Falling in love again (again); Isetta Electric (Drool!)

[Steve Hanley, you are an evil bringer of eco-friendly temptation - keep 'em coming!]

Ah, microcars. Everyone loves them. Very few really want one. My first microcar love was the BMW Isetta. Strangely enough, I knew of four separate ones around the dusty, Texas, oilfield town where I grew up. I loved them and had no intention of ever being seen in such a thing. My second microcar love came when I fell in love with ALL things Vespa. I want a Vespa 400 to this day and I would happily be seen in almost all vintage microcars. Any time I see one, I think to myself, Mesquite Hugger, that would make a really cool electric car!

Apparently, I am not the only one. Check it out!

Gas2: BMW Isetta Reborn as EV, Still Cute

 Technologic Vehicles - Microline Isetta

 

If you are in North America, the only important piece of knowledge is this - it ain't coming here, snagit!

 

All of the other information makes that first piece even more frustrating.

• cruising speed around 55mph (Would you really want to risk this thing at 80?)
• range of about 75 miles
• room for 2 cozy people
• people would ask it was the Erkel car
• targeted price $10,000-ish

If you do not want one yet, just watch the video:

 

Microlino Isetta Video

 



 Micro is a Swiss company that is best known for making an electric scooter, the eMicro One, but it's hard to get excited about a little scooter after seeing the electric Isetta.

 

In case you are now curious about the Vespa 400 microcar, I am throwing in a pic of my dream vision of the MH company car.

Find the real pic and many other Vespa 400 pics here

May you someday live your dreams!

 

 

More Save the World Resolution Denial

I sat down with my journal today to make a list of my "causes". I have come to realize that my causes have me overwhelmed a bit lot. So I decided to tackle the mongrel horde.

wildlife conservation
growing renewable/clean energy
reducing carbon release (petroleum and coal)
reducing hunger
reducing class disparity
reducing homelessness/serving those who are down
reducing gun violence

It's different when you see it as a list. It's different when you realize how closely related they all are.

I was a member`of the Horned Lizard Conservation Society for a while. It is a great organization with a very small focus. I love their mission, but the more I looked the more I realized that the cure for their little picture was a big picture change. If you specifically want to save horned lizards (that's a "horny toad" for you locals) you need to reduce petroleum-based pollution and and farming/sprawl-based environmental destruction. You also need to eradicate the feral cat population that we have so lovingly fostered. Big picture changes are needed to save these iconic lizards that have a very specialized diet (red ants) and are very slow and easy to catch. Yep, it's overwhelming, especially when cats are phenomenally successful hunters and chemical companies (like Monsanto) have a more powerful voice than our general populace.

What does it all mean?

I don't know, but here is where I hope to focus my efforts:
I will stop supporting retailers who sell guns. (Academy Sporting Goods, I will miss you.)
I will ride a bike more and do all I can to avoid carbon release in all forms.
I will educate myself and vote more responsibly for those who believe this world is in need of and worth saving.
I will educate myself and vote more responsibly for those who believe human beings are more important than corporate profits.
I will step up my own organic gardening and and support others who try to do the same.

Hunger, homelessness, and disparity - I need to find a better focus.

May you know your causes and may you work for what you believe.

Electric BMWs in the LBK? Or, Financial Planning for Idjets!

So last week you may have read a Mesquite Hugger post about the vehicles and such I would buy if I had the money for a Tesla Model S. (By the way, I saw a Model S at the Vine on Friday night.) Well, Sunday morning I received a text from Ben. The text contained a photo of an exotic electric car here in our dusty town. (Ben loves exotic cars and has an appreciation for electric cars. And he is great to snap a pic anytime he sees one. He has supplied us with photos of a few Model S's, a Tesla Roadster, a Ford Fusion Energi PHEV, and various other cool stuff lately.)

Ben's pic of an i8 spotted here in Lubbock

 

By our count, that makes three electric BMWs in town - two i3's and this i8.

The cool but vastly less sexy i3

 

The i8 is BMW's answer to the Tesla, and outside of Tesla land, it is one of the more impressive electric cars out there, but it still burns some gasoline and costs twice what a Model S costs. Twice!

So, I will do the shorter version here with lots of changes because I've had time to think:

If I had the Money for a BMW i8, I'd...

...try to talk the wife into a used Volt. Neither of us are Chevy fans, but it really is hard to beat the Volt for price, reliability, and range if you are looking at plug-in hybrids. And, they are good looking cars. $15,000. (With the balance we save from buying the Fusion PHEV, we could pay for some education she has been wanting.)

...pay off the fabulous young woman's college!

...put $20,000 into the little brother's college savings account.

...pay someone to complete my electric Mazda pickup project for my daily runabout and invest in a high-powered generator to make it capable of long-distance travel. I would keep our junky old Dodge Ram for bigger hauls, but drive it as little as possible. (Since I don't have the money or time fantasized about in this post, the Mazda is going up for sale in my attempt to cut back on unrealistic [for me] projects.)

...finish both Silver ElectroPigeons. (Woohoo!)

...go solar! Our home would be very green and Lubbock Power and Light could stop burning coal and natural gas on our behalf!

