Hunt Green LLC » Auto

Dave Muyres addressed IDSA Transportation Conference on October 7, 2011

dmuyres — Sat, 22 Oct 2011 23:52:36 +0000

Dave Muyres moderated a discussion about design’s role in transportation on MSU’s Troy, Michigan campus. The panel included the chief designers of Navistar and Visteon along with design futurist and Detroit icon Larry Erickson. The theme of this year’s conference was Sharing the Road and took a broad look at transportation from the new Dreamliner to the RV industry. You can find more about this event at IDSA Michigan.

Dave Muyres addresses PodCar City Conference in Stockholm

dmuyres — Tue, 20 Sep 2011 22:24:49 +0000

Dave Muyres presented at the 5th annual PodCar City Conference in Stockholm Sweden on September 7th, 2011. The international audience was convened to discuss the world’s growing interest in PodCars as a new form of urban transportation. A highlight of the conference was the recent announcement that the new PodCar system at Heathrow was fully up and running. Several other new initiatives around the world were also announced including new systems in Korea, India, the United States and the Middle East. Dave shared thoughts about how to build the same level of passion and allure into PodCars as we currently have for today’s cars. We need to build excitement around what happens next or change towards new sustainable and energy efficient forms of transportation will be very slow. Dave speaks frequently about the role of Innovation in driving change within the transportation industry in partnership with NewNorth Center for Design in Business and OnGoing Transportation.

Dave Muyres — Opening Speaker at AutoWeek Design Forum in Detroit

suzanne — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 15:11:48 +0000

David Muyres recently addressed a gathering of designers during the press week at the Detroit AutoShow. The AutoWeek Design forum annually brings together top designers from around the world to discuss the future of the car industry. This year the focus was on Design Renaissance, and David Muyres was chosen to open the event with a presentation on the emerging role of the designer. David chose to broaden the focus from car design to how Detroit could develop new and profitable business models while still solving people’s need for mobility. David strongly believes that Design Thinking is the key to developing fun, exciting and sustainable alternatives to today’s over dependence on the car as our main form of transportation in the United States. You can see more at: http://www.autoweek.com/article/20100114/CARNEWS/100119935

“Futurama II: Mobilizing America’s Transportation Revolution” White Paper Released!

suzanne — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 18:39:27 +0000

We are please to announce the recent publication of the OnGoingTransportation White Paper, titled Futurama II Mobilizing America’s Transportation Revolution. The White Paper was co-authored by David Muyres, formerly a Vice President at the Art Center College of Design and Executive at Johnson Controls Inc. and now with HuntGreen LLC, and Geoff Wardle, the Director of Advanced Mobility at the Art Center College of Design. OnGoingTransportation is a siren call for a bold new approach to the future of American transportation. The OnGoingTransportation initiative calls for the creation of a team of the best and brightest minds to develop a new long term vision that will serve as a blueprint for the next 50 years of transportation needs in the U.S. The vision will inspire well-designed, environmentally and economically sustainable options as part of a totally integrated national transportation system. The blueprint will inform sound, long-term policy and legislation, facilitate innovative technology and financing, and encourage entirely new business models, allowing American entrepreneurs to create jobs and lead the world in transportation solutions. To download the paper click here.

Viking Road Rally — May 2009

suzanne — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 18:02:18 +0000

In 2007 I went on a month-long road rally across the US, Mexico, and most of Central America using waste grease and biodiesel. Pictures and descriptions from our visits to sustainable biodiesel producers along the way can be found here. One of my fellow travelers was Bjorn Kruse, the advanced vehicle specialist for the Norwegian environmental non-profit organization “Zero”. Bjornar decided to organize a shorter rally for high tech Zero Emission Vehicles in Norway. Ford Motor Company and the Hynor Group sponsored myself and race car driver Leilani Munter and provided us with a Hydrogen fuel cell Ford Focus, and on May 10th we were in Oslo and ready to go. Unfortunately the vehicle had been damaged in transport and we went to sleep thinking that we were out of the rally.

Twenty minutes before the start our car arrived and we were off. At one of the first stops we were greeted by a number of car fanatics with their classic vehicles and replicas like the one shown here of the first electric vehicle.

During down time we also checked out some of the other vehicles in the rally like the EV called the Buddy made by a Norwegian company, and this electric-pedal car produced in Germany.

The rally was designed to test both the drivers and the vehicles, but proving that these cleaner technologies can be as fun and high performing as conventional cars was a key goal.

Unfortunately the drive shaft that was broken in transport and only partially fixed, failed during the slalom course, taking us out of the competition.

Fortunately the mechanics were able to patch it up again enough so that we could “limp” to the finish line. The bright side was that on day three, because we were no longer competing, we were able to have Sabine Flanz, the head Research Engineer, for Hydrogen Fuel Cell Technology for Ford in Europe, ride with us which gave us a lot of time to discuss the ins and outs of fuel cell technology, H fuel cells versus EVs, etc. While the EVs could charge up anywhere they could plug in an extension cord, their range was quite limited and charging requires several hours, so the H fuel cell cars had a huge advantage with range and speed of re-fueling (about the same as refueling a conventional car). The downside is of course the need for specialized H production, distribution, and refueling infrastructure. In Norway the grid is 100% renewable, so the H was produced from green electricity.

Leilani Munter posing for press shots.

Suzanne, Leilani, and Sabine at the top of the steepest hill in Norway. The Monte Carlo Rally in the 1930’s went up this same road!