USA: NEW MOTOR FOR BICYCLE DESIGN WHICH COULD DECREASE POLLUTION AND REVOLUTIONISE TRANSPORTATION INDUSTRY RECEIVES BACKING

Record ID: 863238

  • Title: USA: NEW MOTOR FOR BICYCLE DESIGN WHICH COULD DECREASE POLLUTION AND REVOLUTIONISE TRANSPORTATION INDUSTRY RECEIVES BACKING
  • Date: 21st April 2003
  • Summary: (L!2) WASHINGTON, D.C. UNITED STATES (APRIL 21, 2003) (REUTERS) PRESIDENT OF WAVECREST INTRODUCING GENERAL WESLEY K. CLARK SOUNDBITE (ENGLISH) GENERAL CLARK SAYING "You could put a motor like this in the wheel of a bicycle, a motorcycle, an automobile, a truck, a military vehicle... This is the motor that Detroit has been looking for. Modern technology, modern materials, digital signal processing, power electronics and some really innovative thought."
  • Embargoed: 6th May 2003 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: WASHINGTON, D.C. UNITED STATES
  • City:
  • Country: USA
  • Topics: Quirky,Light / Amusing / Unusual / Quirky,Transport
  • Reuters ID: LVACA1RIM5RT101MXDWUU8Y3W56Z
  • Aspect Ratio:
  • Story Text: A new motor that its designers say could decrease pollution and revolutionize the transportation industry received some heavyweight backing on Monday (April 21) as General Wesley K. Clark, former Supreme Allied Commander of NATO, unveiled the WaveCrest system in Washington D.C.
    Retired U.S. Army Gen. Wesley Clark, who commanded NATO's 1999 campaign in Kosovo, was named chairman of a Virginia technological firm that is developing an electric engine to be used in a wide range of transportation modes.
    At a press conference in Washington, Clark told reporters, "you could put a motor like this in the wheel of a bicycle, a motorcycle, an automobile, a truck, a military vehicle. This is the motor that Detroit has been looking for. Modern technology, modern materials, digital signal processing, power electronics and some really innovative though."
    The electric motor has already been developed for use in bicycles and several were demonstrated after the news conference. A bicycle courier who tried the new technology out on the streets of Washington said "I've been couriering for a long time and it's fun. The advantage is you can move around the city a lot quicker."
    The technology uses a single motor to power each individual wheel and, according to Clark, eliminates the complex and costly integration of an internal combustion engine, gears, transmission and cooling system.
    Clark said he hoped the company could provide an environmentally responsible, affordable motor that was still commercially viable and competitive with existing traditional motor technology.
    "What we really want to do is be able also to go after the noise and chemical pollution in the atmosphere. This is a quiet system, it makes virtually no noise depending on your source of electricity, there's no pollution with it. So when we start with this system with bicycles and motor scooters in the third world, in countries like India and China, Southeast Europe and Latin America we're going to make a dramatic difference, we think, in the cleanliness of the environment,"
    Clark said.
    But Clark and WaveCrest Laboratories officials say they hope to bring the motor beyond bicycles - and to eventually use it to power vehicles.
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