Fossil Free Friday: Electric Cars Exist - Really!

No fooling!

 

 

The actual car I drove this week. Really! This is no April Fools joke. It does not burn gas!

Earlier this week, I went to do a little presentation about electric cars at a local event. My friend Matt graciously let me borrow his Nissan Leaf. (It's such a pleasure to drive a Leaf - thanks, Matt!)

For me (on a selfish side) taking the Leaf killed my presentation. No one saw my powerpoint slides. No one scanned my QR code to see the big page o' links I put together just for the presentation. I put in a whole lot of work for nothing.

But the Leaf made my point much better than the presentation ever could have.

You see, electric cars thrill me. Every Nissan Leaf, Chevy Volt, Ford Energi, BMW i3, i8, or Tesla I spot makes my heart leap. Mostly, I just see Leafs and Volts. I get this endorphin/adrenaline surge each time I see any of them - yes, I am fully aware that I am an eco-dork. (Maybe I need a t-shirt!) I live and breathe electric vehicles. And I thought that everyone knew about them.

No one in Lubbock knows that electric cars exist.

 

I put a lot of work into this sucker!

But a funny thing happened when I was showing off the Leaf. No one quite knew what it was. When I explained why there was no tailpipe, I got a lot of crazy looks. My favorite question was this: "How does this compare to my friend's [Toyota] Prius?" It took a few sentences to get across the idea that they are not the same animal. Yes, they both use some electric stuff, but only the Leaf burns NO GAS.

No gas tank.
No tailpipe.
No oil to change.
No gas stations where you suck in harmful vapors.
No noise pollution.
Fewer moving parts to wear out.
And you can charge it up in the privacy of your own garage - very cheaply!

 

Lubbock people just weren't ready for it.

I took 8 people for rides in it. They were stunned at the quiet. They were stunned at the quick. They were stunned at the roominess. They were stunned that riding in it was a normal car experience. (To be fair, four of these people who rode in the Leaf knew it was electric - my wife and three guys who put up with my electric obsession over coffee every morning. Thanks for coming, Grizz, Knippa, and Cptn Kirk!)

Look Ma! No gas!

 

May you tell one person today that electric cars are real and can help us heal our world. (If you need help explaining, try starting here.)

 

PS. Yesterday. we finally got to see the Tesla Model 3 and learn details - a huge day in electric car history.

 

Dang, that thing is cool! (Green Car Reports article)

That tailpipe question

From Friends of the Earth and the GCR article below

The phenomenal young woman was home from college recently. The three of us were headed home from dinner and decided we needed something from the drug store. There's a Walgreen's less than half a mile from our house and there's a CVS about a mile away. I suggested Walgreen's, but she quickly spoke up, telling us that she exclusively supports CVS now that they have taken the moral high ground and have stopped selling tobacco products. One of those prideful grins crept onto my face. It's the first time I have seen her vote with her money. I remember all the times that she rolled her eyes at my wife and me for doing the same thing. It's an amazing thing to watch her grow up.

But it makes perfect sense, someone very near to the three of us, a non-smoker who spent his whole life surrounded by smokers, died of lung cancer five years ago. Watching anyone die of lung cancer should have us all shopping at CVS for the same reason. She very clearly sees smoking as morally wrong and chooses to support a business that takes a brave (and unprofitable) stance.

I thought a little further, started to make a Mesquite Hugger point, but bit my tongue. It was not yet time, but the time seems to be very near. Each time I slide my debit card into a gas pump, I feel terrible. I very clearly see burning gasoline as morally wrong. But unlike her, I hypocritically support the thing I know to be wrong.

The NRDC explains it better than I could in these two snippets:

The article (as do many other very credible sources) clearly shows that gasoline-powered devices very clearly cause and aggravate lung disease and cancer, and the risk is most significant for children. You can read the entire article here: Our Children at Risk: The Five Worst Environmental Threats to Their Health (Chapter 4 Air Pollution)

When you read that article, do you
(1) shrug your shoulders and move on?
(2) feel monumentally guilty?
(3) think the NRDC is part of a big hippie conspiracy?
(4) laugh at the thought of reading an NRDC article?
(5) giggle self-righteously as you ride away on your bicycle?

For me, it's mostly choice #2 with a little #5 thrown in for good measure.

Can you read the NRDC article and think that Marlboro is any more evil than Exxon? That Camel is any worse than Shell? That Phillip Morris is more damaging than Phillips 66?

Where smoking was, petroleum is.

