The Vehicle of the Future?

In a world seemingly obsessed with finding renewable energy sources, solar power has become a common feature in day-to-day life. Although the technology was initially released before it was fully tested, and therefore gained a poor reputation for reliability, since the turn of the Millennium it has grown in stature and promise. One can forgive the scientists behind the development for this over-eagerness in releasing what could one day be a primary resource for fuel and power in the modern world, especially as the majority of the kinks are now ironed out.

It is therefore natural that many are considering the possibility of solar powered vehicles. With the non-renewable fossil fuels being consumed by motorists at a rate that the planet will soon no longer be able to supply, the idea of having a car entirely powered by solar powers is an intriguing one.

It is not, however, a particularly new one. Almost since the invention of solar panels, pioneering developers have been trying to find a way to harness the technology for the car. The idea of being able to run a car with no emissions and no consumption of fossil fuels would indeed be arguably the biggest leap in engineering since the Wright brothers, but is it really possible?

The steps are beginning to be made. For example, Toyota - who market the worlds most popular hybrid vehicle, the Prius - are said to be considered installing solar panels on new versions of the Prius. However, the panels will only be used to power the air conditioning and electrical systems. While this is advancement in the general concept, it isn't the finished article.

In truth, solar powered cars do exist. Powering a vehicle by the force of the sun alone is possible, but the problems arise in the practicalities. Two annual races currently exist for solar powered vehicles only, the World Solar Challenge and North American Solar Challenge. However, many of the competitors are engineering under and post graduates, as well as technologically minded individuals. The notable absence in these races is in the big car manufacturers, the people who genuinely could make solar powered vehicles a reality for all.

The question is then, if a solar powered vehicle is possible, will it ever replace the standard combustion engine? The issue is open for debate, but it would seem unlikely. Toyota may have implemented the concept of solar panels to power electrics and air conditioning, but perhaps only after trying to power the entire vehicle with solar energy and failing.

The main flaw in solar powered vehicles is size. To get the most out of the suns rays, a lot of solar powers are needed, far more than can ever be fit onto an actual car. From the small space available, it is perfectly possible to generate the necessary power from the sun to power the electric engine of a car, but only for very short distances and in sunny conditions. The idea, it would seem, will remain a fun experiment for mechanical students, and the ever popular races will continue. However, under current ideas for solar vehicles, it is unlikely your family hatchback is going to come complete with solar panels any time in the future.

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The Chrysler Grand Voyager

Everything you need to know about Chrysler's latest people carrier

On the other side of the pond, Chrysler's Grand Voyager would be known as a mini-van; over here, however, we call it a people carrier. France's Renault Espace made the people carrier sexy in the mid eighties. And the larger car has remained a firm favourite with families ever since.

The whole concept was very much stolen from Chrysler, which created the whole mini-van segment in the early 1980s. And with their experience spanning almost 30 years, you'd expect the latest Grand Voyager to be pretty good.

Get the look

The styling is far more box-like than before, but bizarrely this actually improves the aerodynamics. It's not a handsome car, but we are talking about a vehicle where function counts for more than form.

Most improvements are inside the cabin. New finishes and wood trim line the dash board and door panels, while overhead a halo lighting package emits a glow along the console without distracting the driver. Gadgets include a rechargeable torch in the rear cargo area.

Sit tight

But the Grand Voyager's real masterpiece is the ingenious Stow 'n' Go seating system. It's easy to operate and allows the car to be transformed from a seven-seat people carrier to a two-person cargo vehicle in less than 30 seconds. Best of all is the fact the seats store flat in the floor, so there's no need to lug them into the garage like a Sharan or a Galaxy.

Stow 'n' Go is pretty good, but now there's also Swivel 'n' Go, available on the upmarket Limited-badged models. This includes floor storage bins and second-row captain's chairs that swivel 180 degrees to face rearward. Add a removable table that fits between the second and third rows so you have a mobile dining room!

Gadgets galore

People carriers are all about people and the Grand Voyager comes with an entertainment system that would put an airliner to shame. A dual DVD system can play up to three different types of media at the same time, so passengers in one row can watch a movie, while those in the other can plug in their gaming systems. Eight-inch LCD screens are fitted in the second and third rows and there's a remote control for the DVD player. You can also plug in your iPod and a touch-screen and voice-controlled navigation system complete the gadgetry.

