Transportation – Page 6

Automobiles, Electric Vehicles, Science & Technology News, Transportation

Germany requires all gas stations to provide EV charging

June 18, 2020

As part of Germany’s new increased electric-vehicle incentive package, the country will require gas stations to offer EV charging. Details about the plan are not yet known, such as the timeline and type of required chargers. But EV advocates quickly praised the move as a boost to electric-car adoption.

BDEW, Germany’s association for energy and water industries, believes that at least 70,000 charging stations and 7,000 fast-charging stations are required to achieve a mass market for EVs in the country. BDEW reports that there are currently about 28,000 stations in Germany.

According to Reuters, electric cars made up only 1.8% of new passenger car registrations last year in Germany, with diesel and petrol cars accounting for 32% and 59.2%, respectively.

New German EV incentives double existing subsidies to €6,000 ($6,720) on electric vehicles costing up to €40,000 ($44,800). Germany will also implement higher taxes for fuel-thirsty, internal-combustion SUVs.

Continue reading… “Germany requires all gas stations to provide EV charging”

Driverless vehicles, Engineering, Science & Technology News, Transportation

Get on board the Sea Train

June 14, 2020

DARPA’s Sea Train concept hopes to enable a convoy of medium-sized unmanned vessels to travel across the ocean without refueling, before splitting up to conduct independent operations. (Courtesy of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency)

Imagine the following scenario.

Four medium-sized U.S. Navy vessels depart from a port along the United States’ coast. There’s no crew aboard any of them.

About 15 nautical miles off the coast, the four vessels rendezvous, autonomously arranging themselves in a line. Using custom mechanisms, they attach to each other to form a train, except they’re in the water and there’s no railroad to guide them. In this configuration the vessels travel 6,500 nautical miles across the open ocean to Southeast Asia. But as they approach their destination, they disconnect, splitting up as each unmanned ship goes its own way to conduct independent operations, such as collecting data with a variety of onboard sensors.

Once those operations are complete, the four reunite, form a train and make the return journey home.

This is the Sea Train, and it may not be as far-fetched as it sounds. The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency is investing in several technologies to make it a reality.

Continue reading… “Get on board the Sea Train”

Electric Automobile, Electric Vehicles, Energy, Science & Technology News, Tesla, Transportation

Chargers are the final roadblock to America’s electric car future

June 13, 2020

As long as there aren’t enough fast plugs in enough places, buyers and big automakers will stay away.

Rods and waders were already packed into the electric Jaguar I-Pace as it gorged a few more electrons from the wall of my New Jersey garage. A quick glance at a map of northeastern Pennsylvania revealed charging stations clinging to the Delaware River like so many spots on the brown trout I was hoping to catch.

A few days later, I pulled up to one of those chargers on the picturesque main street of Honesdale, only to realize it was a level 2 unit—one step above a standard outlet. It would take four hours before the car had enough juice to make the 100-mile trip home. Eleven miles down the road, it was the same story. And while that spot had a superfast Tesla charger, it was incompatible with the I-Pace. The nearest level 3 charger that would work was 58 miles away. So I gave up and settled in for a while.

Electric car-range anxiety revolves around a brutal equation: Remaining miles of battery life (as estimated by the car) minus miles to destination equals hope (or despair). Making matters worse, the answer varies from one minute to the next, depending on terrain and speed. Desperate battery-powered travelers can be easy to spot: They are often sweaty (no air conditioning), driving slowly and—when going uphill—instinctively leaning forward in their seats.

Failing to note the difference between a level 2 charger and a harder-to-find level 3 charger is often the mistake of an electric vehicle rookie. Had I realized the distinction, I would never have considered a car such as the I-Pace (it was a loaner), or any of the dozens of Tesla rivals set to debut in coming years. For the future of electric vehicles in America, that’s a really big problem.

Continue reading… “Chargers are the final roadblock to America’s electric car future”

Automobiles, Electric Vehicles, Science & Technology News, Transportation

Are you brave enough to buy this Innotruck?

June 11, 2020

Your chance to own a truck of the future.

Today you have the unique opportunity to purchase one of two Innotrucks ever built. This radical design study was sponsored by Siemens and led by designer Luigi Colani to design and construct their interpretation of the truck of the future. With a focus on efficiency and modernized design, the Innotruck was born. Now you have the opportunity to own this unique example thanks to a listing on the JamesEdition website.

