Dr. Stuart Brown and Mr. Brian S. Hendrickson are published authorities in the field of energy harvesting, and are credited with numerous inventions, innovations, and patents in several engineering applications, including the capture of wasted energy for generating electricity -- a key objective in Octillion’s research and development of technologies to generate electricity from the wasted energy of moving vehicles.

Engineers envision that wasted kinetic energy from the movement of an estimated 6,000,000 trucks and 250,000,000 cars on America’s roadways could serve as a potential source for generating valuable electricity, the fastest growing form of end-use energy in the world. Octillion’s engineering teams have designed specific systems and patent-pending technologies to enable the capture of such wasted energy of vehicles in motion for converting it into electricity.

In recent weeks, the Company has accelerated its engineering efforts and unveiled early details of its designed energy capture systems, which engineers anticipate are manufacturable, reliable, and resistant to damage from vehicles, road debris or weather. Among key feature considerations of the systems are the important ability to:

• Adapt to the unique characteristics of different vehicles to optimize the amount of energy captured;
• Reduce or avoid potentially undesirable effects on safety, comfort of vehicle occupants, and the stability of cargo;
• Adaptively monitor or regulate the speed or acceleration (or deceleration) of vehicles.

Incorporating these important features, Octillion recently filed several patents with the United States Patent and Trademark Office as part of the Company’s initiative to build its intellectual property portfolio and protect its future commercial rights as inventor-developer of these new technologies.

[View Octillion’s December 16, 2008 press release, unveiling key features of the Company’s energy capture system and related patent filings: http://www.octillioncorp.com/OCTL_20081216.html]

“As an early inventor, innovator, and commercial player in this space, we’re committed to making every effort to successfully advance our transformational energy harvesting technologies towards prototyping, and ultimately, along the commercialization path,” stated Mr. Meetesh V. Patel, Esq., President and CEO of Octillion Corp.

“In order to meet our goals, we’ve recently accelerated our engineering efforts, undertaken the aggressive build-out of our intellectual portfolio, and now bolstered our Advisory Board with the addition of energy-capture experts, Dr. Stuart Brown and Mr. Brian Hendrickson. I’m honored to welcome them to our team.”

Mr. Stuart Brown, PhD, MBA & Mr. Brian Hendrickson:
Engineers, Inventors and Energy Capture Experts.

Dr. Stuart Brown and Mr. Brian S. Hendrickson are published authorities in the field of energy harvesting, and are credited with numerous inventions, innovations, and patents in several engineering applications, including the capture of wasted energy for generating electricity.

Working with the Office of Naval Research, recent advances by Dr. Brown and Mr. Hendrickson in harvesting energy from motion were featured in the September 2008 issue of Mechanical Engineering Magazine, an award-winning publication of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME), published since 1880. The featured article titled, “Harvest of Motion,” highlighted their unique skills in energy harvesting by way of the development of a small-scale device which uses human motion to generate five-times greater power output (per volume) than conventional energy harvesting systems.

Recently, Mr. Hendrickson and Dr. Brown co-authored an article titled “Motion Energy Harvesting Using Catch-and-Release Mechanism” for the Proceedings of the 2008 ASME Energy Sustainability Conference.

Dr. Stuart Brown is currently managing partner of Veryst Engineering, LLC, a respected Boston-based engineering firm with expertise in energy capture technologies. Prior to founding Veryst Engineering, Dr. Brown was director of the Boston Office of Exponent, Inc., a leading engineering and scientific consulting firm with over 90 scientific and engineering disciplines and approximately 800 staff. Previously, Dr. Brown served on the faculty of the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Dr. Brown earned his Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, an M.S. degree in Mechanical Engineering from Stanford University, an M.B.A. in Business Administration, a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering, and an A.B. in English Literature.

Mr. Brian Hendrickson is currently an engineer with Veryst Engineering, LLC. His expertise includes systems design, modeling, and prototyping electromechanical devices. Mr. Hendrickson has lectured on renewable energy and has assistant taught graduate and undergraduate courses in mechanical and electrical engineering at Dartmouth College.

Mr. Hendrickson holds a B.E. in Mechanical Systems from the Thayer School of Engineering at Dartmouth College and a B.A. in Engineering Sciences.
]]> WASHINGTON January 6, 2009: Octillion Corp. (OTCBB: OCTL), a next-generation alternative and renewable energy technology developer, today announced the appointment of energy-capture experts and engineers, Mr. Stuart Brown, PhD, MBA, and Mr. Brian S. Hendrickson, to the Company’s Advisory Board.

Dr. Stuart Brown and Mr. Brian S. Hendrickson are published authorities in the field of energy harvesting, and are credited with numerous inventions, innovations, and patents in several engineering applications, including the capture of wasted energy for generating electricity — a key objective in Octillion’s research and development of technologies to generate electricity from the wasted energy of moving vehicles.

