Mini E Range Graph

I’ve updated our Mini E driving log:

http://www.eanet.com/kodama/ev-chronicles/mini-e/rangedata/

The bottom line is that we are getting a projected total range of around 100 miles, but with sometimes large variances which can’t really be explained by our driving faster or slower than normal.

Also, below are some photos from the recent unveiling of the Nissan Leaf, and a private look at the Tesla Roadster.

The company that made electric vehicles cool again and dispelled the ugly golf cart stereotypes is rumored to file for an IPO very soon according to a recent Reuters report. What makes this CleanTech startup unique from say the recent A123 Systems IPO? Tesla is currently profitable! Profitability is one way to counter the IPO risks noted in this well blogged article about Goldman Sachs and their IPO business.

Tesla is on a mission to prove that Silicon Valley can do what Detroit, Tokyo and Frankfurt cannot. While some may think their Tesla Roadster (costs approx. $109k), which has a range of approximately 220 miles and Ferrari like performance, is a toy for the rich- a new Tesla Model S is in the works to dispel this theory and open the company to those with a smaller budget. The Model S will cost around $50,000, have 4 doors and appear similar to a nice Lexus, but more beautiful in my opinion. It also will not have any tailpipe emissions and will cost about $2 to power for 300 miles.

While Tesla’s automobiles are an evolutionary step as far as design, production and backing- they will nonetheless need to compete with companies like Nissan, GM, Fisker  and Ford who all have both government backing, and either an EV or Plug-in EV in the works. Along with several battery makers including A123 Systems, Ener1 and Johnson Controls, Tesla received $465MM in low cost loans from the US government to help spur development. It is interesting to ponder whether or not the market for efficient automobiles will prefer plug in electrics, pure electrics or if it is large and wealthy enough for both. Signs point to the latter as several of these planned or existing cars, including Tesla’s, have a lengthy customer waiting list.

Tesla’s investors include Google, founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page, Daimler AG, Aabar Investments, Valor Equity Partners, Technology Partners, The Westly Group, Compass Venture Partners. Tesla has also received an ‘opportunistic’ US$82.5m equity investment from a group led by Fjord Capital Management, a private equity firm which focuses exclusively on clean energy. “Daimler, which invested US$50m in Tesla earlier in 2009, along with Aabar Investments, which is also Daimler’s largest shareholder, contributed to the offering to keep its stake at just under 10%. The new money was earmarked for Tesla’s expansion of its retail store network globally.”

The IPO would be the first from a US Automaker since Ford in 1956.

Three days on earth can be twenty years in the void….right?

Release date: January 12, 2010
Official site: www.darkvoidgame.com

Turns out, I just needed a couple days to get back in the driver’s seat.

News

• The U.S. economy grew! Which apparently means the recession is officially over.
• The President signs the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act into law.
• Andre Agassi admits taking crystal meth back in 1997 and covering it up. I’m disappointed, but I still love the man, and not just for his honesty.
• Google unveils its free sat-nav for mobiles.

Politics

• The new defense bill reveals an unexpected victory over the military lobby.
• Governor Schwarzenegger vetoes a bill in a most creative fashion. His press secretary said it was a "weird coincidence." Really, what’re the odds?
  

Green

• The Tesla Roadster runs 313 miles on one charge.

Miscellaneous

• USA Today looks at the burden of being a pastor.
• Check out Eugene Cho’s U2 concert coverage, including a little clip of Bono singing "Amazing Grace." It was amazing.
• From one of my favorite new sites, DISGRASIAN: "The Chinese are coming!"
• Get your kid a Star Trek onesie. It’s freaking cute.
  
• And welcome to DC at Halloween–candy corn traffic cones put up by street artist diabetik:
  
• Han Solo and Chewie in the good ol’ days.
  
• And finally, some helpful tips for protecting your Gmail account.

I can’t drive.

But when I finally take the plunge and learn to drive,I shall be selling a kidney or three to buy one of these little beauties…a Tesla Roadster.

A bargain at £100,000-ish….but think how much you’ll save at the petrol station….lots-because you won’t be going there ever again.

