Toyota has always prided itself on being an industry leader when it comes to building eco-friendly vehicles that not only look past the current norms of today’s industry, but challenge them to address the growing need of building economical and efficient yet technologically advanced vehicles. This year, the LA Design Challenge, an annual fixture at the LA Auto Show, is looking for the best concept that addresses these specific needs; to build a lightweight car while minimizing the dependence on using natural resources.
You could say that Toyota is right at their element with this year’s competition and they’re bringing a concept vehicle that answers all of the event’s requirements.
Calling it the NORI Concept, Toyota envisioned its concept as a car that infuses cutting-edge technology with the emissions and fuel economy standards set up by the contest’s guidelines. To prove its point, Toyota built the NORI concept with a unique podular feature wherein the car’s body and its chassis are built as one instead of two separate parts, making it stronger, lighter, and aesthetically more appealing. As a supplemental energy, the NORI concept harnesses solar technology that’s captured through solar cells woven into the concept’s PODULAR, serving as energy back-up should the situation call for it. The podular body is also strengthened using ‘nori’ to create bioplastics technology while combining it with carbon fiber weave to create a sturdy body that can withstand the environment. The specific use of ‘nori’ – in Japanese, it means “seaweed” – reduces the vehicle’s weight.
Full story and press release after the jump
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Described as a super-lightweight sports tourer that showcases organic synthesis, the Nissan iV is an innovative zero-emissions vehicle that fits into Nissan’s vision of seeing a world where green energy infrastructures have matured and become their own self-sustaining system.
As Nissan’s official entry into the LA Design Challenge, the iV is the offspring of both nature’s intelligent beauty and the minds and hands of human ingenuity. Contrary to how cars are currently built, the iV’s parts are cultivated similar to how it’s done today in agriculture using a sustainable, carbon-neutral process.
Nissan is keeping line with the requirements of this year’s LA Design Challenge – an emphasis on building lightweight vehicles while minimizing the consumption of our planet’s resources – building the iV Concept using an interwoven organic frame with the chassis material – a fast-growing ivy and re-enforced with spider silk composite - being synthetically grown and formed to turn into a piece of strong yet extremely lightweight aerodynamic body. The vehicle’s interior, which seats four people, is made from photovoltaic material that remarkably weighs 99% less than standard glass.
The iV Concept also has a slim bio-battery that provides the car with tremendous stability and driving range that works through a regenerative super-capacitor technology, recouping as much as 60% of kinetic energy used by the vehicle.
Nissan also outfitted the iV Concept with state-of-the-art safety features, including the brand’s Safety Shield program that prevents collisions from happening and greatly reduces the weight of the vehicle by taking out a number of parts standard in today’s cars, including bumpers, airbags, and even beams.
Using the age-old adage that ‘less is more’ Nissan’s iV concept is the perfect example of a vehicle that inspires a future where cars are known less for their gas-guzzling ways but more for their unbridled efficiency, both in aesthetics and in performance.
Press Release after the jump.
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The LA Design Challenge is one of the most eagerly anticipated events of the LA Auto Show pitting different auto brands building their concept vehicles based on the set criteria for the event. This year’s theme focuses on society’s shift towards minimizing their dependence on natural resources by building a light-weight vehicle that focuses on efficiency without sacrificing the style of the vehicle.
Honda’s entry for the 2010 Design Challenge is the Air concept, a lightweight vehicle that uses alternative fuel, all while boasting an aggressive look inspired by, oddly enough, roller coasters and skydiving wing suits. So, we guess that’s why it’s called the Air concept.
In any case, the Air uses a compressed air and pneumatic regulator system that uses turbo vacuums and external air-flow to regenerate the tank’s pressure system, ensuring that the vehicle has extended range and increased boost to last an estimated 100 miles. Anytime you need to have your tanks and reserves refilled efficiently, a Honda generator and air compressor does the trick, either from the comforts of your own home or at a local station.
For safety, the Air concept uses vegetable-based polymer panels and fairings to ensure the safety and protection of its occupants.
The whole body of the Air concept resembles the look of a modern rollercoaster designed to optimize the open-air experience. Then there’s the chassis, which has a variety of purposes to eliminate the structure’s redundancy and reduce the vehicle’s overall weight, ensuring that it doesn’t exceed 1,000 lbs. Other weight-saving procedures done to the Air include the use of a hub-less wheel and drive system instead of the standard drive train system, glass reinforced seating panels, urethane tire composition, and skeletal sub-frame components, all of which contributed to the Air shedding off a significant amount of weight, rounding off to just about 800 lbs.
Press Release after the jump.
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What can you do with a second-hand Lotus Exige and £1,000,000 (around $1,600,000)? Why not build a high performance electric sports car? That’s exactly what Ecotricity’s founder, Dale Vince, did when he came up with the Nemesis, marking the first electric supercar that was designed and built in Britain.
The Nemesis is powered by two 125 kW motors that produce 330bhp and 600Nm of torque. These motors are mated to two stage belt driven reduction transaxle and get their energy from 96 x 100 A/h 4.2 V pouch lithium polymer cobalt cells. This power source can run the Nemesis from 0-100mph in 8.5 seconds and can hit a top speed of 170mph which, according to Ecotricity, is faster than a Ferrari V12. It can last for about 100-150 miles depending on how it is driven and can be charged from empty to full in about two hours with the optional fast charger. If the customer sticks with the 13A overnight charger, then a full charge will take eight to nine hours.
Read more about the Nemesis, as well as see the 13-part video series detailing its build, after the jump.
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The cloak and dagger Louisiana car company known as V Vehicles has now been renamed Next Autoworks and will be based in California. If the name rings a bell, then you’ve probably been surfing one of the many green blog sites lately. V Vehicles started making waves in mid-2006, claiming to “change the automotive business in the US” through their revolutionary new, small, environmentally-friendly runabout. All we knew was that it would run on natural compressed gas and the generic stuff about it being compact, cheap to run etc. Since then, we haven’t even seen what the car looks like save for a few blurry renderings and a headlight teaser. The car doesn’t even have a name.
Most people in the know never took them seriously. That is, until now. Next Autoworks now has some serious backing from billionaire oil magnate, T. Boone Pickens, and the Venture Capital firm, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, and they have even hired Kathleen Ligocki to take the lead. Ligocki’s resume includes being a part of top brass at Ford, Tower Automotive, and Mexico’s GS Salinas. In the design department, Tom Matano will be doing his thing - famous for designing the timeless Mazda Miata and sleek RX-7.
Now that the game plan has changed with serious players on board, these guys finally look like they’re for real. Then again, with so much secrecy, one cannot help but be a little weary. If they manage to pull it off, it’ll be a landmark era for the automotive industry and no doubt a green wave of change to the way things are currently done. We’ll keep you posted.
