Even in Peru, Inventors are securing a gasoline-less future for its countrymen

Bio-Diesel from Algae ! What a great idea !

Don't you wish there was more reporting about emerging fuel technologies, or that you could go to one source and find out about them all? Oh, you can, just keep visiting my site and tell all your friends about it too. Don't forget to click the "follow" button, and please follow publicly, so my list of followers increases visibily. Thank You for your support !

In the video below, you get a couple of company names to watch and/or investigate if you'd like to invest in Green companies. And if more people could see that government investment is helping to launch these types of companies, then more people would have a positive feeling about the "Recovery Act" and where all of our tax dollars are going.

Clean, relatively low-impact, tide generated Turbine power comes on line !

Here's a nice Carbon calculator courtesy of Brammo - You know the Electric Motorcycle guys down in Oregon

Based upon a 43 mile round trip commute, I would save $1,807 per year riding a Brammo Enertia to and from work, instead of driving my Audi A3 !

http://www.brammo.com/green/

Join me the weekend of November 12th, 13th and 14th at Southcenter Shopping Center for your Test Drive of the ALL ELECTRIC Nissan Leaf !

Go here to sign up for your own Nissan Leaf Test Drive:

https://www.drivenissanleaf.com/default.aspx?tmid=911881777&contactID=

Shai Agassi's take on what will make the Electric car ultimately successful, and THE transportation choice of the near and mid-range future

What boils down to is switchable batteries, so the electric cars must have this capability !



And Renault/Nissan have the idea correct: Environmental soundness [ZERO emissions], at a price everyone can afford:

Too Bad this would be hard to tour on, but Moto Guzzi's 2011 V7 Cafe Racer is gorgeous

I can't wait to see this at the Seattle International Motorcycle Show in December !!!

Here is a very nice well-thought-out review of the Nissan Leaf by The Stig

Leonardo DiCaprio gets into the Green Swing with his Ultra Motor A2B Metro electric Bike !!!

http://electrovelocity.com/2010/10/07/leonardo-dicaprio-electric-bicycle-enthusiast/

Way to go Leonardo, spread the word.

This is one of the best ideas for an electric Bicycle I've seen ! Make it VW !!!

And if it can having charging connections to the car while it's on board, and charge from the alternator, while you're driving the car, that would be great engineering:

And now we have some local delivery sized trucks coming on-line

Here's a company in Boulder making delivery-sized vehicles, which could be used as 15-passenger shuttles, or nice fleet trucks for FedEx, UPS, etc.





http://www.boulderev.com/

And even Taxis can now get into the EV pool with the VW Electric Milano Taxi

This is only a concept car at the mot, but if produced, it will have a 180 mile range in between charges:

Here is a company who is ready, willing, and able to provide large scale EV Solar charging stations

Let's talk a look at Merit Builders, Inc. of Rocky Ridge Maryland:





http://www.meritbuilders.com/green-solutions

Here is the best possible solution for charging EVs, however it may be a challenge for places like Seattle

However, as this station will incorporate battery storage of the solar generated electricity, it may still be feasible for locations as "sun-challenged" as Seattle can be:

The newest Brammo electric Motorcycle to be released Q1 or Q2 2011

Everybody please go the Brammo.com, to pre-order your Empulse - 100+ mph and either a 60, 80, or 100 mile range, depending on what you want to spend. Help me be the next winning evangelist, so I can be awarded a well-earned Empulse for myself.

So, now we're talking ... a BMW Mini ALL Electric scooter !!!

Really, if you're just making a small run to the grocery store, or to mail some letters, etc., shouldn't you really be hopping on a 2 wheeled vehicle, and if it's all-electric, so much the better?!

And here is a fabulous new offering from Honda, the CRZ Sport Hybrid

http://automobiles.honda.com/cr-z/

Found a Great Motorcycle Dealer in Monroe ... a bit hard to find, but worth it

A couple of weeks back I found a great new [to me] Motorcycle Dealer
in Monroe WA. It's a bit tricky to find, but worth it, once you see their
pricing. They are called Adventure MotorSports. Their address is:


Adventure Motorsports
17321 Tye Street SE #A Monroe WA 98272
Phone: 360-805-5550 Fax: 360-805-9550

http://www.adventuremotorsports.net/default.asp

For Example they are selling a 2008 Yamaha FZ1, for $2,000 off MSRP, for just $7,290 !!! For those of you who know, this is basically a slightly detuned Yamaha YZF R1, in a naked version. That's a full $3,000 off the 2010 version, or $3,200 off the 2011 version.

See the following pictures:

They also have 2, yes 2 2009 edition, of the hard-to-find Suzuki Adventure Tourer V-Strom DL650, which is a top contender for my next motorcycle, which I will be purchasing in 2011. They have a dark grey one, and an orange one - $6,999 !