History is very close to repeating itself. Big tobacco took a big fall when the news broke that they had known and hidden how harmful their products were for a very long time. The scandal is just now breaking with the #Exxonknew movement. It looks as though Exxon has known how harmful their products are for a very long time, and it looks as though have worked very hard to conceal that knowledge.

I ran across a John Voelcker Article on Green Car Reports today that asks the question that I did not: When Will We Start To See 'Tailpipes' As Morally Wrong? I hope it is soon.

(From Envisioning the American Dream)

May we soon live in a time when petroleum fuels seem as silly as these cigarette ads.

Green Cars at the Texas State Fair Auto Show - Toyota Wins, Nissan Fails

I am feeling pretty proud of myself. Today marks 1 week of avoiding temptation - no, Craigslist, no EBay, no scoot.net/classifieds.

 

However, I did find myself in the midst of massive temptation this weekend. I found myself at the Texas State Fair Auto Show. It may shock you to know, but I was really excited to see the hybrids and the two all-electric cars in the auto show. I got to see the new Volt in person. My wife and I sat in all three Priuses, a Ford Fusion Energi,  a Ford C-Max, a Hybrid Kia Optima, a Hybrid Hyundai Sonata, and a Hybrid Toyota Avalon. The Avalon is a gorgeous car. The C-Max was my favorite in which to comfortably sit.

 

What was the coolest green thing I saw? The Toyota i-road. 

It's hard to categorize the i-road in conventional terms, but people who want the size and feel of a big scooter but want the protection of a car and the eco advantages of a plug-in electric in which to zip and lean around town should look no further - if Toyota decides to sell it here.

 

Maybe it's the BMW Isetta for a modern age.

 

I've seen lots of pics, but it was cool to see the quirky thing in person. It was also cool to see such a fluke for Toyota. Toyota, the true pioneers of the hybrid world, have shown themselves to be very opposed to battery-electric cars. They see the future as hydrogen-powered. The all-electric i-road flies in the face of that - and I would love to see Toyota build competitors for the Leaf, Bolt, and Telsa Model 3. In the meantime, I would love to drive an i-road!

 

I've seen bigger rear tires on scooters!

 

The New Volt - Malibu meets Accord?

The new Volt is sleek and good looking, but it has lost a lot of its distinctive look. I like the old body style better, but the greater battery-only range trumps the loss of individuality. Hopefully, the new look will attract more conventional buyers. I had hoped that Chevy would bring out one of the battery-only Bolt prototypes, but no such luck. I also hoped to see a Spark EV, but I doubt that car will ever extend much outside of California.

The Nissan Leaf, hidden in a corner behind a trash can. Carlos Ghosn, where are you?

The biggest disappointment of the show for me was the Nissan display. The center of their area was a $150,000 gas-guzzling GT-R straight out of Grand Theft Auto. The display was impressive and had crowds of teens and mid-life crises gathered the whole time I was around. Lots of chrome, video, and pretty girls who actually knew a fair amount about the cars they were showing off. My disappointment came when I could not find a Leaf. I did eventually find one. It was hidden in a dark corner with no display, no info, no brochures. It just had a standard window sticker. Sigh. One of the most successful electric cars on the planet gets no respect at all in the Lone Star State. Big fail for Nissan to show no love for its own electric baby. Do I sound bitter? I sure feel it. (Even so, lots of people found it and checked it out thoroughly.)

 

As for Tesla, you know they are not very welcome in Texas.

 

Kia had an impressive presence at the show, but they left the Kia Soul EV at home as well. They could have brought it and a cardboard cutout of a hamster and they would have blown Nissan out of the water.

 

Strangely, there were no European cars of any kind in the auto show other than the Fiat/Chryslers. The Fiat people displayed the Alfa Romeo logo, but no actual cars. So, no BMW i8 or i3. No exotic Porsche hybrids. No electric Golfs. No Smart FourTwo Electrics. Also, there were no Hondas. Hmm...

 

What does it all mean? It means that gas is cheap and that we have a long way to go when it comes to carbon-neutral transport. Even with Nissan's big fail, they had the only readily available EV at the fair. They just don't really want you know they have it.

 

May we find our way to something better and may manufacturers be excited about those somethings.

Vintage Electric Car in Mister Rogers' 'hood!