In 2012 Siemens and Luigi Colani debuted their futuristic truck design to a large crowd at the MobiliTec international trade fair in Germany to stunned crowds. The Innotruck reimagined what a tractor-trailer could be introducing aerodynamics and an eco-friendly drivetrain to combat the inefficiency of our current system.

The cab was integrated into the trailer portion allowing the drivetrain to sit below the drive independent from the trailer. The drive sits in a cockpit reminiscent of a fighter jet with a huge amount of glass allowing for optimal visibility. This space is connected to a beautiful living area catering to the needs of long haul truckers. To enter the cockpit area, the glass canopy opens up and the driver climbs in.

Continue reading… “Are you brave enough to buy this Innotruck?”

Alternative Transportation, Coronavirus, Science & Technology News, Transportation

Two-wheeler rental startups expect to ride high as public transport comes to a halt

June 10, 2020

Self-drive scooter businesses like Bounce, Vogo, and Yulu expect to see an uptick in adoption, with public transportation utilization capped at less than 50% due to social distancing norms.

Self-drive scooter businesses like Bounce, Vogo, and Yulu expect to see an uptick in adoption, with public transportation utilization capped at less than 50% due to social distancing norms and disposable incomes taking a hit owing to salary cuts and lower earnings, these firms tell ET.

The nationwide lockdown has forced state governments to significantly cut public transportation services, restricting commute options for healthcare workers, civic authorities, and delivery executives.

Shared two-wheelers are more efficient and provide low-cost rider-friendly alternative to public transport. “With the movement of people being staggered out, self-drive shared scooters can help drive down the prices through economies of scale and pass on the benefits to the end consumer, in this case—commuters,” said Vivekananda Hallekere, CEO of Bounce.

These businesses, however, say that state governments and businesses need to jointly build newer ways of shared and public transport to cater to safer mobility solutions. “We need to ensure adequate preparedness of cities to cater to these new requirements in the most efficient manner possible,” Anand Ayyadurai, CEO at Vogo, said.

Continue reading… “Two-wheeler rental startups expect to ride high as public transport comes to a halt”

Aviation, Electric Vehicles, new technology, Science & Technology News, Transportation

Pulse eVTOL concept drops its cabin onto an autonomous car chassis

May 31, 2020

The EmbraerX Pulse features a stylish glassed-over cabin that slots into both electric car and eVTOL bodies for seamless multi-mode end-to-end transport

Here’s one we missed from several months ago: Brazilian eVTOL innovator EmbraerX put forth a fun video showing how a multi-mode 3D transport system might work, with an eVTOL air taxi carrying a detachable glassed-over cabin that it delivers straight onto a self-driving car chassis.

The coming new breed of eVTOL air taxis are nearly all, at this stage, designed to work as part of a multi-mode transport scheme. The flying taxis themselves will travel from skyport to skyport, meaning you’ll need other means to get yourself to the takeoff point and something else again at the other end for the last mile. It’s simply not practical to expect eVTOLs to drop you off right at your destination.

Companies like Uber are salivating at the thought of being able to offer the whole service as a single sale, co-ordinating a car at each end to minimize travel time, but that starts looking like a bit of an annoyance when you consider the hope is that people will use these things for the daily commute. Four taxis and two eVTOLs every day is a pain.

And so we get this concept from Embraer’s flying taxi division EmbraerX. The Pulse system has a single, shared, glassed-over luxury cabin that can click into an eVTOL airframe or clip onto a skateboard electric car chassis, something like what REE makes.

Continue reading… “Pulse eVTOL concept drops its cabin onto an autonomous car chassis”

Automobiles, Elon Musk, Science & Technology News, Transportation

Elon Musk’s Boring Company finishes digging Las Vegas tunnels

May 28, 2020

The Boring Company’s test tunnel in Hawthorne, California. Image: The Boring Company

The city’s Convention and Visitors Authority is still planning to open the ‘Loop’ in January 2021

Elon Musk’s Boring Company has completed digging a second tunnel underneath the Las Vegas Convention Center, marking the end of the first phase of the $52.5 million project to build a “people-mover” system to shuttle visitors from one side of the venue to the other. The first of the two tunnels was finished in February.

Workers will now turn their attention to completing the above-ground passenger stations on either end of the tunnels, as well as a third underground station in the middle of the system. The people-mover, which is being formally called the Convention Center Loop, is still scheduled to open to the public in January 2021 in time for the next Consumer Electronics Show — if CES happens, that is.