The world’s first electric car that you wouldn’t be ashamed to be seen cruising in,the Tesla Roadster was recently driven through the Australian outback from Alice Springs to Coober Pedy and rolled into town with three miles left on the battery.

In total,313 miles (or 501 kilometres if you’re strange) on a single charge of its batteries.

The Roadster’s 53 kilowatt-hour lithium-ion battery has a claimed range of 244 miles,so it would get me to London to see my babe with a bit more juice to spare.

Granted,I’ll have to plug it into the mains in order to get home,which may prove problematical….if you don’t have a garage you’ll have to get a whacking great extension lead and run it out of your house,over the pavement,trying to avoid tripping up any grannies,and thus any claims for damages which would probably cost you more than the price of the car itself.

Or perhaps people can just look where they’re bloody going….can’t you see I’m trying to save the planet here with my zero-emission passion wagon?

Lots of lovely flashy lights and knobs and stuff...

The official Tesla website (automotive porn if ever there was) claims the Roadster is 2x as efficient as a Toyota Prius…they neglect to mention that it is also a million times more sexy.

Saving the planet is one thing…looking like a Geography teacher is quite another.

Electric cars are the future…as long as the powers that be pull their fingers out and introduce a support infrastructure (I don’t know what that is,but it sounds good) for electric cars such as charging points at petrol stations,etc….

But perhaps the biggest obstacle to electric cars are drivers themselves….we love petrol.Even with gas prices rising,we are still reluctant to give it up and look for an alternative.True,an electric car may not be much use in an emergency if the battery is flat…will your very-much-in-labour wife wait while you charge the car up? Would you be able to get the weekly shop in the back?

No…because there isn’t a back….but there are two very sexy seats in the front.

And lots of sexy lights and screens and stuff….and that’s all that matters.

So the next time you’re filling up at Esso,muttering under your breath at the wallet-molesting prices,take a look over your shoulder at that flash of red zooming up the motorway on the way to the Big City at 80 mph without stopping.

That’s me,that is.

I would rather have the Jetpack(when they cleaned up the mess) but the Tesla roadster will do for now…

Release date: January 12, 2010
Official site: www.darkvoidgame.com

A sports car thats both electric and visually stunning, its hard to believe, but somehow the Tesla Roadster pulls it off. But are electric speed cars your cup of tea?

“Are you ready?” the young driver beside me asked, as we sat in the two-seat Tesla Roadster convertible, facing a straight, steep, quarter-mile road that rises from the water of San Francisco Bay up the headland to the Golden Gate Bridge. Then he floored the accelerator. I was driven into the seat-back behind me—and I mean driven, like I was strapped into some insane amusement park ride—for several full seconds as the car accelerated and accelerated like a rocket up the climb. Only there was no screaming flame blasting behind us. There was no engine roaring either. I was being shot up this road so fast my emergency senses were on full alert, yet all was eerily quiet.

via The Tesla Roadster is a rocket. And all-electric, too: Scientific American Blog.

And see the Past get smoked:

The remarkable acceleration you just witnessed is due to electric vehicles’ ability to deliver much greater torque, and over a wider RPM range, than gasoline-powered vehicles.

Torque is the turning force that makes cars accelerate. The higher the torque, the more powerful the force that turns the wheels, and the quicker the wheels can get going and push the weight of the car.

Internal combustion engines are limited in this respect in that they need to ‘rev’ at a certain rate before reaching their peak torque, and even then their peak torque can only be maintained within a limited RPM (speed) range. EVs, on the other hand, have a much higher torque, are capable of instantly delivering maximum torque, and can sustain maximum torque in a much broader range of RPMs.

The graph below illustrates this difference in torque by comparing the torque of a 4-cylinder high performance gasoline engine to that of a Tesla Roadster:

Why EVs smoke gas-powered cars at the starting line

Back on Day 24 I got dear, ole dad a 2010 Honda Insight. I remember telling him about it the next time I saw him. The expression on his face was one of “that wouldn’t have been my first choice”, but I just let it go at the time.