Blogging for me is one step closer to a 25-year dream that I have clung to - the PBS life. I have watched guys like Rick Steves (travels in Europe with an all access pass), John Viehman (mountain biking the Great Divide, kayaking rapids, and sea kayaking with orcas), and Bob Phillips (driving around Texas talking to crazy interesting people) navigate lives that any overactive brain would kill for on the PBS or [plug in your favorite adventure travel channel] sponsor budget. And these guys have one thing in common - they are boring guys living exciting adventures. I want to live the PBS life!

Today, I found another example of the PBS-life adventure in a very unlikely locale - Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood. Green Car Reports featured an episode of MRN where Mr. Rogers visited an electric car factory, Electric Vehicle Industries, and was allowed a test drive. From the accents, I'm thinking the cars were built in Massachusetts or thereabouts. The episode aired in 1981. I found myself on youtube right away. Oh, the envy! (I tried to tour the Zero Motorcycle factory once, but I never had much luck communicating with them. Life has been much less frustrating since I sold my Zero.)

Mr. Rogers Electric Vehicle and Divorce (complete episode from youtube)

The vehicles in the show were powered by 16 lead-acid batteries (96 volts) driving a GE motor coupled with a front-wheel-drive transaxle. Very ugly-cool machine. Ironically, the episode deals with divorce, electric cars, and excessive airplane fuel consumption. If I brought this particular car home, my wife might consider jumping on a plane and filing for divorce. (Just kidding - my wife is entirely too supportive of my ugly electric car obsession.) Mr. Rogers even talks about how cool an electric airplane would be.

May your neighborhood be filled with people who care enough to drive electric!

National Drive Electric Week in OKC and Lubbock(?!!!)

Green Car Reports Article

I watched a video by a guy named John Gallagher this week. And I was excited by what he had to say.

NDEW Website

 

You see, John Gallagher is organizing a National Drive Electric Week gathering in Oklahoma City. It shouldn’t be surprising that there will be such an event in OKC, but it is. OKC, like my own hometown, is just not that interested in such things. We are conservative and extravagant in our thinking. Why would we be interested in something thrifty and short range when our surroundings encourage us to seek comfort and rugged utility? Why drive a Leaf when I can have a well-appointed four-door Ford F150 for similar money? Why worry about the environment when I can worry about paying the bills and keeping myself distracted? Having the gathering in OKC is the first of three surprises (for me) in John’s video.

The second surprise in the video is that John does not own an electric car. He explains that he does not own one but he does understand that electric cars are the obvious and appealing next step in personal transportation. I always expect the organizer of such an event to fall into one of two camps – the old-school early adopter or the very enthusiastic newcomer to EVs. Just so you can visually follow my thinking – I expect the old-school guy to be driving a Ford Pinto he converted to electric in the 1980’s or maybe he stumbled upon an old and neglected Citicar and lovingly restored it. (Sigh) The newcomer, on the other hand, I picture driving a Tesla, wearing a Tesla hat (and possibly monogrammed Tesla underwear), and wearing a T-shirt that commands, “Question Internal Combustion!”

The third surprise in John’s video is learning that he drives an oil tanker truck for a living. Yep, he pulls up to a drilling site, fills his truck with crude oil, and delivers it to a pipeline to be pumped cross-country to a refinery. Lather. Rinse. Repeat. That’s how he pays the bills.
So, here’s where it gets a bit sticky for me. That guy is up in OKC organizing a Drive Electric Event, and there is no drive electric event happening in Lubbock, Texas. And that guy doesn’t blog all the time about electric vehicles. That guy doesn’t own an electric vehicle. I own several – a few of them even run! Hmmm…

Jerry Garcia quote

So, I’ve been asking around to see if anyone has any plans for National Drive Electric Week in Lubbock. The answers have been communicated more by puzzled looks and silence than actual answers.  So, let’s see. Nissan sells electric vehicles. Mitsubishi sells electric vehicles. Ford sells electric vehicles. Chevrolet sells electric vehicles. Kia sells electric vehicles. BMW sells electric vehicles. Cadillac sells electric vehicles. All of those companies have dealers here in town; however, very few of those actually sell electric cars here. I know that Nissan, Ford, and Chevrolet do. Cadillac maybe. [In case you are asking about Tesla at this point, just know that Texas lawmakers do not like Tesla and continue to aggressively work at keeping it illegal for Tesla to sell new cars here. Snagging lobbyists…]

 

 

When I search for public EV charging in Lubbock, I only find the Nissan dealership. [Last minute update: Googlemaps is now showing Rick's Tire Warehouse and Dave's Custom Carts as possible public charging stations, but I have not verified either.] [Another update: Rick's Tire Warehouse reported back that they do NOT have an electric car charging station.]

