German adventurers and inventors Dirk Gion and Stefan Simmerer have just completed a wondrous three week journey from Perth to Sydney in their sprightly, pod shaped car, and quite remarkably they made this ‘voyage’ with just under $16.
The car named as the Wind Explorer, is touted as the world’s first self-sufficient wind powered electric vehicle, and is powered by lithium-ion battery that can be charged overnight by a mobile wind powered turbine.
This electric vehicle can cover a range of 100 km expending half the electricity required for running a washing machine. The specifications of this peppy electric vehicle are ‘breezy’ as well. The whole electric vehicle just weighs about 200 kg (440 pounds), and can achieve a top speed of 88.5 kph. The lithium-ion battery pack itself just weighs 80 kg. And talk about innovation – this supple framed electric vehicle can use kites to harness the extra wind energy!
The two men have also created a world record of sorts, when the Wind Explorer became the first wind powered electric vehicle to be driven across a continent. As Dirk Gion said:
“We wanted to prove how good the technology is. There are a lot of skeptical people and we wanted to show them how efficient you can make it. People are ready for this technology. They want to have it and use it.”