Roadster 3.0

Battery technology has continued a steady improvement in recent years, as has our experience in optimizing total vehicle efficiency through Model S development. We have long been excited to apply our learning back to our first vehicle, and are thrilled to do just that with the prototype Roadster 3.0 package. It consists of three main improvement areas.

1. Batteries
The original Roadster battery was the very first lithium ion battery put into production in any vehicle. It was state of the art in 2008, but cell technology has improved substantially since then. We have identified a new cell that has 31% more energy than the original Roadster cell. Using this new cell we have created a battery pack that delivers roughly 70kWh in the same package as the original battery.

2. Aerodynamics
The original Roadster had a drag coefficient (Cd) of 0.36. Using modern computational methods we expect to make a 15% improvement, dropping the total Cd down to 0.31 with a retrofit aero kit.

3. Rolling Resistance
The original Roadster tires have a rolling resistance coefficient (Crr) of 11.0 kg/ton. New tires that we will use on the Roadster 3.0 have a Crr of roughly 8.9 kg/ton, about a 20% improvement. We are also making improvements in the wheel bearings and residual brake drag that further reduce overall rolling resistance of the car.

Summary
Combining all of these improvements we can achieve a predicted 40-50% improvement on range between the original Roadster and Roadster 3.0. There is a set of speeds and driving conditions where we can confidently drive the Roadster 3.0 over 400 miles. We will be demonstrating this in the real world during a non-stop drive from San Francisco to Los Angeles in the early weeks of 2015.

Appointments for upgrading Roadsters will be taken this spring once the new battery pack finishes safety validation. We are confident that this will not be the last update the Roadster will receive in the many years to come.

X-37B Space Plane Returns: 5 Theories About Its Secret Mission

After spending nearly two years in orbit on a secret mission, the U.S. Air Force's mysterious X-37B space plane landed today (Oct. 17) at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. The unmanned, reusable vehicle logged an unprecedented 675 days in space, but very little is known about the record-setting flight.

The X-37B, also known as the Orbital Test Vehicle, touched down at the Vandenberg Air Force Base today at 9:24 a.m. local Pacific Time (12:24 p.m. EDT). It was the third in a series of flights that the Air Force has conducted using its two X-37B planes.

This most recent flight, called OTV-3, was the third one to make it into orbit and was the longest mission, at 675 days.  The program's inaugural mission launched in April 2010 and lasted 225 days. The space plane's second mission lasted 469 days.

New Smart ForSpeed Concept Hints

While Smart has no immediate plans to produce the ForSpeed, key styling elements such as the headlamp and tail lamp designs with the outer rings illuminated by a LEDs as well as the more prominent front grille, will be carried over to future products including the next ForTwo series and the new five-door ForFour as the company plans to create a more distinct look for its cars to better compete with the Fiat 500 and the Mini.

V-22 Osprey

crown jewel of hard work and high people and material cost. This machine can perform landing and take-off from very small and nasty places in which standard transport airplanes can only perform parachute drops. Amongst all it can reach up to 560 km/h in flight, carry 27 tons of cargo and reach up to 7,900 meters of height. United States Army had been given excellent machine.



SAIC Motor

Inspired by a simple ant’s distinctive body structure and the mutually beneficial relationship between ants and trumpet trees, SAIC Motors designed Roewe “Mobiliant.” Mobiliant is a single-seat vehicle for urban public transit, which helps improve both transportation and operation efficiency for future urban ecological systems.

2046 Parsonal Commuter

 EVO Vehicle Concept by Fabien Pace, Armand Herve, Magomed Oumalaev & Anatole Vaillant from ISD, EVO is a compact sharing vehicle with an autonomous driving system and a design inspired by Parisian trends and by the French Touch aspect (haute couture, fashion and fabric) The exterior uses a system of slats and Electro Active Polymer technology to transform the shape and switch from a compact storage mode to a 2-seater or a 4-seater layout.

ZecOO Electric Bike

 Looking like something out of Tron, design company Znug have come up with a completely amazing looking electric motorbike. Called the ZecOO, the new bike is a sleek, agressive and completely unconventional design.
 The bike is designed by former Toyota designer Kota Nezu and assembled and built in a custom bike shop Suehiro in Tokyo, taking only 6 months from concept to prototype. The frame is made from a combination of solid wood and alloy and looks to push the boundaries of what the future for EV bikes could be. Rather than conventional fork steering the front uses a central hub system and sits on cantilevered shock absorbers and driven by rear wheel belt.
Right now there are no indications of specs for the bike and it will be officially tested in spring of this year but the designers are promising performance that definitely matches the look of the bike, which we take to mean pretty aggressively fast. The aim was to create a bike that is not only reliable technically and inline with the future of mobility but also one that takes into account the power of design, “a design that grabs the heart”.

E-Vul Electric Car

 According to Berkeley Study, a university of California, by the year of 2030, most of us will be driving electric cars. Maybe that’s why this concept, E-Vul electric car, is dedicated for the year of 2030. This electric-powered vehicle concept was designed after careful consideration of our environmental issues, future living status and the effect of new energy technologies.


Fiorella Yacht

 Fiorella Yacht is a small and cute yacht for fun and casual recreation. Designed by Hyun-Seok Kim, this yacht will remind you about the pleasure of seeing beautiful flowers that blossom and a variety of butterflies around when you have a picnic in the park or garden. It will also remind you about the good ol’ days when you had amusement park boat ride with your family.









Dune 90 Megayacht By Arman Fisette

 The Dune 90 strays from the common “wedding cake” stacking style of the current yachtmarket and instead boasts monolithic approach inspired by stealth frigates and rippling sand dunes. The result is a crisp, lean, and classy look that still maintains the modern luxuries you’d expect from a yacht of this size; including 10 guest cabins, swimming pool, berths for a submarine or wave-runners, and like any good megayacht- a helipad.



Scoobike By Ardhyaska Amy

 As you might have guessed by the name, the Scoobike combines push and pedal power to form one perfectly minimal and super-accessible system of public, hybrid bikes for getting around the urban jungle in a jiffy. Pedal-powered LED lights provide added safety beyond generic reflectors and an adjustable seat means one size fits all!