Solar Taxi on Tour

If you thought Solar Taxi was the name of a new rock group, think again. The Solar Taxi is a two-seater solar powered electric car that can go over 200 miles without recharging and can reach a maximum speed of 60 MPH. The car is powered by a five-meter solar trailer covered with six square meters of solar cells. Electricity is stored in a newly invented ZEBRA battery. It’s the brainchild of Swiss teacher, adventurer and environmentalist, Louis Palmer, whose dream is to drive this car around the world without using a single drop of gas or creating a single CO2 emission. His dream is coming true right now. The point, according to Palmer, is bigger than a personal challenge. He wants draw attention to the need for alternatives to fossil fuel and to demonstrate that there are solutions to global warming.

The Solar Taxi team started driving west from Europe last July and has now traveled more than 34,000 kilometers covering India, China, S. Korea, and Australia. At the moment they are cruising down the west coast of the United States—country number 28 so far—making stops at various UC campuses before heading east. They plan to be in Montreal by the end of September. The tour will finish at the World Climate Change Conference in Poznan, Poland on December 3^rd. You can check out the route here. Stop by and say hello if you have a chance.

Driving the Solartaxi in India
Holy Cow :-) The Solartaxi team had to lean on the horn driving in India

from Shanghai to Beijing in China
Solartaxi takes on Chinese beaurocracy-- they don't call it red tape for nothing :-)

GM Goes Green in A World-Wide Way

As if all the hoopla about GM’s new Chevy Volt electric car weren’t enough, the Detroit based automaker has gone a step further in repenting for its sinful, SUV producing past. As part of its new green image, GM announced on July 8th that it will install the largest solar roof in the world on its car assembly plant located in Zaragoza, Spain. The project will cover 2 million square feet of rooftop, and will use approximately 85,000 solar panels. On completion the project should generate 15.1 million kilowatts of power per year. The company is not just talking green talk, it is putting its resources into walking the green walk. It's a brave move as there is little margin for error.

GM’s announcement comes amid whispers of bankruptcy and at a time when GM stock is lower in price than it has been in 40 years. What will happen, both to the project and to GM, is anybody’s guess, but clearly, one of America’s biggest corporations has totally reversed course and realized that the future of the country and of the world lies in finding viable alternatives to fossil fuel. It’s good to see an American automaker waking up to reality. Come home to America, GM. All is forgiven. I can’t wait to test drive a Volt.

GM Europe President Carl-Peter Forster discusses this new project.

NOT Working on Solar Panel Powered Electric Cars Says Dyson-Just a Digital Motor

The news was announced a couple of weeks ago in an article in Britain’s respected Independent newspaper. England’s most famous inventor, Sir James Dyson, is developing an electric car powered by solar panels and capable of real speed and distance. Web Pundits and bloggers all over the world picked up on it right away. What an appealing idea: The man who liberated the housewife from icky vacuum cleaner bags is going to free us all from the tyranny of the internal combustion engine. The news spread across the internet with the speed of a Paris Hilton video.

And then the Dyson spin machine turned on and the retractions started. Bloggers and web-pundits who had heralded the news last week have taken it all back in the past few days. The company’s Public Information office explained that Sir James, in his interview with the Independent, was talking about their cutting edge digital vacuum cleaner motor and just observed that it could possibly be used to power an electric car. The journalists misunderstood.(yeah, sure) Listen to the audio clip on Gas2.0.com.

I, for one, don’t believe a word of it. Journalists, particularly in big print media, are big on fact-checking and getting quotes right. The reclusive Dyson just wants the media off his back is what I think. Who can blame him? I wouldn’t want the pressure either if I were in his shoes. But I bet the work goes on, and I’d put my money on Dyson any day to come up with just what the world needs—a fast electric car powered by solar roof panels.

Photo by nobihaya Thank you!