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Aptera Electric Trikemobile Finds a Friend (and $2.75m) in Google
Posted by Gizmodo US Edition at 10:52 AM on July 24, 2008
Pre-orders for the awesome Aptera electric car opened up last year, but the company has been relatively quiet about their progress as of late. Google's philanthropic arm has just thrown a cool US$2.75 million their way, and now they're being a little more forthright: the Aptera Typ-1 is due this year, same specs, at about US$30,000. Both full electric and plug-in hybrid flavours will be available. Given electric car startups' propensity for disappointing failure, it's comforting to see this especially promising one get a vote of confidence from Papa Goog. [CNET]
How's this sound: rather than hopping on the subway, when in a large city you'd hop into a little pod hanging from an elevated track. It would have pedals. You would then pedal yourself around the city, working up a lovely sweat before you reached your destination. Sound good? No?
One place where "if you build it, they will come" doesn't always apply is in military hardware. After constructing two Zumwalt class DD(X) stealth destroyers at US$2.6 billion apiece, the Navy has scrapped its plan to build up the rest of its intended 313-ship fleet--turns out, the demand for a ship whose primary mission is to obliterate large land targets with guided artillery and Tomahawk missiles doesn't suit the smaller-scale anti-terror missions most of the armed forces are currently faced with. Now the Pentagon just has to decide what to do with the almost $1 trillion it just freed up in its budget. I'm sure they'll have no problem with that. [
The Magic Tricycle (horrible name) concept is designed around a reasonable idea. On the highway, you may want to drive a car. So the Magic Tricycle (horrible name) road rages through traffic with three wheels. But when you just want to cruise around town, it transforms into motorcycle mode:
Here it is, fellow space-geeks, the first official image of the new joint Russian-European manned spacecraft, and we'll be damned if it doesn't look like something out of the Ikea Kitchen Collection. It's made to ferry up to four people (cosmonauts or astronauts?) to the moon and back, with a two-stage orbiter-and-lander design much like the original American lunar missions. What's interesting is that the craft uses thrusters to slow its descent to the moon's surface as well as to launch itself off the surface. The Russians state that they expect a launch in 2018, though a launch could happen sooner if stock rockets currently available are modified, which sounds perfectly and totally safe to us. [
This cruise ship is called the Whampoa and it is stranded in a gigantic pool in the middle of Hong Kong's largest private housing state: Whampoa Garden. However, this Love Boat is sailing to nowhere: it's just a huge shopping mall full of restaurants, shops, and a hotel, built to look like a cruise ship. Looking at it up close, it really looks like one, down to the metal finish. In Google Maps, you realise how huge this thing is:
With the dinosaur Space Shuttle set to retire in 2010, and 
Constructed of 3500 parts, connected by 4,900 bolts and standing 112 feet in the air, this sculpture commissioned by Land Rover is certainly an idolatrous addition to the Festival of Speed. But, uhh, does anyone else see the piece as less a triumph and more an indicator of our inevitable future--one where SUVs are good for little else than standing proudly/uselessly on a scrapheap? 
I'm glad the Germans got rid of the funny moustaches, the kinky uniforms, and they are on our side now, because these mini-tanks and mini-trucks--which could be deployed inside standard transport helicopters--give a new meaning to the word blitzkrieg. They can be rolled out in any location in a matter of seconds, as this recent video shows. Apparently the trucks have not been very successful in actual use in Afghanistan, but the Wiesel 2 multi-role vehicles--developed by Porsche--have been very useful.
For DIYers with a lot more technical know-how than cash, an Instructables user has put up a really interesting tutorial on building an electric motorcycle using just US$3000. The vehicle has a 110kph top speed, but can only go about 16km before it needs to be recharged. It's great for a quick trip to the store, if you don't make any unexpected stops along the way. With gas prices being what they are, you should probably try to make it so everything you would normally need to get to is less than 16km away anyhow. [
