Have you ever wanted a Segway scooter, but thought that having two wheels was one-to-many? Well ladies and gentlemen, here’s your solution. It’s called the RYNO Micro Cycle and it seeks to take transportation in an even weirder direction. The RYNO is for all intents and purposes, the worlds first electric production one-wheeled cycle. It employs a gyroscopic stabilizer to keep you pointed upwards and is said to be able to obtain speeds of 25 mph with a 30-mile range. Powered by a lithium-iron-phosphate battery pack, its recharge time is just an hour and a half. Not bad if you ask me. RYNO is not targeting the traditional scooter buyer, nor are they looking at the Segway customer. Instead their focus is for those who seek reliable green transportation with space saving capabilities.

It’s cool, but honestly this thing just screams FACE PLANT every time I look at it.

Source: Ryno Motors

It’s no surprise that you may think that toilets sell themselves. However dig a little deeper and you’ll realize that creating a great porcelain throne takes time, money and a great marketing budget. Japanese toilet maker Toto understands this and has recently come up with a pretty unconventional plan to get the word out about their newest products. You see there’s thinking outside the box, and then there’s thinking OUTSIDE the box, and in Toto’s case their box has three wheels and is powered by bio-fuel. Toto figures that by making this trike run on poop-powered bio-gas that they’ll not only raise awareness for renewable energy, but in the process, sell some fancy new toilet bowls. Company spokesman Kenji Fujita stated, “Although the seat of the bike is indeed a toilet, it is not for actual use.”

The fuel is produced by breaking down and fermenting a combination of household and livestock waste into a gas form, which is then stored in twin tanks on the back of the bike. Fujita also stated that, “At first when I saw the bike, I was taken aback. But after riding it, I found it quite interesting,” she said. “It doesn’t hurt at all and is actually quite comfortable to sit on.”

Hmm… interesting.

Source: NBCNewYork.com

Ever since I moved out to the West Coast I’ve been noticing a trend amongst those who drive hybrids and electric cars. For one, they’re generally more aggressive behind the wheel and two, they seem to feel that because they drive an economy car that this gives them the right to act like complete assholes on the open road. Now don’t get me wrong, I’ve been known to fracture an occasional traffic law from time to time, but these hybrid drivers, especially those who pilot the Toyota Prius, are in a class by themselves. On the highway for instance it’s more often than not that I see Prius drivers motoring at 80-85 mph through traffic. I’ve been flashed by them, tailgated by them and even flicked off by a few. I’ve also been chastised by owners while getting coffee for driving what they consider to be gas guzzling automobiles.

Back in NYC the Prius driver used these cars as they were intended – to get great economy. They drove them in a normal fashion and simply enjoyed their little hybrids. Out here in California though it’s almost as if owners used them as a way to be passive aggressive on the open road – “Yes of course I’m speeding and driving erratically, but I drive a Prius, so it’s ok…” Now I suppose I could be imagining this, but I highly doubt it. What I’m curious to know is, has anyone out there experienced a similar occurrence or am I the only one?

By 2036, I think that most transportation will involve horses and ox carts, but Mercedes-Benz has a more pleasant and upbeat view of the future. Debuting at this week’s Frankfurt Auto Show is Mercedes’ F 125 Concept, which shows the possible future of motorized transportation, as interpreted by Mercedes Benz.

Power comes from four electric motors, fed by both lithium sulphur batteries and by a hydrogen-powered fuel cell. The onboard storage tanks hold enough hydrogen to give the car a (theoretical) range of around 620 miles, while emitting zero pollution in the process.

To keep weight down, the body is made from fiber-reinforced plastics, while the rest of the chassis is made from carbon fiber, aluminum and high-strength steel. As you’d expect of a car from the future, it can either be driven by a human operator or piloted (without error, of course) by onboard computers in a semi-autonomous mode. Forget buttons, switches and knobs, since the future is controlled by hand gestures.

In keeping with tradition, Mercedes has graced the F 125 with gullwing doors, a nod to both the SLS AMG and to the storied 300 SL Gullwing. The doors on the F 125 aren’t exactly stylish, though, since they may be the largest doors I’ve ever seen on a concept or production vehicle. I wouldn’t be overly concerned just yet, since Mercedes Benz still has 25 years to work out the styling bugs. And build the hydrogen infrastructure.