Switch to this past Saturday…I told him that on Monday I was finally going to be able to get the Tesla Roadster. Now there was a sparkle in his eye. After I finished posting about getting myself the Roadster, I wasn’t sure what I was going to do with today’s money. Shortly before crawling in bed it hit me…yep, get one for my dad.

I decide on the Metallic Sterling Silver for the exterior and a two-tone gray, premium two-tone leather traditional style seats. Any money left over from the purchase, he gets to keep for playful, fun purposes

It will be such a blast seeing him get out of his cool car, huge grin on his face, the energy and exuberance of a young boy exuding from him…actually, he does look younger maybe the one I got him is actually a time machine…:D LOL  Back to the Future 4, maybe?

The day is finally here!!! I have been waiting since the beginning of this game for this day. I even “virtual shopped” for my car picking out the exterior/interior color on July 16th. I don’t live near a dealer so I haven’t taken a test ride like asiprosper did, but I love this car on looks alone; I have since I first heard about it a year or two ago.

He was worried that his post was boring…I have nothing else to say outside of “WOOHOO!!!” I am going to love driving this baby on the freeways of Southern California, or up PCH – Pacific Coast Highway for those not familiar with California – to (hopefully) Carmel…not sure what the distance is from my house to Carmel at the moment.

I am in love…with my good looking car!!!

Back in October of last year, Rob got invited to go drive the Tesla Roadster, and he was pretty impressed with the little electric hot rod. So I’ve been keeping an eye on the space designated for Tesla’s Seattle dealership—it’s right on my way into the office—for the past few months, and I’m happy to report that it’s open for business! Obviously, there’s a burly waiting list, and there’s still construction going on in the future service area, but I was really pumped to see a  brick-and-mortar representation of this company on my home turf. Hit the jump for a shot of the front of the building.

Pictures are from: http://www.teslamotors.com/design/gallery-body.php and http://www.wired.com/autopia/2009/09/electric-r8/

Which one would you buy?  I prefer the Telsa Roadster…sexy.

Here is an article from WIRED.COM

Link: http://www.wired.com/autopia/2009/09/electric-r8/

Audi all but screamed “we’re building an electric car” when it launched that “Electricity Untamed” micrositelast week, and it looks like the car has broken cover ahead of the Frankfurt auto show.

WorldCarFans.com got ahold of some renderings of the e-Tron concept. No one has any details on the drivetrain, and Audi isn’t confirming the car exists. Whatever it is, it’s based on the R8, with slight tweaks to the front and rear end, the elimination of the R8’s distinctive side blades and some wild wheels. We don’t see any air intakes or exhaust outlets, further lending credence to speculation it’s an electric vehicle.Motor Trend has some renderings of the interior, which has a minimalist aesthetic.

We’ve got mixed emotions about the e-Tron. Although it is gorgeous, we’re wondering why Audi doesn’t unveil something a little more realistic and practical. More details as soon as Audi has something to say.

Wie ich mich so auf eine Veranstaltung vorbereite, auf der ich am Freitag dieser Woche einen Vortrag halten darf, suche ich Videos, die Kerngedanken zu Klimaschutz und Nachhaltigkeit (mit dem Schwerpunkt Medienproduktion) gut rüber bringen. Bunt gemischt folgen hier meine favorisierten 12 Clips. Alle Links führen zu Youtube, ich hoffe, das eine oder andere Video gefällt Ihnen:

Vom Bionade-Imagefilm könnte sich so manches DAX-X-Unternehmen ein paar Scheiben abschneiden. Sehr glaubwürdig wird dort die nachhaltige und im besten Sinne des Wortes bodenständige Grundeinstellung des Unternehmens kommuniziert.

350 hat eine Reihe guter Videos – dieses hier rockt. Wie die magische Zahl von 350 (parts per million) auf anschauliche Weise vermittelt wird, ist sensationell. Und auch der Sound stimmt.

Unsere Nachbarn aus Österreich sind allerspätestens seit Ludwig Hirsch für ihren schwarzen Humor bekannt. Der Ökostrom-Spot “Böser Strom” zeigt warum. Die Pointe ist einfach zu gut!

