Stuff
I might have blogged about this before, but I really like the way the message is presented. People who know me, know I’m fairly “green”-minded. That’s because simply, I think we’re going the wrong way and need to double back. That doesn’t mean cut back on everything we like (for example, my iMac is on 24×7, just for my convenience), but does require us to make the right choices (my screensaver turns off my screen, I pay for renewable energy only). And sometimes the best option isn’t viable (I’d so want to buy a good, electric car like the Mitsubishi iMIEV, but it’s probably way out of my budget), but then we take the best next one (a small, cleaner car like the Suzuki Alto, which serves my needs and uses way less gas then most other cars in that price range).
Anyway, the link I wanted to post: The Story of Stuff
Enjoy!
Tags: car, electric, environment, fortwo ed, gm volt, green, MiEV, smart
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Electric vehicles: None (that I want) really available yet
That includes the Tesla thingy, which I would want if it didn’t cost about half of what my current mortage is. I doubt my bank will agree to giving me such a loan.
There are a few available that are okay, but they generally do not fit the requirements I set out in an earlier post. One thing that I’m going to adjust is the range. It seems not possible yet to get 250km out of a charge at any decent speeds. So I’ll lower that requirement to 175km, which would be enough for me to reach our office in Eindhoven and get back home again to Merkelbeek and have some little to spare.
But even with that change, there’s nothing available yet. Most stuff is simply too slow, real city cars that can hardly reach 50km/h. I’m too impatient for that.
There is some stuff that I’m keeping an eye on, though. Out of my price range, but very interesting, is the Mitsubishi i MiEV. Priced around €37k, it’s way above my budget, but the technology looks very mature. Except for the price tag, it does fit my needs.
The electric Mini (couldn’t find a definitive homepage about it, but go Google it, you’ll get lots of results) is an oddball too. It fits except for the price. Damn it. Always wanted to own a Mini again. I read on several blogs that it will cost about $50k, so the i MiEV is probably the way to go. They’re currently only on lease in California (for a whopping $850 a month).
Then there’s the Smart Fortwo ED (you don’t want to look at the size of that URL…). At 110km/h it’s almost good enough. Currently, it would be priced at around €22k, which is still a bit too much for me, but getting in a far better range than the other cars.
Lastly, there’s the GM Volt, which, despite being an American car, is very promising. Another one that’s out of my price range, though. But it arguably has the best specs for a decent price, which is expected to be around €22k, like the Smart Fortwo ED (the latter will hopefully drop in price a lot!).
Those are about all the serious contenders that I could find. Like I said in my previous post, there’s a lot being written, but very little is actually available already. And the stuff that is available, is either way too low-specced or way too expensive. But 2010 is going to be an interesting year, since most of the cars I described here, will hopefully be available for consumers by then. I’ll be sure to go and test drive some of them, just to get a feel for it. And buy myself some lotery tickets, since it seems I need more money.
Electric vehicles: So much noise, so little sellers!
So my ’92 Ford Fiësta probably won’t be certified again this year. Or only after a large investment in repairs. So I’m looking at new cars, most specifically, electric cars.
I really want an electric car, since it’s way cheaper and much more durable (less moving parts) than conventional cars. A (plug-in!) hybrid would be my second choice, but I don’t really think they’re that much better for the environment and they still require large amounts of petrol. Also, I don’t drive that much. About 10km in the morning to the train station and the same 10km back home. Sometimes I drive an additional 20km to visit my father or about 10km to go shopping. That’s it. Electric would be so perfect for me!
But it’s so hard to find any resellers around here! Recently it’s been in the news that Amsterdam wants to have 1 million electric cars in their city in the year 2020. That ambitious, but should be too hard. But if you want to follow the trend, or rather, beat everyone else to it, you’re out of luck. There’s a lot of talk about them, but only the very expensive models can currently be bought. I cannot find anything that meets my demands:
- Top speed: 120 kph (I want to drive on the Dutch Freeway without annoying my fellow-drivers)
- Action radius: 250 km or more
- Large enough for myself, Aagje, a passenger and groceries for a week
- Not too fancy, a radio and the ability to open my window is more than enough luxury for my taste
- Priced around €10k, total for a consumer.
- Should be rechargable by a normal 240V Dutch socket.
If possible, it would be really nice if there was an old-fashioned petrol engine that could charge the batteries to increase the action radius and to give you a backup if you run out of juice. But I’d settle for electric only. And I don’t care if it takes all night to replenish the batteries. I also don’t care if the car looks a bit goofy, it’s a tool for me, I don’t care how it looks.
I’ve been searching the web for a while now, but I haven’t found a thing yet. I’m so frustrated.