Continue reading… “Elon Musk’s Boring Company finishes digging Las Vegas tunnels”

Coronavirus, Economy, Science & Technology News, Transportation, Uber

The results are in for the sharing economy. They are ugly

May 27, 2020

An Uber ride in Brooklyn last month. The ride-hailing company’s business collapsed in March as shelter-in-place orders spread through Europe and the United States.

Lyft, Uber and Airbnb depend on travel, vacations and gatherings. That’s a problem when much of the world is staying home.

OAKLAND, Calif. — The coronavirus pandemic has gutted the so-called sharing economy. Its most valuable companies, which started the year by promising that they would soon become profitable, now say consumer demand has all but vanished.

It is not likely to return anytime soon.

Continue reading… “The results are in for the sharing economy. They are ugly”

Aviation, Coronavirus, Science & Technology News, Transportation

These ‘reverse’ airplane seats could be the new way to fly

May 23, 2020

Though the coronavirus has temporarily reshaped the world we live in and set into place a “new normal,” the pandemic could also have major lasting effects on the way we go about our day-to-day months, or even years, down the road. For example, Avio Interiors, an Italy-based airline design firm, just proposed a new plan for “reverse” airplane seats, which could become the new way to fly in a post-pandemic world.

The design, called “Janus” after the two-faced Roman god, is a new take on the three-seater plan. Rather than all three seats facing toward the front of the plane, the Janus design proposes that the middle seat face backward. This ensures “maximum isolation between passengers seated next to each other,” as Avio Interiors explains in a April 20 Instagram post.

Continue reading… “These ‘reverse’ airplane seats could be the new way to fly”

Engineering, Record Breaker, Science & Technology News, Transportation

Fehmarn Belt Fixed Link: Denmark approves start of work for €7 billion underwater tunnel to Germany

May 16, 2020

Danish MPs have given the green light to the construction of the Fehmarnbelt underwater tunnel which will reduce travel time between the country and Germany to just a few minutes.

Work on the Danish side is now expected to start on January 1, 2021, and the tunnel — known as the Fehmarnbelt link — is now forecast to open in mid-2029, the Ministry of Transport said in a statement on Friday.

Transport Minister Benny Engelbrecht hailed the MPs agreement as a “historic decision”, describing the tunnel as “a new gateway to Europe”.

Continue reading… “Fehmarn Belt Fixed Link: Denmark approves start of work for €7 billion underwater tunnel to Germany”

Coronavirus, Science & Technology News, Transportation, Trending

A Coronavirus silver lining : Less driving, fewer crashes

May 14, 2020

Motor vehicle crashes cost the US $242 billion a year, according to the most recent estimate.

A study finds that California lockdown restrictions reduced crashes that kill or seriously injure people to 200 a day, down from 400 in the same period last year.

FOR ALL THE misery Covid-19 has wrought, the shelter-in-place orders imposed in the name of public health have yielded a few benefits, at least for driving. American motorists are putting half as many miles on their odometers as they usually do this time of year, according to Arity, a data analytics company. One result is reduced air pollution. Another is fewer crashes, saving lives and money. In California alone, those savings amount to some $40 million each day, well over $1 billion since the state went into lockdown mode in March.

That figure—presented in a new study by researchers at the UC Davis—is surprising only if you don’t consider the economic ripples of a crash. Counting medical expenses and productivity losses stemming from injuries and deaths, car crashes cost the US economy more than $75 billion in 2017. Throw in property damage, emergency responders, insurance costs, congestion, and the inevitable court cases, and it’s far more. In 2010, the most recent year for which the grand total is available, crashes cost the US $242 billion. California accounted for $20 billion of that sum.

Continue reading… “A Coronavirus silver lining : Less driving, fewer crashes”

Aviation, Coronavirus, Science & Technology News, Transportation, Travel

Design firm proposes new airline seating arrangements in response to coronavirus pandemic

May 7, 2020

Although the chances of contracting COVID-19 on an airplane are low, there are certain precautions passengers can take and protocol in place for the CDC to follow if a sick passenger is reported.

An Italian manufacturing firm has unveiled two of its concepts for aircraft seating in a post-coronavirus world, both of which propose some degree of physical separation among passengers seated in the same row.

Aviointeriors, a company that was once mocked for its “standing” plane seats, shared both designs to social media this week, explaining how each would promote “isolation” among travelers on the same aircraft.

Continue reading… “Design firm proposes new airline seating arrangements in response to coronavirus pandemic”