These idiots aren’t doing it right anyway. Their pitiful “smokestacks” are just a pale imitation of ROLLIN’ WOOD:

The Akron crashed in a storm, but it wasn’t wind that did it in—it was low visibility and pilot/instrument error that made them crash the tail into the sea unintentionally.

Both ships had to be given minor repairs, but I’d hardly call it a dealbreaking concern. In both case she the wind wasn’t the primary problem, it was a broken winch in the first instance and being light while moored to the mast in the second. Airships have successfully weathered many terrible storms before, it just…

Exactly so. And Sergey Brin wants to use it for disaster relief too, which is pretty much the best way to show off your flying ship’s capabilities to both the wealthy and the downtrodden. I suppose a dedicated flying palace would be too much even for a billionaire, so good on him for the humanitarian mission.

Indeed. The airship itself colored the Hydrogen flame, like putting salts into a fire to turn it green.

Well, he comes right out and admits that he also wants to use it as a yacht for him and his family. On a 650 foot airship, there’s plenty of room for it to do both simultaneously, unless the Brin family travels with several hundred tons of luggage.

“Brin’s airship will use a system of internal gas bladders to control its buoyancy, allowing it to off-load almost anywhere in the world, according to multiple sources.”

Brin’s airship also has a rigid frame, however, so it isn’t a balloon. And if it’s a hybrid airship, which seems likely, it might just outmass the An-225 as well. 650 feet might not be the largest in terms of the Zeppelins from a century ago, but those were long and thin, like a cigar. This airship is likely a more…

Big deal. Zeppelins in World War One have survived thousands of bullets and direct hits from artillery, and those were filled with Hydrogen and had no aerodynamic flight mode as a backup.

Hey, the Airlander 10 is back up and running, and they installed new landing feet to prevent such an unfortunate high-angle landing.

That’s the Airlander 10. Different aircraft, British.

650 feet long? Buoyancy control? This sounds like Brin is contracting out to have an Aeroscraft built. Well, something similar at any rate. A 650 foot hybrid airship might be able to lift somewhere in the vicinity of 100 to 200 tons, and have an unbelievable amount of interior room.

I’m sorry, but the Mazda clearly wins this one. Any BMW not named the i3 or i8 is not the answer to the problem of needing an interesting, quirky, crazy car. Because BMWs are boring boxes that all look alike.

Not necessarily. There’s a big correlation between owning an electrified car and using solar panels to charge it.

Oh, Jesus. I look at that and can’t help but think about the studies of how diesel smog causes cancer. Are these people insane?

These regulations clearly aren’t impossible to meet. These automakers simply wanted to cheat and lie to sell their filthy, cancerous cars. People are rightly pissed about that.

I agree, modularity would be an enormous boon. I’m biased, however, because I want to convert my DSM Eclipse to an EV.

The designers were apparently given the mandate to make their cars look as much like an electric razor as possible.

Chevy Bolt: $37,500, 0-60 in 6.5 seconds, 238 miles of range, subcompact hatchback segment.

I can maybe see Lotus making a super light super modern and super fun EV crossover like the BMW i3 sort of is already. Maybe. But you’re right about electrification in general, and VW in particular. Train’s going to leave the station before a lot of automakers even know it.