Compared to the old model, refinement is much improved. Wind noise is reduced, the stiffened body means less vibration and a new suspension system has helped improve stability and ride comfort. The turbo diesel engine develops 161bhp but this is a big vehicle and it's a little sluggish to get going. An automatic gearbox is standard.

Special effects

Specification levels are high. Even the basic model gets convenient features like power sliding rear doors on both sides of the vehicle and keyless entry. Put to use as a family vehicle, it contains plenty of well thought out practical features, such as the odour and stain resistant cloth used to cover the seating surfaces for the LX and Touring trim.

Safety improvements see standard traction control, brake assist and side-curtain airbags that add to the multistage front and seat-mounted bags. A tyre pressure monitoring system is also included.

Money talks

The vehicle offers flexibility, masses of space and generous equipment. Prices start at £25,456 for the diesel powered LX. Touring models cost a couple of thousand more and the top-spec Limited is £32,300 whether you go for diesel or the V6 petrol. Top speed on the diesel is 115mph and you should expect around 30mpg. Car Insurance groups range from 11-13 depending on the model.

All that's left to do now, is round up the people!

Find cheap car insurance on http://www.confused.com/. Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Kate_Tee

How To Watch A Movie On Your PC, The Fun Way

I recently discovered VLC. VLC (www.videolan.org) is an open source media player application which can handle just about any kind of file you can throw at it, such as VOB (DVD), DivX, XVid. One of the neat things it knows how to do is to play movies at higher rates than normal, with sound.

So, take your average pompous over written Hollywood crap-fest. You want to get through the story but you don't want to waste 2 1/2 hours to do it. Throw the DVD (or DivX, or whatever) into your computer, fire up VLC, and watch it at 2x or 3x. Slow it down for the important parts, the ones that actually advance the plot, then speed it back up again for the filler. There's also comedic value in watching people deliver their lines sounding like chipmunks.

Dissecting The Stimulus Bill

I spent a few minutes combing through the final version of the economic stimulus bill passed by the U.S. Congress (the huge PDF files are availible here). Here are some highlights, with regards to automotive and transportation related spending.

Divisiion A, Title IV: Energy

• $2 billion for grants for manufacturing advanced batteries and components, to be produced in the U.S.
• $3.4 billion for "Fossel Energy Research and Development". This includes $800 million for "clean coal" research, $1.5 billion for carbon capture and efficiency improvements, and money for geology research for carbon sequestration.
  
• $10 million for administrative costs for the Advanced Technology Vehicle Vehicles Manufacturing Loan program.

Division A, Title XII: Transportation

• $27.5 billion for highway, rail, and port infrastructure spending\
• $105 million earmarked for Puerto Rico highway program
• $550 million earmarked for transportation improvements on Indian Reservations and Federal Lands: $310 million for Indian reservation roads, $170 million for park roads, $60 million for forest highways, $10 million for the Refuge Roads program
• $1.3 billion for Amtrak
• $100 million to fund high fuel economy vehicles for the federal fleet, including gasoline hybrid vehicles, plug-in hybrid vehicles

Division B, Title 1

• Sec. 1008: new vehicle sales tax deduction: sales taxes on new vehicles are federally deductible, for vehicles which cost less than $49,500 and for taxpayers with income below $125,000 ($250,000 married joint filers).
• Sec. 1141: tax credit for plug in hybrid vehicles, $2,500 plus $417 for each kWH of battery capacity in excess of 5 kWH, maximum of $5,000. Phases out after the first 200,000 such vehicles sold after December 2009.
  
• Sec. 1142: tax credit for plug-in electric (battery electric) vehicles, 10% of the cost of such a vehicle, capped at $2,500. Vehicle must have battery capacity of at least 4 kWH, less is allowed if 2 or 3 wheels. 2 and 3 wheel vehicles qualify for the tax credit.
• Sec. 1143: tax credit for plug-in conversion kits, 10% of the cost of a conversion, not to exceed a cost of $40,000 (credit capped at $4,000).
  

A few observations. First, lots of pork in the highway portion, with earmarks specifically for Indian reservations and park roads.

