Canoo's electric and extendable Pickup truck includes pop-out workspaces

US automotive start-up Canoo has created an all-electric pickup truck with a streamlined look and hidden utility features as one of its first vehicles.

The Canoo Pickup conceals a range of features such as storage, workbenches and charging points within a pared-back chassis.

The Pickup truck is Canoo's third vehicle to be built on the same platform

It also includes an extendable flatbed, so it can offer the payload capacity of a much bigger truck.

It is one of the first vehicles designed by Canoo, which set out to not only electrify the classic pickup truck but imagine ways the model could help users in their work or weekend trips.

The truck includes an extendable flatbed that can go from six to eight feet

For instance, where the engine would traditionally be at the front of the truck, there is a fold-out workbench, with storage compartments and power sockets points for charging tools.

There are also similar flip-down tables with sockets built into the side of the truck, along with more storage and a step to aid roof access.

Where the engine would usually be, there is storage space and a fold-down worktable with power sockets

The modular truck bed can be enlarged from six to eight feet in length by pulling out the extension at the rear, which includes matching space-dividers to help organise items.

There is also versatility built into the cab, which has two seats in front and a rear that can be configured for various uses or filled with additional seats.

The side of the vehicle also has concealed features

The cab and truck bed can also accommodate camper shells, so the Pickup can be adapted for mobile housing on recreational trips.

Other features of the cabin include wide-angle viewing through the windscreen and a configurable pegboard for cupholders, racks and device connections.

According to tthe brand, Canoo Pickup's features were partly enabled by the truck's engineering, which packs the technology needed to power the vehicle into a relatively tight space.

Canoo set out to give the truck a streamlined exterior

The Pickup is engineered on the company's tested Multi-Purpose Platform (MPP1), which it is currently using across all of its vehicles.

Canoo claims it integrates all the electric powertrain components in a flat and efficient manner, creating more room for other functions.

"Traditional EV platforms have power units, shock towers and mechanical steering columns that protrude into the vehicle and take up space," said Canoo.

"By incorporating steer-by-wire and other space-saving technologies, the thin leaf spring-based platform contains a full powertrain and motor which results in a flatbed size comparable to America's bestselling pickup truck on the footprint of a compact car."

The truck bed also has built-in storage and organisation features

Among the Pickup's other features are a modular roof rack and integrated tow hooks, skid plates and fog lights in the bumpers.

There is no logo on the outside of the vehicle, with Canoo's signature headlights and tail lights serving as a brand identifier instead.

The cab combines environmentally conscious materials with transparent sections that show the vehicle's inner workings

The interior combines environmentally conscious material choices with sections of transparency to showcase the engineering components that are usually hidden.

The headliner fabric is derived from recycled PET bottles, while the floor material is made from recycled car tires and rubber, and the seats are upholstered in a durable alternative to leather.

The cab provides good visibility for the driver

Canoo plans to rollout the vehicle in 2023 or later.

"Our pickup truck is as strong as the toughest trucks out there and is designed to be exponentially more productive," said Canoo CEO Tony Aquila.

"This truck works for you. We made accessories for people who use trucks – on the job, weekends, adventure."

The Pickup is compatible with camper shells so it can be transformed into a mobile home

Canoo was founded in 2017 and formerly envisioned operating with a vehicle subscription model, but has now shifted to commercial sales.

Its Pickup ttruck is shortlisted in the product design category of the Dezeen Awards, alongside Nendo's build-your-own football and Playfool's Forest Crayons containing the subtle colours of Japanese wood.

Photography is by Richard Thompson III.

The post Canoo's electric and extendable Pickup truck includes pop-out workspaces appeared first on Dezeen.

#transport #all #design #technology #vehicles #electricvehicles

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_3P_S7pL7Yg #electricvehicles #trucks

Analysis of Tesla's upcoming battery, the 4680 cell. "The enlarged, cylindrical 4680 cell, which Tesla first teased at its Battery Day last September, brings its own sky-high hopes and challenges: If Tesla can pull off in-house, vertically integrated battery manufacturing, and the cell performs as advertised, the 4680 could fuel Musk's dreams to build millions of EVs a year around the world. Tesla's goals include boosting driving range by more than 50 percent -- 16 percent of that due to the 4680's newfound punch -- while halving battery costs and bringing a $25,000 Tesla to showrooms. Tesla continues to dominate EV sales in America, but its seemingly insurmountable lead in driving range is under assault. The Arizona-built Lucid Air sedan, the work of Musk's former Model S chief engineer, has demonstrated it can travel up to 517 miles, a lofty record for any EV. Tesla's best, the Model S Long Range, is EPA-rated for 405 miles."

Is Elon Musk Back In “Production Hell” With Tesla’s 4680 Battery? EV range anxiety hangs in the balance

#electricvehicles #evs #tesla

Recycling Will Be Key To The Electric Vehicle Future

#carhacks #featured #greenhacks #interest #cars #electricvehicle #electricvehicles #ev #evs #rareearthmetals #rareearth #recycling #hackaday
posted by pod_feeder_v2

#Nissan sets out plans for £1bn #electric #car hub in #Sunderland | Nissan | The Guardian

A small ray of hope.

