A little political ranting.

My blog is not about ranting or venting. It’s more about facts, real numbers and educated conclusions, than it is about opinions. Yet recently I’ve felt compelled to write something political. So here it goes.

Last month I went to the Sea-Tac airport and as I get to the top of the escalator inside the terminal I see this huge poster of a Toyota Tundra right in front of me, advertising nothing but the POWER that vehicle offers.

Why is it that in the age of Peak Oil and Global Warming we are still with the mentality of buying vehicles that have POWER? Why is it that auto manufactures (in this case Toyota) are still using POWER as the element to make their cars appeal to the American public?

Sometimes I think we in the US are such a backwards culture. We are so behind the times.

A few conclusions have been made, which are almost indisputable:

1. Oil (and all fossil fuels) are a finite resource. They will run out at some point. And we have the ability (maybe not the political will) to calculate how much time the remaining known oil reserves will last. After that, the people left on the planet will have to figure out how to carry on without relying on oil, and eventually all other fossil fuels.
2. The US has been the biggest consumer of oil, well ahead of any other country. Americans consume about ¼ of the world’s oil while Americans are about only 5% of the world population.

So how come we still allow corporations to continue to encourage people to be more wasteful with a finite resource that we know is dwindling? Well, clearly we lack leadership.

Speaking of leadership, I made another conclusion a while back. After speaking to many people, and most of my friends, I observed that the majority of the people around me have made, at one point or another, a statement to the effect of “well, things are this way but I’m not responsible – I did not vote for this president”.

My conclusion is that all American voters are responsible for the current state of affairs. Your not voting makes you an accomplice of all the crimes against humans and the environment that have been and continue to be committed.

And the same applies to the people who “did not vote for this president”. You are still an accomplice on this war for cheap oil if you are still wasting energy and consuming more oil than everyone else on the planet. Do you get it? You say you didn’t vote for the guy and yet you’re enjoying all the benefits that come from his actions. “I didn’t vote for him” is nothing but a cop-out so you can still live in your usual comfort and convenience that is not sustainable.

We are on a destructive path and no one is doing anything about it other than to get on the green bandwagon just to look good. All of the major auto manufacturers ought to be ashamed of themselves. In their insatiable desire for profit they continue bigger and inefficient cars to sell to the American public. No one wants to give up a little money in order to lead the way towards protecting our environment and creating an industry that is sustainable. Everyone is raping the planet until there’s no resource left for anyone, and then we’ll all sink together – be this in our lifetime or in future generations.

We know it’s time to give up wanting power for the sake of humanity. We know our wasteful consumption of energy means the next generation will have less time to find alternative solutions.

Major automakers have the power and capacity to produce a decent, safe and efficient EV in a year or two. The hydrogen prototypes are another scheme for companies to continue to control the supply of fuel so they can maximize their profits. Electricity is available in every home in America. Unplug your toaster and plug in your car. It’s that simple, and electricity is much cheaper than gasoline. But if you live off the grip and collect your energy from the sun or wind, you are giving no money to the oil companies because oil companies become useless in an new era of electric vehicles. Gas stations would disappear and something to be seen in a museum.

So it’s no wonder that there’s all this hype about vehicles powered by hydrogen fuel cells, even though hydrogen technology has some major issues that probably won’t be solved for decades to come. The oil companies are powerful and want to maintain their power. They have been making absurd profits.

We cannot expect oil companies to change the world for us. Solutions have to start with the consumer, that is, you and I. You ought to demand the product that companies will then build for you. Start slowly – drastic change doesn’t usually work, but walking in the right direction is crucial. Start demanding more fuel-efficient vehicles. Then switch to other fuel alternatives if you can: biodiesel or ethanol. Electric Vehicles are not yet an option, but I trust that they’ll come into the picture in time. Ride a bicycle and walk more. Exercising will prolong your life. Another way to look at it is “driving reduces your life”. Use mass transportation systems whenever you can. You bus and train fare supports these companies, and their service will improve if there’s more demand for mass transportation.

And last, but probably the biggest difference you can make: remember to vote, and vote wisely. Our leaders represent who we are as people, for we elect them.

Peace, and thanks for reading.

- Ricardo Parker

The Lightning Car Company

In my efforts to get the public familiar with all of the EV companies and dealerships that exist at the moment, I thought I’d list these companies and businesses here on my blog. Keep in mind that most of these companies have yet to release a product and the best you can do is make a reservation for a future delivery). This is even the case with Tesla. Word is that even Martin Eberhard, CEO Tesla Motors, has to share a Tesla Roadster with the engineers of his company who’ve been working overtime on the car.

