| The Transportation of the Future, Here Today
In an electric drive vehicle, the torque is supplied to the wheels by an electric motor that is powered either solely by a battery, or an internal combustion engine using hydrogen, gasoline or diesel, or, by a fuel cell. Electric drive technology is used in vehicles ranging from bikes and scooters to forklifts, golf cars, passenger cars, buses and commercial trucks. It is even used at truck stops and shipping ports. Electric drive vehicle platforms include battery, plug-in hybrid, hybrid, and fuel cell electric vehicles. The world is watching with great interest as researchers work to bring zero-emission, hydrogen powered fuel cell cars from the laboratory to the fast lane. But most people board their city buses, or watch their luggage rolling to the airplane without ever realizing that they are already reaping the benefits of electric drive technology.
FEATURE - India's downtrodden disabled find power in the law
BANGALORE (Reuters) - When disabled Hindu worshippers in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu were blocked from entering temples with their wheelchairs and crutches, Meenakshi Balasubramanian knew she had the law on her side. The disabled rights activist, who herself has polio, sued the temple authorities in the state's high court, and won. Today, she said, temples must provide wheelchairs to disabled visitors if they ban them from bringing in their own medical equipment on the basis the devices are ritually impure. "I do feel it's our right, a religious right, a fundamental right," Balasubramanian said. "We need to be allowed to worship the way we want to." Tired of waiting for the government to safeguard their rights to pray, work, learn and travel, India's 22 million disabled people are increasingly turning to the courts.
Seeking solutions: New buses may help city's struggling transit ...
Public transit is Lynchburg is struggling with deficits and bus-maintenance problems that often leave paying customers without a reliable way to get to work or to the doctor. But there may be several solutions, both long-term and short-term, that could strengthen a system that many of the city's working poor depend upon. Over the past several weeks, The News & Advance spent more than 20 hours riding nearly every Greater Lynchburg Transit Company bus route, and has interviewed numerous riders. The newspaper also reviewed hundreds of documents detailing maintenance work and costs after filing a Freedom of Information request. Those interviews and documents show that the GLTC faces severe maintenance issues and growing costs to provide service, including rising fuel prices.
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