[E. The Kidd]

The Nuclear Scooter
Walking upright's for Neanderthals...It's high time you had a hydrogen-powered personal-mobility vehicle.

It's enjoyed hype the Y2K bug would have envied. Apple core Steve Jobs said cities would evolve around the wonders of it. Investors predicted the inventor would be richer than Bill Gates. God reportedly said He wished He'd thought of it. The "it" in question is code named Ginger,a secret transportation device whose inventor declares it "an alternative to products that are dirty, expensive, sometimes dangerous, and often frustrating, especially for people in cities." An alternative to cars? We're listening.

First, who's the crackpot? Ginger's inventor, physicist Dean Kamen, holds over 100 patents. In addition to a palatial estate and a New Hampshire-based company called DEKA (DEan KAmen--clever, clever, clever), he has his own tiny island off Connecticut, complete with its own currency and a replica of Stone-henge. His most recent invention was the IBOT, a wheelchair that transverses rough terrain and can even climb stairs.

Ginger is still shrouded in secrecy, but the patent applications are full of info. It's described as a "personal mobility vehicle" and it looks like a h***of a lot like a "scooter." We're not joking ... but this is an ordinary scooter like Lamborghini full of supermodels is an ordinary carpool. Ginger mimics, through internal gyroscopes and stabilizing sensors, the complex way an upright human maintains balance. It's a technique Kamen calls Dynamic Stablilzation(and has trademarked, so watch your...). It will apparently follow the movements of the driver-turn your body slightly left and it will make a left turn.

And that's not the groundbreaking part. Kamen has also filed patents for a "cantilevered crankshaft Stirling cycle machine," an external-combustion engine that heats a gas to turn pistons, much like a steam engine. This innovative motor runs on hydrogen, producing a smooth, quiet ride, and belching out only one emission: pure water.

Ginger won't begin production until at least fall, Kamen is intent on keeping his project secret--oops!--so better-funded companies won't catch up.(Ford, DaimlerChrysler, Honda, and GM are working on hydrogen/gasoline powered hybrids--experts feel by 2010 hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles will be common.) But no need to wait--go ahead smash your Razor scooter into smithereens right now. Trust us on this one.

p.s. this in no way represents the beliefs of Team 713 (Rice High School& Con Edison) and its users or Chiefdelphi.com (and its in the July 2001 issue of Maxim if you were wondering)