...put $15,000 into starting something similar to Good Karma Bikes here in the Hub City. (Thanks, diybiking.com!)

That should leave about $20,000 for retirement and a nice long vacation.

OR

...forget all of the previous plans and move to Costa Rica where I could compose blog posts in the sand on the beach and share fabulous sunsets with my wife!

May your dorky green plans come true!

 

Instructables Minipost - Get out your bike and your mad scientist tools!

Any excuse to feature a dog wearing goggles - link below

The weekend is almost upon us and I was thinking that you've had the winter blues lately, that you need to get out and do something, and snagit, you need to work off some of that winter weight! Here is a little inspiration to get you and your weenie dog back out in the garage and eventually back on those not-so-mean streets!

Bike Blinkers!

Bike-Powered Meat Grinder!

Another Hot Rod/Rat Rod Trailer!

Add a wooden bike basket!

A bicycle sidecar!

A bicycle sidecar for your weenie dog!

May you and your dog soon be riding stylishly and cleanly past the mean and evil gas stations of the world!

Bonus post link: The previous rat-rod bike trailer post

How efficient is an electric car in your town?

Not the most flattering view, but that, my friends, is a plug-in hybrid Ford in my parking lot!

 

I have not been seeing very many battery-powered cars around town lately - and I do look for them. On my way to work this morning I caught a glimpse of a Nissan Leaf. Then, when I pulled in the parking lot I saw a Ford C-Max Energi. Mostly I see Leafs (Leaves?) and Volts. Occasionally I see one of the Ford Energi models. I don't know of any public chargers in town - unless you count the one at the Nissan dealer. And the one electric bike for sale on Craigslist has been there a few months now. Lubbock, in general, has not embraced electric transportation.

 

When I talk to people about electric cars and why many people do not care for them, I am often told that they are just as "dirty" as petrol-powered vehicles. Then I hear a lame spiel about coal-fired electric plants and dirty power through the plug-in. Yes, it is true that we have lots of coal-powered electric plants, (Yes, Lubbock gets most of its power from coal and is very unfriendly to anyone seeking solar power.) but it is still cleaner and more efficient to deliver the electric power directly to the car rather than using that electricity (plus petroleum) to produce, refine, and deliver petroleum for use in cars.

Recently, the EPA put out a really cool online tool to help you determine how clean or dirty an electric car would be in your town. Unfortunately, many media outlets threw out misleading headlines that made it sound as though electric cars are much dirtier than we originally thought. Aaarrrgggghhhhh!!! If you are not in the USA, I apologize - the tools in this post are less helpful for you.

Plug your zip code in here to learn about local conditions:
http://oaspub.epa.gov/powpro/ept_pack.charts

Learn a lot more about it here: (48 pages!)
http://www.ucsusa.org/sites/default/files/legacy/assets/documents/clean_vehicles/electric-car-global-warming-emissions-report.pdf

Check out the complete infographic and a fun cartoon here:
http://thegreendivas.com/2014/12/22/hank-d-bee-green-travel-cartoon-infographic/

So, yes, electric cars are less than perfect, but they, even under less than ideal conditions, are still cleaner and more efficient than petroleum burners. And, as we as a society move toward cleaner electric production, electric cars will become cleaner by proxy.

May you drive the cleanest and greenest joyfully! (Or fall in love with a bicycle!)

Meet Lucy - And Save Some Fuel!

 This is Lucy. For all of my sighing and dreaming of electric vehicles, Lucy is my current vehicle of choice when I am not on a two-wheeler, when I need to haul something, when I need to travel more than 20 miles or 60mph. She is a 1994 Ford Ranger with a four-cylinder engine and a five-speed manual transmission. I bought Lucy from Janet for an extremely small amount of money and have spent that amount of money again doing some needed repairs. This morning, it was 20 degrees and foggy when I left the Yellowhouse, And I was very thankful to have Lucy. I find myself thankful often to have Lucy.

But it's a bittersweet thankful. Lucy runs on gasoline, and I do not like burning gasoline. I have a long list of reasons I do not like burning gasoline, but we will save those for another day.

Until I can make a switch to a much more Mesquite Hugger-ish vehicle, I want to keep working on ways for Lucy to burn less fuel. So this post is to share a few of the resources that are available.

The best wealth of info I have found for learning how to burn less fuel is a forum called Ecomodder. The posters on Ecomodder regularly reduce their fuel consumption by more than 30% and are happy to share their tips and tricks on the forum. I find their threads downright addictive.

 

While there are many great places on the forum to learn more, I will start you off with a list of 109 Hypermiling/Ecodriving Tips.

 

 

Next on the list is a site and Youtube channel called MPGomatic. While Ecomodder is a forum for the hardcore hypermilers and modders, MPGomatic is more geared for the average Joe or Jo who wants to save fuel and get the most out of their existing ride. MPGomatic started as a Kickstarter campaign, which I gladly supported for the cause AND so I could get a sticker with their rocking logo:

You can find MPGomatic here at MPGomatic.com.

 

 

(I'm also a big fan of the Maryland Terrapins' mascot even though I am not much of an athletic supporter.)

 

May your ride sip rather than guzzle!

 

Bonus link for the day, the Bottle Rockets singing $1000 Car.