vehicle

Electric vehicles show their range in 2011 (video)

Electric cars like the Nissan Leaf and Chevy Volt may have gotten most of the attention this year but electric motorcycles also turned heads.

The year also brought innovations such as an electric vehicle that you can also use to power your house. SmartPlanet takes a look back at the evolution of EVs in 2011.

This video originally appeared on SmartPlanet with the headline "Electric vehicles: 2011's hottest headlines."

Look Ma, no hands! Google lands patent for robot car

Google has added one more thing to the list of things it can do over the Web: tell a car where to drive.

The Internet giant earlier this week was granted a patent for a method of controlling an autonomous vehicle. Specifically, it details how a vehicle can transition from being human-driven to autonomous mode.

A car could, for example, drive to a specific location and based on a visual indicator on a "landing strip," such as a bar code or radio tag, the car would then transition to autonomous operation. One could imagine, for example, bringing a … Read more

ExxonMobil: Half of all vehicles will be hybrids by 2040

You may or may not be a hybrid fan today, but by 2040 there's a one in two chance you'll be driving one.

ExxonMobil released its annual Outlook, which takes a look at the future of global energy demands and consumption, and forecasts that the global number of personal vehicles on the road will nearly double over the next few decades to to 1.6 billion cars. But to keep fuel demand and consumption in check, half of them will be hybrids.

Government fuel economy standards are the driving force that will make hybrids mainstream. Manufacturers are responding … Read more

GM responds to Chevy Volt fires

GM ended up in the hot seat after a Chevrolet Volt caught fire three weeks after the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration crash-tested the vehicle, reportedly leading the transportation organization to question the safety of lithium ion batteries.

The fire, which damaged several vehicles parked near the defunct Volt, may have started in the plug-in's battery. The NHTSA subsequently launched an investigation into the safety of electric battery technology. GM released a statement this afternoon responding to the news and concerns that its vehicles could be fire hazards.

"First and foremost, I want to make this very clear: … Read more

NASA plans 2014 Orion test flight

NASA indicated on Tuesday that it plans on moving forward with its deep space exploration goals by announcing plans for a 2014 unmanned flight test of its Orion spacecraft.

In a release, the U.S. space agency said that it would add the new flight test to its existing contract to build the Orion multi-purpose crew vehicle (MPCV) with Lockheed Martin Space Systems. NASA said it expects to conduct the new test in early 2014.

According to NASA, the flight test will "fly two orbits to a high-apogee, with a high-energy re-entry through Earth's atmosphere. Orion will make … Read more

View the story of the Volvo C30 Electric

The Volvo C30 Electric is already out on the roads in Europe, but this week the Swedish automaker released 10 video clips documenting the development of new technology for the C30.

According to Volvo, the C30 Electric had a short development time, and the process involved about 100 research and development specialists.

Click on the links below to view videos two through 10, to learn more about testing, safety, engineering and other aspects of the C30's development.

The films include "A Milestone in the Automotive Industry" (below), "Battery System," "Electrical Architecture and Electrical Safety,&… Read more

130 sweet rides from the 2011 SEMA Show

The 2011 SEMA Show has come to a close, but I've still got an SD card full of photos of the hundreds of wild rides displayed there.

With that in mind, I've rounded up 130 photos of some of the hottest rides found on the floor of the SEMA Show. The cars have been split into four bite-size categories for quick navigation.

There were plenty of Asian imports to be found, with styles ranging from VIP to street tuner to race ready. This was the first year that I was able to check out the anime-inspired Itasha style … Read more

A little salt won't hurt the Slug Crawler Vehicle

Researchers developed a slug-like robotic vehicle wrapped with a flexible, waterproof "skin" to keep it dry and dust-free in search and rescue missions.

The Slug Crawler Vehicle was developed at the Chiba Institute of Technology in Japan, which presented the vehicle at the IEEE International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems in San Francisco in September.

Enveloping the Slug Crawler Vehicle (SCV) with a retractable exterior skin layer protects the machine from the elements--particularly dust and water--that can corrode or damage the system in wet environments. Internal pulleys swivel from side to side to manipulate the tread-like skin and steer the SCV. … Read more

Electric vehicles and building out the smart grid

How do you integrate electric vehicles with the building out of the smart grid? One session at the Networked EV conference in San Francisco yesterday tackled that topic.

Speaking as part of the panel, Phil Davis, a senior manager at Schneider Electric, and John LoPorto, president and CEO of Power Tagging, gave their perspective on the subject.