Dale Vince's wind-powered car could be the Storm, the Zero or the Nemesis
click above and scroll down to watch the video
When he's not taunting Tesla, Dale Vince is pretty focused on building his wind-powered car. The Zero Carbonista project (previous post) is moving along and the fourth (of six) video about the project is new ready for your viewing pleasure. The front of the car is taking shape and now it needs a name. On the shortlist are: The Zero, The Storm and The Nemesis. I think the Zero Storm would be a good compromise, and I think it'll sound good with a British accent.
In the video, the biggest problem the team is facing seems to be figuring out the fingerprint entry and startup system. What's more exciting is the torque potential the designers and engineers discuss towards the end of the video. Check it out after the jump and see what the (indirectly) wind-powered Exige is up to these days.
[Source: Zero Carbonista via Treehugger]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
jharlan 2:09PM (1/06/2009)
I hate to be a skeptic, but this rings up like a perpetual motion machine. What are they going to do with it, park it in the wind until the batteries are charged? If they are going to use the wind generated by forward motion to power the thing, that just doesn't pass the bull**** test. If it looks like a duck, and quacks, it might just be a duck. I am frequently wrong, but this one looks like a con.
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Doug 4:26PM (1/06/2009)
I'm not so interested in this silly body work. I just want to know if they got the drive train to work. Seems they could be driving it around and fussing with cosmetics later. IIRC, they had decided on a dual rear motor setup with an independent belt drive to each wheel. In this video they mention that the car will not have any traction control. But they will at least have to work out the interesting control problem of having the motors serve the function of a differential when the car makes a turn.
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Dan 5:03PM (1/06/2009)
I agree... Prove the drivetrain first. Then everything else. Not to mention... another sportscar??? Really? we need another, like ... well use your imagination. We need everyday/4door EV's that at the very least get groceries, kids and pets where they need to go. I'm not bashing sportscars either, just not what we're looking for at this point.
AG 5:31PM (1/06/2009)
Hey don't sleep on those Brits! They've been into racing & high tech design longer than us. Hell they made the 1st jet engine & most of the major F1 teams are based there they & the German seem to have a knack for making things I'm gonna give them a chance anything we can do to get away from using dead animals from a million years to travel is a good thing. I don't want someone using my corpse for fuel! I love cars FAST cars but I would luv a all EV or green car that has to performance of a Stang or 370z & the price as well giv'em a chance
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DanYanoff 6:34PM (1/06/2009)
The car is created by a team of engineers on the guy's private money. I gather he wants to prove it can be done from scratch, done well and within 30 weeks. Whether it is a coincidence or not that they are using a Lotus chassis, it is different in one big respect - the powertrain is being made in house, unlike Tesla's, mostly sourced from AC propulsion. Another noticeable difference is it wont use a gazillion of laptop cells but 96 lifepo4's which should amount to roughly 30kWh battery module. IMHO the point of their exercise is not to make a cheap production ready car but to make a point that the big "motor" corporations can be done without when changing the world for better. And also, if these guys are not just enthusiasts but business people and there is smth to the car, the design can eventually be used as a blue print for a mass production vehicle, either by themselves or sold (like Tesla's design) to anyone with established production capacities.So kudos to them for their bold attempt.
P.S. Did anyone make out where the batteries come from? I think they say it in part 1.
Richard 4:51PM (1/06/2009)
So, we have ANOTHER Lotus knockoff? Why exactly would they be bashing Tesla? Is their car going to be cheaper or something, or are they going to change the world with a 20 car production run? I don't get it. How about a car that everyone can afford?
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Paul 7:07PM (1/06/2009)
Yep that's technical shit alright thinking up a name!
This bloke fancies himself as the Green version of Richard Branson, another camera clown without any substance. He's not actually doing any of the work himself (aside from putting himself in front of HIS own hired cameras) and they aren't actually doing anything new. It's all been done before and they aren't plannning to go into production, so why are we ment to be interested? OH the cliche name, of course.
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jpm 8:55PM (1/06/2009)
"The idea is to build a car with off the shelf parts"
Well wtf are you slathering clay all up and down the vehicle and making fiberglass for?
This guy seems like some richie hippie trying to proove you can retrofit a car to make it an EV. New's flash: Jim Bob in his garage has already done this.
I've got way more respect for Otmar Ebenhoech.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yl9uejKnMFQ
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nommo 11:45AM (1/07/2009)
God you lot are worse than the Register...!
Here - read this: http://www.ecotricity.co.uk/news/dale/south-norfolk-council-green-light-wind-park-lotus-hethel2.html
Also this: http://www.ecotricity.co.uk/news/dale-vince-hippy-blowing-in-the-wind
I guess he thought he would rather spend 100K+ on building his own right hand drive Lotus based EV...and stick two fingers up at the major car manufacturers for taking so long to do *anything*
http://zerocarbonista.com/2008/05/16/another-tesla-%E2%80%93-preferably-not/ - that's the post where the VP of Marketing for Tesla has a little chat with Dale.
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