Monthly Archives: January 2009

The EV Curveball

Welcome back to guest blogger Andrew Grin …
As a new driver, learning on the roads of Kansas City, I pass by Suburbans and Tahoes on a daily basis.
“Who Killed the Electric Car?” made me realize the huge impact that these big SUV’s have on our environment and our country.  The film inspired me then [...]

Smart Meters and Electric Cars

This is a well written story in the Pasadena Star News about how the utilities are gearing up for the coming plug-in vehicles. While many people are wringing their hands over how the grid, old and cranky as it is, will be able to handle the millions of EVs that will be on our roads [...]

Bright’s Plug-In Car: Aerodynamics Are Key

This new company, Bright Automotive, is founded by ex-GM EV1 people, and the super efficient Rocky Mountain Institute to make plug-in hybrids in Indiana.
Like Paul MacCready’s original design for the Impact that established the world’s lowest drag coefficient of .195, Bright will be building cars that “do more with less”, a philosophy MacCready was [...]

Plug-in America’s Inaugural Parade

Guest Blogger Colby Trudeau takes us behind the scenes at Plug In America’s Inaugural Parade
All photos take by our Production Photographer, Todd Westphal.
What an amazing day! Last Saturday, January 17th, 2009, 77 highway capable plug-in vehicles, their drivers, and spectators came together to celebrate the upcoming inauguration.
After gathering in the parking lot of Santa Monica [...]

Will CARB’s New Rules Damage EV Startups?

3Prong Power converts existing Toyota Priuses into plug-in hybrids that can run entirely on electricity.
The company  launched last month at Green Motors in Berkeley, California.  But  it now looks like the California Air  Resources Board (CARB) is about to adopt some new regulations which could put it out of business quickly.
3Prong says the two new [...]

Interview with Chris Paine in the Whole Life Times

The Whole Life Times just published an Interview with Chris :
The Electric Car Returns (and This Time It’s Personal)
Filmmaker Chris Paine, director of Who Killed the Electric Car? and its forthcoming sequel, talks to us about the fate of GM, the downfall of hydrogen and why electric cars truly are making a comeback By Siel
What [...]

Electric Cars: Yes We Will

Dateline: Washington, DC
The buzz is everywhere and completely electric in Washington DC this week. And some of that energy is headed directly to plug-in cars.  We’ve heard electric cars mentioned time and again in our two days here, and we haven’t even been to Live Earth’s Green Gala yet.  It’s just remarkable to see what [...]

Tesla Offers ‘Sport’ Model…0-60 in 3.7 seconds!

When I was a kid in Arab, Alabama, in 1965, I discovered slot cars. They were a new phenomenon then and quickly got everyone’s attention.
They were fast as hell, sounded cool, and it only cost one penny per minute for track time.
I remember the really fast cars had “re-wound” motors, whatever that was. All I [...]

The Climate Change Caravan

Say Hello to Guest Blogger Alexis Ringwald – with this first dispatch from the Climate Change Caravan in India.

On January 3, 2009, a group of passionate individuals launched the Climate Solutions Road Tour : an epic month-long 3,500 km journey from Chennai to New Delhi, India to demonstrate that clean transportation solutions do exist and [...]

Gadget’s New World

Over the holidays, the “Revenge” team spent time filming with Greg “Gadget”  Abbott as he moved into a cavernous new warehouse space in downtown LA.
Gadget runs an electric car conversion company called Left Coast Electric.   He’s also the star of the TV shows “Smash Lab” and “Monster House”- where he’s shown millions of viewers [...]

Lotus Reportedly Planning Electric Car

Well, it had to happen. Lotus is making an EV. Actually, it’s a plug-in hybrid much like the Chevy Volt.
After both Tesla and Chrysler chose the Elise and Europa, respectively, for their slot car-fast EVs, it only makes sense that the car company named after a flower would make its own “flower power” speedster.
GM is [...]