Electric Vehicle rant

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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 ]

Bikes, the ultimate in personal transport!

So it's true. I've gone and done it. I went ahead and let the marketing propoganda (above) get the best of me, and I bought a bike. Now, I really couldn't justify getting the milk cart / bicycle rickshaw that is so popular here, but I DID get a sturdy, reliable hunk of steel from the Hercules company:

It's a beautiful ride, loaded with extras. Lemme run down it's feature list for all the bike junkies out there. It's got drum brakes on front and rear, an awesomely comfortable spring seat, flip up spring loaded kickstand (with lock for stand), built-in bicycle lock, spring loaded rack on the back (good for 1 American [2 Indians]), and a bell. I opted out for the generator and lights, as I'm not gonna ride at night for now. Maybe in a week or two once I know the area better.

More good news is that this is the model bike that the locals ride around, so besides the shiny paint, there's no reason to swipe it!

Finally, it sounds fairly authentic to say that I bought a "Fancy India" "Big Boss Action Product" steel bicycle from JD Gupta & Sons for a fair 2300 Rupees. (That's US$57, by the way.)

Winner for third-world Skyping: OLPC!

New Picture: Me in my normal Skype environment (wireless!).

It occured to me the other day that at my fingertips were two options for wanting to talk to the US from over here in Asia:

Option 1: Desktop computer, external monitor, wireless receiver, Uninteruppted Power Supply (UPS) backup battery
Option 2: OLPC XO laptop (built in wireless, monitor, battery (UPS))

Option 1: Full desktop setup (UPS was faulty so it was removed [and I lost the first version of this blog posting due to a power outage!])

Option 2: OLPC XO Laptop (Cup of chai optional)

Now to either of the above lists I just add a standard headset with microphone and chat away! (In fact, if the conditions are perfect, don't even add the headset to the OLPC, just use the Built in microhphone, speakers, and webcam!)

For the audiophiles out there, it turns out that the XO laptop gives way better filtering of background noise (I'm in a 20' x 30' concrete room)! Way to go OLPC team! (I would have thought it would be standard due to both computers running Skype brand software, but there is a repeatable difference!)

The official page for installing Skype on the OLPC laptops can be found here, but I used an amalgamation of help forums, etc. because I installed it a while back (and/or didn't see the main page... :-) )

(Now looking into the status of Google Talk on the OLPC (Seems like might have to use a third-party for billing to call to non-computers at the other end). -- suggestions welcome!)