(Read the full post about ‘Octillion Boosts Engineering to Harness Energy from Moving Vehicles’…)

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By Dan Strong

06th January 2009

Honda's Insight has broken cover, and Auto Express has the first official images!

Set to make its public debut at this year's Detroit Motor Show, the four-door, five-seater is set to be the cheapest model of its kind when it goes in sale in March.

Expected to cost from £14,995, the rival to the £18,225 Toyota Prius also promises that it will be the first petrol-electric model to crack the lucrative family car market - currently dominated by the likes of the Ford and Volkswagen.

Honda bosses hope it will take sales from conventional choices such as the Focus and Golf.

The Japanese company aims to sell 200,000 Insights a year worldwide – an ambitious figure given that only 18,000 examples of the previous generation found homes in nearly 10 years of production.

However, this model's superior practicality and class-leading performance should ensure greater success.

It will be the first of a new family of Honda hybrids. Next in line, Honda has promised to launch a petrol electric CR-Z sports car, followed by the Jazz supermini.

Full details on the Insight will remain secret until this Sunday.

Suzuki sold 1730 vehicles in December, boosting its total sales for the year to 22,523.

The record sales figure was a 4.4 increase on what was a record 2007 result, and continued the company’s remarkable run of six straight years of increased sales.

Since 2004 the company has more than tripled retail sales to cement its reputation as one of the fastest growing vehicle brands in the country.

“This is another record breaking year for Suzuki in Australia, and given that Suzuki cars compete in less than half of the market segments, our 2008 sales figure represents an outstanding result”, said Suzuki Australia General Manager Tony Devers.

“Suzuki was one of just a handful of manufacturers to boost volume over 2007. Importantly, we also increased our market share 11 per cent year on year, which is now running at an all-time high of 2.2 per cent.

“With competitive pricing and strong value for money we have seen increased sales across almost every model in the Suzuki line-up”.

The company’s SUV sales were bolstered by the arrival of the award-winning new Grand Vitara range in the second half of 2008.

“With class leading fuel economy and increased levels of refinement and safety, the Grand Vitara is truly the best value compact SUV on the market. Together with the evergreen Jimny Sierra, we are highly confident of further growth in this segment.”

“We sold a total of 4844 vehicles in the compact SUV segment, up 8.5 per cent on the 2007 figure, in a segment that was down nearly 5 per cent for the year.”

The SX4 small car continued to draw increased customer interest with 4184 sales representing an 86 per cent increase on the previous year, while Suzuki’s APV light commercial again achieved record highs with 21 per cent growth.

Suzuki’s top performer for 2008 was again the Swift with 12,947 vehicles moving out of dealer showrooms.

“The Swift’s iconic design, driving performance and strong resale value continue to expand its customer profile. Swift is still one of the top choices for private buyers despite the addition of numerous competitors throughout 2008”.

Devers was extremely proud of the result, which he says has been achieved by the combination of an excellent product range and a strong and vibrant dealer network.

“I would like to congratulate Suzuki Dealers for their efforts. With an expanding model range that offers style, safety, reliability and excellent value for money, more and more customers are considering the Suzuki brand”.

Devers said 2009 promises to be another exciting chapter for the brand, as Suzuki enters its centenary year.

“Despite the doom and gloom surrounding the automotive industry, we are extremely confident that Suzuki is well placed to continue the momentum we have developed to become a significant player in the Australian market.

"While 2008 was a tough year, we are encouraged that Hyundai was once again able to outperform the general market and increase our market share in the midst of unprecedented market conditions," said Dave Zuchowski, Hyundai Motor America's vice president of national sales.

"We are looking forward to 2009," added Zuchowski. "In fact, to help us build on the tenth anniversary of Hyundai's industry-leading 10-year/100,000-mile warranty, the 'Hyundai Assurance Program' has just been announced. The Hyundai Assurance Program provides new car buyers and lessees who lose their income protection against negative equity and credit rating concerns. With these two great tools in place and the strongest product lineup in our history, we are cautiously optimistic going into the New Year." For details about the Hyundai Assurance Program please visit HYUNDAI USA.

Sales for December were 24,037, up 25 percent over November.

All Hyundai vehicles sold in the U.S. are covered by The Hyundai Advantage, America's Best Warranty. Hyundai buyers are protected by a 10-year/100,000-mile powertrain warranty, a 5-year/60,000-mile bumper-to-bumper warranty, a 7-year/unlimited-mile anti-perforation warranty and 5-year/unlimited-mile roadside assistance protection.

Sounds like a job for a “M” car right? Well maybe not. The car is rumored to carry “Motorsport” badging (although Motorsport is exactly what “M” stands for in the hot BMWs, “Motorsport” never gets used on the insignia.) Plus BMW can’t call it the “M1” because that’s already been used in it’s history to mark a very different kind of car (and it may be making a comeback.) If BMW was really wise about the naming the car it would stick with the “tii” from the concept, which goes back to the classic 2002 model.