The federal tax deduction for a new vehicle purchase sales tax is nice, but not a huge incentive. Consider: $20,000 vehicle, sales tax of 6%, deduction is $1,200. And if you are leasing, your tax deduction might only be half of that, or less, depending on the value of the lease.

The tax credits for plug-in hybrids, battery electric vehicles, and plug-in conversions are mostly window dressing. In the next few years, there won't be very many plug-in hybrds on the market, and certainly there won't be very many battery electric vehicles, in any volume. Eventually, enough products may enter the market to make this tax credit useful to more people, but it will take years to happen. Plug-in conversions are silly, in terms of their economics, and a 10% discount isn't enough to fix it, I don't see them ever being a high-volume business.

The $2 billion for advanced battery manufacturing grants is a good idea, this should provide a badly needed boost for the domestic battery industry, and should recover some lost jobs. A123 systems has already proposed a battery plant to be built in Michigan, pending government funds.

The "clean coal" money, and carbon sequestration projects are not likely to produce much useful result. I'm not sure there is such a thing, really, as "clean coal", at least not by the standards of the green lobby. Scrubbing coal emissions of CO2, and pumping it underground to hide it may be so expensive that it makes coal non-competitive as a power source. This, of course, may be the whole point. I would have liked to see more money for nuclear power subsidies instead.

My New Gadget: WD TV

Up to this point, my favorite a/v gadget has been my Roku Soundbridge wireless MP3 player. But the other day, I got a Western Digital TV HD Media Player, which is one of the coolest gadgets I have ever owned.


What the WDTV does is play just about any type of media file, from all kinds of video formats (DivX, Xvid, AVI, MP4, MKV, DVD ISO, etc.) to photos and music. It will play to your TV through composite video (RCA) or HDMI, and will output in SD or HD. It uses USB for storage, USB flash drives or USB HDDs, and can mount two of them at once. It is cheap, around $100.

The goodness here is in the details, and the simplicity of the device. The user interface is attractive, and easy. The menu response is snappy. The remote is clean, attractive, and works at wide angles to the unit. To play video, you rip your DVDs, or download your webisodes to a USB drive. You carry it over to your TV, plug it in, and after short boot-up time where it indexes the new media, you are in business. It even worked with an old USB 1.1 flash drive. Fast forward/rewind is smooth and responsive. You can zoom in, pan, and zoom out the view during playback. WD has issued several firmware updates since the product launched, which fixed bugs and added features. Firmware updates are easy.


I thought I wanted something like a Popcorn Hour A110, which would allow streaming from my PC to my TV, but they are fairly expensive ($200) and you have to supply the HDD yourself. Also, my previous experience with streaming videos from my PC (Hauppauge MediaMPV) was not stellar, with significant network buffering and transcoding delays. By removing the network capabilities, Western Digital came up with something that is, for the money, more than good enough.

*I'm not a paid promoter or official reviewer, just a happy customer.

House Proposes Plug-In Hybrid Tax Credits

In its version of the Obama economic stimulus package, the House of Representatives has included a disappearing tax credit for plug-in hybrid cars, similar to the confusing disappearing tax credit for non-plug in gasoline hybrid cars.

The credit consists of $2,500 per passenger car, plus $417 for each kWh of battery capacity over the first 4 kWh. The credit is limited to $7,500 for a vehicle with GVW less than 10,000lbs, but does increase to $10,000 for a vehicle with GVW up to 14,000lbs, and up to $15,000 for vehicles with GVW up to 26,000lbs.

The credit will start to phase out 3 months after 250,000 plug-in hybrids have been sold in the U.S., dropping to 50% for the next 6 months, then 25% for the next 6 months, and then going away completely.

So, for example, the Chevy Volt with its claimed 16 kWh battery would qualify for $2,500 + 12 * $417 = $7,500 (what a coincidence!)

SEC. 205. CREDIT FOR NEW QUALIFIED PLUG-IN ELECTRIC DRIVE MOTOR VEHICLES.

(a) Plug-in Electric Drive Motor Vehicle Credit- Subpart B of part IV of subchapter A of chapter 1 (relating to other credits) is amended by adding at the end the following new section:

`SEC. 30D. NEW QUALIFIED PLUG-IN ELECTRIC DRIVE MOTOR VEHICLES.