Please, be introduced to the Lightining Car Company. They are a Brittish company, which goes to show that EV technology is being embraced by visionaries worldwide and not just by a few. In fact, I believe that those who cling to technology of the past that’s more harmful than beneficial, will have a more difficult time making the transition. As Napoleon Hill once said, “the future belongs to those who see it”.

What I like most about the Lightining Car Company is that they boldly embrace EV technology, and emphasize the performance advantages that EVs have over the ICE. They also emphasize the simplicity of EV technology and explain the various mechanical parts that are eliminated by substituting ICE with EV technology, and fewer parts make for less maintenance. Some will argue that the usual auto-companies don’t wish to reduce complexity in their car because they enjoy the revenue they get from maintaining the complex vehicles you buy. But I’m all for simplicity and performance when it comes to anything.

The car featured by the Lightning Electric Company reminds me of the Dodge Viper; maybe a Brittish version of it, but just as aggressive and powerful. Their site claims that their car will have over 700 horsepower, which is remarkable. I do think that with EV technology many performance cars will eventually (and not too far in the future) will have over 1000, horsepower – something unthinkable for a mass production vehicle that uses an ICE.

- Ricardo Parker

The work continues on

Well, the research mentioned previously continues on. All of this is work, but work that I love doing, so the answers will be posted here in due time… just not immediately. I did not want unfinished research to put the blog on hold, so I thought I’d write something new. There’s lots of new information that has yet to be shared.

I have gotten great feedback from some of my friends who’ve read the blog so far. Thank you for your interest and support. I listen to every one of you and your input is greatly considered and appreciated!

One of my friends strongly suggested that I should add pictures of babes to my blog (believe it or not), so that I can get more traffic on the site. Well, I know that the success of my web site depends on my listening to you. So I took that into consideration. Then another friend of mine emailed me a link about a Mustang looking smart car with a couple of pictures of a babe in front of it. So I hope my friend will be pleased with the first set of photos of babes on my site (and will keep coming back and reading its content).

Speaking of the smart car (smart is a company founded by Swatch and Mercedes-Benz, and written with small caps), smart says that they are working on an Electric Vehicle called the smart ev. Just click on the previous link to be directed to a page on their UK site – do not expect to find any information on their American site. Their site says “It isn’t available to buy just yet, but it isn’t a million miles off.” – how is that for a promise? Hopefully market forces will allow us to see one in less than a million years, or a million miles. I don’t mean to be pessimistic, but I just don’t think smart has the right incentive to give us the EV we want in the time frame that we want (which is RIGHT NOW).

For people who do want an electric smart car, you can get one from

Hybrid Technologies. Hybrid Technologies converts smart cars (as well as a few other different models) from gasoline to electric. George Clooney is actually promoting it! George Clooney has been my hero, as he’s the buyer of a Tango.
For some time I’ve wondered why Hybrid Technologies converts the smart car for the US market rather than a bigger car that would have more public acceptance in the US (plus avoiding the hassle of importing and retrofitting a car from another country). This process didn’t make sense to me, and to my understanding, the price tag on one of those electric smart cars is $40,000. Well, my conclusion is that the smart car’s light weight (less than 1,600 pounds) and good aerodynamics makes it for a vehicle that does not require a lot of batteries to move it. And being that Hybrid Technologies is using the best kind of batteries currently available (lithium-ion), then the smart car is a model that works well for long range, short charge-time with a small battery-pack. The less weight you carry, the cheaper it costs you and the longer you can go with the same energy. While perhaps not the most cost-effective solution or ideal platform, it’s a great start with the resources we have available. BTW, while not directly promoting Hybrid Technologies I thought I’d mention that they are a public company. So EV enthusiasts can claim that there’s at least one EV company that’s already public - Tesla Motors, which is likely the most well-funded EV company, is still a startup as of today.

