A Laboratory of the Future Human Experience
ver2 electric bike
Industrial designer Yuji Fujimura has developed a unique concept bike utilizing a lithium-ion battery. This means that the bike is rechargeable as well as reliable for long term use. The ver2 battery will provide power to the motor, so that this bike can be used as an electric bike or electric motor cycle. When ver2 is in motor cycle mode, both pedals will set themselves at the lowest position. (Pics)
Woman riding electric bike
In Xiamen, China, Zhou Debao weaves his electric bike through the busy city streets to pick up dried noodles and candy to sell at his family’s convenience store. His wife sometimes borrows it to run errands, and his son, to go to work.
Continue reading… “Electric Bikes Struggle To Take Ground In U.S.”
This graphic illustrates the multilayered structure of a ReVolt rechargeable zinc-air battery.
A Swiss company says it has developed rechargeable zinc-air batteries that can store three times the energy of lithium ion batteries, by volume, while costing only half as much. ReVolt, of Staefa, Switzerland, plans to sell small “button cell” batteries for hearing aids starting next year and to incorporate its technology into ever larger batteries, introducing cell-phone and electric bicycle batteries in the next few years. It is also starting to develop large-format batteries for electric vehicles.
Energizer’s Solar Recharger looks, at first glance, like a confused device. Is it an iPod battery extender? AA charger? Solar adapter? Well, it’s all of these things, which is why it’s awesome.
The Partytron Pyramid
What weighs 8,000 pounds, turns on a dime, and looks like an Egyptian pyramid? The Dream Car 123!
It may look like a pyramid, but it’s outfitted like a tank and lights up in neon colors at night. The best part is that it runs on electricity. 3.5 hour charge will take the Dream Car 240 miles at up to 40 mph.
The Economist has an interesting article on the next big thing in automotive industry: the quest in search of the perfect battery.
Rechargeable lithium-ion batteries, which helped to make the mobile-phone revolution possible in the past decade, are now expected to power the increasing electrification of the car. “They are clearly the next step,” says Mary Ann Wright, the boss of Johnson Controls-Saft Advanced Power Solutions, a joint venture that recently opened a factory in France to produce lithium-ion batteries for hybrid vehicles.