Its EVolve app is intended to help people wrap their heads and hearts around the experience of driving electric before getting behind the wheel of a real plug-in reliant car.
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The Electric Defender retains the four-wheel-drive hardware and differential lock of the standard Defender.
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It uses four electric motors, one driving each wheel, and brings a new meaning to four-wheel drive.
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She excitedly speaks of the smart ebike, a bicycle with a 250-watt electric hub motor in its rear wheel, launching as part of a pilot program in 2013.
You control the throttle and brake, and electric power assist steering controls the steering wheel.
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The Audi e-tron, for instance, is an experimental sports coupe that relies on a battery alone to drive four electric motors one for each wheel.
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Controlling steering using electric motors also helps to reduce fuel consumption and hence carbon-dioxide emissions. (Electric motors require power only when the steering wheel is turned, whereas a hydraulic pump drains power from the engine all the time.) Ford reckons 90% of its cars will have electronic steering within three years.
The German Aerospace Centre has tested this idea in an aircraft using a fuel cell to power two electric motors built into the hub of an aircraft nose wheel.
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The standard equipment furthermore includes electric windows and electrically adjustable door mirrors, a leather steering wheel, leather gear knob, the entry line radio, power steering, 9-spoke alloy wheels and a luggage compartment cover.
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Thus the electric car is harvesting in terms of well-to-wheel miles only about 27% of the original fossil fuel energy, so not that much better than the standard car running on petrol or diesel.
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So for tall people who like to sit close to the steering wheel, your head will hit the sunshade in the Fortwo Electric Drive Coupe.
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The EV1 is a full scale, 100% electric-powered race car built to resemble a modern Class 1 unlimited open-wheel machine.
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In addition, the smart fortwo electric drive can be equipped with a navigation system and a 3-spoke leather steering wheel.
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The first GM-designed and built electric motors are scheduled to debut in 2013 in its next-generation, rear-wheel-drive, two-mode hybrid technology.
The electric-assist steering is tight and responsive with quite good feedback through the small-diameter steering wheel.
We're no strangers to the electric sedan, having spent some quality time with it along the way, but never behind the wheel -- until now.
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The company also is developing four-wheel-drive technology that powers two wheels with an internal combustion engine and two with an electric motor, eliminating the need for a drive train that takes up floor space, Ho said.
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