Source: Mercedes-Benz

Filling up my car with fuel is something that I would really prefer not to do. For one, it takes premium and two, I simply don’t like paying for gas. This morning for example I took a trip to the pump and paid $3.51 per gallon for just a tick over 17 gallons of fuel. My bill… just over $60.00. Now, in as much as I hate doing that, the truth is what alternatives do we really have? We either pay what we’re told, buy an expensive electric car, or go back to riding bicycles to work. Keep in mind that I know my car is a gas guzzling whore, but like the old saying goes, “if you want to play, you’ve got to pay.”

In the United States we bitch constantly about the cost of fuel, but compared to places like the UK, what we pay is a downright bargain. According to the BBC News, prices in the UK have just hit a record high at nearly $7.30 per gallon, a price that would cause American’s to go ballistic. That would mean that my $60.00 tank of fuel would now cost over $120.00 – oh hells NO! I remember last year when fuel prices were bouncing over $4.00 per gallon and people were going nuts. So the real question is, what would the price have to reach in order for you to find an alternate source of transportation?

Source: BBCNews via Autoblog

Toyota drove this fuel cell powered Highlander from Alaska to Vancouver in 2007.

In an attempt to generate some good press for the troubled automaker, Toyota has announced that they will bring to market a hydrogen powered sedan in 2015. Perhaps the most surprising revelation was the projected cost of approximately $50,000, or that fact that Toyota claims such a product will be profitable. Previously, hydrogen fueled vehicles had been prohibitively expensive, costing in the hundreds of thousands of dollars to manufacture. Major automakers, including Ford, Renault / Nissan and GM have abandoned their hydrogen car development efforts in favor of electric and hybrid car programs, whose technology is both more mature and more affordable.

There are two ways to power a vehicle with hydrogen: the simplest involves converting an internal combustion to burn hydrogen instead of fossil fuel. Problems with this type of design are many; first, you need a safe containment vessel for the pressurized (and highly flammable) hydrogen gas, which adds considerable weight and consumes storage space. Next, there’s the problem of infrastructure; without a network of hydrogen fueling stations, drivers must be careful where they go in hydrogen powered vehicles. You can’t just hop on Interstate 80 and drive from California to New York without some serious advanced planning. Which leads to the third problem of using hydrogen as a fuel: although highly combustible, it doesn’t have the energy density of gasoline. In other words, a lot more hydrogen is required to give you a range similar to that of a gasoline powered vehicle.

Another way to use hydrogen to power a vehicle (and the method most likely under development at Toyota) is in a fuel cell, where reacting hydrogen with oxygen produces electricity in a manner similar to a conventional battery. Unlike battery powered vehicles, fuel cell vehicles don’t require recharging via electricity; instead, the driver “recharges” the fuel cell by adding more hydrogen. Issues with hydrogen refueling stations aside, the fuel cell design has several drawbacks. Until now, cost to produce the fuel cell elements has been prohibitively high. The fuel cells themselves are extremely fragile, and can be damaged by impact, vibration or even impurities in the hydrogen. Fuel cells are not environmentally robust, and must be kept at temperatures above freezing to function. Finally, there’s the issue of service life: current designs have been tested to approximately 7,500 service hours under ideal conditions, but a true lifespan for a road going vehicle has yet to be determined.

Although hydrogen is called the “most abundant element in the universe”, it doesn’t occur in pure form on earth. There may be a lot of it around, but energy is required to separate hydrogen from other elements it bonds with. Conventional methods of production involve the use of fossil fuels, which defeats the purpose of hydrogen power in the first place. New methods of hydrogen extraction, using wind or solar power are under development, but do not yet yield the quantities necessary to make hydrogen a viable fuel source.

The Zap Alias, one of 32 vehicles in contention.

Sooner or later, any comparison between vehicles comes down to this: it doesn’t matter how good it looks on paper, you’ve got to back that up with performance on the race track. So it goes for competitors vying for Progressive Insurance’s Automotive X Prize, a massive promotional effort to highlight alternative fuel and green car technology. The payout for the winners is a shared purse of $10 million, plus the international notoriety that will come with grabbing the title. We’ve previously told you about teams such as RaceAbout Association and OptaMotive, but there are a total of 32 teams in the competition. Some, like Tata Motors, have the full backing of a parent with deep pockets. Others, like RaceAbout and OptaMotive are working on shoestring budgets.

