Crave

Friday marks the 153rd birthday of one of the greatest geeks and most amazing minds of all time: Nikola Tesla. This genius is almost certainly why you have electricity in your house. What's more, most of the gear you own is powered by parts that use his ideas. We owe this man the modern age.

So what better way to celebrate his birthday--and thank the man--than to share a video of two Tesla coils playing the Super Mario Bros. theme song?

We couldn't think of one either. It's not the newest or most impressive Tesla coil demonstration on YouTube, but it's probably the most fun.

This Nissan test mule demonstrates an electric powertrain.

(Credit: Nissan)

2011: The year of the electric car

Change tends to come slowly in the automotive industry, but the pace of electric car development has picked up fast. Major automakers are promising electric cars for sale to the public by 2011 and earlier. Nissan, Mitsubishi, and Ford are all moving ahead, forcing other automakers to get on the ball.

Current battery technology makes a range of 100 miles the magic number to hit, so this first batch of modern electric cars may struggle to gain wide acceptance. But as people find the cost of ownership to be far less than their old gas guzzlers, the popularity of these electric cars for commutes and errands around town is sure to increase.

Tesla shows off two prototypes of its new electric sedan.

(Credit: Laura Burstein/CNET)

Now that its electric roadster is in production, Tesla showed off prototypes of its upcoming electric sedan. The sleek-looking car, which launches in late 2011, should come in at around $50,000, making it half the price of the sports car and able to hold three times as many occupants.

Tesla S electric sedan unveiled--photos

The Tesla Roadster is simple to drive, but very fast, with smoothly delivered torque.

(Credit: CBS Interactive)

Every automotive journalist who drives a Tesla comes away impressed with the car's power, and I can say the same after taking the car out on a quick drive near the company's Menlo Park, Calif., Tesla store (they don't call it a showroom or dealership).

In Performance mode, the car exhibits powerful and smooth torque, even at speed. I had this little open top roadster at 65 mph on the freeway, then mashed the accelerator (don't call it a gas pedal) and got another powerful push in the back that sent the car quickly up to 90. The Tesla's push is unique among sports cars though. Where a high-stepper such as the BMW M3 makes you feel a kick in the back with every gear shift, the Tesla delivers a strong, steady push when you put your foot down on the pedal.

The Tesla I drove featured "Powertrain 1.5," eliminating the two-speed gearbox from the previous model. Yes, Tesla patterns itself after tech companies, so the power train gets a version designation, although the cars themselves still go by a model year.

In this Tesla, as in other electric cars I've driven, the operation is dead simple: Move the shifter from Neutral to Drive, and you're moving forward. Push the accelerator if you want to go faster and hit the brakes if you want to stop. The only real difference, besides the fact that the Tesla goes a lot faster than other electric cars, is that taking your foot off the accelerator at speeds less than 40 mph makes the car slow down as if you were applying light pressure on the brakes. That is the regenerative power train in operation, using the car's momentum to generate electricity for the battery pack. The Tesla also has regenerative brakes, but you don't need to use them much, adding the side-benefit of very infrequent brake maintenance.

(Credit: Brabus)

Sure, whipping around the Hollywood Hills in your Tesla Roadster is going to be awesome when the supercar finally ships, but you want to stand out. That's why you hire a group like Brabus to pimp out your all-electric ride.

Its new Tesla package, rolled out at the Essen auto show in Germany, includes ground lights, new wheels and tires, a front-lip spoiler, and--our favorite part--sound effects. The Roadster, being all electric, is fairly quiet. The Bottrop, Germany-based Brabus seems to think we won't like that, so the package includes everything from a mimic of a race car engine to futuristic Star Trek-like settings referred to as "beam" and "warp."

The coolest high-tech car in the world just got that much cooler. No word on when Brabus will offer a commercial version of the package as an after-market treatment, but it can't be denied that the inclusion of audible as well as visual enhancements just raised the bar in the world of ride-pimpin'.

(Via Motor Authority)

SAN FRANCISCO-- While most of this week's Web 2.0 Summit has centered on trying to find business models that work in today's slumping economy, two of the most exciting ventures are also the least affordable--at least for now.

Those two companies are Tesla Motors and Shai Agassi's Better Place. The two have completely different business models, but are joined by the idea that gasoline vehicles are something that will not last. Tesla, which is the creation of PayPal co-founder Elon Musk, is creating expensive sports cars that run off nothing more than electricity--and a large bank account to afford the six-figure cost of the vehicle. Meanwhile, Agassi's Better Place is aiming to change the paradigm in the automobile industry to the point where everything is electric; instead of filling up at gas stations, we'll simply be getting our batteries swapped out in less time than it would take to go through a car wash.

