The idea behind this tiny remote-controlled craft, as designed by aerospace engineer Larry Friese, is similar to what we see with hovercraft or with the “air boats” that are used to transverse certain waters in the southern United States. Instead of having part of the boat below the surface of the water and having a propeller spin away to push you forward, you have an airplane-style propeller above the water that effectively pushes the air and thrusts your craft forward. Meanwhile, the entirety of your waterbound vehicle stays above the surface of the water.

The FrankenDrone USV works in much the same way. It has that propeller out the back and then its flotation pontoons sit on the surface of the water, allowing it to skim across even the shallowest of ponds. Steering is done by swiveling the propeller to either side. The USV could then be used for any number of purposes, attaching cameras, microphones, lights or whatever else.

The project is currently seeking funding via Kickstarter with a goal of $25,000. Check out the video to see the FrankenDrone in action.

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Although it has a distinctly futuristic look, I almost get the impression that it’s a “look into the future” that we may have had a couple decades ago. The rear tires are covered up for improved aerodynamics, not unlike what we saw with the first generation Honda Insight. Other features include the gullwing doors and LED headlights. You’ll also notice that there are no side mirrors. That’s because they’ve been replaced by a camera-based system.

It is just a two-seater, so don’t expect to shuttle your kid’s soccer team around in this, but the plug-in hybrid system on the Volkswagen XL1 can go 50 kilometres on electric power alone. If you start dipping into the gas, then you’ll go about 100 kilometres for every liter of fuel. Beyond the aerodynamics, the XL1 is also feather light at 1752 pounds, which is about half of a typical American midsize sedan.

Yes, I realize the “XL1″ name is a little misleading, because this Vee-Dub isn’t exactly extra large, but this could be a very real view into the future of commuting. No word on pricing yet, but Volkswagen is saying that they’ll go into commercial production of this vehicle. Hopefully we’ll learn more when it’s shown off in Geneva next month.

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Michael Graham Richard of Treehugger says that the i3 “looks like a cross between a BMW SUV, a VW Golf, and a Nissan crossover.” I’m not sure about the Golf part, but I definitely see some Rogue and X1 action going in here, except it’s clearly meant to be a compact coupe.

As far as the technology involved, there is a BMW electric motor generating up to 125 kW/170 hp and a peak torque of 250 Newton meters (184 lb-ft). The concept vehicle is rear-wheel drive and the lithium-ion battery is stored under the floor, both of which should help with handling. The estimated range is 160 kilometers (100 miles).

The interior is unique with a main touchscreen panel in the center console. They’ve used “a mixture of leather, wood, wool and other renewable raw materials here. No word on pricing and availability. For now this BMW vehicle is just a concept and it may not even ever make it to production, but at least it indicates that BMW is actively exploring and expanding on its electric car efforts.

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The Footlose from Mando takes a very unique approach when it comes to creating an electric bike. While most of these type of bikes simply have a basic battery that dies and then requires you to revert to pedaling, the Footlose thinks differently. Yes, it still has pedals. Sure, the battery still dies. What is so different? Once you start pedaling, it starts charging up the battery so you can use it again. It also manages to do away with a traditional chain and gear system.

This Mando bike is also extremely light and can fold down into a very small form factor for easy storing. The bike is expected to arrive in the European market next year. There is no news of a North American launch– this isn’t surprising, as these kinds of bikes aren’t all that popular here, though they aren’t entirely unseen.

The Footloose not only can charge up through pedal power but it can also go up to 19 miles on single charge. This is a really unique idea, and I wish something similar to this would come to the United States. This would be great for short commutes around town.

What do you think?

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It was at that time that the Toyota eQ, a full electric version of the iQ minicar, was revealed to the world. This was supposed to start a much larger trend toward pure electrics, but “two years later, there are many difficulties,” according to Toyota vice-chairman Takeshi Uchiyamada. “The current capabilities of electric vehicles do not meet society’s needs, whether it may be the distance the cars can run, or the costs, or how it takes a long time to charge.”

Yes, we’ve seen the launch of such vehicles as the Chevy Volt and the Nissan Leaf, but Toyota is going to spend more time working on what it already does best: hybrids. The Toyota Prius is the first car that comes to the mind of consumers when it comes to gas-electric hybrid cars and Toyota plans on furthering that established leadership. In fact, they are expecting to have 21 hybrid cars in the lineup by 2015, 14 of which will be all-new. They want to have a hybrid variant of every vehicle they sell.

The plug-in hybrid market hasn’t been very good for Toyota either. They wanted to sell between 35,000 and 40,000 Prius plug-in hybrids in 2012 in Japan, but they have only sold 8,400 to date. It’s no wonder that they really want to focus on their bread and butter of “conventional” gas-electric hybrids.

With the wider rollout of the eQ city car put on hold, Toyota is now left with just one pure electric in the form of the all-electric RAV4, an SUV that it co-developed with Tesla Motors. They’re looking to sell about 2,600 of those in the next three years.

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They say that one of the bigger reasons why electric cars haven’t soared in popularity is the lack of infrastructure. When you have a relatively shorter range on a “full tank” of electricity, you need to be sure that there’s somewhere you can charge up along the way. The Government of British Columbia agrees.

