The Turbine-Powered, Chevy Volt of Airliners Looks Fantastic. Image: Courtesy EADS The European airline industry has seen the future of aviation.
It’s sleek and organic, carries a sextet of turbines, and its powertrain works a lot like the Chevrolet Volt. The European aerospace consortium EADS has recently shown everything from its largest airliner, the Airbus A380, to its latest electric airplane idea, the E-Fan. But tucked inside the company’s huge chalet at the Paris Air Show was a small model where the two concepts meet — in 2050. The E-Thrust project is part of the EADS Innovation Works program, a partnership with engine maker Rolls-Royce. Like the NASA turboelectric distributed propulsion research project (TeDP), the EADS distributed electrical aerospace propulsion project (DEAP) uses a serial electric hybrid system to power the airliner of the future (AotF… just kidding). The six electric fans and tail-mounted turbine engine in the E-Thrust concept design from EADS.
The E-Thrust as it currently exists on display at the Paris Air Show. Hydrogen breakthrough could be a game-changer for the future of car fuels. UK researchers today announced what they believe to be a game changer in the use of hydrogen as a "green" fuel.
A new discovery by scientists at the UK's Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC), offers a viable solution to the challenges of storage and cost by using ammonia as a clean and secure hydrogen-containing energy source to produce hydrogen on-demand in situ. Hydrogen is considered by many to be the best alternative fuel for automotive purposes but there are complications with its safe and efficient storage and very significant concerns surrounding the costs of a hydrogen infrastructure for transportation. This new discovery may well have found the answers to both these challenges. When the components of ammonia are separated (a technique known as cracking) they form one part nitrogen and three parts hydrogen.
Many catalysts can effectively crack ammonia to release the hydrogen, but the best ones are very expensive precious metals. Dr. This $295 battery-powered unicycle could replace your Segway. Ah, the sweet memory of learning to ride a bike with training wheels!
My hands are sweaty, and my ego a bit damaged after spending a half-hour learning to ride a battery-powered unicycle called the Pinwheel. This $295 gadget is one of the more interesting finds here at Computex 2014 -- if you've been looking to ditch that Segway for a more portable mode of transport, this may be it. It's made by Shenzhen-based company TOPJOY, and it really is a thrill to ride. Pinwheel battery-powered unicycle hands-on See all photos 16 Photos Luckily, there was a model with training wheels and a balance strap on hand, because it takes a bit of time to get the hang of it.
The Pinwheel's real appeal is its portability; it weighs about 20 pounds, and could easily be tucked away after your morning commute -- it even has a handle for easy carrying. Zach Honig contributed to this report. Comments Share. NASA Starts Work on Real Life Star Trek Warp Drive. Startup Shows Off a Two-Wheeled Electric Car. The key problem with electric cars is they’re expensive and can’t go very far.
Some companies think the solution could be making the cars very smaller and lighter. GM, for example, has designed a little capsule of a car that it means to use on the crowded streets of Shanghai in the future (see “GM Rides a Rickshaw to China”). Now TechCrunch says Lit Motors, a startup with less than a million dollars in funding, has developed its own lightweight prototype, which it calls a two-wheeled electric vehicle (more commonly known as a motorcycle). Two things make the vehicle different than an ordinary electric motorcycle though. First, it features a pod that encloses the driver, which is meant to make it more comfortable and safer on the road.
The vehicle has generated a fair amount of excitement, and the phrase “future of transportation” has been tossed around.