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Although electric cars are becoming more and more popular these days, one challenge remains – beating gasoline-powered cars in terms of mileage. But the QBEAK electric car is trying to change all that. The QBEAK electric car, currently in its conceptual phase, can reportedly run 500 miles on a single battery charge – even better than the Chevrolet Volt hybrid that can cover 375 miles on a single charge. QBEAK will utilize bio-methanol to improve its battery life.

According to its designers, bio-methanol is better than gasoline or diesel because it can produce less carbon dioxide. Mogens Lokke, the CEO of ECOmove, said that the car will be outfitted with six battery modules inside its chassis instead of using a conventional fixed battery. The designers are planning to release a battery-powered model later this year. Meanwhile, a battery/ fuel model is also expected to arrive next year. The QBEAK car will sport in-wheel electric motors to deliver speeds up to 120kph.

By Ubergizmo. Related articles: Audi R18 E-Tron Quattro wins 2012 Le Mans endurance race, Audi to deploy first diesel hybrid cars at the 2012 Le Mans,

Fujitsu has today unveiled two new laptops in its range. The first is a laptop and tablet hybrid dubbed the Stylistic Q702, while the second is a convertible laptop (remember those?) called the LifeBook T902. The Stylistic Q702 is constructed from a magnesium shell that weighs around 850 grams, doubling as a laptop when inserted into the keyboard dock which also provides extra battery life.

It’s on the large side at 11.6-inches, but features an LED backlit 1366×768 display and a Core i3 or i5 Ivy Bridge processor. 4GB of RAM comes as standard with the tablet, and you can configure the hard drive up to a 256GB SSD. Graphics are handled by the integrated Intel HD 4000 GPU, and there’s USB 3.0 and 2.0 ports as well as HDMI output and an SD card slot. Once you dock the tablet into the keyboard, you get an extra 4-cell battery as well as an Ethernet jack and VGA output.

The LifeBook T902, meanwhile, features a 13.3-inch 1600×900 display with Gorilla Glass. Inside is an Intel Ivy Bridge Core i5 or Core i7 processor, and up to 16GB of RAM. The default hard drive is a 320GB offering, although you can configure up to a 256GB SSD. The laptop includes two USB 3.0 ports and a single USB 2.0 port, HDMI output, VGA, Ethernet, an SD card slot, and the option for 3G or 4G connectivity depending on the market. A 1080p webcam can also be configured, with battery rated for around 7 hours and 40 minutes.

The Stylistic Q702 and LifeBook T902 should both be available sometime in the third quarter, with the Q702 starting from $1,099 and the T902 at $1,899. Both will be running Windows 7 when they ship, but can be upgraded to Windows 8 without any issues.

Fujitsu announces Stylistic Q702 and LifeBook T902 laptops is written by Ben Kersey & originally posted on SlashGear.
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Mercedes’ plans for a B-Class E-Cell Plus plug-in hybrid might headed for a change of direction. Take this all with a spoonful of NaCl, but looks like an all-electric powertrain made by none other than Tesla will be installed in the EV. As Autoblog Green notes, an anonymous spokesperson has reportedly claimed that the system switch-up is being made due to economics — higher rebates and incentives are possible for zero-emission vehicles in the EV’s US target market. No technical details were given on the new powertrain, but the original idea was to have a Volt-like 138-horsepower electric powerplant for the B-Class compact, with a 67-horsepower gas engine backing it up. At the very least, a collaboration between the two companies would make sense, since the Stuttgart automaker is effectively a five percent stakeholder in Tesla. So if you’ve been holding out for an EV with the Merc touch, check the source for the details.

Mercedes reportedly scraps hybrid plan for B-Class E-Cell Plus EV, going all-in on electrons with Tesla originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 01 Jul 2012 03:31:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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