Lifeboat Foundation

Elon Musk is hinting at Tesla Cybertruck being virtually amphibious, and it’s not clear if he’s actually kidding.

Sometimes, Musk makes comments about future Tesla products and features that can be hard to judge.

For example, it was hard to tell if he was kidding when he said that the next Tesla Roadster would be equipped with a cold air thruster, but that’s apparently happening.

Taking a cross-country roadtrip in your electric vehicle is a little more feasible thanks to Electrify America. Its first coast to coast EV fast charging route is now complete, and the company plans to have another route finished by September. The routes provide high-powered chargers to all EV brands, and on average, the stations are spaced about 70 miles apart, so EV owners can travel beyond a single charge without being stranded.

The first route stretches over 2,700 miles from Washington DC to Los Angeles. It follows Interstates 15 and 70 and passes through 11 states. The second route will connect Jacksonville and San Diego.

What does a 1.1-sec, 0–60 mph acceleration even look like? A graphic artist tried to visualize what a Tesla Roadster with SpaceX thruster looks like when accelerating in 1.1 seconds.

When first unveiling the vehicle, Tesla claimed a list of insanely impressive specs for the new Roadster, including 0–60 mph in 1.9 sec, 620 miles of range, and more.

However, the CEO quickly added that the insane specs announced in 2017 for the new electric hypercars are only “the base specs.”

Musk has teased the idea of adding SpaceX thrusters to Tesla cars before. Here’s what that would be like.

We’ve reported on several eye-catching floating architecture projects lately, including a “parkipelago” and a greenery-covered office. This solar-powered urban poultry farm is the most off-the-wall idea of the bunch though and, assuming it goes ahead as planned, will host roughly 7,000 egg-laying hens, as well as an area for growing food, in a harbor in Rotterdam, the Netherlands.

The building is officially named Floating Farm Poultry and was designed by Goldsmith for a company named Floating Farm Holding BV.

It will be based on a floating platform with three pontoons and will measure 3,500 sq m (roughly 37,670 sq ft), spread over three floors. Its interior layout will consist of a lower level used for farming vegetables, herbs and cresses under LED lighting, while upstairs will be a production factory floor for processing and packaging. The uppermost level is conceived as the poultry area and will contain the egg-laying hens.

Former astronaut Jeffrey Hoffman: For the long-term survival of our species, we have to become a multi-planet being.

With our rising planet’s population competing for space and resources, some people are convinced we need to look beyond Earth to help ensure humanity’s survival. As Elon Musk, the entrepreneur behind space tourism company SpaceX told Aeon’s Ross Andersen: “I think there is a strong argument for making life multi-planetary in order to safeguard the existence of humanity in the event that something catastrophic were to happen.”

Continue reading “We must become a multi-planet species” »

Elon Musk has sent a somewhat cryptic email to Tesla employees about going “all out” for the end of the quarter to have a “good outcome.”

On Monday afternoon, Musk sent a short email to all Tesla employees.

In the email obtained by Electrek, the CEO addressed the importance of the last week of the quarter:

With a new nanoparticle that converts light to heat, a team of researchers has found a promising technology for clearing water of pollutants.

Trace amounts of contaminants such as pesticides, pharmaceuticals and perfluorooctanoic acid in drinking water sources have posed significant health risks to humans in recent years. These micropollutants have eluded conventional treatment processes, but certain chemical processes that typically involve ozone, hydrogen peroxide or UV light have proven effective. These processes, however, can be expensive and energy-intensive.

A new nanoparticle created by Yale University engineers as part of an effort for the Rice-based Nanosystems Engineering Research Center for Nanotechnology-Enabled Water Treatment (NEWT) could lead to technologies that get around those limitations. The particle is described in a study published this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

:ooooo.

As e-bikes continue to explode in popularity and cause a nationwide shortage of the two-wheeled transports, waves of new riders are discovering the benefits of pedaling their way to work without breaking a sweat. And the ability to distance oneself from other commuters in crowded public transportation certainly sweetens the deal.

But many more are discovering a significant downside to bikes, which is that riders aren’t protected from the weather, be it heavy rain or the glaring sun. That’s a problem that CityQ is hoping to solve with its enclosed electric vehicle known as the CityQ Car-eBike.

Continue reading “CityQ Car-eBike fully enclosed electric pedal car begins pre-orders” »