Comments on: RAN at the LA Auto Show

By: Erika Courvoisier

Erika Courvoisier — Sat, 19 Apr 2008 13:18:42 +0000

If anyone has recommendations re. best bet for an eco-friendly bus, please post. I live in a small college town and am trying to put together a proposal to put a green shuttle bus on the road for the students. The “city fathers” are pushing for reduced cab fares for students after hours, but obviously this thinking is archaic. Would appreciate any recommendations.
Thank you for cogitating on this

By: Keith Van Sickle

Keith Van Sickle — Sun, 18 Nov 2007 18:10:49 +0000

OPPS forgot to comment on the Electric Dragin event. It sure looks like it would be worth the time and trouble to go. WHere do I get more information?

By: Keith Van Sickle

Keith Van Sickle — Sun, 18 Nov 2007 18:06:30 +0000

Yesterday I went to both the showing of the BugE at the Sofitel and the LA Auto show. The Electric BugE was far the most innovative vehicle I saw. It is a PET, Personel Electric Transporter. Ie doesn’t go too fas or too far but it works for every day commuting and errand running and is totally green. At the auto show all I saw was the same old thing with two exceptions. One was the T-rex. It too was a PET and comes in an electric version but the price was a bit steep $54,000.00 as compaired to the BugE at $8,000. The second innovative vehicle I saw was also a trike but not electric and holds three passengers. It is the American Freedom Roadster. It runs on compressed Natural Gas and is therefore much cleaner than any other ICE (Internal Combustion Engine) It was also independently produced and had a modest price of $20,000. How come it is that three independently produced vehicles are the only innovative and truely green vehicles out of the hundreds at the show? Ya think maybe there is some sort of conspricy/coersion/colusion between big auto and big oil and big government??

By: Electric Dragin

Electric Dragin — Sun, 18 Nov 2007 02:44:32 +0000

Professional conversions are available today. Not only do you gain independence from oil, but you recycle your favorite car. Want to see proof of performance, come down to our San Diego Jan 2008 Family Fun EVent and see over 50 vehicles(ranging from battery electic Mazda Miatas, Chevy S10s, even a Rolls Royce) that will get their drivers to and from work 5 days a week without stopping at a gas station.

By: Joseph Carson

Joseph Carson — Sat, 17 Nov 2007 17:59:57 +0000

The big automakers in their drive for profit and their cozying up to Big Oil are typical big business under the Bush Administration. Please do anything to prove how greedy and out of date they are. If Toyota does not have a hybrid, I will not buy Toyota or any other automaker.

By: Mike Talbot

Mike Talbot — Sat, 17 Nov 2007 05:26:20 +0000

Well, I just got back from the L.A. auto show and was disappointed just like I was with last years show… hoping to see some PHEV’s for sale. The only thing that I can figure is that the major oil companies must control the U.S. auto industry? Putting pretty women on stage next to gas guzzlers isn’t cutting it anymore at $3.30/gas to sell cars. I heard that the CEO’s had left before the start of the show instead of staying and listening to the future customers. I can’t be all that wrong when the U.S. manufactures are selling cars at 50% of the U.S. total.
If someone ever gets a chance please read what Edward Demmings wrote about U.S. car manufacturers. Mr. Demmings was sent to Japan after WWII to help turn around Japans poor quality. He succeeded. One item he mentioned was when you pay a CEO millions of dollars a year…how concerned is that CEO going to be if the car company makes it in the future? Something to think about?

By: Felix Kramer

Felix Kramer — Fri, 16 Nov 2007 23:31:25 +0000

This conversion, by the California Cars Initiativen was a technology demonstration, to show that the nickel-metal hydride batteries used in today’s hybrids (without the safety issues of lithium, and with demonstrated extended life) could make “good enough” hybrids for carmakers to start getting cars on the road as quickly as possible. Its expected all-electric low-speed range is about 15 miles. Of course, carmakers could do better — our goal is to get them to sell PHEVs.

Meanwhile, aftermarket options are limited and still cost >$10K. Warrantied and crash-tested options are expected next year. See http://www.calcars.org/howtoget.html This conversion is part of our open-source “do it yourself with help from an engineer” project at http://www.priusplus.org.

– Felix Kramer, Founder, CalCars.org

By: Phil L.

Phil L. — Fri, 16 Nov 2007 19:15:13 +0000

Anyone have further info on the Prius PHEV conversion? The pictures are interesting – but I’d like to know more.

What is the battery-only range? Top usable speed?

Cost of conversion? Any safety issues? Availability for the rest of us?

By: Pat Rasmussen

Pat Rasmussen — Fri, 16 Nov 2007 02:09:18 +0000

We need plug-in hybrids. Prius hybrids can quickly be converted to plug-ins. Then we can use it as an electric car to commute and use the hybrid when going on a trip. It only takes a day to convert to a plug-in. See RAN do it themselves in a day. Any automaker that says they can’t do it for YEARS could just watch them and see how it’s done. They’re not even mechanics. You can check them out at: http://understory.ran.org/2007/11/14/ran-at-the-la-auto-show/

By: Toyota exec gets into tussle with Rainforest Action Network activist and it's all on YouTube - Auto Blog Green

Thu, 15 Nov 2007 20:43:19 +0000

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