Treehugger.com recently reported on an intriguing new car prototype. Designed by the former lead designer at Volkswagen, Murat Günak, and financed by Swiss millionaire, Lorenzo Schmid the team has created Mindset Six50 – an electric car with built-in solar panels on top.
The team purposely designed the car to be lightweight and spunky. The current prototype has an aluminum frame and plastic body and weighs roughly 1,800 pounds. The car uses lithium ion batteries, and the solar panels built into the roof help charge the batteries. Its purported range is 62 miles on a full charge.
For speedsters, the Six50’s light chassis and 95-horse power motor should propel the car at up to 75 mph and go from 0 to 62 miles per hour in under 6-seconds.
Automotive News published an interview with Günak who explained his green car venture in pure business terms, “today’s demand for ultra-low emission cars comes from mainstream buyers [as opposed to traditional environmentalists] who understand the changing world. For them a zero-emission car means status.” Günak went on to say that the Six50 is a “realistic and very usable vehicle with sufficient performance, and with series production in mind. We think we can sell 10,000 a year.”
The car won’t be cheap. Treehugger.com says the vehicle’s projected price tag hovers around 50,000 Euros (close to $79,000) when it hits the streets in 2009.
July 9, 2008
Bertrand Piccard, the man who in 1999 made history by flying with Brian Jones around the world in a hot air balloon, has set his energies on solar flying.
Currently Piccard and his company are developing a solar-powered airplane. The Europe edition of the Wall Street Journal reports that Piccard and his team are testing prototypes and conducting flight simulations for the Solar Impulse, an aircraft with an 80 meter wingspan and the approximate weight of a car (roughly 2 tons). In 2011 or 2012 Piccard and company plan to fly around the world in their solar airplane.
They still have a way to go to develop and synchronize the various technologies needed to create an uber-efficient and aerodynamic machine. Nevertheless it’s exciting to know people are tackling the challenge.
May 30, 2008
There’s a village on the island of Jeju-do in South Korea that relies completely on solar energy to light and power its buildings.
The village of Donggwang is small (40 homes), yet its environmental non-impact is huge. In 2004, the South Korean government covered 70 percent of the installation costs to place solar photovoltaic panels on the roofs of all the homes, schools, and other buildings in the village. Now the sun supplies 100 percent of the village’s electricity needs.
Treehugger.com picked up on the blog originally posted on Ecoworthy.com over the weekend. The author does not say why the Korean government offered to cover 70 percent of Donggwang’s installation costs. Videos on YouTube depict Jeju-do as a beautiful and lush semi-tropical island that tourist websites call a lovely vacation and popular honeymoon destination.
Now all us solar fanatics have another reason to visit!
May 12, 2008
