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Alternative Energy Policies a Boon For Inflatable Electric Car
Brian Stretch writes with a story about the Mini Utility Vehicle prototype from XP Vehicles, an electric car that is partly inflatable. The recent struggles of the auto industry and a political climate that supports the development of alternative energy vehicles have given the car a better chance at actually hitting the market. Quoting:
"Building a car takes many years and tens to hundreds of millions of dollars traditionally. XP is able to cut a lot of the costs and timeframe because its car has 70 percent less parts than a regular car, and the company is using novel materials that require simpler factory devices, and production and manufacturing processes that lower the cost to deploy. ... The seat is inflatable, the dashboard is inflatable, and the internal structure and carrying racks are inflatable, or a mesh suspension. Instead of requiring six-axis robots, XP uses radio frequency welders that look like giant waffle irons. The factory equipment is much less expensive and the car simply has less parts that could fail. The motors are built into the rear wheels in most XP prototypes. The first cars to reach the market will have two rear hub motors and a motor controller, that's it."
From TFA:
all of the Lithium is located in countries that are hostel [sic] towards the U.S. - which is a bit of a problem ...
... which I guess means that they only reserve substandard accommodation for their US visitors, whereas everyone else gets 5-star. Rough deal.
Bolivia is suspected to have substantial stocks of WMDs; especially under Salar de Uyuni
They are now too expensive as well, and their work will be outsourced to cheaper waffle irons that are presumably located somewhere in Belgium...
so when we now hear of a car being blown up in an incident it doesn't mean its terror related
XP with an airbag. Does it come in screen blue?
Imagining a boon in inflatable cars is bad enough, but a boon in inflatable electric cars?!
So go ahead and call me a grammar Nazi. At least I'm not the illiterate clot.
My inflatable date will just love it.
Does anyone would drive a Vista car? With the UAC asking if you really want to stop or start anytime? :-)
dude1: Man, I can't believe it, my car crashed!
dude2: Oh my god! Are you OK!?
dude1: No, I meant.... Oh nevermind.
Speaking of innovative body construction and drive train technology, here is car which is constructed almost entirely of injection molded parts, and whose biomass powered drive train qualifies it as a zero emissions vehicle.
On top of that, it has that elusive quality that makes a car a hit: style. Within the target market segment, its appeal is undeniable. Best of all, it's not a concept car. You can buy it today.
Post may contain irony: discontinue use if experiencing mood swings, nausea or elevated blood pressure.
I think I ran over a Mini Cooper the other day.....
Faster! Faster! Faster would be better!
Car batteries are made of lead, that's why they are so heavy.They should use their advanced inflatable technology and just replace the lead batteries with lightweight, inflatable batteries.