Riversimple Urban Car plans to turn cars into a service, such as telephones

The week before the last one we brought you information on a car that promises to join things that, nowadays, seem to be completely opposite to each other: fuel cell cars and low cost, as well as personal transportation and mobility. The first two are apparently opposed to each other because current fuel cell cars are very expensive and only have been leased to few people. One example of these cars is Honda FCX Clarity. The other two conflict because people buy cars that can normally carry up to five people, but only the driver rides it in a regular basis. This behavior fills the streets completely with cars and threatens personal mobility. The car that seems to have solved these matters is called Riversimple Urban Car. And it will manage to do that with a simple formula: turning mobility into a service, such as light, water and telephones.



Although it has been revealed on June 16, we only managed to obtain its pictures now, hence the delay. RUC (Riversimple Urban Car) will manage to be cheap, even powered by a fuel cell, using a smal unit, able to produce 6 kW. That will certainly cust cost. Performance is assured by very efficient regenerative brakes (they recover 50% of the energy spent in braking, while other systems manage to recover only 10%) and ultracapacitors. The car will be able to reach a top speed of 80 km/h, will be able to go from 0 to 56 km/h in 5.5 s, will have a 320 km range (if not longer) and an estimated fuel economy equivalent to 106.2 km/l of petrol. But using hydrogen as fuel and producing only water as a by-product.

As for the other part of the mission (assuring personal mobility with low, if any, environment impacts), the car will not be owned by its driver: it will be rented, or leased, if you prefer the correct term for it. The cars are expected to last for at least 20 years and may have different leasing contracts. One of them could last three years with a 200 pounds installment every month (about US$ 330), but, as well as mobile phones, prices and conditions may vary.

According to declarations from Hugo Spowers, head of the project, that price would include maintenance, insurance and all the fuel needed by the car. In other words, hydrogen. When you refuel your RUC, the bill will go to Riversimple. That will make the company look for fuel efficiency improvements throughout all the car lifetime cycle.

The idea is revolutionary, but this revolution should scare no one, since it comes for the benefit of everybody. First of all, it assures the same individual freedom of choice a car offers. After all, RUC is a car, or, to be more precise, a two-seater built mostly of composite materials, what will make it extremely light (about 350 kg). Secondly, by being light and carrying only two people, it has minimal environment impacts (fuel cells produce electricity and water, nothing else). If hydrogen is generated by renewable sources, environment impacts tend to be close to zero.

Still according to Spowers, five prototypes will be built at the end of next year for tests. Then, by the end of 2011, 50 cars will be built and placed in the hands of regular customers in British cities, what should become effective by 2012. There are no words, so far, on what will happen after that, but we are trying to clarify this matter as soon as possible.

Besides all these ideas, the car will also be developed as an open source vehicle, like some softwares such as Linux. According to Riversimple, this will help the idea spread to many parts of the globe without the structure a regular carmaker would need.












Source: Riversimple

Amoritz GT plans to create the true Brazilian sports car

Have a good look at the picture below and answer: it looks familiar, doesn't it? The new Amoritz GT LSPS is clearly inspired on VW SP2, a 1970's sports car created by Volkswagen for the Brazilian market. The main difference, besides the more modern looks, is the fact that SP2 used a VW Beetle chassis, while the LSPS will be a rear wheel drive car with a front engine.



Amoritz GT LSPS is a 4.25 m long, 1.90 m wide and 1.20 m high sports car with a wheelbase of 2.50 m. Its custom chassis holds a 500 bhp 5.3-litre V8 that is able to run with ethanol or natural gas.

We still have not managed to contact the designer Fernando Morita, the father of LSPS, but we will soon bring more information about it. Including the possibility of having the car in the streets as a regular production car (even if handcrafted).
















Source: Amoritz GT via CarScoop

Riversimple Urban Car promises to be the first fuel cell vehicle available for everyone

Have this date on your agenda: June 16. This is when a major breakthrough in human personal mobility aims to take place. Still refered to as "Riversimple Urban Car" (we'll call it RUC), the vehicle that will be presented in the United Kingdom next Tueday (a week from now) promises to be available to anyone willing to have a fuel cell car. For a lot of reasons.



The first one is the fact it will be a two-seater built mostly of composite materials, what will make it extremely light (about 350 kg). The second one it that the car is not intended to be sold, but to be leased, what would save natural resources, once these cars are aimed to be used for a long time. The third one is that it will not be expensive, once it uses a small fuel cell.

RUC will be powered by a 6 kW fuel cell, regenerative brakes and ultracapacitors. The car will be able to reach a top speed of 80 km/h, will be able to go from 0 to 56 km/h in 5.5 s, will have a 320 km range (if not longer) and an estimated fuel economy equivalent to 106.2 km/l of petrol. But using hydrogen and producing water as a by-product.

Besides all these ideas, the car will also be developed as an open source vehicle, like some softwares such as Linux. According to Riversimple, the company behind the car, this will help it spread to many parts of the globe without the structure a regular carmaker would need. Let's wait for more information on June 16.