So, where would be a logical place for a Lubbock EV event? We can’t really gather around the one (or one of the three) charger(s) in town, can we? Should we ask a local battery retailer to sponsor an event? How about a local eating place? The Rust, Inc. crew gathers at Jumbo Joe’s. The guys with shiny old cars often gather at Sonic. Maybe we should gather at a local park.

Speaking of “we”, will this be just like junior high where I show up and wonder where everyone is? I am seeing more and more EV’s around town. Last week I spotted a black Tesla Model S in town. Yesterday I spotted a white BMW i3 - the second one in town. One of my co-workers just texted me a photo of a Tesla Roadster he spotted in Lamesa, Texas, a small town about an hour south of here. And I am seeing more and more Leafs. I did see a guy riding a Zero FX on Slide Road recently. It's not a revolution, but they are starting to show up. The real question is will they show up to an event? I am waiting for a Field of Dreams voice of inspiration, but it just has not happened yet.

And why should I bother? Is it because I would love to have an electric car to replace my beloved (but flawed) Lucy? No, what I’d really like is for a whole lot of us to find some form of non-polluting personal transport, and an electric car seems a great place to start.

May we reach our destination without destroying our home.

What's Better than an EV Microbus? A Solar EV Microbus!

 

If you hang around Mesguite Hugger long enough, you're going to see an electric VW or four. VWs make great conversion candidates. They are light, plentiful, and their rear-mounted transaxles adapt easily to electric rebirth.

Green Car Reports posted 1966 Microbus today that has a lot of appeal for me. It's a green, self-fueling machine. The article is pretty skimpy on details, but it's nice to see that we get closer and closer. (The article does mention a slug-bug that's getting the same treatment.)

Classic 1966 VW Bus With Green Drivetrain: Solar-Powered Electric Motor

May you end up with clean, green transport that feeds itself.

In case you are an EV van fan too:

1957 Volkswagen Single Cab Pickup

1978 VW Westfalia

Voltabus!

Electric Transport Minipost: Bike and Car Links

Two helpful electric vehicle stories that appeared this week:

Mo-Tobi, I missed you this morning!

I rode the ebike on Monday. I rode the regular bike this morning. This morning I sure wished I had taken the ebike.
Treehugger gives us an ebike primer (with a short-term link to a free ebike ebook)

Green Car Reports gives us an Electric Car Price Guide
And the list starts with the Mitsubishi MiEV, Snagit!

May your EV dreams come true!

PS for Lubbockites: I noticed a used Chevy Volt on the Pollard used lot this week. Used EV cars are quite the rarity around here!

The Frustrating Mitsubishi MiEV

 

[This post was prompted by seeing this article on Green Car Reports yesterday: 2016 Mitsubishi i-MiEV Electric Minicar To Start Deliveries Next Month]

[A disclaimer - if you are interested in electric cars because you want fast (Tesla) and elegant (Tesla) and upwardly mobile (Tesla), you might as well just move on. The MiEV is a basic car that would satisfy the needs of most drivers most of the time. If your drive keeps you in or near town and you want basic functions like a heater/air-conditioner/smartphone-friendly-stereo/cheap-to-buy/cheap-to-feed/cheap-to-maintain/enviro-friendly, this could be a great option for you and I invite you to keep reading.]

I spotted my first and last MiEV at the Mitsubishi dealer in Waco, Texas, about three years ago. And I wanted that thing, but it was still a very expensive vehicle at that point. I regret that I did not ask for a test drive. I had some wierd misconception that the opportunity would present itself again.

In December of 2013, Mitsubishi announced a massive price drop. The car dropped to $23k. Here where I live I could take advantage of the $7500 federal tax break and the $1500 state EV incentive, so a brand-new Mitsubishi electric car with a full factory warranty could be had for $14k. I became very excited! So I went to the Mitsubishi cars website. The MiEV had almost no place on their site. It was not even listed under the Models tab. You had to dig deeper into the site to see that they even had an electric offering in the states. I learned most of my MiEV info from greencarreports.com and green.autoblog.com. They would tell me about great lease deals and dealer incentives - for those who live in the Northeast or the West Coast. The nearest actual cars I could find were in the Dallas area - about 350 miles away. And I am a little leary of buying a car with a 70 mile range from a dealer five times that distance away.

