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(NewsUSA) - Electric cars have huge potential to change the auto industry, particularly with rising gas prices, but a new design out of California targets the niche of busy urban drivers.

The Zap Xebra all-electric car is a 40-mph, three-wheeled automobile designed for people who do a lot of in-town driving. Unlike hybrids, the Zap car needs no gas at all - just plug into any conventional outlet.

Zap sees a market with multicar families that are looking for the fuel-savings benefits electrics offer for urban commuting and errands. Many view it as a great second car for in-town driving, but according to Zap it soon becomes the first car for the entire family.

"Many people buy electric cars because they want to use them when they don't need their gas cars," said Alex Campbell, spokesman for Zap. "What they quickly realize is that most of their daily trips are perfect for electric cars and realistically it becomes the first car."

Studies show that most driving trips are within 20 miles of home - distances well within the city limit for the Xebra, which can travel up to 40 miles per charge, Campbell said.

When consumers have a choice between driving an electric car and a gas car, they are likely to choose the electric car, Campbell said.

He says Zap's Xebra project is the offspring of more than three decades of thought and evolution in electric transportation. The car was created as a breed by itself because the use and purpose of electric vehicles is different than gas cars.

At about 3 cents per mile - compared to 12 cents or more for gas - there is no comparison for cost-conscious consumers. With rising gas prices, people will be much more open to this unique new cost-effective design, he said.

For more information on the Zap Xebra, visit www.zap world.com or call (800) 251-4555.

(NewsUSA) - Each year, approximately 5,000 pedestrians and bicyclists are killed along U.S. roads - 2,300 of them occurring at night - and another 70,000 pedestrians are injured in traffic crashes, according to a 2003 National Highway Traffic Safety Administration report.

New automotive lighting technologies, including Xenon and Adaptive Front Lighting Systems, can help improve nighttime pedestrian safety, according to the Motor Vehicle Lighting Council.

According to researcher Michael Flannagan of the University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute, drivers "overdrive" the headlights on many of today's vehicles, meaning they are going too fast to stop safely within the distance made visible by the headlights.

"The critical safety need in low-beam lighting is seeing distance," Flannagan said. "The maximum safe speed with today's average low beams is only about 45 mph. Our studies indicate there is a major safety problem that headlights could address."

One possible solution is Xenon headlights, also known as High Intensity Discharge or HID. Based on a gas discharge process, Xenon uses an arc instead of a filament as a light source. The result is enhanced roadway vision by increasing the light output to the sides of the road.

A 2004 University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute test revealed that Xenon headlamps provided twice as much light for seeing critical objects on the road while producing 25 percent less glare. The wider beam coverage also provides better lighting on road shoulders, where pedestrians and bicyclists are commonly found.

Nearly 120 vehicle models equipped with Xenon headlights were sold in North America in the 2005 model year -; up 21 percent from 2004.

Another emerging headlight technology is AFS or Adaptive Front Lighting System. It provides optimal illumination in various driving conditions by automatically modifying the beam pattern of the headlights in response to various speed, weather conditions and road situations. The headlamps automatically move as the steering wheel is turned. This helps illuminate the road at an earlier stage, allowing the driver more time to adjust and steer or brake as needed.

For more information on new lighting technologies or the Motor Vehicle Lighting Council, visit www.mvlc.info.

(NewsUSA) - The best hope for bringing the hydrogen-fueled automobile to the American roadway may be a technology that is invisible to the naked eye.

The technology is in the form of tiny graphite structures that together act as a sponge to absorb and store hydrogen in the fuel system of the automobile. Onboard storage of hydrogen gas is the major obstacle impeding the progress and wide-scale commercial production of the hydrogen-powered vehicle, which many view as the next generation in energy-efficient and environmentally friendly road transportation.

The graphite structures are a product of the burgeoning field of nanotechnology. Engineers design the structures at the molecular level, working in scales as small as millimeters and nanometers. The engineers stack the fibrous platelets one atop the other, leaving the optimum gap between the wafers; then they arrange the chemistry so that hydrogen molecules are absorbed in the graphite.

The nanostructures are extremely porous, like a sponge, allowing them to absorb large capacities of hydrogen until fully saturated. Experiments demonstrate that the hydrogen storage in graphite nanofibers is safe.

Another method of hydrogen storage derived from nanotechnology involves carbon nano-tubes. With carbon nanotubes, engineers arrange carbon platelets in different configurations. Research has shown the carbon nanotubes to display strong hydrogen storage capabilities.

The contribution of nanotechnology to hydrogen storage is timely, as automobile companies work to advance fuel cell technology amid growing public sentiments to develop alternative forms of energy. Despite the promise of nanotechnology in automobile fuel cells, additional research is required to refine graphite nanofibers and carbon nanotubes and to develop cost-effective means to manufacture the advanced structures.

The Nanotechnology Institute at the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) strongly supports research in nanotechnology and is dedicated to narrowing the gap between theoretical science and real-world applications.

Among other programs, the institute organizes forums that bring together the technical community and general public to review developments in the field.

For more information, visit www.nano.asme.org.

(NewsUSA) - While environmentalists celebrate the signing of a landmark energy bill that will increase fuel economy standards on all vehicles from 26.4 miles per gallon (mpg) to 35 mpg, you are probably thinking about how this will affect your wallet.

Through this recent bill, President Bush signed into law a 40 percent increase in required fuel economy. The president called the legislation a "major step toward reducing our dependence on oil, confronting global climate change, expanding the production of renewable fuels and giving future generations of our country a nation that is stronger, cleaner and more secure."

The Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) regulation requires each car manufacturer to meet a standard for the sales-weighted fuel economy for the entire fleet of vehicles sold in the U.S. in each model year.

The future CAFE standards will apply to the entire fleet of vehicles manufactured in the U.S. up to 10,000 pounds. They should be set, starting with Model Year 2011, until the standards achieve a combined average fuel economy of 35 mpg. Currently, cars and light trucks with two- and four-wheel-drives have individual standards. However, the newly signed bill allows for a standard increase that is applied to the entire U.S. fleet.

The new law also requires an increased use of ethanol, a cleaner burning, yet less efficient fuel. With the use of ethanol, these newer vehicles might not see much improvement in gas mileage.

Pulsed power, already in use by Pulstar pulse plugs for aftermarket spark plug replacements, is an enabling technology that can be used in combination with proprietary engine designs, now being developed by car manufacturers, to offset the reduced efficiency of ethanol fuel or to boost the efficiency of regular fuels. The stored energy discharged by the pulse plug was previously wasted as heat in the current plug ignition system.

Once pulse plugs are installed in your car, they'll allow the transition to bio-fuel to be smoother. While ethanol will presumably burn cleaner, it will not be as efficient as gasoline and will require you to fill up more often. Pulse plugs can offset that necessity, allowing each of us to drive our cars farther on a gallon of bio-fuel.

If you have any questions about what you can do to help your car run more smoothly using pulse plugs, please visit www.pulstar.com.