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2021/jul/01/nissan-sets-out-plans-for-1bn-electric-car-hub-in-sunderland

#Industry #Technology #ElectricVehicles #EV #England #UK #RenewableEnergy #Renewables

Electric airship designed to replace short-haul plane trips

UK manufacturer Hybrid Air Vehicles has designed a hybrid-electric version of Airlander 10, an airship that could provide a less carbon-intensive alternative to short-haul flights.

Hybrid Air Vehicles (HAV), which is based in Bedford, has designed a dirigible that could take 100 passengers on popular, short routes such as Liverpool to Belfast.

The company calculates that using their airship would produce "75 per cent fewer emissions than conventional aircraft in similar roles".

The Airlander 10 went viral in 2016 when photographs released of its test flight earned it the nickname of the "flying bum". Subsequent redesigns have made it svelter and less peach-shaped.

Airlander 10 went viral in 2016 when it was nicknamed the "flying bum"

The hybrid-electric Airlander 10 would be filled with helium and propelled by two electric motors powered by hydrogen fuel cells at the front and two combustion engines at the rear.

"Using lighter-than-air technology means that Airlander 10 requires significantly less power to generate lift and fly," a spokesperson for HAV told Dezeen.

"Airlander 10, therefore, produces far fewer emissions even before electrification."

A new hybrid-electric version could have less carbon impact

HAV calculates that a passenger's individual carbon impact for a flight between Barcelona and Palma de Mallorca would be 4.5 kilograms on an Airlander 10, versus 53 kilograms taking the same trip on a traditional aeroplane.

Although airships are slower than traditional fixed-wing aeroplanes, HAV pointed out that they can deliver passengers closer to their final destination as they can take off and land on any flat surface – including water.

"Over shorter routes, this is balanced by Airlander 10's ability to operate much closer to the final destination and fly point-to-point," said HAV.

"In some cases, this makes the total journal time very similar or only slightly longer but with all the benefits of comfortable travel with very low emissions."

The airship could be a less carbon-intensive alternative to inter-city flights

Aeroplanes power their engines by burning aviation fuel, which is typically petroleum-based. Jet fuel, for example, uses kerosene – a combustible hydrocarbon made from petroleum.

Filling airships with helium makes them light enough to float, as helium is lighter than air, so the engines are only required to direct the craft rather than keep it airborne.

Although helium is the second-most abundant element in the universe after hydrogen, it is a finite resource on earth because it floats away out of the atmosphere.

Airlander 10 would produce 75 per cent fewer emissions than a jet plane

It is the only element on Earth that is completely non-renewable and is only generated deep underground via the radioactive decay of uranium and thorium.

However, HAV claims that Airlander 10 would not significantly deplete the planet's resources.

"Although helium is a finite resource, there are ample reserves and new helium fields are being identified now," said the company.

"Even with 600 aircraft in use in the world, Airlander 10s would make up just 1 per cent of the world's annual helium consumption."

HAV is partnering with British aviation business 2Excel Aviation to offer Airlander 10 to airlines and cruise companies.

"It is HAV's plan to produce at least 12 aircraft per year," said the company.

More low-emissions aircraft design includes these three concepts for zero-emission commercial aircraft by Airbus and a V-shaped aircraft by Dutch airline KLM and TU Delft.

The post Electric airship designed to replace short-haul plane trips appeared first on Dezeen.

#all #transport #design #news #uk #aircraft #electricaircraft #electricvehicles #airlander10theflyingbum

Polestar's aim to produce a climate-neutral car is a "moonshot goal" says sustainability head

Plans to produce the Polestar 0 electric car without creating any carbon emissions is a challenge comparable to putting a man on the moon, according to Fredrika Klarén, the brand's head of sustainability.

The carmaker is aiming to eradicate all CO2 emissions from the entire supply chain of the vehicle, which is due to launch in 2030.

"This is truly a moonshot goal," Klarén told Dezeen.

"Just like JFK, we don't know how to land on the moon but we know that we need to do it," she said, referring to US president Kennedy's 1961 speech that pledged to put a man on the moon within a decade.

"Building the roadmap as we go"

"We're putting the goal out there and then we're building the roadmap as we go along."

Polestar will take the next nine years, starting from when the project was first announced this April, to develop the Polestar 0 and its production process so that it generates zero carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e) emissions.

This forms part of Polestar's wider goal of reaching climate neutrality by 2040.

The electric carmaker, which was founded in 2017 by Volvo and Chinese car brand Geely, has committed to undertaking lifecycle assessments of all new vehicles starting with the Polestar 2 model launched in 2019.

Above: the Polestar 2 is the brand's current electric vehicle. Top: Polestar visualised the emissions associated with its different components in a video made by Wang & Söderström

"We will declare this for all of the coming models," Klarén said. "And when we get to Polestar 0, you will see clearly that it has zero carbon footprint."

