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Vacuum-Cleaner King James Dyson Plans Solar-Powered Car
James Dyson has made quite a name for himself with his bagless vacuum cleaners. Now, the inventor is spending some of his $1.5 billion fortune working on a gasless car -- specifically, one that runs completely on solar power.
His engineers in England are developing a lightweight electric motor that, according to Dyson, could power a family vehicle for hundreds of miles. The battery would be charged by solar panels mounted on the vehicle's roof, and/or on the roof of a garage where the car is stored. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the motor is actually based on those used in the company's vacuum cleaners and hand dryers.
Dyson believes that electric cars will outnumber gas-guzzlers within a decade.
"Electric cars are [currently] seen as city cars and to go 30 mph is quite enough, but in the future that will change," said Dyson. An electric motor can go to very high speeds."
Of course, as anyone who has actually been to the land of tea and crumpets has already surmised, there will be concerns over whether Britain is actually sunny enough for solar power to work. Global warming, perhaps? [Source: Daily Mail]
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Comments
123
Subscribe to commentsbunnyJun 26th 2008 7:23AM
The sooner we have a gas-less car the better!!!
I would suggest a solar battery that can be recharged and swapped [one to use and one to recharge].
There are LOTS of very sunny places on Earth that could become solar battery farms [and create an entirely new industry]....... Arizona, New Mexico, California, Australia....... come to mind as places with LOTS of sunny days!!!
Fred CallahanJun 26th 2008 12:51AM
I agree that within 10 years 90% or all cars manufactured will be electric. Battery(or electric storage is the key) or the now newly worked on capacitor by EEStor out of Texas. The capacitor does NOT contain any chemicals and has an unlimited recharge life. You can go to their web site and read about it (just type in eestor into your browser)
Lockheed-Martin signed an agreement with EEStor for the exclusive rights to integrate and market EESU units in military and homeland security applications.As far as the older vehicles there will still be a lot of them until such time as even they are finished with. There are also good progress with the lithum ion battery which can be recycled, unlike the capacitor which can be reused in another vehicle as it is still good.
Fred CallahanJun 26th 2008 12:48AM
Someone mentioned that in LA where it too and hour to go 7 miles an electric vehicle wou9ld not work, IF you are not moving it does not use the electricity stored. UNLESS of course it is at nite. LOT of electric autos out there right now. They are just working to make the distant traveled comparable to todays travel, 3-400 miles per tank and THEN to recharge in a relatively short time, Time for a cup of coffee maybe.