Presidential candidate Senator Barack Obama greets supporters at the WAMU Theater during a campaign appearance in Seattle. - (June 02, 2007)

n another note, last week I had the privilege of seeing Barak Obama in Seattle. He came to the WaMu Theater next to the Qwest Stadium, and gave a powerful speech to a crowd of people who was ready for a fresh start. Obama spoke of transforming America and addressed many different topics, and the one that I listened most closely to (naturally) was the topic of how importing foreign oil is a risk to our national security and economy. Obama said that if all cars in the US met a minimum 45 MPG fuel-efficiency, that America would not need to import foreign oil. I do not know how he reached this conclusion and what numbers he used, but I trust that his Math is right. In any case, do I need to mention that with Electric Vehicles you are running on zero gasoline or fossil fuel? That’s right! Zero emissions while driving, all the performance you want or need, and the best part: all this technology is already available! And charging is a battery pack on an EV costs a fraction of what it costs right now to fill up your car with gasoline or diesel at current prices (average gasoline price in Seattle is over $3.25 a gallon).
The only thing necessary for building an electric car is the will to build one. I’m sure that’s something George Clooney understands and why he’s doing so much to promote EVs.

How much oil is required for manufacturing, maintaining and driving a vehicle?

Well, this question is definitely hard to answer. There's so much that goes behind building a car in terms of energy expenditure, that I consider impossible to get an accurate number. But we may be able to get an estimate. Here's a great question: which requires more energy - manufacturing a car or driving and maintaining it? In the case of electric vehicles no oil is necessary to power the car and the energy can come from 100% renewable sources as mentioned in my previous post. EVs require very little maintenance in comparison to ICEs; something I'll get into details later.

According to Colin Campbell, it takes between 17 and 50 barrels of oil to manufacture a single car. Of course no auto plant is built for the purpose of building a single car (not typically anyway), so this information is broken down and the impact on the environment is always from manufacturing large numbers of vehicles and not just one. But let's use these numbers as a basis until we get something more accurate. What is the amount of oil that it takes to drive a car? This last question is a little easier to answer, though it'll require some research. I'll probably use the Toyota Camry for this measurement since it's the "best-selling passenger car in America". I'll use the average miles-per-gallon (MPG) of the Toyota Camry to calculate how much gasoline it uses in its lifetime. For the lifetime I'll probably use 300,000 miles since I believe that's how long those engines last on average. Then the last step will be to convert the energy in a gallon of gasoline to the energy in a barrel of oil. This should give us an estimate. If anyone has any ideas or pointers, please let me know. In the meantime I'll be working on this. Please check back soon!
- Ricardo Parker

Source: http://www.energy.ca.gov/gasoline/whats_in_barrel_oil.html

Welcome Folks!

Welcome to ElectricKar.com!

My goal is to make this the #1 site for electric vehicles with the intention of educating the public, answering all questions and promoting EV technology. We will use a blog to start and upgrade as needed. After 6 months of research I believe I can provide the answers to most questions that are out there. So please challenge me with your questions! If I don't have the answer I promise to do the research necessary to get it. I'm that passionate about electric vehicles.

Why Electric Vehicles?

Unlike conventional cars which use an Internal Combustion Engine (ICE) and require some sort of liquid fuel for propulsion, Electric Vehicles (EVs) require only electricity. The large majority of cars on the planet run on gasoline, which is a product of oil. Aside from the numerous disadvantages of burning oil - air pollution, contribution to Global Warming and the threat to US national security that comes from importing energy that comes mostly from unfriendly nations - oil is a finite resource. It's estimated that we humans have burned just over 50% of all the oil available, in a period of roughly 150 years. Because world demand for oil keeps increasing in an oil-fueled global economy that is conditioned to grow, it's estimated that at current rates it will take us 91 more years to use up the remaining oil. So, whether this happens sooner or later is irrelevant: the fact is that the primary source of energy used to move our vehicles (among other activities) will come to an end, and not too far from now. Electric Vehicles are one answer to this serious issue that we all face. EVs do not require the burning of fossil fuels for propulsion since electricity can be generated from renewable energy sources such as solar power, wind power, biomass, and other sources that we may discover and develop. Unlike other fuel alternatives for vehicles (hydrogen, biofuels, etc) which require the building of an infrastructure for providing the fuel, it's fair to say that the infrastructure for powering EVs already exists: electric outlets can be found in our homes and offices. Cars are not being driven most of the time, so when they are parked they could be charged for the next trip. While the typical 110v electric outlet is not ideal for charging an electric car because it can take up to 8 hours to fully charge one, power stations with a much faster energy transfer rate can be installed at parking lots, rest areas, and convenience stores. With a power outlet an electric car, such as the soon to be released Tesla Roadster, can be charged in 30 minutes or less. The amount of time to charge any electric car will likely decrease greatly once EV technology is developed further. But even if it will take 8 hours to fully charge a car on an 100v outlet: this may be a good alternative for some people already, who have their cars parked for 8 hours or more in their workplace while they work.
- Ricardo Parker