Qinqi Three-Wheeled Electric Vehicle

Here is the image of Qinqi Three-Wheeled Electric Vehicle:

This is a small three-wheeled vehicle by Qinqi good for travel within in the city and in those areas of city where there are chances of traffic congestion.Due its small size it is not only fuel-efficient but also good to travel in areas of traffic congestion.

Volkswagen 1-Litre Car - 282 MPG

Volkswagen is German auto-maker company;its 1-Litre car looks cool for two persons to ride and costs only US $600.It is one of the world's most economical cars.The company is headquartered in Hamburg , Germany.Here is a collection of images of this amazing car:

Cool Wooden Car Dashboard

Car dashboards or instrument panel are usually made up of plastic or some other synthetic material.However,you would be surprised to see the dashboard made of wood.Beautiful designs and patterns have been carved in the wooden dashboard.The glove compartment cover is decorated with a beautiful squirrel.The instrument panel of this car is equipped with a variety of instruments and devices like LCD,stereo system,speedometer,temperature gauge,rpm meter.Here is a collection of pictures showing the car dashboard made of wood:

Some Pimped Out School Buses in Japan

Here are some modified school buses,shown below,for Japanese children.These buses have been modified to make them look attractive to school going children.

The Terrafugia Transition - World's First Flying Car

Man has always been fascinated by the flying birds and that's why he has always dreamt of taking to the sky.In the history of flying we can see that many men died attempting to fly like a bird.Though a man still can't fly like a bird,but this dream of man to take to the sky has been realized by developing balloons, air planes and rockets.Now a new type of flying vehicle has joined this list of flying objects which have helped man take to the sky i.e.,the Terrafugia Transition - World's First Flying Car.

(Image via Terrafugia)

Car that Hops a Skipping Rope

You might have seen super-cars and luxury cars like Mercedez Benz S class that give very smooth and comfortable ride even on bumpy roads full of pits.These cars smoothly get over enormous speed bumps.It is only because of their high quality adjustable suspension system that helps these luxury and super-cars give a very smooth and comfortable ride.This adjustable suspension system of a car,if properly designed can really work wonders.

Car that runs on Compressed Air

Overview


Due to soaring oil prices in the international market and declining fossil fuel reserves around the globe,a lot of research is ongoing in auto industry all around the world to develop a car that could run on more economical fuels other than gasoline like compressed air,compressed natural gas,solar energy or electrical energy.To meet the challenges posed by rising oil prices,an ex-Formula One engineer Guy Nègre,a visionary inventor and founder of Luxemberg-based French auto-maker company Moteur Developpment International (MDI) ,has come up with a unique solution that is not only economical but also environment-friendly.He has developed an engine that runs on compressed air and has zero emissions of its own.This engine is indeed one of the greatest inventions of this century.Negre's compressed air car can  cover a distance of about 120miles between refuelling and can hit the speed of up to 70 miles. 

Tata Nano - The World's Cheapest Car

Tata Nano is a low cost,four-passenger and rear-engined car produced by the Indian Automaker Company Tata Motors.This car is targeted mainly at the Indian domestic market.Tata Motors began selling this car in March 2009.It is also known as "one-alkh car",due to its price point near 100,000 Indian Rupees. On-line sources claim that it the world's cheapest city car today.However,the price of this car is continuously rising due to the soaring material costs.

sQuba - World's First Submarine Car,reality or fiction?

Three decades ago,in 1977,the James Bond impressed the world by driving a car that could 'fly' under water in the film titled "The Spy Who Loved Me".This role was then played by Roger Moore.This act of James Bond in that movie was merely an animation effect,not the reality.At that time it was not possible to drive any car under water,as there was no real submarine car at that time.But now submarine car is a reality.

This scene of James Bond's movie greatly inspired Frank M Rinderknecht,the founder and CEO of Swiss auto-maker company Rinspeed, to turn this idea into reality.He turned his dream into reality by developing world's first submarine car sQuba.sQuba is actually the world's first car that can be driven both on the road and under water.This car can actually 'fly' under water .Snapshots of this car are shown below:

World's Fastest Solar Car - New World Record Set

Earlier this year on 7th of January 2011,at 10:32 am,a solar-powered electric car,Sunswift IVy Solar Car,developed by a group of students from University of South Wales,smashed the world record of top speed solar powered car.This record breaking event took place at HMAS Albatros navy base air strip in Nowra, Australia.With a speed of 88.738Km/h,the Sunswift IVy outperformed the previous record holder by a speed of about 10Km/h and claimed the Guiness World Record for the fastest solar powered car.The previous record holder of the world's fastest solar powered car has a top speed of about 78Km/h.The previous record of the world's fastest car was set by GM Sunraycer in 1987.The snapshots of this record-breaking event are shown below:

Artega SE - The World's Fastest Electric Sports Car

An electric car is eco-friendly and has fast response time as compared with combustion-engine powered car.This is why a lot of research is ongoing in automotive industry to develop a highly efficient and high speed electric car.With the advancement in battery technology and material engineering,it has now become possible for automotive industry to produce not only efficient street electric cars like Nissan Leaf but also sports electric cars like Tesla Roadster.A new sports electric car which has recently joined this category of cars is Artega SE.

