Henrik Fisker, CEO, Fisker automotive was busy, but I got to talk to him the second day of the press show. Fisker was busy showing off the first factory-built Fisker Karma, an electric vehicle with extended range, made it's North American debut at the Los Angeles International Auto Show. The karma is what Fisker calls responsible luxury. [...]
The checkered flag Finally! It was a long two days out in the California sun and heat. Imagine being one of the drivers in those pods! Spending 45 minutes going around a track in 85-90 degree weather. Did the winner this year beat the old record of 2,843 miles per gallon? The combustion engine is [...]
Scientists gone wild April 16-18, 2009, Fontana, CA - The goal of the Shell Eco-marathon is to design and build the world's most fuel-efficient vehicle that produces the fewest emissions. The eco-marathon has evolved since the friendly wager between two Shell scientists back in 1939. On regular gasoline, they achieved a respectable 50 miles per [...]
We are the Spartans When it was announced that Schurr High School, home of the Mighty Spartans, won the team spirit award, everyone clapped wildly. Schurr had certainly earned it. I had heard all day about the excessive amount of sharing Schurr had done: a seat belt to one team, a wheel to another team. [...]
End of first day results - April 17, 2009 Shell eco-marathon: These are the first day results, the 18th are the final runs. Laval - 2622.2MPG Laval University Country: Laval, Quebec, Canada Prototype / Gasoline (Petrol) Team Name: Alerion Supermileage Vehicle Name: NTF 3.0 Penn State - 1776.4 MPG Penn State Country: University Park, PA, [...]
Fontana, CA - The goal of the Shell Eco-marathon is to design and build the world's most fuel-efficient vehicle that produces the fewest emissions. Teams can enter two main categories: * Futuristic prototypes - which are streamlined vehicles where the primary design consideration is reducing drag and maximizing efficiency * Urban Concept vehicles - which [...]
DARPA ANNOUNCES 36 SEMI-FINALISTS FOR URBAN CHALLENGE Autonomous Vehicle Competition to be held in Victorville, Calif.(Anaheim, Calif.) “ Dr. Tony Tether, director of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), today announced the 36 teams (list attached) selected as semi-finalists for the Urban Challenge. The semi-finalists will next compete in the Urban Challenge National Qualification [...]
Mark Templin, Vice President, Scion, talks about the marketing strategies of Scion. Mark also explains a rather unique painting that is along side him.
Sebastian Thrun, Professor of Computer Science, Stanford, and Mike Montemerlo, Technical Director, Stanford Racing Team, discuss how they felt Stanford did in the 4 different tests for the 2007 Darpa Urban Challenge. Stanford passed all 4, but had to redo one due to a technicality involving cones. From wikipedia.org: The DARPA Grand Challenge is a [...]
Norm Whitaker, Program Manager, DARPA, wraps up the day in Mountain View, California. Norm also answers some questions from the press, most involving the history of Darpa, and how it came to be. From darpa.mil The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) was established in 1958 as the first U.S. response to the Soviet launching [...]