knows that I have the same enthusiasm for the Aptera car that Popular Mechanics and other magazines have with one caveat - I am angry that I will not be able to buy it since I live in Sh1tc@go. I am also angry about the fact that no major company in India or elsewhere in Asia has looked at licensing this design and building this car there - with fuel efficiency which would easily exceed 100 miles per gallon (35 km per litre for friends in South Asia) and with its fiberglass construction which would make eminent sense to manufacture using human labor, this car has sophisticated simplicity as its USP. Those who live in Southern California are going to be able to buy this car - in any case, ther est of us can drool over the redesigned website: http://www.aptera.com/
Feel free to sign up for their newsletter and do push them (and any of the Indian or other companies where you may have contacts) to license the design and manufacture it elsewhere as well. This is about showing fossil fuels the fist, after all!
Feel free to sign up for their newsletter and do push them (and any of the Indian or other companies where you may have contacts) to license the design and manufacture it elsewhere as well. This is about showing fossil fuels the fist, after all!
Sunday, June 22, 2008
Green Transportation Right Now
All of my friends who know me know how much I love cars and motorcycles. I have been riding and driving since I was 15 and even today, nothing works better for me as an anti depressant than driving or riding a bike on a calm and peaceful rural road. It was when India's roads began to become more crowded and filthier by the day from the early 1980s onwards that I began to wonder if there was a possible solution to this whole mess of transportation and to making it cleaner. Let's face it - there are more people today than there have ever been and the world is a crowded place. While population experts suggest that populations could taper off in the future, any reduction in crowding is at least half a century away. And people have to work, public transportation is not reliable unless you live in Moscow, Paris or London, and this makes clean transportation a crying need.
For a long time, car companies were lazy, doing little to harness technologies that could save fuel and even now, some of the hybrid technology and advanced diesels that are being used are a first step, and not the full potential of the technology that is available to us even today. Fortunately, small firms are showing the way ahead. Some of the products are expensive, but they do work and large scale demand for them could make them significantly cheaper. In any case, it is summer here and my heart is not in my car. Who wants to bake inside it after it has stood in the sun for two hours? This is a time for the open road and for short hops to the grocery or to meet friends. For those romantically inclined, sitting with your significant other on a bike is also much more fun than sitting side by side even in a Ferrari.
So, here goes with a few links:
1. For the power freaks, there is a bike that uses fossil fuel, but with a twist - the diesel Neander cruiser is undoubtedly one of the most beautiful bikes ever made in my opinion. Their website is: http://www.neander-motorcycles.com/motorbike/en/ The bike's engine used a very innovative crankshaft that would have some special applications in the diesel and even gasoline engines of the future. Instead of buying a convertible of ANY kind, this is the bike to go for
2. For a full electric bike, there is a design that is garnering a lot of attention in this part of the world: http://www.enertiabike.com/ Bloody expensive if you ask me, but very beautifully styled, and, if you take the manufacturers' background into consideration, it should be superb. They make the Ariel Atom sportscar in North America
3. And then there is something really special: http://www.erockit.net/
This is actually a bicycle with a patented electric boost system which allows it to be pedalled at upto 50 Km/hr. I think it looks simply superb and it would be more than adequate for most cties in the world, especially in South Asia
4. In cars, there is the old Th!nk car, once a Ford subsidiary now revived by the Norwegian government with Venture Capital funding from the USA who have two designs: The Think City and the Think Ox (not as in ox-cart but as in Oxygen) which you can check out at: http://www.think.no/ I just might buy the Ox when it goes on sale in Chicago
5. And then there is the Aptera, a design that has wowed much of the US media including diehard skeptics like Popular Mechanics magazine. This is a design that requires a lot of hand fitting. It would be ideal for someone to assemble in South Asia under license. Do check the website out: http://www.aptera.com/ and also have a look at the many videos and reviews on Google, Youtube etc. The company plan to drive their car from Los Angeles to New York this summer on one tankful of gasoline in an attempt at getting the Automotive X Prize. The prize is for the first production car that gets the equivalent of 100 mpg. The Aptera will do at least twice that
6. There is something that we overlook until we have one of these discharge soot into our faces through our car windows - delivery vans. A British company called Modec has started manufacturing electric vans and has sold a large number to the British postal service. They also have orders in the Netherlands. Their website is: http://www.modeczev.com/ Capable of taking 2 ton loads, these could be ideal delivery vans for South Asia. To boot, they come in Right Hand drive, something that the other cars do not come in
7. There is a new concept here of the "Neighborhood Car." This refers to cars that are driven inside city streets and which do not go on highways. In the USA, thjese are given special exemptions if their top speed is restricted to 25 mph / 40 kmph though this particular design is capable of easily exceeding that if the restrictors are removed: http://www.zenncars.com/ The car would be superb for South Asian streets as a low speed people hauler that costs much less than any car in the world in use and which is much safer than the badly designed Indian Reva
There are several planned solutions from Mitsubishi, GM's Chevrolet Division, Nissan, Renault etc for the future as well as limited production cars like the Tesla http://www.teslamotors.com/ and the Fisker Karma http://www.fiskerautomotive.com/ I seriously doubt if any of the big names would come to South Asia. Even in advanced markets theya re being pre-empted by the small guys. Showing fossil fuels the fist also means showing a fist to those who have been making us use oil without bothering to innovate.
