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Category: transportation – Page 210

De Tomaso unveils ‘world’s first’ carbon neutral synthetic-fuel-driven hypercar

The vehicle has a 900kg dry weight and 900hp (662kW) output.

Italian performance brand De Tomaso has released the P900, a track-only V12-powered hypercar with a 900kg dry weight and 900hp (662kW) output, according to a report.

The carmaker will produce only 18 units globally of these bad boys and price them at a whopping US $3 million each which will ensure their drivers know they have a truly unique car. Each car will be further customized to the customer’s choices.

“At De Tomaso, we pay an enormous amount of attention to the driving experience, in part a large majority of this complex matrix can be attributed to the sounds and vibrations, in essence, the feeling of a naturally aspirated engine firing on all cylinders,” said CEO Norman Choi according to a press release.

Airbus unveils zero-emissions hydrogen-powered fuel cell engine

On Wednesday, Airbus revealed in a press release that it was developing a hydrogen-powered fuel cell engine as one of the potential solutions to equip its zero-emission aircraft that will enter service by 2035.

The next steps will be for Airbus to start ground and flight testing this fuel cell engine architecture onboard its ZEROe demonstrator aircraft. The A380 MSN1 flight test aircraft is currently being altered to give it the capacity to carry liquid hydrogen tanks and their distribution systems.

Intelligent Materials: Science Fiction to Science Fact

Materials that learn to change their shape in response to an external stimulus are a step closer to reality, thanks to a prototype system produced by engineers at UCLA.

Living entities constantly learn, adapting their behaviors to the environment so that they can thrive regardless of their surroundings. Inanimate materials typically don’t learn, except in science fiction movies. Now a team led by Jonathan Hopkins of the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), has demonstrated a so-called architected material that is capable of learning [1]. The material, which is made up of a network of beam-like components, learns to adapt its structure in response to a stimulus so that it can take on a specific shape. The team says that the material could act as a model system for future “intelligent” manufacturing.

The material developed by Hopkins and colleagues is a so-called mechanical neural network (MNN). If produced on a commercial scale, scientists think that these intelligent materials could revolutionize manufacturing in fields from building construction to fashion design. For example, an aircraft wing made from a MNN could learn to morph its shape in response to a change in wind conditions to maintain the aircraft’s flying efficiency; a house made from a MNN could adjust its structure to maintain the building’s integrity during an earthquake; and a shirt weaved from a MNN could alter its pattern so that it fits a person of any size.

The world’s first solar electric car Lightyear 0 now enters production

The facility will produce one car a week, to begin with.

Dutch company Lightyear, which has spent the last six years developing technologies to make the world’s first solar-powered electric vehicle has now entered a very important phase of its lifetime. Its first model, Lightyear 0 has now entered production, a company press release said.

As the world moves toward electric modes of transportation, new challenges are being thrown up. Unlike combustion engine-powered vehicles that can be refueled virtually anywhere and in no time, electric vehicles require dedicated charging infrastructure and time to charge the batteries.

Tesla just delivered its first all-electric Semi truck to PepsiCo and said it can cover up to 500 miles on a single charge

Tesla on Thursday delivered its first electric semitrailer truck to PepsiCo, as the electric vehicle maker expands its offerings beyond passenger cars.

Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla, drove a Semi to the delivery event, which was held at a factory near Reno, Nevada.

The Semi is the automaker’s all-electric, class-8 cargo trucks with a range between 300 and 500 miles on a single charge, depending on the model.

MIT researchers creating robots that give birth to other robots

Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) researchers are building swarms of tiny robots that have built-in intelligence, allowing them to build structures, vehicles, or even larger versions of themselves.

The subunit of the robot, which is being developed at MIT’s Center for Bits and Atoms, is called a voxel and is capable of carrying power and data.

“When we’re building these structures, you have to build in intelligence,” MIT Professor and CBA Director Neil Gershenfeld said in a statement. “What emerged was the idea of structural electronics — of making voxels that transmit power and data as well as force.”

Four-million-mile battery is now a reality

Dahn, a world-renowned battery scientist and NSERC/Tesla Canada Chair, presented the exciting news during his keynote presentation (titled: More than a million miles and a century of life) at the international battery seminar (IBS) held 28–31 March 2022 in Orlando, Florida.

The term “Million Mile” battery first came to life after Dahn’s 2019 open access publication in Journal of The Electrochemical Society (JES) stating “we conclude that cells of this type should be able to power an electric vehicle for over 1.6 million kilometers (1 million miles) and last at least two decades in grid storage”.

MIT engineers design self-replicating robots capable of assembling giant structures

Researchers advance efforts to create groups of robots that could construct almost anything.

When it comes to the manufacturing of commercial aircraft, different parts are manufactured at various locations. Before finally bringing them all together in a central plant and putting the finished aeroplane together, the tail components, the fuselage, and the wings are made at different plants.

Many other large structures, besides aircraft, are also built in sections.

MIT

Before finally bringing them all together in a central plant and putting the finished aeroplane together, the tail components, the fuselage, and the wings are made at different plants.

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