The more you tweet & like, further this car will travel Melbourne: Scientists have developed a new system that uses a device to ‘power’ a car’s battery to run on social media tweets and likes. Kansas-based design and engineering firm Minddrive restored a 1967 Volkswagen Karmann Ghia to battery electric power, but there’s a twist to the way it gets from A to B. The engineering and design team behind the project developed a device that monitors social media activity in order to keep the car running. The more tweets, likes and shares the project gets on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram, the more “juice” the car’s battery gets, and the further it can travel. The team is planning to drive from Kansas City to Washington DC on its Social Fuel Tour, and it’s relying on social media buzz to get there. If no-one tweets, shares or likes the project, the electric motor stops, news.drive.au reported. The aim of the Social Fuel Tour is to raise awareness of Minddrive, which helps troubled youths to gain employment through what it calls “experiential education programmes”. “Minddrive is an after-school programme for average kids, and we teach them about math and science, technology and the environment through hands-on projects,” Minddrive spokesman Steve Rees explained. “By having a device on our car that will take your connections to us and turn it into social fuel, and literally allow us to power the car from Kansas to Washington,” Rees said. PTI SOCIAL DRIVE: Experts have developed a system which uses a device to ‘power’ a car’s battery by social media tweets and likes
Posted on: Fri, 07 Jun 2013 04:52:23 +0000