Hasta La Gadget!

Kevin Rose has some Tesla Model S imagery up on his Flickr account, including the first unshrouded pictures of the car, along with a rather wild interior shot. The all-electric sedan is styled beautifully — if rather predictably — but things start to get weird on the inside. In what looks to be a concept car mockup of the interior, there appears to be a large touchscreen taking the place of the entire center console, wrapped irregularly by dashboard padding. The instruments panel also appears to be a screen, though it could just be a mockup at this stage. Concept cars typically have rather strange and unlikely interiors compared to their tame street-legal counterparts, but even so, if this indeed isn’t some sort of cruel Photoshop trickery, we’d say Tesla really outdid itself here. Besides, who needs safe, tactile ways of adjusting climate and audio settings when you’re living life this large?

[Via Autoblog Spanish]

Filed under: Displays, Transportation

Tesla Model S official shots unofficially unveiled originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 26 Mar 2009 13:25:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Okay, so maybe the headline is a tad on the sensational side, but seriously, this has sensational written all over it. A team of brilliant MIT engineers have conjured up a beltway of sorts that allows for “rapid transit of electrical energy through a well-known battery material,” something that could usher in smaller and lighter cells that could recharge in moments versus hours. There’s even talk that this technology could be adapted for use in automobiles, and honestly, it doesn’t take an electrical engineer to understand how rapid charge / discharge batteries could “induce lifestyle changes.” Hey, laptop battery makers — could you guys look into getting these ready to go in machines by CES 2010? That’d be swell, thanks.

[Via BBC, thanks Simon]

Filed under: Misc. Gadgets

MIT’s quick charging batteries could revolutionize the world, maybe originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 12 Mar 2009 09:36:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We’re pretty comfortable with the idea of open source software running on computers and mobile phone — heck, even guitars — but cars? That one we’re still warming up to, but this concept vehicle from EDAG definitely helps. As its name implies, the Light Car – Open Source lets developers modify and / or improve upon the auto’s technologies — or at least put a SNES emulator on the back. The lithium ion-powered bubble car also sports an OLED-infused exterior for lights and signals that are supposedly useful both to the driver and other nearby motorists, but in actuality we suspect it’d just scare anyone tailing behind. No information on the interior, but we imagine a decked out dashboard and some futuristic chairs. It’s currently being shown off at the Geneva Motor Show; hit up the read link for more pics.

Filed under: Transportation

EDAG’s Light Car EV is open source, doused in OLEDs originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 05 Mar 2009 06:46:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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While the Big 3 seem to be visiting Washington on an all-too-regular basis trying to secure funding for future success, $25 billion in loans set aside to promote electric car usage in America has been sitting untouched for nearly two years. As the story goes, the Advanced Technology Vehicles Manufacturing Loan program was established in 2007, but administrations have been toying with ideas about how to use it until present day. Some 75 applications from hopeful companies have been whittled down to 25, but there’s no telling how long it’ll be before we hear who’s getting the cash (and when). Many are irate that this dough is still sitting idle, but we tend to agree with the “let’s wait until we find truly remarkably beggars” approach before it’s just handed out to those without a viable plan. The takeaway? Electric vehicles may still end up progressing as planned despite the current economy, but only if brilliant plans can cut through miles of red tape.

Filed under: Transportation

$25 billion in electric vehicle loans still waiting for perfect beggars originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 28 Feb 2009 07:22:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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You know things are rough in the auto industry when even an electric car company is struggling to carry on, but that’s exactly what seems to be happening with Pininfarina. After showcasing its rather cute B0 electric car at the Paris Motor Show last year, the company was slated to debut a prototype with a working engine at next week’s show in Geneva. Instead, it’ll be hosting up that same B0 shell as before, with an undisclosed inside source noting that lingering debt problems were forcing the delay. Unfortunately, the mole failed to elaborate on the matter, so we’re left with absolutely no indication of when the company may switch gears and forge ahead with production. In other words, don’t bank on this being your next ride — unless you plan on lending the designing company a few hundred million to clear a path forward, of course.

[Via Register Hardware]

Filed under: Transportation

Pininfarina delays prototype showing of B0 electric car originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 27 Feb 2009 05:04:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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