Legendary rocker Neil Young made a special appearance during Salesforce.com's Dreamforce conference keynote address. He didn't mention cloud computing, but talked about his 1959 Mark IV Lincoln Continental.
Neil Young and Marc Benioff
(Credit: Stephen Shankland/CNET News)Young has spent more than $100,000 to green his 5,000-pound "Thinkin' Lincoln" former gas hog. "It's a piece of America art," said Young, who is an avid car collector. He hopes to get the equivalent of 100 miles per gallon and take the $10 million Progressive Insurance Automotive X Prize. "We are over halfway there (to 100 mph) with this car," he said.
"We took Ford, GM, and Chrysler and instead of having them in one building, we have it on the Internet. We are always getting input from our huge virtual shop," Young said.
Young has focused his green car efforts on the electric grid, which he said can support 180 million vehicles and compressed natural gas. Young is working with Johnathan Goodwin, who has expertise in turning big cars into green cars. The car can run on electricity for short runs and on compressed natural gas for longer trips. A generator recharges the battery when it is using alternative fuels.
The engine is a 150-kilowatt electric motor that produces the equivalent of 500 horsepower. The car cruises at 80 mph and can reach speeds of 160 mph, Goodwin said. "It's essentially like a train. We use one motor to push it down the road, with a range of 80 to 100 miles." A generator, that produces 75 kilowatts, comes on automatically to power a rotary engine that runs on compressed natural gas and refuels the batteries.
"We want to eliminate roadside refueling and take distribution out of the loop," Young said. The energy generated by the car could be used to power several houses or power tools from a car, he added. Information is available at the LincVolt Web site.
The LincVolt 1959 Lincoln Continental
(Credit: Stephen Shankland/CNET News)
Check out the video from The Wichita Eagle, featuring Goodwin, who developed the hybrid technology and Neil Young.
NEW YORK--Flying out of New York this morning to San Francisco, I took an OZOcar to JFK.
It's a practical example of how green tech makes sense. OZOcar has a fleet of about 50 Toyota Prius cars that get nearly 45 mpg and are outfitted with wireless connectivity, power strips, Sirius satellite radio, and a Nokia N800 Internet Tablet.
The OZOcar and driver Robert Reichenbach at 5:00 a.m. EDT Tuesday.
(Credit: Dan Farber/CNET News.com)OZOcar's fleet includes other hybrids, such as the Lexus Rx 400h, Toyota Camry, and Toyota Highlander. The company, which was founded in September 2005, has blue-chip investment banks, advertising firms, and media companies as customers.
"I get just shy of 44 miles per gallon in the real world, where you have to stomp on the accelerator, which you need to do to keep up with yellow cabs or they will cut you off every time," my driver, Robert Reichenbach, said. "I drive about 200 miles a day on half a tank, using the cheapest grade of gas." Prior to driving his Prius for OZOcar, Reichenbach spent five and a half years at Lehman Brothers working in the computer graphics department.
OZOcar is ahead of the pack. Earlier this month, the New York City Taxi and Limousine Commission approved a regulation (PDF) requiring that all black cars coming into service must get at least 25 mpg beginning January 1, 2009. By January 1, 2010, the rate increases to 30 mpg. New York City-based limousine services have about 10,000 black cars on the road. According to the commission, black cars spew 272,000 tons of CO2 equivalents annually, or about 2 percent of New York City's vehicle emissions. The new standards will cut emissions of the black cars in half.
Black limos in New York City will be the new green in the next few years.
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