One thing I love about writing about car gadgets is that every time you think you’ve found the strangest thing ever, and no matter how much you SINCERELY mean that this (whatever this it is you’re writing about) is THE strangest thing ever, within a matter of days along will come something else to trump it.

You’re constantly surprised in this business, and in a way, that’s awesome.

So imagine my shock when I’m reading AskMen’s top ten useless car gadgets list (guys, come on–the Bose Media System doesn’t count as a useless gadget because you’d rather listen to ENGINE NOISE) and I come across a real shocker.

Apparently, curb feelers never went out of style, and they’ve gone digital.  Called the Park Distance Control, it basically helps you figure out when a space is too small to park your Mini in or if you can hack it, and once you can, gives you some help in getting in safely.  As we all remember from driver’s ed, parallel parking is an epic-scale pain in the tukhus.

I can’t imagine anyone, however, having this much trouble parking a Mini Cooper.  Now, some van or pickup or LeBehemoth-class SUV from GM might be a different call, but a Mini Cooper might well be the class of vehicle that LEAST needs parking help.  It’s like putting a second story on your pickup bed.

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I was actually reading about this idea elsewhere, and frankly, it’s too good not to bring up here.  See, solar power fans are going to be jumping for joy over this one, but even if you don’t happen to drive an electric car, chances are you’re still going to love what Dell did to its parking lot, which you can see at right.

Dell put in a bunch of solar panel structures in its parking lot, which serve two basic functions:  one, it provides free electricity to the parked cars.  If you ever needed a jump and couldn’t find another car, well, the Dell lot’s got you covered.  And of course, anyone who drives a plug-in hybrid or full electric vehicle is also covered.

But what most gas car drivers will get out of this is one very rare thing in a parking lot: shade.

We’ve all suffered through a hot car in summertime, sitting in that boiling heat box until the air conditioner can finally overcome the  stifling heat in your car.  But with shaded structures like this, you can park underneath them and keep your car cool.  Meanwhile, free electricity!

That’s a win-win for everybody no matter what kind of car they drive.

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Here’s an interesting, eco-friendly idea! Cars could power up the checkouts of a supermarket! In fact a certain supermarket in Gloucester, UK has installed kinetic plates in the parking lot. They use the weight of the car to press against a series of hydraulic pipes which in turn will drive a generator. The system will thus generate 30kw per hour, enough to power the checkouts. Pretty ingenious isn’t it? Will this idea be used by other supermarkets?

via Green Launch

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