They also have a nice A2B Electric Bicycle. It'll do 20 mph for 20 miles on a charge, or a bit farther if you pedal of course !

And for those looking to do some serious sport touring miles, how about a 2010 FJ1300 at $1,191 off MSRP, at just $13,999 !

The Adventure Motorsports key to low pricing, is low-overhead, and of course this means they are a bit off the beaten path, but hey, if you choose to biy one of their pre-paid maintenance packages [which you will be able to afford, because of their low prices], then you can spend part of a day in interesting Monroe Washinigton, when you get your bike serviced !

The key to finding them, and it doesn't jibe with what mapping sites show, is that when you get to the end of 522, at the intersection with Route 2, you TURN Right, NOT left, and then you turn left at the stop light at Fryelands Blvd, then after just a short hop, turn left at Tye St SE, they're about a 1/4 mile down on the left hand side of the road ! The owner, Scott, is a great guy, and he'll let you test ride some bikes, so don't be shy.

Here is a very nice overview of the Tesla Roadster 2.5 Sport

Going a little further, semi-autonomous, semi-socialist, semi-capitalist - the orgins of U.S. "Bike Sharing" and BCycle

Another transportation alternative from San Francisco based Ultramotor USA, Inc.

http://www.ultramotor.com/us/product/

A Nice Video from NBC Nightly News featuring the Brammo Enertia, new price $7,995 !

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Efran Ibrahim of the Electric Power Research Institute, at Stanford University

Demystifying & De-Jargoning the SmartGrid:

Cisco and the SmartGrid EcoSystem Partners, a who's who ... But how secure will it be?

Cisco Systems view of, and explanation of, the SmartGrid concept

And of course, more intelligent, and less wasteful use of energy, such as Electric Cars are important nodes of the coming SmartGrid

And Equal time for OpConnect

A more in depth explanation of Coulomb Technologies ChargePoint Network

Sponsor an Electric Car Charging Station from Coulomb Technologies or OpConnect

Here's a nifty way to get some free publicity for your Business, and help save the planet at the same time:

An Example of how Solar Power can add value to your Home - pretty important now days !

See how 1BOG [One Block Off the Grid] Works !

Come on ...attend Solar University ...it's FREE !!!

So, you're starting to think, maybe an electric Car would be good for the Family budget, good for the planet, and good for our childrens' future, so why not go one step further and generate electricity to charge your new electric car yourself [well with the Sun's help]. To see what this is all about, and to see if it is even feesible where you live check out this FANTASTIC WEBSITE:

http://howsolarworks.1bog.org/

Electric Vehicle companies must educate Americans to break barriers to adoption

http://gas2.org/2010/08/26/americans-slowly-warm-to-the-electric-car-show-willingness-to-try-new-things/

Canadian Firm to make Auto bodies using Hemp composites to minimize environmental impact

Mercedes Benz to release all Electric A-Class car this year !

http://gas2.org/2010/08/27/mercedes-working-with-tesla-will-launch-a-class-electric-car-this-year/

Canadian College Students set off on Trans-Canada trip in Electric 1972 VW Beetle

http://gas2.org/2010/08/27/electric-vw-beetle-sets-off-on-trans-canada-trip/

More on Northwest Electric Vehicle charging station Company, OpConnect, of Beaverton OR

Beaverton OR unveils its first free-of-charge public Electric Vehicle Charging station, from OpConnect

http://theportlander.com/2010/08/12/beaverton-unveils-electric-vehicle-charging-station/

Here's OpConnect's website:

http://www.opconnect.com/OpConnectInfo/OurSolution/

They are a Beaverton, OR company, so I hope we give them a chance to populate the Northwest with their locally produced electric charging station offerings !

Introducing the 2011 Wheego Whip LiFe !!!

An American company located in Atlanta Georgia. And remember, you can purchase these All ELECTRIC cars right now at MC Electric Vehicles on Dearborn St, downtown Seattle, right under the I90 freeway interchange, just a block  East !!!




The Wheego Whip LiFe all-electric car will be introduced in the summer of 2010. The Whip LiFe runs on a lithium battery pack, and will go approximately 100 miles on a charge. The sticker price on the Wheego Whip LiFe is targeted for the low $30ks; the Whip LiFe qualifies for a $7500 Federal Tax Credit. Interested customers may reserve a car at www.wheego.net/life. The Whip LiFe is a fully-loaded two-seat compact car with fit, finish and features that compete with any other subcompact car on the market.


