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| Martin Reichlin | 2010-03-04 | |
| Aviators Meeting at the Motor Show | ||
| The opening day of the 80th International Motor Show bestowed an interesting rally of successful pilots on Geneva. At Toyota’s stand the two captains of Solar Impulse, Bertrand Piccard and André Borschberg, met the Federal Council Doris Leuthard, president of the government, navigating Switzerland through the turbulent 2010. It was a reunion of friends, as Miss Leuthard follows the development of Solar Impulse with great interest since a while. During her last visit to our base in Dübendorf she even took over the pilot stick of the Solar Impulse simulator and accomplished, assisted by André and Bertrand, a masterly landing. «Did you come to help me to touch down again?», the laughing president welcomed her two «instructors». The tern’s interest then focused on the new Prius Plug-In which can be connected to the grid thanks to it’s built-in AC adapter. After only 100 minutes the 155-kilos of lithium-ion batteries are fully loaded and allow the vehicle to operate purely electrical for 20 kilometers with a speed of up to 100 km/h. That sounds like little but it is far enough for many commuters to cover their daily duty stroke without emissions – and to feel a bit like the pilots of Solar Impulse. Martin | ||