Sept. brings electric car-charging stations to Austin
Austin says car-charging stations will be ready by September, reports the Austin American-Statesman.
As part of a long-term strategy to displace gasoline-fueled cars, Austin Energy announced on Wednesday that a network of 103 electric-vehicle charging stations would be up and running by September.
The federally funded chargers, such as one at the H-E-B store on Brodie Lane , will be scattered around town, along with the station already in place at the downtown Whole Foods. Austin Energy executives hope the nascent network will help convince potential buyers of electric cars that a trip around town wouldn’t leave them stranded.
He’s a hard-working man
Photo by Angela Morris
A while back, Aaron rented a tiller from Home Depot and he towed it back to our house using a trailer attached to his bike. I’ve got a hard-working man! Aaron actually prefers riding his bike instead of taking the car. This was a very unusual trip, though, considering he was pulling 200 lbs. He used the tiller to prepare a new garden area in our backyard.
“There is no substitute for hard work.” – by Thomas A. Edison.
A car that runs on poo
Now this is a smart idea. A company has figured out a way to power a vehicle using methane harvested from sewage plants. I wonder what the car smells like though?
… according to GENeco, “waste flushed down the toilets of 70 homes in Bristol is enough to power the Bio-Bug for a year, based on an annual mileage of 10,000 miles.”
Zippy little car gets 74 MPG
The Europeans get to have all the fun. I say this because a new zippy little car called the T.25 is coming out there, but it won’t be available in the U.S. The car is only $9,000 and it has incredible fuel efficiency.
Even with charging stations — I may not get electric car
An update on an earlier post from today in which I rejoiced that a company plans to build electric-car charging stations in Austin. Even if that happens, I may not be able to buy an electric car for a long time. A post on Ecogeek indicates that Nissan’s first all-electric vehicle has received 19,000 preorders. It’s already sold out, and it hasn’t even been released yet!
From this ecogeek’s perspective, the LEAF has a winning combination of factors that will make it successful. People are ready for an all-electric that meets their needs (it has a 100-mile range and can go up to 90 mph), is not super tiny (it’s no smart car) and they can afford (it’s about $25,000 after the federal tax credit and some states are taking even more off the top).
Go check out the post for a picture of the LEAF.
Clearing hurdle towards electric-car ownership
Nice! Electric car charging stations are coming to the Austin area. My dream within the next few years, if my freelance business takes off, is to sell my old gas guzzler and buy a fully electric car. Before that’s a viable option, though, the recharging infrastructure must be in place.
The California company that brought the first public electric-car charging station to Austin now plans to bring an in-home version to the area.
Coulomb Technologies said it will provide — for free — 5,000 charging stations, both public and in-home, to Austin and eight other cities over the next year.
Photo by kahanaboy on morgueFile (http://morguefile.com/creative/kahanaboy)
MyCar electric 2-seater for $13,000
British International Motor Show 2008
This funny little electric car could be yours for as low as $13,000 after an American company, GreenTech Automotive, bought it out from a Chinese company recently.
… the MyCar is an electric two-seater that GreenTech Automotive aims to roll out stateside in 2011.
Maxing out at 40 miles per hour, the MyCar is what’s called a neighborhood electric vehicle, or NEV and is not meant for highway driving.
Using greater efficiency to reduce fuel consumption
Obama signed an executive order today calling for the federal government to require auto makers to build cars and trucks with greater fuel efficiency.
The executive memorandum the president signed on Friday orders the Environmental Protection Agency and the Transportation Department to develop new fuel and emissions standards more strict than those formalized last month, but the memorandum did not propose specific fuel-economy figures.
Under last month’s rules, new cars must get at least 35.5 miles to a gallon of fuel, on average, by 2016, in combined city and highway driving. The president’s new plan would order further improvements in fuel efficiency for cars and light trucks made in 2017 and beyond, and in medium and heavy trucks made in 2014 through 2018.
The order also calls for the government to provide more support for electric cars. That’s where I’m going to put my money — I want to buy an electric car as soon as cool, affordable models come out and cities deliver on the necessary re-fueling infrastructure.
Share the road
My fiance, Aaron, is an avid cyclist. I constantly worry about him because not all the routes he takes on his 60-mile bike rides are so friendly to cyclists. He has been hit by cars, on multiple occasions. Luckily he was never seriously injured. Considering my fears, it made me happy to read news about U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood encouraging local governments to plan for bikes and pedestrians in their transit infrastructures. I’m sure it’ll take forever until it actually happens, though, and the local decisions are likely to be highly politicized.