IBM hat mit ibm/fightcarbon die aus meiner Sicht mutigste kommerzielle Umsetzung des Themas CO2 gefunden. Wer erwartet im Klimaschutz schon düstere Bilder, wo doch Blumenwiesen und Windräder die Bildlandschaft bestimmen? Von den drei Videos Operation Roadside, Operation Underground und Operation Rooftop ist letzteres mein Favorit. Sehenswert sind aber alle drei Reverse Graffiti Clips.

René Theiler vom Verband der Schweizer Druckindustrie war für mich der Star auf der diesjährigen MediaMundo. Die öffentlich verfügbaren Auszüge aus seiner Rede gehören zu den Meilensteinen der Geschichte der nachhaltigen Medienproduktion. Hallo René, ich hoffe, wir können unser ausgefallenes Treffen bald einmal nachholen!

Professor Michael Hardt hat auf der Media Mundo die berechtigte Frage gestellt, worüber wir bei nachhaltiger Medienproduktion überhaupt reden und ob wir Printmedien überhaupt brauchen. Diesen Fragen sind provokant, aber berechtigt. Der Vortrag von Michael Hardt gehört damit dringend auf meine Liste.

Mit MIA fällt der Umstieg auf Ökostrom leicht, weil der Song Ökostrom einfach rotzig nett ist, auch wenn der intelligente Text etwas holpert, aber das ist ja eines der Erkennungszeichen der Berliner Band rund um Mieze.

Gesungen geht’s gleich weiter – und zwar auf französisch mit dem Schweizer Rapper Stress, der für Coop von Nachhaltigkeit und unseren Verpflichtungen gegenüber nachfolgenden Generationen rappt.

Extrem überzeugend visualisiert wurde der CO2-Fußabdruck in dem Spot Carbon Footprint von “Act on CO2″: Jeder Schritt, den wir machen, hinterlässt eine Dreckspur.

Die Videos von Tesla finde ich schon deshalb gut, weil ich auch gerne einen Tesla hätte (familienbedingt das Model S). Davon abgesehen überzeugt mich, dass klimafreundliche Fahrzeuge so schön sein können – und die Werbung die Klimabotschaft nicht überstrapaziert. Die Botschaft ist: “So muss es eben sein, ein modernes Fahrzeug.”

TckTckTck – Das neue Video von “Time for Global Justice” von Kofi Annan hat heute in aller Frühe bereits einen eigenen Post bekommen. Es ist das beste Klimawandel-Video, das ich kenne. Und das nicht nur wegen des Songs “When you try you best, but you don’t succeed…” von Coldplay.

TckTckTck hat weitere exzellente Videos. Dieses hier (mit Gael Garcia Bernal) symbolisiert die Dringlichkeit des Handelns besonders anschaulich und ästhetisch. Der Satz “It’s a big deal and it’s not going away” geht mir nicht mehr aus dem Sinn. Das Video rangiert auf meiner Hitliste auf Platz 2.

Boom De Ya Da! In einem Vortrag braucht man ja immer auch ein Beispiel dafür, wie man es tunlichst nicht machen sollte. Die Wahl fiel schnell sofort auf den Riesen von RWE, den ich allerdings hier nur in der sattsam bekannten Version mit Untertiteln eines anonymen Verfassers wiedergebe. Diese Version erfreut sich bei YouTube übrigens einer deutlich höheren Beliebtheit als das Original.

PS: Wer Mind Maps zum Klimawandel sucht, ist bei Learning Fundamentals gut aufgehoben: Jane Genovese hat die schönsten Climate Change Mind Maps weit und breit.

Funny what some people think is funny.

A few years back, I helped introduce the world’s coolest car to the world. I’d been hired to write the marketing materials for the official introduction of the Tesla Roadster — the world’s first all-electric, high performance sports car, capable of doing 0 – 60 in under 4 seconds. Without burning a single drop of gas.