Both Musk and Agassi, who spoke at separate sessions Friday at the conference, face huge financial hurdles on the way to seeing their visions become as ubiquitous as the business models they're trying to replace. In Musk's case it's infrastructure as much as it is improving the actual technology.

Tesla's current model, which is a two-door roadster, costs consumers in excess of $100,000, and the company cannot produce them fast enough. The waiting list, which is currently at a little over 1,200 people, matches that of Tesla's current yearly production. "We're making 1,200 a year," said Musk, "and eventually 1,500 a year."

Time Magazine has named 23andMe, one of the first consumer genetic testing services, its 2008 Best Invention of the Year.

(Credit: 23andMe)

23andMe, named for the 23 chromosome pairs every human has, set itself apart from other DNA-testing services, because "it does the best job of making them accessible and affordable," according to Time.

The company offers a $399 DNA test that includes an ancestry analysis, and a health analysis. The health analysis tests for about 90 predispositions ranging from what eye color you'll probably pass on to whether you're likely to get arthritis someday.

Customers are sent a kit by mail that includes a test tube to spit in for the saliva sample and registration materials to log in online. Once the sample is registered and mailed to 23andMe, customers can expect results in about 4-6 weeks.

The company was co-founded by Linda Avey, a biopharmaceutical industry veteran with a background in biology; and Anne Wojcicki, an entrepreneur with experience in healthcare investing and a Yale University degree in biology.

Wojcicki's husband, Google co-founder Sergey Brin, has an additional reason to be proud of Time Magazine's list. The Tesla Roadster, an all-electric sports car made by Tesla Motors, was named runner-up. Brin has given some financial backing to the struggling company.

Other inventions that made it into the top 10 include Hulu.com, the video-streaming site that legally offers free TV shows and movies online; NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter; and the Large Hadron Collider.

The full list of all 50 inventions Time Magazine has named noteworthy for 2008 will appear in the October 31 issue, but it's already been posted to Time's Web site.

At the British International Motor Show, we find a room full of supercars. Get ready to drool as we show you a Pagani, an Aston Martin, and a Bugatti, along with less well-known cars such as the Invicta and Gumpert.

The $150,000 Scorpion would produce hydrogen as it drives.

(Credit: Ronn Motor Company)

A Texas company is offering a glimpse of a high-end hydrogen-gasoline sportscar it hopes to sell by the fall.

Rather than using fuel cells to power an electric motor, the Scorpion from Ronn Motor Company would have an internal combustion engine burning both gasoline and hydrogen, achieving 40 highway miles per gallon.

Unlike with a hydrogen fuel cell car, the Scorpion's "hydrogen on demand" system wouldn't require a high-pressure hydrogen storage tank. Nor would a driver need to find and fill up at a hydrogen fueling station.

Instead, electricity from the Scorpion's alternator sends an electric charge through the water in a storage tank, fracturing molecules and releasing hydrogen, which is injected into the motor, explained Ronn Maxwell, CEO of Ronn Motor in Horseshoe Bay, Texas.

"This means that as we're driving down the road, we're producing hydrogen in real time, and blending it with gasoline at a ratio of 30 to 40 percent," he said.

The hydrogen-gasoline hybrid technology comes from Hydrorunner.

"We are still using gasoline, but we're gonna be using 40 percent less," Maxwell said. "The hydrogen cleans up the emissions. It actually consumes carbon. It's not the perfect car, not electric, but it is something that'll work right now."

Ronn Motor showed off a working prototype of the Scorpion, sans body, Tuesday in downtown Austin.

The hydrogen internal combustion engine can achieve between 30 to 50 percent greater efficiency over standard gasoline cars, Maxwell added. Under the hood is a 2009 Acura 3.5 Vtech motor with 280-horsepower stock, or 450-horsepower with a twin turbo option. The car has a 6-speed manual transmission.

Ronn Motor has taken several orders so far and has plans to build 200 Scorpions this year, eventually ramping up to 500, Maxwell said. He believes his will be the first company to market a passenger car with a hydrogen-on-demand system, which gearheads already tinker with in private garages and which are available for the trucking industry.

Maxwell is targeting the sort of automotive aficionados who might collect Lamborghinis, Ferraris, or an electric Tesla, but said he wants to create a sedan next. It remains to be seen whether Ronn Motor will succeed in delivering its roadster to customers by October as planned.

The company's stock was listed on the Pink Sheets May 29.

Meanwhile, building the necessary fueling infrastructure remains just one of the barriers to wider adoption of hydrogen fuel cell cars, which primarily reside in the garages of a wealthy and famous few.

The company showed off the Scorpion, without its shell, on Tuesday in Austin, Tex.

(Credit: Ronn Motor Company)