Lifeboat Foundation

Kill a Watt

The reason why the price of energy storage is such an important automotive indicator is because the battery pack accounts for roughly a quarter of an EV’s total cost, making it the number one determinant of price.

It could be the electric car industry’s watershed moment: once dipping below the price of gasoline-powered engines, electric vehicles will look far more attractive to far more consumers.

Electric cars and trucks may be the hottest topic in e-mobility, but quiet, clean-running electric drives have the ability to revolutionize all kinds of vehicles and machinery. We’ve seen it with the popularization and evolution of ebikes, and electric tech is slowly finding its way into more demanding powersports applications, like electric dirt bikes and snowmobiles. French startup MoonBikes Motors is carving some space between the e-snowmobile and e-dirt bike categories, creating a full-throttle electric snow bike meant to travel lightly and deliver sharp, explosive exhilaration on the snow.

It’s that time of year when experimental all-electric snow machines start rolling out from their high-altitude garages to carve their signatures into the Alpine snow and public consciousness. Last year it was the Austrian-built BobSla snow-kart motoring around its home turf at the Obergurgl-Hochgurgl ski area, and this year it’s the French-crafted MoonBike all-electric snow bike spraying snow in its own corner of the Alps.

Continue reading “Full-throttle electric snow bikes quietly tear up Alpine powder” »

Aquaporin, the company that designed NASA’s wastewater filtration system, plans to use this technology on Earth and help with water scarcity. Discover now.

For those who like to bike while not getting rained on.

Hopefully they come up with a version with built in airconditioning for warm places. 😃

Sustainable velomobile with electric assist and weather protection.

Continue reading “Sustainable e-bike car hybrid” »

Empty Coke bottles are being turned into solar-powered light sources! They’re lighting the way for communities without access to electricity and upcycling plast… See More.

“While astronauts in space need to get creative with their water supply, that’s not to suggest that people ought to start drinking pee to access clean water. Rather, Aquaporin, the company behind the new system, suggests that the same kind of technology could be used to clean up other types of wastewater or filter existing drinking water supplies to the point that they could be used.”

As Above

Roughly 2 billion people don’t have access to clean drinking water, according to CNN, and a system like Aquaporin could help remove pollution and plastics from the supply.

Continue reading “Scientists Say Pee-Drinking Machine Could Save Lives” »

Renewables keep on gaining steam. 😃

Improving the efficiency of solar cells can make a huge difference to the amount of energy produced from the same surface area and the same amount of sunshine, and another world record has been beaten in the push for better yields.

Researchers have now hit an efficiency of 29.15 percent in the perovskite/silicon tandem solar cell category, which is just one of several different types of cells. There are currently a variety of different technologies in use to convert solar energy into electricity.

Continue reading “Scientists Just Set a New World Record in Solar Cell Efficiency” »

California-based Aptera recently opened pre-orders for its solar electric vehicle that ‘never needs charging’ and within less than 24 hours, according to the firm, the $26,000 car sold out.

The futuristic-styled structure is designed with lightweight materials, providing low-dray aerodynamics and cooling.

Continue reading “New solar-powered electric vehicle beats Tesla in range of miles” »

“What our technology does is it improves range and lowers vehicle cost,” Campbell said. “It’s as simple as that.”

As the name of his company suggests, Campbell thinks the key is a more-solid electric car battery. The lithium-ion batteries powering almost all of today’s electric vehicles rely on a liquid electrolyte, which ferries charged ions from a cathode to an anode. While the technology makes it practical to charge and recharge, the liquid can catch fire if overloaded.

For decades, scientists have seen a potential answer in solid electrolytes, which could allow a battery to soak up more energy without overheating.