Hasta La Gadget!

Mitsubishi promised it’d bring the i MiEV over to the US before 2012 and now it’s rehashed that pledge with a slightly more detailed roadmap and an indicative price point to boot. Maurice Durand, the company’s communications manager for North America, is quoted as saying the newly renamed i will cost “around $30,000” when it launches, which is expected to happen in fall 2011. Sales expectations are a very modest 20,000 units by 2015, but apparently the idea is for Mitsu to just get its foot in the US electric vehicle market before introducing more powerful and versatile people carriers. The i is pitched as primarily a commuter’s vehicle, though it has been enlarged slightly to accommodate US safety regulations and “larger frame people.” Be honest, Maurice, you mean larger waistline, not frame.

Mitsubishi i is the new name of the i MiEV for American market, coming next fall for $30,000 originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 19 Nov 2010 06:15:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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3D printing has grown in popularity partially because 3D printers have become inexpensive in recent years but also because of how easy it can be to put in raw materials like wood or metal, turn on the “printer” that cuts the pieces or entire product you need out of the material, and come out with a working mechanical device that requires minimal assembly to function. One enterprising design group, led by Stratasys and Kor Ecologic, wanted to use the technology to build a fully-functional automobile that would qualify for the 2010 Automotive X-Prize Competition.

The result is the Urbee, an almost entirely-printed vehicle with a hybrid gasoline/ethanol engine under the hood that’s lightweight and can get up to 200 miles per gallon. The key to the Urbee’s design is how easy it is to replicate and produce, and how light the frame is. By eliminating the heavy materials and tooling, you get a lightweight vehicle that’s efficient on the road.

It’s unlikely the bubble-shaped Urbee will ever make it to the open road: its futuristic design is a little off-putting and it’s unlikely the lightweight chassis is really road-legal and terribly safe, but Stratasys and Kor Ecologic may be on to something by using 3D printing for manufacturing lightweight and efficient vehicles.

[via Inhabitat]

Tesla, schmesla. This, friends, is the electric vehicle that your garage has been waiting for. Designed by North Carolina’s own Li-ion Motors, the downright stunning INIZIO is being hailed as the world’s first all American-made electric supercar, and while the Roadster is definitely peppy, it ain’t got nothing on this. Using the company’s own lithium-ion battery technology and management system, the car can purportedly cruise for up to 250 miles on electricity alone, and it can hit a top speed of 170 miles per hour without breaking a sweat. Naturally, you won’t (legally) fit more than two humans into this thing at once, but those two individuals will enjoy adjustable, leather / suede Recaro seating with heating and cooling features, an inbuilt 12-inch subwoofer, digital surround sound system, integrated navigation system, DVD player and rotational doors that raise on a 90-degree angle. Oh, and they’ll probably drool a little after racing from zero to sixty in 3.4 face-numbing seconds. The company also adds that it emits no carbon emissions, can be recharged over 2,500 times and can go from drained to rejuvenated after just eight hours on the plug. It’s expected to launch in mid-2011 with a starting price of $139,000, or just a few pennies more than the current value of the wretched Carolina Panthers franchise.

Update: Just a heads-up before you throw down for a pre-order… you may not actually ever get your vehicle. Just another one to the list, really.

Continue reading Li-ion Motors INIZIO: all-electric supercar hitting 170 mph next year, all yours for $139k

Li-ion Motors INIZIO: all-electric supercar hitting 170 mph next year, all yours for $139k originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 01 Nov 2010 20:12:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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If there’s one thing we’ve learned from years of toying with technology, it’s never to believe a manufacturer’s estimate regarding battery life, but it seems like the estimates Nissan provided for its Leaf electric car may not be too far off the mark. Though the vehicle obviously isn’t getting 367 miles to its non-existent gallon, PluginCars did manage to eke out a solid 116.1 miles in the car’s first anecdotal test, and all they had to do to go the distance was drive casually and slightly below the speed limit. “It wasn’t like I was driving like an obsessed hypermiler,” said the driver, who spent most of the trip with the A/C blasting. Nissan recently revised their range estimates for the Leaf to anywhere from 62 to 138 miles depending on speed and weather conditions, so 116.1 is a pretty solid run, but until those charging stations permeate the countryside, we’re still going to take the ol’ gas-guzzler on our road trips.

Nissan Leaf goes 116.1 miles in first anecdotal test, with the air conditioning on originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 23 Oct 2010 20:41:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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