Lifeboat Foundation

Imagine having an autonomous RV.

We all love and dream of having an RV, but having an electric-powered autonomous RV could be the ultimate dream. There are many RV designs on trucks, but having an autonomous truck that drives you anywhere you wish while doing the chores could be the future of both transport and housing.

Based on the specifications Tesla revealed this week and how amazing these renderings of the electric truck as a motorhome appear, the Tesla Semi may become a fantastic electric-powered luxury RV.

Continue reading “A design company has turned a Tesla Semi into an RV concept” »

Researchers around the world are on a mission to relieve a bottleneck in the clean energy revolution: batteries. From electric vehicles to renewable grid-scale energy storage, batteries are at the heart of society’s most crucial green innovations—but they need to pack more energy to make these technologies widespread and practical.

Now, a team of scientists led by chemists at the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Brookhaven National Laboratory and Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) has unraveled the complex chemical mechanisms of a battery component that is crucial for boosting energy density: the interphase. Their work published today in Nature Nanotechnology.

LIDAR is to autonomous vehicles, as echolocation and sonar are to bats and dolphins.

Third-generation (L3) LIDAR provides Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) with datasets and imaging to support full autonomy.

The vehicle has a 900kg dry weight and 900hp (662kW) output.

Italian performance brand De Tomaso has released the P900, a track-only V12-powered hypercar with a 900kg dry weight and 900hp (662kW) output, according to a report.

The carmaker will produce only 18 units globally of these bad boys and price them at a whopping US $3 million each which will ensure their drivers know they have a truly unique car. Each car will be further customized to the customer’s choices.

Continue reading “De Tomaso unveils ‘world’s first’ carbon neutral synthetic-fuel-driven hypercar” »

On Wednesday, Airbus revealed in a press release that it was developing a hydrogen-powered fuel cell engine as one of the potential solutions to equip its zero-emission aircraft that will enter service by 2035.

The next steps will be for Airbus to start ground and flight testing this fuel cell engine architecture onboard its ZEROe demonstrator aircraft. The A380 MSN1 flight test aircraft is currently being altered to give it the capacity to carry liquid hydrogen tanks and their distribution systems.

Hydrogen fuel cell cars emerged as an alternative to both the electric and combustion engine vehicle in the early 2000s. They were widely considered an avenue toward universal green motoring.

Materials that learn to change their shape in response to an external stimulus are a step closer to reality, thanks to a prototype system produced by engineers at UCLA.

Living entities constantly learn, adapting their behaviors to the environment so that they can thrive regardless of their surroundings. Inanimate materials typically don’t learn, except in science fiction movies. Now a team led by Jonathan Hopkins of the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), has demonstrated a so-called architected material that is capable of learning [1]. The material, which is made up of a network of beam-like components, learns to adapt its structure in response to a stimulus so that it can take on a specific shape. The team says that the material could act as a model system for future “intelligent” manufacturing.

The material developed by Hopkins and colleagues is a so-called mechanical neural network (MNN). If produced on a commercial scale, scientists think that these intelligent materials could revolutionize manufacturing in fields from building construction to fashion design. For example, an aircraft wing made from a MNN could learn to morph its shape in response to a change in wind conditions to maintain the aircraft’s flying efficiency; a house made from a MNN could adjust its structure to maintain the building’s integrity during an earthquake; and a shirt weaved from a MNN could alter its pattern so that it fits a person of any size.

The facility will produce one car a week, to begin with.

Dutch company Lightyear, which has spent the last six years developing technologies to make the world’s first solar-powered electric vehicle has now entered a very important phase of its lifetime. Its first model, Lightyear 0 has now entered production, a company press release said.

Continue reading “The world’s first solar electric car Lightyear 0 now enters production” »

Tesla on Thursday delivered its first electric semitrailer truck to PepsiCo, as the electric vehicle maker expands its offerings beyond passenger cars.

Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla, drove a Semi to the delivery event, which was held at a factory near Reno, Nevada.

Continue reading “Tesla just delivered its first all-electric Semi truck to PepsiCo and said it can cover up to 500 miles on a single charge” »