                             Figure 1 : Artega SE's -World's fastest Electric Car   

                                          (Image Source : gizmag.com)  

How to extend life of your Car's Tyres?

Car tyres are expensive and thus require big amount of money to replace.Having your car tyres in proper shape are vital for your car's performance and for safe driving.If your car tyres are worn out or if you drive your car with its tyres under-inflated,it may not only result in a flat tyre or a dangerous blowout leading to severe accident if you are driving on highway at high speed.With proper care and adopting some precautionary measures you can easily prolong the life of your car's tyres.

How to improve your Car's Gas Mileage?

With soaring oil prices its is has become inevitable for almost every person around the globe to improve his car fuel efficiency and mileage. Improving the fuel efficiency of your car is not a rocket science,by adopting some simple and easy-to-do economy measures you can considerably improve the fuel efficiency of your car.Here are some useful tips on how to improve the gas mileage of your car:

1. Engine Tuning: By keeping your engine tuned up with spark plugs in good condition,proper fuel ratio and proper spark timings you can considerably improve the gas mileage of your car. 
2. Keep Tyres Properly Inflated: Make sure the tyres of your car are properly inflated.Under inflated tyres cause your engine to exert force in overcoming the resistance offered by under inflated tyres while maintaining the speed you desire.Gas mileage of your car can be improved upto 3.3 percent by keeping the tyres of your care inflated to the proper pressures as recommended by the owner's manual of your car.
3. Try to Avoid Using Air Conditioner: You should use the air conditioner of your car only if it is inevitable, as the compressor of the air conditioner puts a lot of strain on the engine which greatly lowers the fuel efficiency of your car.
4. Use Good Engine Oil: Engine oil plays a major role in improving the life and fuel efficiency of your engine.Use synthetic engine oil with cleansing and fiction reducing additives.A good quality engine oil can improve the fuel efficiency of your engine by almost 12%. Also change the engine oil of your car after certain number of miles on regular basis.Also use manufacturer's recommended grade of motor oil.
5. Keep the Windows of your Car Closed at High Speed: While driving your car at high speed you should keep the windows of your car closed, as the engine of your car has to put a lot of extra force in overcoming the drag caused by the open windows of the car. 
6. Develop Good Driving Practices: The way you drive your car plays an important role in fuel consumed by your car. If you have the habit of abruptly speeding up your car and applying brakes suddenly,then this is not good for your engine as this type of driving practice puts a lot strain on your engine and your engine has to work really hard to speed up suddenly and to stop suddenly. While driving your car up a hill do not speed up your car as speeding up your car while climbing up a hill puts a lot of strain on the engine of your car as your engine is already working hard to overcome the force of gravity while climbing up the hill.This type of practice is not only results in poor fuel efficiency but also it may result in heating up the engine of your car.While driving on the road you should try to develop a habit of anticipating whether you have to speed up your car or slow down your car according to the traffic rush,turns on the road and condition of the road.This may help improve the fuel efficiency of your car.Rapid acceleration and braking wastes much fuel and on high way it may reduce the fuel efficiency by 33% and by almost 5 percent while driving around the town.
7. Avoid Engine Idling: Engine idling is not a good practice.It may waste  up to half gallon fuel per hour depending size of engine and use of air conditioner.So to save the fuel you should keep the engine turned off when your car is parked.It takes a very little effort but it may greatly help you save the fuel.

Terex Titan – The World’s Largest Truck

The Terex Titan 33-19 is one of  the world's largest trucks designed by Terex Division of General Motors Inc.It was a prototype off-highway truck assembled at General Motor's Diesel Division's London,ON,Canada assembly Plant in 1973.It was an ultra class,three-axle,rigid frame,diesel/AC electric power-train haul truck.According to wikipedia only one truck of this type was ever produced and it was the biggest and the highest capacity haul truck in the world for 25 years.It was first shown to public in 1974 at the American Mining Congress in Las Vegas,Nevada.It remained in service for 13 years.Now it is preserved on static display as a tourist attraction in Sparwood,BC,Canada.

                                     Figure 1 : Front view of Terex Titan 33-19
                                                     (Image source : flickr.com)

Peel P50 - The world's smallest car

The Peel P50 is a three wheeled microcar originated from Isle of Man,UK.It is manufactured by Peel Engineering,UK.According to Peel Engineering,the Peel P50,being only 54 inches long and 41 inches wide,is claimed to be the world's smallest car.It has held this title for almost 50 years.According to Peel Engineering,Peel P50 to date still carries the Guinness Book of Records as the  World's Smallest Production Car of All time.
According to official website of  Peel Engineering,Peel P50 was first produced between 1962 to 1965 and only 50 cars were manufactured.The earliest version of this car was equipped with only one headlight,seat,door and wiper.It was powered by a diminutive 49cc two stroke engine.It is regarded as the simplest car equipped with minimal components.The video of Peel P50 originally recorded by Peel Factory on an 8mm tape is shown in Video1.This video does not contain any sound.

Video 1 : Original video by Peel Factory