Auto & Car Blog

Archive for the 'futurecar' Category

Futurecar report on the GM “Skateboard” car on YouTube

Wednesday, February 21st, 2007

Filed under: Hydrogen, GM

Discovery channel has been running a four part series called FutureCar for the past few weeks and one of the segments focused on the GM Skateboard chassis that was first shown a few years back, featuring fuel cell power and complete by-wire controls. A variation of the Skateboard is used on the Sequel concept.

The segment doesn’t delve too deeply into the technology, but instead focuses on a group of design interns . They were with tasked developing some new concepts that took advantage of the packaging flexibility afforded by low profile chassis and electronic controls. The Ford HySeries Drive system is similar in concept, minus the by-wire controls, and the Airstream concept was also designed to showcase packaging flexibility, even if the aesthetics were questionable.

[Source: Hugg.com - thanks to Linton for the tip]

Read | Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

BOLD MOVES: THE FUTURE OF FORD Step behind the curtain at Ford Motor. Experience the documentary first-hand.

Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in Uncategorized, discovery channel, DiscoveryChannel, futurecar, skateboard | No Comments »

Automotive X-Prize releases rules for 2009 race

Wednesday, December 31st, 1969

Filed under: Motorsports, Trends, Green, Tech

Sister-blog AB Green just posted this story about X-Prize. Remember X-Prize? They were the organization that put up a considerable sum of money to reward the first person to successfully go into outer space with their own spacecraft. After Burt Rutan won that first X-Prize with his SpaceShip 1, the foundation decided to get its head out of the clouds, so to speak. As a follow-up to the space program, you can probably guess what their new contest is all about, considering we’re covering it on AB and AB Green. The new Automotive X-Prize is designed “to inspire the development of commercially viable, super efficient vehicles that move beyond the petroleum monoculture.” Think green here.

X-Prize released their initial set of rules recently to see what everybody thinks about the plan. Basically it’s a race for “production viable vehicles” that get the equivalent of at least 100 mpg and meet some strict emissions requirements. And they really want cars that can actually be produced. No science fiction one-offs here. Split into two classes, two races are planned for sometime in 2009 to evaluate the projects. The first class sounds like the more practical and familiar group, requiring seating for at least four passengers and being driven by at least four wheels. The second category should be the fun one. While they require it seat at least two people, there is no wheel requirement. X-Prize will unveil the first draft publicly at the New York Auto Show, but you can read the draft as a PDF by clicking here.

And we encourage you to click the read link to see AB Green’s exclusive interview with Auto X-Prize’s Mark Goodstein.

[Source: Automotive X-Prize via AutoblogGreen]

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

BOLD MOVES: THE FUTURE OF FORD A new documentary series. Be part of the transformation as it happens in real-time