[A Mesquite Hugger sidebar: I have purchased only one brand-new, factory-built, electric vehicle, and it left me a little cynical about buying such things. I purchased a 2011 Zero motorcycle. It was delivered to me with a defective battery pack. The motorcycle with an advertised 25 mile range really struggled to travel 10 miles per charge. It took a few trips to one of the nearest Zero service centers to truly determine the problem, and it took a lot of increasingly nasty phone calls and emails from me and from the dealer/service center to get Zero to do anything about fixing it. Also, the service center was 400 miles away. When I sold it, it had spent a lot more miles in the back of a pickup than it had being the efficient commuter I had bought it for. So, it proved to be a pretty miserable ownership experience. Had it performed anywhere near its advertised specs or had it been fixed promptly, I would have loved it. I really enjoyed the bike when it ran, but I learned never to buy an electric vehicle without a local service center.]

So, the Mistubishi MiEV might as well be a unicorn here in the middle of the country. I kept waiting to see when the car would be available here - you know, like the Nissan Leaf, the Chevy Volt, the Ford Energi series; there's even a BMW I3 in town now. But there are no MiEVs. Journalists (like John Voelcker in the article above) always make reference to how low the MiEV sales have been for Mitsubishi. For me there is a simple explanation - there are none to buy. Snagit, it's frustrating!

May green transportation be available, affordable, and non-frustrating!

For those of you still reading at this point - be sure to read the comments at the bottom of the John
Voelcker article - there are lots of detractors commenting, but the MiEV owners sing its praise - even when comparing it to Leafs and Teslas they have also owned. Even more frustration, snagit!

Two examples:

Willie McKemie  Jiminy • 6 hours ago

I have both a Model S and a 2014 imiev. I much more enjoy driving the imiev to the locations it will reach. Much easier to maneuver in tight places. Adequate performance. I'm 6'4" and the imiev has plenty of room and storage space. Were the imiev a 200 mile car, I probably wouldn't have the Tesla. Here in Texas, the Tesla is an $85k car with $7.5k in incentives. The imiev is a $26k car with $10k in incentives.

 

Jiminy • a day ago

I have a 2012 iMiEV and Nissan Leaf and I enjoy driving the Mitsubishi more. It is my daily driver. The average range is 60 miles, about the same as our three year old Leaf. (I did drive it 84 miles in one shot up to Austin, TX to lend it to a friend last summer.) We never need that much range so it is not an issue. The range remaining meter on the Mitsubishi is about 100x better than the Nissan. Also, there is not a car out there that is easier to drive in a tight metropolitan area than the iMiEV. It is narrower so it will fit in any parking spot and it's turning circle is the smallest of any car I have ever seen. The rear seats fold flat to make a surprisingly nice sized cargo compartment. I even put a new 60" tv in the back a few weeks ago. Several people joked that the tv was bigger than the car. I really cannot say enough good things about this car though. It just does everything I need it to so well. If you have a Mitsubishi dealer local to you that still has a 2014 then you should take an hour off and go drive one. It is really a great car!

Want to stop smoking? Buy a Leaf!

Okay, I read the title of this article on Greencarreports.com and my brain went into gear. How would driving an electric car encourage anyone to stop smoking?

• Would the driver think Well, my car does not smoke, so neither should I?
• Does the Leaf not have a cigarette lighter or ashtray installed?
• Do the Leaf owners start hanging out with a different group of people who shun smokers?
• Do electric motors emit some type of EMF signal that stifles the urge to smoke?
• Is it some subliminal thought that one should not smoke near a pile of leaves due to fire hazard?

Finally, I broke down and read the article. The solution is quite simple and practical. You will have to read it for yourself here:

How to Quit Smoking: Buy an Electric Car

May your vehicle foster better health habits!

Epic Electric Bike Rides (Not Me!)

(Photo from the HuffPo bonus link)

I keep running across the story of Cathy Rogers, who recently completed a trip from Seattle to DC on a Pedego electric bicycle. I keep bringing her up in conversations, and the people around me keep asking for details. Since my brain has retained very few of those, I thought I would post the story here.

http://www.eveningsun.com/local/ci_26273846/crossing-country-her-electric-bike-ride

And that story triggered a reminder to myself - I still haven't seen Kick Gas, a documentary that follows people road-tripping on/in various electric vehicles.

Kick Gas on Greencarreports.com

While searching for that one, I was reminded of the Euro e-bike tour on Electric Bike Report. (I love EBR!!!) Here is the first installment:

European Electric Bike Tour: Not All Who Wander Are Lost – Part 1

Sigh. May you live the dream cleanly!

Bonus Link: HuffPo article about e-bikes