Rinspeed sQuba (The Underwater Car)

  The sQuba, developed by Swiss company Rinspeed, is the world's first car that can be driven both on land and under water. The Squba was inspired by the 1977 James Bond film The Spy Who Loved Me and carried out  by Rinspeed founder and CEO Frank M. Rinderknecht. The chassis from the Lotus Elise is used as the base for this vehicle. The sQuba is a zero-emission, all electric vehicle which uses three electric motors, one for land travel, two for water. It drives on land powered by its electric rear-wheel drive powertrain, utilizing rechargeable lithium-ion batteries. Upon entering water, it floats on the

 surface until the operator floods the interior to submerge it. It can be submerged to a depth of 10 metres (33 ft), powered by twin electric-powered propellers supplemented by two Seabob water jets. The car's top land speed is 120 km/h (75 mph). On the surface of water, the top speed is 6 km/h (3.2 kn; 3.7 mph) and underwater it is 3 km/h (1.6 kn; 1.9 mph). The vehicle can transport a driver and passenger in its open cockpit. The open cockpit design is intended to allow the occupants to escape easily in case of emergency. When underwater, the occupants breathe air carried in the vehicle through scuba-style diving regulators. The vehicle's interior is water and salt resistant so that it can be driven in the ocean. The sQuba was presented to the public for the first time at the Geneva Motor Show on March 16, 2008. The existing, functioning prototype cost more than US$1.5 million to build. When the sQuba enters production, they are expected to cost less than a Rolls-Royce.