RideLust

Pininfarina B0 (B Zero) Electric Car

One of the surprise hits so far from the Paris Auto Show is the unfortunately named Pininfarina B0 (pronounced B Zero) electric car. The car is dedicated to the memory of CEO Andrea Pininfarina, who recently died in an auto accident. The B Zero, which is a full scale production car, not just a concept, is a four-seat, four-door electric hatchback created in partnership with the French company Bolloré.

The first B Zeros (I can’t bring myself to call such a nice looking car the B0) should start rolling off the line in late 2009. Pininfarina always does nice work, but this B0 is particularly impressive. It not only looks nice, it has a really well designed inner structure; for example, the lithium polymer LMP batteries will be located under the vehcile, between the axles to give the B0 a more stable center of gravity. The batteries in electric cars are often one of the heaviest parts of the car. Pics after the jump
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Last year, Green Earth Technologies’ G-OIL motor oil got the Popular Mechanics Editor’s Choice Award at the ninth annual Automotive Aftermarket Products Expo (AAPEX) held in Las Vegas. It was on the top of Popular Mechanics’ editors’ best new products of 2007 as well. G-Oil is a motor oil made with American-grown base oils, namely cow fats.

Recently, EcoGeek had an article about Green Earth Technologies new addition to it’s automotive lubricant G-Oil line, a 10W-30 with amazing biodegradability. The oil biodegraded over 90% in only 9 days, which is 19 days faster than the American Society of Testing Materials required 28-day rate.
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No, it’s not a National Aeronautics and Space Administration car, it’s just called NAŠA. Who knows, it probably means something in Czech, but that language is about as decipherable as Klingon, so we’ll just forget about the meaning. More importantly, it spins in circles.

It was built by two Czech students from Tomas Bata University, Marek Kedzierski and Michal Vlcek, and it won the first finalist position in the Škoda Auto competition. It’s a two seater with no doors or windows and an upper body made of neoprene. But the design of this particular car is important because of its function, not because of how pretty it is.

The rear tires turn in this car, allowing it to spin in a perfectly tight circle. Check out the pics after the jump:
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On Friday, I posted The Chevron Experience, Part 1 [Group Sex Video Footage Edited For Content And To Run In Time Allowed] , which briefly outlined my tour of Chevron’s Richmond Technology Center in California. My account was cut short, however, due in equal parts to the fact that there was a wealth of information that I needed to organize, and that there was a substantial amount of my travel budget [provided courtesy of Chevron], that needed to be spent at various San Franciscan drinking establishments, immediately. I promised a full, uncensored post on Monday, but technical difficulties with RideLust and the mother of all hangovers prevented me from making good on my word, delaying the big reveal until today. Read More…

This is NOT the World’s Smallest Car

The illustrious title of World’s Smallest Car, sought by many, but held by only one. And who is that one? No, it’s not the car above, or the Smart ForTwo, or the Tata Nano; not the obscure Waaijenberg Canta or even the Peel P50, no matter what the Guinness Book of World Records says. Those cars are giants compared to the real smallest car.

So what is it? Check out the REAL picture after the jump:
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Structural Integrity – The windshield is an important part of a vehicle’s energy management systems, which directs crash energy around the occupant compartment. If the windshield is improperly installed, the vehicle may crumple differently than the manufacturer intended, which may jeopardize occupants.
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The ugly face of progress hides well behind the soot and smog that roosts over China’s cities, big and small, like a Carbon chicken smothering her masked hatch-lings who are choking on their breathes. A recent study by the University of California has granted China the title of being the Number 1 Polluter in the world, a title the United States has carried for quite some time with a particular level of quiet distinction.

At China’s rate of growth any in-roads made by other developed nations to curb their Greenhouse gas emissions over the next decade will have no impact on the global gains of pollution streaming from China’s industrial expansion. Both China and the United Nations are declaring that aid and new technologies should be shared from the other developed nations on how to reduce their noxious emissions. However, to make any progress in the realm of pollution it begins with education.

In the 1970′s the US began to educate its masses, starting with the children, on the ills of littering and pollution. As the 1980′s were dominated by Trickle-Down Economics, so too was the domination of Trickle-Up Education as the young corrected their parents on the dangers and risks of littering and pollution to their future. Ofcourse that is a tough step in a nation like China who’s education comes straight from the top government officials for whom the recognition of negative facts are rarely admitted and never shared. Read More…

At the SAE World Congress in Ford product chief Derrick Kuzak made clear that the next generation Ford Focus in either 2010 or 2011 would receive one world design. Then he spoiled it by saying that it would be a joint effort between their North American and European design and engineering teams.

Part of Fords reorganization under President and CEO Allan Mulally has been to move toward this Global Platform procedure to cut down costs and duplication in worldwide designs. As with most things in the automotive industry (except for layoff’s) these types of changes take time and calculated planning.

The next generation Focus will be built upon Ford’s C1 platform and will hopefully provide North America a design that is on par with the Euro-spec Focus. How the North American designed current model Focus made it passed the drawing board is unfathomable and inexcusable.

As Kuzak stated, “Our business starts and stops with product.” If this globalization of design brings an RS and ST packaged Focus to the US then it might be a product worth starting with.

Source[AutoWeek]

There are many alternative fuels and fuel sources that are all vying to become the next gas giant. Some people champion turning corn or sugar cane or other cellulostic crops into ethanol. Some diesel owners are happy to scrape used vegetable oil to run as fuel in their car. Some government officials and industry leaders would still like to see coal and oil sand converted into gasoline as a means of supplanting foreign oil dependency. However, with each of the above alternatives there are significant hurdles.

In most cellulostic ethanol production a strain is placed on the food crops that are being used that have resulted in higher prices for products like corn. Free, used vegetable oil used in older diesels is a great free alternative fuel if you do not have to drive very far or fast. Vegetable oil does not produce the same horsepower/torque as fossil fuel diesel and can turn an 80-hp Mercedes into a real slow dog. And those who tout the vast supply of coal and oil sand of North America as the next great fuel supply forget that part of the reason we are pushing alternative fuels is to reduce our CO2 output. Unless all car manufacturers can convert their products to PZEV (Partial Zero Emissions Vehicles) coal-to-fuel and oil sand does not improve our situation.

As a result and after much reading and consideration we see Algae BioFuel, in a closed water system, may be the best alternative we have going right now. Currently there are two means of Algae production that are heading into mass production in the coming months. Read More…

What some people can achieve with some spare time and a lot of creativity is sometimes worthy of some headlines. One such creative achievement built and exposed onto the web under the handle Crowkillers is the 2009 LEGO Camaro you see in the photo above. Using the famed toy, some painstaking adjustments and a good bit of engineering the LEGO Camaro comes complete with an LS2 Engine replica and a 6-speed transmission with reverse.

Like many collectors Crowkillers was not content to only have one of the new model Camaro’s in his stable. Instead, he built two: one orange and one black with orange stripes.

Check out the large gallery of pics after the leap to observe in full-detail what goes into a LEGO Camaro. Read More…