Cheers!
Post Script: A friend in Sri Lanka had an intriguing question. Is there any way that treadmills could be hooked up to do small jobs from utilising the energy that exercisers use on them? Run a small fruit juicer, perhaps? So you have an instant smoothie after you finish exercising? Ideas please...
For a long time, car companies were lazy, doing little to harness technologies that could save fuel and even now, some of the hybrid technology and advanced diesels that are being used are a first step, and not the full potential of the technology that is available to us even today. Fortunately, small firms are showing the way ahead. Some of the products are expensive, but they do work and large scale demand for them could make them significantly cheaper. In any case, it is summer here and my heart is not in my car. Who wants to bake inside it after it has stood in the sun for two hours? This is a time for the open road and for short hops to the grocery or to meet friends. For those romantically inclined, sitting with your significant other on a bike is also much more fun than sitting side by side even in a Ferrari.
So, here goes with a few links:
1. For the power freaks, there is a bike that uses fossil fuel, but with a twist - the diesel Neander cruiser is undoubtedly one of the most beautiful bikes ever made in my opinion. Their website is: http://www.neander-motorcycles.com/motorbike/en/ The bike's engine used a very innovative crankshaft that would have some special applications in the diesel and even gasoline engines of the future. Instead of buying a convertible of ANY kind, this is the bike to go for
2. For a full electric bike, there is a design that is garnering a lot of attention in this part of the world: http://www.enertiabike.com/ Bloody expensive if you ask me, but very beautifully styled, and, if you take the manufacturers' background into consideration, it should be superb. They make the Ariel Atom sportscar in North America
3. And then there is something really special: http://www.erockit.net/
This is actually a bicycle with a patented electric boost system which allows it to be pedalled at upto 50 Km/hr. I think it looks simply superb and it would be more than adequate for most cties in the world, especially in South Asia
4. In cars, there is the old Th!nk car, once a Ford subsidiary now revived by the Norwegian government with Venture Capital funding from the USA who have two designs: The Think City and the Think Ox (not as in ox-cart but as in Oxygen) which you can check out at: http://www.think.no/ I just might buy the Ox when it goes on sale in Chicago
5. And then there is the Aptera, a design that has wowed much of the US media including diehard skeptics like Popular Mechanics magazine. This is a design that requires a lot of hand fitting. It would be ideal for someone to assemble in South Asia under license. Do check the website out: http://www.aptera.com/ and also have a look at the many videos and reviews on Google, Youtube etc. The company plan to drive their car from Los Angeles to New York this summer on one tankful of gasoline in an attempt at getting the Automotive X Prize. The prize is for the first production car that gets the equivalent of 100 mpg. The Aptera will do at least twice that
6. There is something that we overlook until we have one of these discharge soot into our faces through our car windows - delivery vans. A British company called Modec has started manufacturing electric vans and has sold a large number to the British postal service. They also have orders in the Netherlands. Their website is: http://www.modeczev.com/ Capable of taking 2 ton loads, these could be ideal delivery vans for South Asia. To boot, they come in Right Hand drive, something that the other cars do not come in
7. There is a new concept here of the "Neighborhood Car." This refers to cars that are driven inside city streets and which do not go on highways. In the USA, thjese are given special exemptions if their top speed is restricted to 25 mph / 40 kmph though this particular design is capable of easily exceeding that if the restrictors are removed: http://www.zenncars.com/ The car would be superb for South Asian streets as a low speed people hauler that costs much less than any car in the world in use and which is much safer than the badly designed Indian Reva
There are several planned solutions from Mitsubishi, GM's Chevrolet Division, Nissan, Renault etc for the future as well as limited production cars like the Tesla http://www.teslamotors.com/ and the Fisker Karma http://www.fiskerautomotive.com/ I seriously doubt if any of the big names would come to South Asia. Even in advanced markets theya re being pre-empted by the small guys. Showing fossil fuels the fist also means showing a fist to those who have been making us use oil without bothering to innovate.
Cheers!
Post Script: A friend in Sri Lanka had an intriguing question. Is there any way that treadmills could be hooked up to do small jobs from utilising the energy that exercisers use on them? Run a small fruit juicer, perhaps? So you have an instant smoothie after you finish exercising? Ideas please...
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