Written on June 4, 2008 – 8:43 am | by Bogdan Alex |
Not long ago, people realized that cars are among the greatest polluter on the Earth ad they decided to design “green” vehicles. Now we have hybrid and electric vehicles, but these do not come cheap. In fact many models are even pricier than gas-powered cars, so people won’t afford to buy these ecological solutions any time soon. It seems, though, that electric and hybrid cars are not the only viable solutions. XP Vehicles, a California-based auto maker has big plans for their inflatable cars.

Is it a joke? XP doesn’t think so. They even readied the Whisper car as an inflatable vehicle powered by batteries or hydrogen fuel cells. OK, it’s inflatable to reduce the manufacturing costs, but how is it going to deal with sharp things on the road? XP got that figured out, and they are using the same material NASA used to create airbags for the Mars rovers’ landings. This material is claimed to be incredibly strong. But is it really that cheap?

When it goes on sale, the car is expected to cost £2,500 , which is comparatively cheaper, but the most important benefit is represented by the fact that, because of its lightweight body, the car can travel for 2,500 miles on a single charge.

XP explains that its cars will be sold online, initially to Asian markets, and will arrive in two cardboard boxes, ready to be assembled by “two people of average education level in less than two hours”.

Taking present-day trends and styles into consideration, XP even provides customization options for their car models, allowing you to choose from different colors, with special decals, stereo systems, iPod compatibility and alarms. For extreme sports maniacs, XP says the Whisper will “float in an emergency such as a flood or tsunami” and if you’re brave enough, you could even “drive it off a cliff without serious injury.”