In fact, the BC government is partially funding the creation of 454 new electric vehicle charging stations around the province. They’ll be built by businesses, community groups and local governments, giving drivers of cars like the plug-in Prius and the Nissan Leaf somewhere to “top up” while on the go. Not surprisingly, these charging stations will be mostly located in major points of interest like malls, city halls and hotels.

Among the organizations set to install these charging stations are Best Buy (Burnaby), the City of Chilliwack, the City of New Westminster, the District of Tofino, Ridge Meadows Hospital, Metro Vancouver, Thompson Rivers University, Vancity (Coquitlam), Vancouver Airport Authority and WorkSafeBC (Richmond). The 168 government-run ones will be public charging stations, of course, though it’s unclear whether these stations will be completely free for the end consumer. The remaining 286 electric fuelling stations are receiving 75 percent funding.

“We’re providing more accessibility for electric vehicle owners,” said Environment Minister Terry Lake, “so that they can have the convenience of charging up at Brentwood Town Centre here in Burnaby and of course different locations across the province.”

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Yates took to the air above the Mojave Desert, reaching a speed of 202.6mph during his 16 minute flight. The Long-ESA electric plane is based on the Long-EZ by Burt Rutan, except this version is electric. Butan had previously designed several aircraft, including the X-Prize winning SpaceShipOne, a reusable, suborbital spaceship. The 202.6mph flight shatters the previous record of 175mph, set by Hugues Duval in the Cri Cri airplane.

But Yates isn’t satisfied. This was his first ever flight in a full electric plane and he recognizes that the Long-ESA can go even faster. I’m sure he and his team will be taking to the skies again very soon, breaking his own record over and over again.

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The transport technology is fundamentally based on the pneumatic tubes that once shot telegrams around buildings. I’m sure you’ve seen them on TV and in movies. You put a canister in the tube and it goes shooting off to its destination. This was a future view we had at one point for human transport and we still see in sci-fi programming today.

The real world application of this idea to transporting people around is two-fold: first, you need a vacuum tube. This eliminates all the air in the transport tube and, thus, all of the air resistance. This is easily one of the biggest forces that is preventing us from going faster, as demonstrated by our cars, trains, and planes. The second part of it would make use of existing magnetic levitation (mag-lev) technology, virtually eliminating all friction. Combined, Terraspan’s theoretical vacuum tube train could reach speeds of up to 4,000 mph. Better still, the tubes would double as a superconducting power lines, making for an transcontinent power grid that could redistribute power across the country.

With those kinds of speeds, you could theoretically make it from New York to San Diego in about 45 minutes. So, why aren’t we doing it? There are two main factors again. The first is safety. There is an obvious risk for catastrophe if a train traveling at 4,000mph goes awry for any reason. The smallest break in the vacuum tube could be catastrophic. There’s also no saying what would happen when the train leaves the vacuum and re-enters normal atmospheric pressure. What would happen to the train and its passengers?

The second concern is cost. Mag-lev train lines are already incredibly expensive; the Linimo HSST in Japan is relatively low-speed and it cost around $100 million per kilometer. Considering that a theoretical line from New York to San Diego is about 4,500 kilometers, that’s $450 billion, not including maintenance costs, land acquisition, and the prohibitively expensive cost of the vacuum tube; although we have already spent twice that on Iraq.

In the short term, the vacuum tube train isn’t going to be a reality. Then again, people had many of the same arguments about airplanes–they’re unsafe and too expensive–but here we are flying from Tokyo to London on a daily basis.

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The FBike is a collaborative effort between several Czech companies and enthusiasts. The propellers will be electrically-driven, but it looks like there are pedals there for added assistance, not unlike the ground-bound ped-elec bicycles we have today. The design is inspired by the stories of Jules Verne and Jaroslav Foglar, the latter of whom authored a trilogy of books that featured a flying bike.

And this isn’t just some geeks dreaming inside of a 3D rendering program either. They plan to have their first prototype ready for test flights this August. They’ve worked out the calculations and four 10kW compact brushless electric motors should be enough to power the large 1300mm (51-inch) twin propellers in the front and back. Add in a couple of 3.5kW stabilized motors for the 650mm (25.5-inch) side blades and you’re in the air for three to five minutes at a time.

At least, that’s the idea. I wish them the best of luck, but at least put a helmet on that guy!

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Urban commuters don’t really need a car, since a bicycle is so much more compact and can more easily weave its way through traffic. Even though you may know BMW better for its cars, it has now unveiled a pedal-electric bicycle that it calls the i Pedelec.

Aside from having a three-speed 42-volt electric hub motor that’ll help push you along, the more unique feature about the iPedelec is that it can fold up. This makes it much easier to transport between locations; two of them can reportedly fit in the back of the BMW i3 Concept EV. Even when folded up, the wheels can maintain contact with the ground. This means that you can push it along when you’re in a subway car, for example.

You get a motor assist of up to 16mph using the 14.75 ft-lbs of torque. There’s an effective range of 16 to 25 miles per charge with a full charge taking about four hours. If you use a quick charge station, a full recharge can take as little as 90 minutes. The 44-pound bike was announced in celebration of BMW open its first iStore on July 25, opening next door to its BMW and MIni stores on Park Lane in London.

There’s no word on pricing or availability on the i Pedelec folding pedal-electric bicycle, but being a BMW product, I can’t imagine it being terribly cheap.

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