Though it inspired intense auto-lust, I remember thinking at the time that this car could be a nightmare for cyclists. Its virtually silent operation meant that a rider might never hear it coming until it was too late — something anyone who has ever been startled to find a Prius rolling up next to you can attest.

But I never occurred to me that some jerk would do something like that on purpose.

This last Sunday, though, British celebrity chef James Martin wrote about his recent Tesla test drive in London’s Daily Mail newspaper. Rather than just discuss the many attributes of the car, he focused on his hatred of cyclists.

And admitted — no, make that bragged — about intentionally harassing riders:

…But whenever I drive to London, dutifully paying my £8 for the privilege (on top of my road tax, petrol tax, parking and all the other rip-offs), without fail a cyclist will rap on my window and make some holier-than-thou comment, before zooming off_ through a red light where he knows I can’t get him.

God, I hate those cyclists. Every last herbal tea-drinking, Harriet Harman-voting one of them. That’s one of the reasons I live in the countryside, where birds tweet, horses roam, pigs grunt and Lycra-clad buttocks are miles away. But recently, there’s been a disturbing development.

Each Saturday, a big black truck appears at the bottom of my road, with bikes stuck to the roof and rear. Out of it step a bunch of City-boy ponces in fluorescent Spider-Man outfits, shades, bum bags and stupid cleated shoes, who then pedal around our narrow lanes four abreast with their private parts alarmingly apparent. Do they enjoy it? They never smile. I’m sure they just come here to wind me up…

Almost inexplicably, he actually devotes the next several paragraphs to discussing the car before returning to the subject closest to his heart:

…But I don’t care about any of that, and here’s why. Twenty minutes into my test drive I pulled round a leafy bend, enjoying the birdsong – and spotted those damned Spider-Man cyclists. Knowing they wouldn’t hear me coming, I stepped on the gas, waited until the split second before I overtook them, then gave them an almighty blast on the horn at the exact same time I passed them at speed.

The look of sheer terror as they tottered into the hedge was the best thing I’ve ever seen in my rear-view mirror. I think this could be the car for me.

You can probably imagine the reception it received in the cycling community. In fact, I had to add an extra sentence here just to include just a handful of the links — including the obligatory James Martin Hates Cyclists page on Facebook.

Even professional cyclists Bradley Wiggins and Robbie McEwan got in on the cyber beat down (these are Twitter feeds, so you may have to scroll down), while Lance tweeted back his two cents worth:

@lancearmstrong maybe you can tweet out for a group ride around where this idiot lives. http://tinyurl.com/mp62jd

The Daily Mail resonded by bravely cutting off the overwhelmingly negative comments, and removing the last few paragraphs where Martin bragged about his harassment.

And this morning, Martin blamed his comments on a misguided attempt at humor:

Regarding the The Tesla Roadster Article…

May I take this opportunity to apologize for any offence I have caused through the article in last weekend’s Mail on Sunday. It was never my intention to offend the many cyclists who share our roads across the country. What was intended to be a humorous piece was clearly misjudged. Further more I do not condone any form of reckless driving.

Once again, I am sincerely sorry for any upset caused in relation to this article.

James Martin

Evidently, he thought that he and the riders he terrorized would share a good laugh about it at the local pub afterwards.

Of course, the real problem isn’t some over-privileged Brit twit.

It’s that this sort of attitude is all too common on both sides of the Atlantic. And some people think they have the right to risk the lives of others simply because they don’t like us.

But it’s all in fun.

Right?

………..

Flying Pigeon will be participating in this Friday’s Park(ing) Day LA. San Diego’s bike kitchen takes its services out to the community. A Tennessee driver calls for better education on cycling laws and testing for cyclists, while a Columbia MO writer correctly explains the correct way to control an intersection. And while we’re in the area, the Tour of Missouri concludes another successful year with a cloudy future. Traffic guru Tom Vanderbilt visits America’s biking haven. Let’s Go Ride A Bike presents a series on vintage fashion and cycling, for all you stylish riders. Reuters features a press release about the new DC Bike Station; the company behind it is headquartered right here in Long Beach (hint, hint, Mr. Mayor). Seoul gets serious about cycling infrastructure. Ottawa responds to a rash of cycling accidents by ticketing riders and handing out bells. Finally, a Boston cyclist defuses a dangerous situation with an angry motorist with an unexpected, and surprisingly effective, technique. And yes, I am taking notes…

This week’s issue of The Economist features a lovely ode to electric cars; those safe, clean alternatives to the dirty petrol-burners we drive around today. Their article provides a decent overview of the various technologies now in the offing, but fails to take some very basic facts into account. In the end, they paint a rather rosy picture of our transportation future; a picture sadly divorced from reality.

