A Chinese “3D Fast Bus” I wrote about in 2010 seemed to get a lot of people excited, getting about 47,000 views on StumbleUpon, but I haven’t heard anything about the bus since then. However, a new Dutch “Superbus” (admittedly, not quite as flashy as the 3D Fast Bus) is already built and hitting the roads, and hopefully it will get a few eyes on it, as well. The bus can go up to 155 mph (~249 kmh) and can carry 23 passengers. I don’t want to think about what a crash would look like — although, the thing looks about as strong as the Batmobile.
Dutch astronaut Wubbo Ockels, a professor of aerospace sustainable engineering and technology, is the man who dreamt up this superbus, and its designer is Antonia Terzi, former chief aerodynamicist of the BMW-Williams Formula 1 team.
Terzi says that the superbus will ”tackle the challenges of mobility, spatial planning, service detail and environmental demands all in one.” However, before it does, I imagine a lot will need to be done to bring down its €13 million price tag.
Here’s one more video of the bus, in the wonderful city of Groningen where I once lived for 5 months (gray day in the video, unfortunately).
The bus is made of carbon fiber and fiberglass. It made its world debut at a trade fair in Dubai last month.
Source: Huffington Post
from CleanTechnica: Cleantech innovation news and views
No comments:
Post a Comment