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Velozzi Launches Minicar with Turbine Battery Charger

 
2,080 views Jul 28, 2009

Velozzi SOLO

Velozzi SOLO

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It's hard to describe the Velozzi SOLO in one sentence, because my words keep getting jumbled up. They just don't seem to jive: this minicar is a lightweight lithium-ion battery electric hybrid multi-fuel vehicle with an onboard turbine to charge its battery. It gets hazy after "hybrid," doesn't it? It doesn't seem like this tiny car can actually be all of these things at once, so let's break it down.

Velozzi has designed the SOLO to run as a battery-electric and multi-fuel hybrid. Multi-fuel means just about any fuel you can think of — gasoline, diesel, ethanol, methanol, butanol, biodiesel or natural gas. To charge its bank of lithium-ion batteries, the SOLO uses an onboard micro turbine charger, or your standard electrical outlet. You can even reverse the SOLO's polarity and use it as a power source. This sounds jaw-droppingly advanced, but Velozzi swears the driving experience will be the same as a typical gas-guzzling vehicle.

Now on to the "lightweight" part. The SOLO is made of carbon fiber "nano tube" modules, which make it lightweight. The modularity of the vehicle also makes it easy to assemble, which Velozzi says will lower manufacturing costs and reduce pollution. “To make an efficient, environmentally friendly vehicle one must utilize lightweight materials to improve MPG, reduce pollution and increase safety,” indicates Velozzi CEO, Roberto Velozzi.

What about performance? The SOLO will have a top speed of 130 MPH, get 100 miles to the gallon (of what, I wonder?), and will go from 0 to 60 in six seconds.

Source: Velozzi





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Comments (4)

  1. By jeffhre Posted: 7/28/2009 3:36pm PDT

    “To make an efficient, environmentally friendly vehicle one must utilize lightweight materials to improve MPG, reduce pollution and increase safety,” indicates Velozzi CEO, Roberto Velozzi. That's all - well I'll just swing by Harbor Freight and build my own thank you! Price?
     
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  2. By  Todd Horst Posted: 7/29/2009 5:31am PDT

    My brother and i were talking about a wind turbine inside the hood the other day. Would it be possible to channel wind as you car is driving to spin a mini windmill, and then add power to your battery. I know it wouldn't be much, but between that and regen braking, and solar panels seems like we should be getting to a point where cars can be self sufficient.
     
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  3. By Dave Posted: 7/30/2009 11:19am PDT

    I saw a group project about this concept before. Apparently the idea has been around for a while, but the efficiency of micro-turbines was too low to make a vehicle feasible. I hope Velozzi has advancements in micro-turbine technology, and is not piecing together an car from off-the-shelf parts.
    It's not hard to make these claims to stir excitement, but it is something completely different to DO it... a second thing to make it safe... and a third to sell it for a profit.
     
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  4. By  ethernet kabel Posted: 9/3/2009 11:08pm PDT

    Vellozi solo is an amazing car. I love that car because of it is battery powered and the company provide the car with turbine battery charger. The advantage of having this type of car is you don't worry about fuel just charge and drive.
     
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