This week begins the shakedown testing at Michigan International Speedway, where teams have until May 7 to work the bugs out of their vehicles in a real-world environment. Knockout Qualifying is scheduled for June 20 to 28, and will determine the vehicles that best meet criteria for both performance and production ability. Winners of the second stage will compete in the Finals, scheduled for July 19 to 30. Once this phase has concluded, teams must undergo validation testing (the dreaded “teardown”) before winners are announced in August.

Source: Automotive X Prize Track Testing Begins This Week

This new wave of hydrogen fuel cell cars is not due to new technology, but instead a demand from the public in response to rising gas prices. In fact, fuel cells have been around since the early 1800′s. Even so the first car to put fuel cell technology to use was the 1966 GM Electrovan.  This van’s fuel cell had a range of over 120 miles which is not to bad compared to the modern Honda Clarity which has a range of 24o miles. This van was built and tested in 1966 but ultimately ended up failing due to cost and a lack of space.  The piping and equipment needed to power the fuel cell turned the 6 seat GMC Handivan into a 2 seat hyrdogen Electrovan. High costs came as a result of a lack of information, technology, and interest at the time. There was such a lack of information on hydrogen fuel cell cars that even the Smithsonian Institute did not allow it inside their facilities for the sole reason that they had never heard of a fuel cell before and did not understand it’s dynamics. Obviously the information  and technology available today makes the hydrogen fuel cell cars more affordable and safe, but the main reason they may now succeed is that there is a greater worldwide interest due to the global energy demand and rising fuel prices.

Although the variety of alternative fuels, hybrids and electric vehicles being pursued may project a serious commitment by the automakers to explore a new path, the long term viability of all of these different solutions and approaches is probably not sustainable indefinitely. Just as the internal combustion gasoline engine emerged out of a number of early contenders to dominate the automobiles life up to this point, one or two of these technologies will most likely be successful enough that ultimately it is adopted more than any of the others.

This, in part, explains why Mazda has remained on the periphery of the hybrid/electric discussion. Mazda’s approach has instead turned towards replacing gasoline with hydrogen.

They are not alone. Several automakers have invested in hydrogen research, including GM and Toyota. But unlike these manufacturers, Mazda is not interested in using hydrogen primarily in fuel cells as generators of electricity, but as the direct fuel for the internal combustion engine itself. The benefit in burning hydrogen is that, unlike a fuel cell, it does not require the owner to accommodate lengthy charge-up periods, or strict limits to driving range. Also, because Mazda is burning hydrogen in its existing rotary engines, the Mazda hybrids can switch from hydrogen to gasoline operation at any time, increasing the car’s range and the ability to use whatever fuel is available.

One hydrogen prototype is a modified version of Mazda’s RX-8, modified to run on both hydrogen and gasoline. The car simply burns hydrogen in its engine to provide power, and allows the driver to switch between the hydrogen and gasoline fuel tanks. The car has about a 60 mile range on a tank of pure H2, at which point the car will switch to gasoline. Apart from a slight drop in horsepower when running on hydrogen, there’s not a significant difference between driving on hydrogen and gasoline.

The second vehicle is a modified version of the Mazda5 minivan-like passenger car. This vehicle uses a series hybrid drive-train; the internal combustion engine is used only to recharge the batteries or directly generate electricity to run the electric drive motor. Like the RX-8, this vehicle can travel up to 60 miles using its on board hydrogen supply before switching to gasoline.

There are other drawbacks than just the relatively modest driving range on hydrogen. Since hydrogen is not an energy source, but rather the means of storing energy, it currently takes more energy to create a tank of hydrogen than can currently be retrieved back out of the gas. But perhaps the biggest hurdle to fueling a hydrogen car is the lack of infrastructure currently available, ie: gas stations. But, of course, the same could be said of any of the gas alternative plans. And just like them, Mazda’s hydrogen plan is at least a decent place to start.

The Nikkei, as well as Kyodo News, is reporting that Honda will be introducing an electric vehicle in the next few years. They have worked extensively on fuel cell technology, but it has proven to be too expensive to create a niche.

[GreenCarCongress via Jalopnik]