Check out the new eco-mini-ride. General Motors has taken to the streets with its Electric Networked-Vehicle, or — wait for it — EN-V. It’s a crazy futuristic two-wheeled pod vehicle developed with Segway, and it looks perfect for supervillains zooming around volcano lairs zapping people. Without damaging the environment, naturally.

The EN-V is an evolution of the Personal Urban Mobility and Accessibility vehicle, or PUMA. Those wonderful backronyms! Where PUMA looked like a ski-lift had crashed into a wheelchair and escaped into the wild, the EN-V comes with added Blade Runner. It looks like a great opportunity to pootle about like a hipster Davros, or some kind of Shoreditch Mekon, blasting passers-by with irony beams.

There are three version of the EN-V: the Miao, Xiao and Jiao. The Jiao is pictured above. Click continue to find out how the EN-V runs, and see official pictures of the Miao, Xiao and Jiao in action.

via cnet

Smug about your 65 mpg Prius potential? Don’t be. A little car from up-start Riversimple looks set to deliver the equivalent of 300 mpg, running on hydrogen and utilizing a network of small fuel cells to power four motors, one per wheel. The recently unveiled prototype manages 240 miles on just 2.2 lbs of hydrogen, has a top speed of 50 mph, seats two (reasonably) comfortably, and looks a little like a smiling, new-age Citroen 2CV — but will hopefully be a more enjoyable to drive. That considerable range means that the relative lack of hydrogen distribution stations is less of a problem (until you can get one for your garage), and an estimated monthly lease price of just £200 (about $330) makes it potentially affordable. The only question now is availability of the cars themselves, and since nobody’s talking about that you needn’t worry about delaying that appointment with your local Toyota dealer.

via engadget

“Five years ago, Aptera‘s founder Steve Fambro endeavored to design and build a passenger vehicle that was safe, comfortable, and more fuel-efficient than anything ever produced. This aspiration, combined with his background in engineering, led him to an intensive study of aerodynamics, and composite aircraft construction. He hypothesized that a low-drag, aerodynamic body shape could be achieved without sacrificing comfort, drivability or safety. What emerged, after much designing, conceptualizing, and constructing, was a prototype two-seat, three-wheeled vehicle. This first operating prototype achieved a stunning 230 miles per gallon. Building on this success, Steve expanded his Aptera team and created the Aptera Typ-1, which has been re-designed, re-engineered, and refined into a production ready vehicle.” The Aptera is available with a pre-order reservation for $500 if you live in California. The vehicle costs $26,900.

Via PicoCool