But the name doesn’t matter as long as the car makes it to the production line. There is still is a long way to go in an uncertain economy before the 2010 model year.

The car should receive a 400+ hp 5.0-liter version of Hyundai’s Tau V8 engine, as well as an eight-speed automatic transmission. While the largest of Hyundais is set to go on sale in February of 2010, there is no word yet if that will also mean in U.S. dealerships.

This started a phenomenon and began to make the Indian consumer’s dream of owning a car come true. Prior to this time, the Indian automobile industry was dominated by just one or two brand names and offered little choice. Today, Suzuki has a 54 per cent share of the Indian passenger car market and manufacturing there accounts for 35 per cent of Suzuki’s global car production.

The Maruti plant produced more than 770,000 units last year and for the first time Suzuki sold more cars in India than in its home market Japan. There are currently seven million Suzukis on Indian roads – of which three million are Altos – out of a total of 11 million passenger cars in use.

A second plant at Manesar was commissioned in early 2007 with an initial annual capacity of 100,000 vehicles and the scope to increase to 300,000 units in the future. This plant is the global production base for Suzuki’s fifth strategic model, the Alto, which will be launched in the UK in March with emissions of just 103g/km and low fuel consumption of 62.8mpg on the combined cycle.

Suzuki builds an average of three cars every minute in India, employs 7,100 people and has a network of 600 dealers in 393 towns and cities as well as 2,628 authorised repairers covering 1,220 conurbations.

Lancia retreated back to its home market in Italy, and paid its penance by staying out of most other major markets for more than a decade (they haven’t been sold officially in the U.S. since 1982.) Now it looks like Lancia got it’s act together, and it is back to building cars with seriously sexy looks and even decent quality. In fact, its parent company Fiat was ready to send Lancia back out into the world with a reintroduction to the U.K. market in 2009. But the current economic climate has changed all that.

“Given the current global economic crisis, Fiat Auto has taken the decision to delay the reintroduction of the Lancia brand in right-hand-drive markets beyond 2009,” said Fiat in a statement. “Right now it would be ill-advised to commit to a date on any relaunch of Lancia in Britain.”

If Lancia was a success in the U.K., maybe Fiat would have even expanded the line to piggyback the cars on some ships with U.S.-bound Alfa Romeos. But that’s all a pipe dream considering that economic conditions have even stopped rumors of Alfa’s plans in the U.S. But we can still dream…

Gallery: Splinter Wooden Supercar

The BMW M1 Homage was created in 2008 to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the BMW M1 road and race car programme, the car developed by the highly successful BMW M GmbH division.

The BMW M1 Homage will sit alongside the all-new BMW 7 Series Sedan which makes its Australian public debut at Melbourne, and the just-released BMW X6 xDrive50i, both of which are powered by the first ever BMW Twin Turbo V8 engines.

The link is apt, given the BMW M1 Group 5 race version was powered by an 850 bhp twin-turbo six-cylinder engine.

“For BMW, heritage is always also a living heritage. Drawing inspiration from your own past and thereby reinventing yourself – that is exactly what the BMW M1 Homage demonstrates in impressive style,” Dr Klaus Draeger, BMW Group Board Member, Development explained at the unveiling of the BMW M1 Homage at the world famous Concorso d’Eleganza Villa d’Este at Lake Como, Italy.

The BMW M1 Homage is a design study in the tradition of a BMW Turbo that represents a contemporary take on the BMW M1 and the mid-engine concept.

The Liquid Orange paintwork exclusively developed for the BMW M1 Homage cites the classic BMW M1 colour, yet surprises with its powerfully iridescent play of colour and brilliant depth.

It gives life to the extrovert silhouette, highlighting the bold convex and concave surfaces.

The BMW M1 Homage lifts many of the unique styling cues for the original M1 such as the air vents in the bonnet, louvers on the rear screen and the black cut line that divides the roofline from the rear section of the body.

Another feature carried over is the twin outboard BMW Roundels, positioned at the extremity of each wing, as in all previous mid-engined BMW models.

Back in 1979, the BMW M1 was Germany’s fastest series production sports car. While many were dressed in aggressive war paint for racing in the Proccar series, none is better known than the BMW Art Car, immortalised by Andy Warhol.

“We are delighted to be able to announce the BMW M1 Homage show car will be arriving in Australia for the Melbourne International Motor Show,” said BMW Group Australia Managing Director Guenther Seemann.

“The BMW M1 Homage is a sensational looking car that highlights both the strong dynamic Motorsport heritage of BMW, but also the talent and skill of our current designers, who created a 21st century look at how a new generation BMW M1 could look.

“There is no doubt the BMW M1 Homage will be a draw card for the visitors to the Melbourne show, joining with our new Twin Turbo V8-powered BMW 7 Series and X6 Sports Activity Coupé,” he said.