In the realm of ‘highly unusual fuel types’, student startup team, Minddrive, have created a car that is powered by tweets, shares and video views.
Currently, the world is in a bit of an energy crisis. Global warming and climate change are being whooped and hollered about and the automotive industry is under pressure to create greener vehicles. We have a few sources of renewable energy as solar, wind and wave energy are all offered up for our homes, while some go for more sustainable electric or hydrogen options in their cars. But now, a team from Kansas City have created a car that utilises social media.
Not strictly just running solely on tweets, the car, which is a 1967 Kharmann Ghia, is actually an electric battery powered vehicle. How its “social media power” actually works is that by modifying the batteries and by inputting a special logging device that measures just how well the project is doing in the social space, the car will only drive when it’s at its most popular. Without the social aspect, the car just wouldn’t run.
There are several tiers of energy for the car. For example, a single Facebook like on the project’s page will release a single Watt of power from the battery, while a follow on Twitter gives out 5 Watts and a signature on Minddrive’s petition will give out a whopping 10 Watts of power to the car. Power can also be given out with views of the project’s video (which is embedded further down in this post), tweets and Facebook shares. You can follow all of the tallies on Minddrive’s site.
The aim is to power the car all the way to Washington D.C as it travels from its hometown of Missouri, with the journey beginning on the 31st of May. Minddrive are also using this as an opportunity to raise awareness about what they do, as the team is made up of at-risk students from the Missouri and Kansas areas, meaning that the social media aspect of this doesn’t just power the car, but it uses its energy for good too.
Watch a video about the project below.
Source : cnet
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