electricity

Tom Hanks' 'Electric City' is no 'Toy Story'

LAS VEGAS--"Electric City" is the latest Tom Hanks animated adventure, but it leaves behind the madcap buddy antics of Toy Story's Woody and Buzz Lightyear for a futuristic utopia with dark underpinnings. Instead of coming to a theater near you, though, the 90-minute-long series will be streamed episodically on Yahoo.

Revealed at the Consumer Electronics Show 2012 here, with a more in-depth formal announcement coming tomorrow, "Electric City" was created by Hanks and will star him, while production is being handled by Playtone and Reliance Entertainment. "It was always our intent to have this project live and breathe online and we felt Yahoo would be the perfect home," Gary Goetzman, co-founder with Hanks of the production company Playtone, said in a prepared statement.

For its part, Yahoo has been exploring original online entertainment for a few years, with reality and news roundup shows like "omg! NOW," "Primetime in No Time," and "Daily Ticker" helping to drive around 26 million people per month. Thanks to Hank's involvement in "Electric City," though, Yahoo thinks the series has the potential to significantly expand the scope of digital-first series. … Read more

Recycled bottles from CES to end up in Ford Focus Electric

When electric Ford Focuses start rolling off the assembly line in March, some vehicles will incorporate recycled plastic bottles tossed away at CES.

The new EV will use Repreve seating material made by Unifi. Repreve is a blend of post-industrial fiber waste and post-consumer waste such as the plastic water bottles made of polyethylene terephthalate (PET). Each electric Focus will have the equivalent of 22 plastic bottles in its interior, and the strategy is expected to divert 2 million post-consumer plastic bottles from landfills.

If you're attending either the 2012 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas or the 2012 … Read more

Tesla to reveal Model X electric SUV on February 9

Tesla CEO Elon Musk confirmed in an interview with GigaOM that the Model X will be shown at an event on February 9.

An alpha build of the car was apparently shown to investors last month. Autoblog reports that the Model X will be shown at Tesla's design studio in Southern California.

The Model X will be Tesla's third production model, after the Roadster and Model S. Based on the same platform as the Model S, it will have a larger, SUV-like body reportedly capable of seating seven adults.… Read more

Luminexence Lotus solar car charger is a tree-shaped carport

If you've ignored the naysayers, saved enough money, and splashed out on an electric car, you're probably now looking for a dedicated home-charging station. If that's the case, look no further--architect Giancarlo Zema has teamed up with Luminexence to design a bonkers yet beautiful leaf-shaped example known as the Lotus.

The Lotus--no relation to Norwich's premier manufacturer of mid-life-crisis mobiles--is a giant solar-powered piece of faux flora that delivers pure, carbon-neutral electricity captured from the sun. It comes with nighttime lights plus an optional information screen, seat and car charging port.

The Lotus is a modular system that's designed in a variety of colors and sizes. The smallest component, a single-leaf design, can be supplied on its own, or mated to other single-leaf units to form double, triple, or quad leaf setups. A large leaf, which provides 19 square meters of photovoltaic panels, is also available. Both leaf styles can be combined to resemble a curious water lily configuration.

Read more of "Luminexence Lotus solar car charger is a tree-shaped carport" at Crave UK. … Read more

Friday Poll: Will you buy an electric car?

Chevy sold 7,671 electric Volts last year, short of its expectation of 10,000. The car has gotten tons of publicity, but that hasn't translated into booming sales.

Even with a $7,500 tax credit dangling like a tasty carrot, buyers haven't flocked to electric vehicles like the Volt and Nissan Leaf.… Read more

Ford to demonstrate MyFord Mobile app for the Focus Electric at CES 2012

Ford will demonstrate beta versions of the MyFord Mobile app for the Focus Electric at CES 2012, Jan. 10 through 13, in Las Vegas.

The new app will use MapQuest to identify the best EV charge points, and plan the most efficient routes. The app also incorporates social sharing components, such as updates to Facebook and Twitter, to the driving experience, Ford said.

Focus Electric drivers can compete against each other and earn achievements based on how far they drive and how much CO2 they save by not using gas. Leaderboards will help MyFord Mobile users track their driving results … Read more

Fisker Karma is so green, even interior uses low-carbon leather

Less than three months on the market and the Fisker Karma is already getting high praise for being "green" and luxurious. Just last month, the near $100,000 plug-in hybrid was named "Luxury Car of the Year" by BBC Top Gear magazine.

Part of what makes the Karma so luxurious is the used interior material from Bridge of Weir. The EcoStandard and EcoSport models' seat, steering wheel, dash, door casings and center console trim are all wrapped in the Scottish company's locally produced "low carbon leather," Bridge of Weir said in a press … Read more

Gadget, heal thyself

The Geek Squad might not like this development, but we're excited about it. Engineers at the University of Illinois have developed a self-healing system for electronics that they say can restore conductivity to failed circuitry in "mere microseconds."

Today's ever-denser chips face more reliability problems due to the increasingly sophisticated demands on electronic devices. When one circuit within an integrated chip fails, the whole chip, and even the whole device (and your pressing deadline, of course) can go down with it.

"In a multilayer integrated circuit, there's no opening it up," Nancy Sottos, a professor of materials science and engineering at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, said in a statement. "Normally you just replace the whole chip. It's true for a battery too. You can't pull a battery apart and try to find the source of the failure."

To get around the need for external intervention and diagnostics (which may not be readily available for spacecraft or defense-based aircraft, for example), the researchers adapted a previous technique they'd developed for self-healing polymer materials.

They placed tiny microcapsules (as small as 10 microns in diameter) filled with liquid metal on top of a gold line functioning as a circuit. When the circuit cracks, the microcapsules break open, releasing the liquid gallium-indium alloy into the gap and restoring electrical flow--up to 99 percent in most cases. The liquid does its bidding in less time than it takes to blink. … Read more

Ford focuses on a more energy-efficient future (video)

Ford Motor has set a goal to have hybrids and electric vehicles make up 10 percent to 25 percent of its fleet by 2020.

SmartPlanet correspondent Sumi Das talked to Ford executive Dan Kapp recently about the company's alternative-fuels strategy and one of its first electric vehicles to hit the market in 2012, the Ford Focus Electric.

This video originally appeared on SmartPlanet with the headline "Ford driving into the future with energy-efficient autos."

Tesla prices Model S, makes navigation optional

Tesla has laid out the pricing structure for the all-new Model S electric car, and, as expected, higher range will cost you more.

The company launched a Web page today showing the base model, with a 40kWh battery pack, costing $49,900. The 60kWh model runs $59,900, and it's another $10,000 jump to the 85kWh model. Go up to $79,900 for the Performance model, which also comes with the 85kWh pack and a 0-to-60-mph time of 4.4 seconds. All of those prices are after a federal tax credit of $7,500.

Those battery packs give the Model S an estimated range at 55 mph of 160 miles, 230 miles, and 300 miles respectively.

And then there are the options.… Read more