This is the Volta G/T, from the very specifically named Electric Vehicle Company of Boulder County, Colorado.

The Volta is a fully electric scooter design for short commutes and urban living. Many cities offer free parking for scooters (including Toronto, my hometown) and while you might be using a bit more electricity to charge it, you’ll be saving loads of gas money, never mind the convenient benefit on never having to pay for parking.

Other than looking really, really cool, the Volta features what’s called “Smart Ride”. This system allows you to opt for more power, or more range.

The Volta has a top speed of about 110 kph, and a range of over 100 kilometers. The Smart Ride features allows you to optimize your ride for speed or range, using either the performance or economy mode.

The Performance mode allows riders faster speeds, up to 110kph, for those scooter speed demons out there. On the other side, the Volta has an economy mode. The economy mode opts for more efficiency, allowing riders to travel farther, about 110 kilometers, at a slower speed.

To assist with range, the Volta also features regenerative braking, which helps charge the battery during braking.

This is a pretty nice scooter which would be great for urban living, where most trips are rather short. Free parking in many cities is a huge benefit, and not having to worry about gas prices is  indispensable.

Head on over to the Volta’s website where you can get more information about purchasing and pricing.

via AutoblogGreen

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Well we’ve been seeing a whole bunch of new electric vehicle concepts, securing the age-old idea that we’ll all drive electric cars in the near future.

Unfortunately electric cars still have a problem with range. Most of them are very energy efficient, but still can’t drive very far without needing a recharge.

Mitsubishi has put some innovative ideas into the iMIEV to solve this problem. Use green energy!

The iMIEV features a solar panel on the roof and two compact wind turbines in the front to generate electricity. Along with solar and wind, the iMIEV has a regenerative braking system, which uses braking friction to generate electricity.

These technologies help recharge the car’s battery and helps to improve the car’s range. The solar roof alone adds about 20 miles to the range. It’s not much, but every little bit helps, and if it’s green energy, all the better!

In addition to the green power, the car features LED based lighting, heat-absorbing window glass, and green plastic - a plastic made from plant resin.

It’s great to see some innovative thinking in creating a green car, it’s ideas like this which will give us the car of the future, not just a simple concept.

via Treehugger

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