Innovative Technologies: The Future Is Here

Seen any good movies lately? If you've watched anything with a 'futuristic' twist, chances are that the characters zipped around the screen on some sort of flying, hovering, gliding, or very fast-moving technology that the viewer understands has replaced conventional cars. These vehicles are usually really quiet - or they might make a low humming noise to belie their mysterious power source. They are often very small - often made for only one person. Most of them never visit a gas station even once in the entire film, although they may travel tens to hundreds to thousands of miles. And their body designs are often radically different from cars of today.

Guess what? A lot of these futuristic vehicles already exist, today! Some are prototypes in auto manufacturers' development labs, sure, but some are actually out there on the road. Some look very similar to conventional cars - until you look under the hood, that is - but a lot of them look like something from another planet. OK, so most of them don't glide or hover above the land, but there are electric airships in the prototype and experimental stages that do. And never visiting a gas station? You bet! The future IS here - enough people just have to take advantage of the newly available technologies to continue to drive the market, and the research.

What a great deal! Here's your change to be apart of the future by cashing in on this tax credit the Internal Revenue Service is offereing on hybrid car purchases. So, if you or your parents are thinking about going green, don't pass up this offer! Right now purchasers of gasoline-electric hybrid vehicles will qualify for a $2,000 tax deduction through December 2003, announced the Internal Revenue Service.

People who purchase Toyota's Prius or Honda's Insight or Civic will qualify for a clean-vehicle tax deduction, which would decrease by $500 each year until the credit expires in 2007, unless Congress chooses to extend it. The credit will be extended to other car manufacturers when they introduce alternative-fuel vehicles. Ford is currently developing a hybrid version of its Escape SUV for release in 2004 and General Motors and Chrysler are working on development of hybrid models.

Below are short descriptions of four categories of innovative vehicles. Click on the links to go directly to a page with more detailed information about each one.

A. Hybrid Vehicles
You may have learned about hybrids in biology - a mix of two breeds, species, or genera to produce a new breed, species, or genus. A hybrid vehicle is kind of generalized version of that - it contains a mix of two engine types, usually a gasoline engine and an electric motor, to provide a mix of the benefits of each type of propulsion. There are two commercial hybrids on the road today - you've probably already seen them! Click on the link above to learn more.

B. Electric Vehicles
Electric vehicles are actually the oldest technology in automobile propulsion systems. In fact, by 1913 about 33 percent of ALL cars were electric. As you know, that all changed with the advent of the gasoline engine - today electrics make up less than 5 percent of the global motor pool. But why? They're low maintenance, speedy, can be built with all of the typical modern car amenities (A/C, stereo, heater, etc.), you pay NOTHING for gas (just plug them in), and they have no tailpipe emissions. To learn more, click on the link above.

C. Fuel Cell Vehicles
Fuel cell vehicles have a very chemical-sounding name. That's because the process that produces the energy to propel the vehicle is electrochemical in nature: the most common fuel cell uses a "proton exchange membrane" process. But that doesn't mean they're impossible to understand - click on the link above to learn more. The best part? The only thing that comes out of the tailpipe of fuel cell vehicles is water!

D. The Hypercar™
The Rocky Mountain Institute's "Hypercar" wins this category for the most innovative-sounding name. The rest of the categories on this page are types of vehicles, into which specific models, like the Corbin Sparrow, fit. The current Hypercar prototype is called the "Revolution," and it embodies some of the same technologies as other innovative vehicles; for example, it's an electric vehicle powered by a fuel cell. But its concept and design are radically different from anything you've probably ever seen. Want more? Click on the link above.