A collage of the Electric cars showed off at the Google Zeitgeist 2006 conference at the Googleplex
Tents cover the typically crowded Charlie's Cafe patio for the conference - forget about visitors, even Googlers were not allowed anywhere close to it
The X1 Prototype - read it for yourself
The X1 upfront
Sergey Brin (co-founder of Google) sits for a spin in the X1 with its creator. The car was pretty smooth for its rugged design as a sports car
Sergey talks to the creator of the car after his spin in the sports commuter car
The inside of the X1 - it has all the fancy features you can think of
170 MPG - Wow!
A shot at the wheels of the X1
The next in the lineup was the The Tango
This car has the Car Pool access sticker issued by the CA DMV. BTW, this car is actually owned by George Clooney and it costs about $108,000. It is 0 emission and oil-change free and of course runs on DC unlike others that run on AC. Why is this nice- because you can charge it however you want as long as you have an option to connect to an outlet - its does not matter
I liked the design of this car - more like a motorcycle inside a car body. I talked to the creator of this car and he and father pretty much kept the motorcyle in mind and designed the 4 wheeler.
It can actually pretty much go in between cars in a highway much a like a motorcycle. Below you can see part of the engine - in fact there are 2 engines - one to drive each of the rear wheels. It also has a trailor shaft where you can attach small trailors. This is amazing for a design by 2 guys - Father and Son! BTW, in one parking space this car can be stacked 4 in a rectangular fashion. An advantage of a motrocycle in a car.
Another shot at The Tango. I asked them how such a small body can support itself at such high speeds - guess what - the base of the car has about 2500 pounds and it is pretty sturdy - they claim it to be the fastest commuter car in the world.
Inside the Tango - It has a 300W stereo and the seats are back to back much like in a motorcycle. The person sitting at the back would pretty much sit like how they would sit on motorcycle - only more comfortable and more safer.
The Tango's dashboard
Bryan (the son who co-created this car with his father) showing off the trunk of the Tango - not much, but that's not what this car was designed for - to haul luggage - it was designed to get people from one place to another during busy peak hours and in the traffic of LA and Bay Area especially! But I guess you could fold the read seat and have more space - about 10 cft
The front side does not have anything extraordinary except the cooling system and a little room for putting a higher end music system
The third car that attracted my attention was the Tesla Motors sports car
Isn't that a beauty? It is a 2 seater convertible sports car with an option for a hard top convertible one. It costs about $100,000 and needless to say it is also completely electric and emission free.
The inside of the Tesla - It is a manual transmission with all the goody stuff packed at the back.
I love the design of the car - hard to believe it is an electric. I guess the notion of electric being only a golf caddy boxy car is out of the mind!
The front hosts the cooling system
Yet another shot of the Tesla. The wheels are all terrain wheels.
Sergey taking the Tesla for a spin
Believe me when I say this - the tesla hardly made any noise while backing up or driving forward - some say it is an insult for a sports car - but then I guess the idea is changing - sports cars don't have to be noisy and polluting!
Sergey enjoys his ride along in the Tesla - he would come back driving it - I don't have a picture of that, but take my word for it!
Another car that stood at the exhibition was the Lithium Taxi that was also a electric car built off PT Cruiser. Read more from their own display sign!
A shot at the front of the Taxi-cab. I like the idea of having an electric version of the cab as most people use Taxis for short distances and it would definitely help save the planet with all the lesser emissions and reduce the fuel price as this cab doesn't guzzle any fuel from the gas station.
I wonder if it was parked to actually drop people off to various locations within the campus!
A shot from the rear
Well its good to have shots from all angles!
The interior of the electric lithium taxi
You wouldn't know it, but that's actually Sergey test driving the lithium taxi
Now you believe me, right?
This guy was standing next to the Lithium Taxi and I guess it is from the same company as the taxi cab - Hybrid Technologies. I liked the design of these cars.
Ok, I will go on for probably another shot around the car, so bear with me.
I told you I would...
This is really not an electric car but another invention. Read it and it is pretty interesting.
That's the stuff we just read about - amazing right?
Another shot - I promise this will be the last for the album.