It is the fashion for electric-car apologists to claim that electric technology is “emission free”. In a sense, such claims are correct, but only in a very narrow sense. True, the vehicle itself emits very little in the way of noxious fumes. A city of electric cars will have far more breathable air than a city of petrol-burners. But electricity comes from somewhere, after all, and that somewhere is coal.

Despite the vast leaps in technology we’ve seen in the 20th century, we still use virtually the same devices to generate electricity as we did 100 years ago – we burn coal, make steam, spin turbines, and electrically induct. Using current methods, most sources estimate approximately 1 kilogram of carbon dioxide is released into the atmosphere for every kiloWatt-hour of electricity generated. (Source), (Source 2)

From the Economist article above, we learn that an average internal-combustion model (with current technology) can travel up to 2.5 kilometers per kW-h, while an electric car can travel 6.5 kilometers. Put another way, an electric vehicle releases approximately 40% the carbon dioxide as an internal-combustion engine: better, no doubt, but by no means a solution.

The Economist also displays an unhealthy affection for Lithium-Ion technology, describing it as a “technological breakthrough” and a “killer app”. The article, however, makes almost no mention of lithium’s scarcity. Lithium is the thirty-first most abundant element on earth, and so the likelihood of us finding large deposits is not very high. Currently a majority of the world’s lithium reserves can be found underneath Bolivia’s salt flats, and the multi-nationals have already begun their bidding war. If electric-car technology becomes widespread, one can easily foresee a war over Bolivia’s lithium resources, just as we currently fight a war for Iraq’s oil resources.

All of these are serious issues to think about, but you’ll find nary a mention of them in The Economist. They’re too busy describing how fast an electric car can accelerate, or how cheap we can make them. The fact that these are inherently carbon-emitting devices, or that they rely on scarce and concentrated resources is apparently beneath their concern.

Your book content – fiction, non-fiction, children’s, religious – naturally presumes a value to readers intending to be entertained or learn something from your work. How do they decide they want to read your book?

They don’t. You do. Sound like an incredible power? It is. It’s name: Marketing

When Thomas Edison turned 16 do you suppose he wanted a Tesla Roadster? Probably not. In order to want something you need to know it exists. One definition of marketing is convincing a a mass of people to want what you have. That puts you, the author of your book, in the cat bird’s seat. Who knows your book better than you, after-all.

How readers know about books has changed a great deal over the past decade, and my guess is that trend will continue. With Amazon, Twitter, Podcasts, Bookfinder, etc. we no longer rely on a single-minded source for telling us about books. A good CEO (the self-published author) knows how to leverage the expertise of others and delegate work. Consider the long-term. Research self-publishers with ongoing marketing support and services. Being published is rarely even enough.

Karl Schroeder

Have fun. Keep writing.

Eieiei, da geht was in München, und BMW wird keine Freude haben: Der TESLA Roadster ist da, und am 10. September eröffnet der Showroom seine Türen. Der TESLA Roadster bringt mit seinem Elektro-Roadster ein ganz heisses Gefährt, zur richtigen Zeit; und das nicht mit den bisher bekannten, langweiligen Eigenschaften eines Elektroautos. NEIN! Dieser Wagen aus Palo Alto beschleunigt in weniger als 3,9 Sekunden von 0 auf 100 km/h, und kommt fast 400 weit. Unglaublich? Aber wahr. Dann schaut Euch mal gut um auf den Strassen Münchens, aber Vorsicht den Tesla Roadster ist nicht einfach zu finden, denn er ist lautlos unterwegs….