Zoomi Life

Did you think that open source was only for IT? Think again. Bucking the whole automotive mainstream, Hugo Spowers has a big idea: building an open source designed car from multiple vendors and using as many commonly-available parts as possible.

Read More: The Open Source Hydrogen Car: the Urban

This is a very cool and much-needed idea. The National Renewable Energy Lab (NREL) and the Department of Energy (DoE) have partnered on a project they’re calling TransAtlas (Transportation Atlas). It’s a Google Maps-based map for finding information on alternative fuels nationally.

Read More: The TransAtlas - a New, Interactive Map For Alt Fuel

If you can’t say anything else about this auto design company, you have to admit that Rinspeed is definitely cutting-edge and innovative. This time, Rinspeed has a one-seater sports car that quite literally runs on garbage. Yep, like the Back to the Future DeLorean with a Mr. Fusion on it, the Rinspeed can run off of fermented green waste.

Read More: Rinspeed’s Advantige R One: the Car that Runs on a Mr. Fusion

You might recall the ecoF3 from our introduction of the innovative Indie car back in April. The car, made mostly from vegetable fiber and recycled materials, runs on bio fuel made partially from chocolate.

Read More: The EcoF3 Chocolate-Powered Race Car Revisited (video)

Proton Power Systems finally found someone to test their hydrogen fuel cell large vehicle application system. Teaming with the Swiss consortium hy.muve, Proton build a fuel cell-powered street sweeper that is now being tested as it cleans the streets of Basle, Switzerland.

Read More: Basle, Switzerland’s Fuel Cell Street Sweeper

I found this on TreeHugger and thought it was pretty cool. They, of course, hate the idea since it’s obviously a business performing evil acts of capitalism and using the non-capitalist idea of electric cars as a “marketing tool” of some kind.

Read More: UK Electronics Store Offers Free Electric Vehicle Charging

I’m going to get a couple of things out of the way right off the bat: I think Crocs are a crock and they’ll never replace my Tevas. Dumbest shoes ever invented, with the possible exception of those plastic rubber sandal things that were popular in the 1980s in grade school. Luckily, this car is only being compared to Crocs and isn’t actually made by them.

Read More: The Floating 100 MPG Car Inspired by Croc Shoes

You know those little cars at the amusement park that little kids sit in while they “drive” around in circles on a platform? Imagine one of those with street-legal license plates going 40 miles an hour down public roadways. With flames painted on the sides, even. Driven by a 47 year old British man.

Read More: The World’s Smallest, Street-Legal Car - Made From a Children’s Ride

In a 148-page report, the NHTSA - National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (part of the Department of Transportation) outlines proposed plans for a consumer information program about tire efficiency. Most of it basically boils down to that three-bar graph heading this article.

Read More: Tire Fuel Efficiency Consumer Information Labeling Program From the NHTSA

The Antares DLR H2 is the first manned hydrogen fuel-cell aircraft to take flight, totally unassisted, in history. While hydrogen fuel-cell aircraft have flown before, the DLR H2 is the first to do so both without a hybrid engine and without an assist from another airplane to get airborne.

Read More: First Hydrogen-Powered Aircraft Takes to the Skies