The production of the electric Polestar 2, which sold just over 8,700 units in the last half of 2020, creates 26.2 tonnes of CO2 emissions while a comparable petrol car generates only 16.1 tonnes, the brand claims. The next step is to get this down to zero for the Polestar 0.

Electric battery responsible for most emissions

Higher emissions in EV production are largely due to the manufacturing of the sturdy steel-and-aluminium platform that houses the heavy battery as well as the lithium-ion battery itself, which contains metals such as cobalt and nickel that have to be mined and refined.

"With the Polestar 2, it's the battery and the big chunks of aluminium and steel that stand for maybe 70 per cent of the CO2 footprint," Klarén said.

"It is the raw material extraction and the processing of these three areas that are really the biggest culprits."

The battery pack of the Polestar 2 contains emissions-intensive metals

"We also have direct emissions stemming from aluminium production, for example, that will have to be eliminated or captured either through carbon capture or changing processes somehow," she added.

The lifetime emissions of an electric vehicle are highly dependant on the energy mix of the area where it is being charged and how much of it comes from renewable sources.

Hence the Polestar 0 project focuses only on eliminating emissions generated from cradle to gate – meaning from the sourcing of the raw materials to the time the finished car leaves the factory.

Recycling metal from scrapped cars

Polestar 2's life-cycle assessment, which is published online, is being used by the company's R&D department as a baseline for the Polestar 0 model to help them tackle the most carbon-intensive stages of creating a car.

As well as transitioning its entire supply chain to renewable energy, Polestar will minimise the number and quantity of raw materials used in the Polestar 0, Klarén said.

The team is also looking into reusing materials such as aluminium from scrapped cars.

"If you look at a car, you have a very high recyclability but somehow we are not completing the loop," Klarén explained.

"We don't have a large recycled content today in cars so that would be a challenge going forward."

Polestar is partnering with UK blockchain company Circulor to audit the emissions generated by the supply chains of metal components.

Circulor's technology works by creating a digital representation of the material in question, known as a digital twin, which serves as the material’s real-time counterpart so it can be traced on its journey from mine to factory.

Every transport or refinement step along the way is recorded on the blockchain. Here, the information cannot be altered or tampered with, so it can be used to hold suppliers accountable.

"We are setting hard targets for climate emission reductions and use of renewable energy," Klarén said. "The same goes for recycled content."

Using recyclable over bio-based materials

While the R&D department is investigating new materials and processes, Polestar's design team is looking at ways of decarbonising the surface materials and finishes that will be used in the Polestar 0.

"In terms of impact, these things are not as big as the mining and refining," said the company's head of design Maximilian Missoni.

"But if you want to really get to zero, at the last stage they become extremely crucial."

Polestar 0 aims to emit zero tonnes (0t) of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e)

Here, the team is prioritising materials with a high degree of recyclability such as Econyl, a kind of regenerated nylon made from plastic waste that generates 50 per cent less emissions in its production than virgin nylon.

The company is also investigating the possibilities of flax-fibre composite panels created by Swiss company Bcomp, which Missoni says can rival the strength and lightness of carbon fibre but is recyclable.

"Everything generates emissions; even natural fibres," Missoni said.

"Sometimes you think if you use natural materials it must be better. But what we've learned is that if you use materials that are recycled and can be recycled, that can be a better solution from an emission point of view than if you use natural materials."

Unavoidable emissions will be offset

Polestar aims to cut out emissions from the production of the Polestar 0 entirely but says it will use offsets as a fallback to cover any potential gaps that might remain.

Klarén hopes that over the next nine years, direct air capture (DAC) technologies such as those pioneered by Climeworks will be scaled up and made more affordable, which would allow Polestar to pay to have unavoidable emissions removed from the atmosphere.

The carmaker will display life-cycle assessment results prominently in dealerships

But the company will only use permanent, reliable offsetting methods rather than afforestation, which it regards as a less secure form of sequestration.

"When we are in 2030, hopefully, there will be direct capture methodologies to capture CO2 that might remain from some processes but we will not offset something that has too weak a link," Klarén said.

"So hopefully we will see capture technologies being developed and implemented because I think that they would be needed. But we will aim for zero regardless."

---

Carbon revolution

This article is part of Dezeen'scarbon revolution series, which explores how this miracle material could be removed from the atmosphere and put to use on earth. Read all the content at: www.dezeen.com/carbon.

The sky photograph used in the carbon revolution graphic is byTaylor van Riper via Unsplash.

The post Polestar's aim to produce a climate-neutral car is a "moonshot goal" says sustainability head appeared first on Dezeen.

#carbonrevolution #interviews #all #transport #design #technology #cars #electricvehicles #polestar #carbonneutraldesign

This is actually really impressive.
It sounds like the only reason it didn't make it into production was cost and weight. I wonder if cars going electric would make it more feasible today?

Electromagnetic suspension

#cars #electricvehicles