Plug In America Fundraiser

Recently I had the chance to show my support for Plug In America, an electric vehicle advocacy group, by attending their first fundraiser event! Along with the company of some friends, I enjoyed an evening with green food (and drinks!), typically perfect SoCal weather, a DJ spinning some of my favorite tunes, encouraging words from other electric vehicle enthusiasts, as well as the vehicles themselves!

An all electric Porsche Speedster by Rev. Gadget & his Left Coast Electric. Wins points for being electric, obvious bonus points for having style. The only way you would know it's electric by looking is the lack of tailpipes!

Posing with the preproduction prototype of the Chevrolet Volt. While I'm glad that the big boys in Detroit are lifting an eyebrow at the potentially huge market of electric vehicles, I'm not holding out for any stellar designs from them. At the party I was able to get a look at the Volt up close and after a few minutes realized a showstopper: GM's designers don't understand the freedom that they have when it comes to an electric vehicle. As you can tell from the photo above, the Volt looks like any other car on the road. It's clear they aren't taking a clean sheet of paper to approach this opportunity. Rather, they're just looking at it as a second chance to appear green (environmentally) -- and not looking to make any green (money). It's not particularly aerodynamic, it has a completely ornamental milled aluminum 'radiator' in front, and the interior wasn't inspiring.

Honestly, if Detroit is going to actually produce it, I'm all for it. Help saturate the market with EVs, drive the cost of batteries down, and change how people think in the good-ole' gas-guzzlin' USA. But don't count on my order, I'm already happily commited to the Aptera. :-)

See more of my night in Stefano's video:
Holden acts as an Electric Vehicle Chauffeur at 1 minute, 50 seconds.
And I give AC Propulsion's eBox vehicle a bit of a test drive at 34 minutes:

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Thanks for all media on this page go to Stef, find more pictures and a great write-up paragraph at his site.

PS. Californians: Vote "NO" on Prop 10. Despite it's name ('California Renewable Energy and Clean Alternative Fuel Act'), don't be tricked! Read more here. I can't find any credible group that is supporting this ruse.

Straight Talk on my future cars.

Thanks to a friend, I found out that the normally quite harmless folks over at AutoBlogGreen have been carefully predicting my every move! The latest offence coming just a few days ago regarding my future automobile ownership (link). The screenshot below proclaims "Holden to get Chevy Volt"!

I can only counter with "No, I'm not." And proceed to tell you that as I've noted before on this blog, the Aptera is the next car for me! My deposit is down, and my waiting list number issued! (You can reserve an all electric version, or the plug-in hybrid version for a fully refundable $500 over here.)

The winds of change are blowing a new car into town. And I plan on driving one! :-)




Okay, honestly, I do realize that the Chevy Volt article is about the manufacturer's intentions to try to sell the Volt down under. But what I am saying is that even with my name slapped on the side of this particular electric vehicle, I will not be buying one. From what I saw at the Plug In America fundraiser recently (more on that to come), Chevy is missing the boat on this whole electric vehicle opportunity. More to come.

Electric Vehicle rant

[Click here for the whole cartoon,
Blogger cuts this one off]

Most of you know that I really like the idea of electric vehicles as well as plug-in hybrid vehicles. Thanks to my friend SP for pointing out Mike Adams' (www.NaturalNews.com) great cartoon about "GreenBoasting." Adams writes:

"Why did Ford, GM and most of the American car companies ridicule Toyota over the idea of hybrid cars, and then later jump on the bandwagon with half-hybrid vehicles that don't really qualify as full hybrids in the first place? ... The truth is that auto companies are into GREENBOASTING -- the practice of spouting off environmental-sounding nonsense in order to please customers and increase sales."

While I do think that Tesla Motors have a fantastic vehicle, I think there's a better solution for me. For those that don't know, Tesla can boast some serious numbers (from their website):

• 0-60 in 3.9 seconds
• 135 miles per gallon equivalent
• 220 mile range
• All electric, enabling a cost of 2 cents per mile!
• Currently in production!

[Photo from http://www.teslamotors.com/ (Design Gallery) ]

The "Better Solution" that's out there for someone that needs an everyday car, a daily driver, as opposed to a sports car, is the plug-in hybrid vehicle. This way, you can putz around town going to work and back on all electric power. When you do want to take a road trip, you can still fill up at the gas station.

There are the numbers from Aptera's plug-in hybrid (from their website):

• 40+ miles on electric charge (enough for the great majority of Americans)
• 130 MPG for road trips (anything greater than 120 miles)
• 85+ mph top speed
• a bit sluggish 0-60 in 10 seconds
• $29,900 sticker price ($3k less if you want all electric)
• "Production of the Aptera is slated for late 2008."
  

[Photo from http://oneworldnews.files.wordpress.com ]