`(a) Allowance of Credit-

`(1) IN GENERAL- There shall be allowed as a credit against the tax imposed by this chapter for the taxable year an amount equal to the applicable amount with respect to each new qualified plug-in electric drive motor vehicle placed in service by the taxpayer during the taxable year.

`(2) APPLICABLE AMOUNT- For purposes of paragraph (1), the applicable amount is sum of--

`(A) $2,500, plus

`(B) $417 for each kilowatt hour of traction battery capacity in excess of 4 kilowatt hours.

`(b) Limitations-

`(1) LIMITATION BASED ON WEIGHT- The amount of the credit allowed under subsection (a) by reason of subsection (a)(2) shall not exceed--

`(A) $7,500, in the case of any new qualified plug-in electric drive motor vehicle with a gross vehicle weight rating of not more than 10,000 pounds,

`(B) $10,000, in the case of any new qualified plug-in electric drive motor vehicle with a gross vehicle weight rating of more than 10,000 pounds but not more than 14,000 pounds,

`(C) $12,500, in the case of any new qualified plug-in electric drive motor vehicle with a gross vehicle weight rating of more than 14,000 pounds but not more than 26,000 pounds, and

`(D) $15,000, in the case of any new qualified plug-in electric drive motor vehicle with a gross vehicle weight rating of more than 26,000 pounds.

`(2) LIMITATION ON NUMBER OF PASSENGER VEHICLES AND LIGHT TRUCKS ELIGIBLE FOR CREDIT-

`(A) IN GENERAL- In the case of a new qualified plug-in electric drive motor vehicle sold during the phaseout period, only the applicable percentage of the credit otherwise allowable under subsection (a) shall be allowed.

`(B) PHASEOUT PERIOD- For purposes of this subsection, the phaseout period is the period beginning with the second calendar quarter following the calendar quarter which includes the first date on which the total number of such new qualified plug-in electric drive motor vehicles sold for use in the United States after December 31, 2008, is at least 250,000.

`(C) APPLICABLE PERCENTAGE- For purposes of subparagraph (A), the applicable percentage is--

`(i) 50 percent for the first 2 calendar quarters of the phaseout period,

`(ii) 25 percent for the 3d and 4th calendar quarters of the phaseout period, and

`(iii) 0 percent for each calendar quarter thereafter.

`(D) CONTROLLED GROUPS- Rules similar to the rules of section 30B(f)(4) shall apply for purposes of this subsection.

`(c) New Qualified Plug-in Electric Drive Motor Vehicle- For purposes of this section, the term `new qualified plug-in electric drive motor vehicle' means a motor vehicle--

`(1) which draws propulsion using a traction battery with at least 4 kilowatt hours of capacity,

`(2) which uses an offboard source of energy to recharge such battery,

`(3) which, in the case of a passenger vehicle or light truck which has a gross vehicle weight rating of not more than 8,500 pounds, has received a certificate of conformity under the Clean Air Act and meets or exceeds the equivalent qualifying California low emission vehicle standard under section 243(e)(2) of the Clean Air Act for that make and model year, and

`(A) in the case of a vehicle having a gross vehicle weight rating of 6,000 pounds or less, the Bin 5 Tier II emission standard established in regulations prescribed by the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency under section 202(i) of the Clean Air Act for that make and model year vehicle, and

`(B) in the case of a vehicle having a gross vehicle weight rating of more than 6,000 pounds but not more than 8,500 pounds, the Bin 8 Tier II emission standard which is so established,

`(4) the original use of which commences with the taxpayer,

`(5) which is acquired for use or lease by the taxpayer and not for resale, and

`(6) which is made by a manufacturer.

I Windows 7 Beta Test

For fun, I downloaded the Windows 7 Beta DVD ISO from Microsoft. I made a second partition on my second HDD, and installed it. It was painless, and didn't take long.

Windows 7 is, so far, running like a champ. It seems about as responsive as Vista, no worse in my unscientific opinion. It recognized all of my hardware, such as my TV tuner card, video card, and monitor, and is talking to my network. It is the "Ultimate" version, which means it comes with Windows Media Center, which is nice.

If you have about 16 gigabytes to spare, give it a whirl it isn't bad.