Source: Riversimple via Autocar

Superior Glass Works gives 1954 Chevrolet Corvette Nomad 25 chances to live

In 1954, General Motors was in its best form and could choose what to see or not to customers. One of these products, presented at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel, in New York, during the Motorama event, was the Corvette Nomad, a station wagon based on the North American automotive icon. It never reached production (not as it was presented, once there was a 1955 Chevrolet Nomad), but Brad and Donna Peterson, owners of Superior Glass Works, have decided to give this great looking car a chance to come to life. In fact, it will have 25 chances to do so as the Superior 54 Sport Wagon.



Only 25 of these beautiful cars will leave Superior Glass Works at a cost of US$ 125,000 each. But do not be mistaken: "Superior Glass Works does not produce complete ‘turn-key’ cars. They will be shipped without paint or interior", said Brad Peterson to MotorTips. Therefore, the cars will be sold as Complete Rolling Packages, what includes a fiberglass and balsa reinforced plastic body, a set of custom-crafted window glass and chrome trim, power windows, power door locks, air-conditioning, custom frame (designed and built with Art Morrison Enterprises), with Morrison’s front cross member, steering arms, sway bar, power rack and pinion steering and the Corvette C5 suspension.

The car has been prepared to accecpt any LS-Series Chevrolet V8, what includes the fantastic LS9 that powers the Corvette ZR1. " An engine is not provided with the base package, but can be provided as an added-cost option", states Peterson.

The car you see in the pictures is the Superior 54 Sport Wagon that will be presented at the 2009 MSRA's Back to the 50s, an event that will happen from June 19 to June 21, 2009 in St. Paul, Minnesota. The official public presentation of the car will be there. According to Peterson, the car "will be more finished than what you see in those pictures". If the car already looks gorgeous unfinished, we can imagine what it will become in its final form. And in the hands of those able to pay US$ 125,000.










Source: Superior Glass Works via Autoblog.nl

Mitsubishi follows Subaru and presents its electric vehicle, i-MiEV

Subaru has announced it will start selling the electric car Plug-In Stella EV to customers by July 2009. Mitsubishi has seized the World Environment Day, last Friday, to present another electric vehicle to customers, the i-MiEV (Mitsubishi innovative Electric Vehicle). In fact, this presentation is only useful for Japanese authorities and corporations, once the car will only be delivered to regular consumers by April 2010. Even considering this, the new i-MiEV may be worth waiting for: it goes farther than Stella (160 km, against 90 km of range from the Subaru), it is roomier (2.55 m of wheelbase) and it is cheaper (4,380,000 yens, against 4,725,000 yens, or a little more than US$ 44,300 against US$ 50,000). Some may also say it is better looking than Stella, and we will be obliged to agree.



The same subsidy that Stella owner candidates will be eligible to receive can also be applied to i-MiEV. In other words, the car can cost 1,390,000 yens less, or about US$ 14,000. In other words, when i-MiEV starts to be sold, in 2010, it may cost around US$ 30,000.

The i-MiEV is based on one of the most fantastic kei cars available in Japan, the Mitsubishi i. Although it is only 3.40 m long, 1.48 m wide and 1.60 m tall, it has an amazing wheelbase of 2.55 m, 5 cm longer than Honda Jazz/Fit, for example. The original vehicle manages to have such a roomy interior due to its engine, which is placed just ahead of the rear axle. Mitsubishi calls it a rear midship engine. This is what Volkswagen was planning to do with the future Lupo, known as the up! concept, but the German company apparently gave up on this idea. Too bad...

The i-MiEV follows the same sort of engine arrangement. It uses a single shift gearbox due to the amazing torque electric engines have in any condition. It is 200 kg heavier than a regular i (1,100 kg, against 900 kg), what has surely made it present a worse performance. Speaking of it, Mitsubishi does not refer to top speed or acceleration figures. Engine specs are almost equal to Subaru Plug-In Stella EV: 47 kW (64 bhp) from 3,000 rpm to 6,000 rpm and 180 Nm from 0 to 2,000 rpm.

Charging times vary according to the source of energy output. In case you only have a 110V outlet, it will take you 14 hours to fully charge the battery. In a 220V outlet, full charges take 7 hours, what would allow someone to get home, plug the car and use it again the next morning. Anyway, Mitsubishi will also offer quick-charge stations throughout Japan in order to allow at least 80% of charge in around 30 minutes.

Inside the car, the gearbox selector will have three positions, besides the regular R, N and P: D, for driving with full power, Eco, which saves energy and B, for maximum regenerative brake bias. The displays will present to the driver the necessary data in order to avoid surprises (or being out of energy away from home): power consumption, energy recovery, battery residual charge indicator and a range indicator which calculates how far can the driver go the way he has been driving for the last few kilometres.

Mitsubishi will produce the same car for Peugeot and Citroën in order to become the French carmakers first electric car, as it already does with Peugeot 4007 and Citroën C-Crosse, both badge engineered versions of Mitsubishi Outlander.























Source: Mitsubishi