2011 Wheego Whip LiFe Technical Specifications

BASE MODEL PARAMETERS
Drive type: Front wheel drive
Length: 118.5"
Width: 63.2"
Height: 63.0"
Wheel base: 79.7"
Ground clearance: 6.7"
Electronically set maximum speed: 65 mph
Manufactured by Wheego Electric Cars, Inc.
Atlanta, Georgia, USA
678-904-4795
www.wheego.net

Here's a link to to the Wheego Whip LiFe pricing ! Under $27,000 net after $7,500 Federal Tax Credit, and no Washington State Sales tax, through 12/31/2010:

http://wheego.net/more/vehicles/pricing/

How about an 8.21 second 155.5 mph Quarter Mile from the ALL ELECTRIC Killacycle

For all you BMW M3, M5, Porsche, Corvette and Muscle Car people...watch this !

If you think the conversion of our global society to electric passenger vehicles will make our lives dull and boring, THINK AGAIN McFly !!!

Here's another interesting Motorcycle Rental site

These folks offer a mixture of mostly Harleys, a Honda and some BMWs:

http://www.eaglerider.com/

If you want to rent a Touring Motorcycle in the Puget Sound go here

Mountain to Sound Motorcycle Adventures offers a reasonable $1,000-ish per week rental rate and offers bikes like the Kawasaki Concours 14, Honda ST1300 or ST1100, or Yamaha FJ1300 !

http://mtsma.com/index.htm

A Driving Scenario for the Chevrolet Volt

I wish GM had priced this lower than $41,000. Other than that I believe the Volt is a great execution of concept:

Here is the original site detailing the journey to take President Obama an all electric motorcycle

http://www.shockingbarack.com/

This was a very important event, as it shows the power of innovation U.S. Industry possesses. Too bad they didn't get to present the Electric Motorcycle to President Obama directly !

The GOAL: Giving President Obama a first generation Brammo Enertia ALL ELECTRIC Motorcycle

Save Your Dracmas Fellas, here comes the Futuristic Moto Game Changer !

The 100+ mph, and 100 mile range ALL ELECTIC Motorcycle from our friends at Brammo, the 2011 (shipping in 2011) Brammo Empulse 10.0:

The 2011 Wheego Whip now goes freeway capable - 65 mph with 100 mile range

http://wheego.net/more/category/press-releases/

States need to do more, and the Federal Government need to do more [such as extend the expiration date for the $7,500 tax credit beyond 12/31/2010 !]. States can extend their Sales Tax exemption, for example. States and the Federal Government need to realize that families can save multiple thousands of dollars per year by "fueling" with electricity versus gasoline. This will allow people to save for the future, stop using credit cards, save for their retirement, save for their children's college funds, and stop all the pollution that burning a hydro-carbon fuel causes. In short, switching to electric powered vehicles can fix our economy !!!

A great Website for everything to do with researching all aspects of Electric Vehicles

http://www.thecarelectric.com/

Find your Electric Car "benefits" by State - such as Sales Tax exemption !

http://www.thecarelectric.com/content/electric-car-benefits-by-state.php

GM sets pricing for the new Chevrolet VOLT - $41,000

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB20001424052748703977004575393213689034970.html

Is it just me or is General Motors killing the Volt before it gets started by pricing it way out of the reach of most americans?

Video Lessons on How to Ride a Motorcycle

Remember to click the video box, and you can watch these videos on YouTube !!!







Remember to click the video box, and you can watch these videos on YouTube !!!







Remember to click the video box, and you can watch these videos on YouTube !!!





Remember to click the video box, and you can watch these videos on YouTube !!!





Remember to click the video box, and you can watch these videos on YouTube !!!





Remember to click the video box, and you can watch these videos on YouTube !!!





Remember to click the video box, and you can watch these videos on YouTube !!!


EVERYONE'S LEARNING TO RIDE:





Remember to click the video box, and you can watch these videos on YouTube !!!


COME ON LADIES ! GET YOURSELF A MOTORCYCLE !!!





Remember to click the video box, and you can watch these videos on YouTube !!!

Green Car of the Year - Audi A3 Clean Diesel TDI

42 MPG Highway !!!


http://www.greencar.com/articles/audi-a3-tdi-2010-green-car-year-clean-diesel-reigns.php

REMEMBER to visit my Facebook page for fast-breaking high-mileage vehicle information

http://www.facebook.com/pages/manage/#!/pages/httpgreenertransportationblogspotcom/123809510976623

America's first ALL ELECTRIC to issue IPO today 6/29/2010

This is HUGE. Electric cars are real, people can start to invest in an all electric AMERICAN car company. Truly a historic day !


http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/learn-how-to-invest/article.aspx?post=1775730&GT1=33014

Kevin Costner's company Ocean Therapy Solutions comes to Gulf's rescue

If you think that Hollywood is just full of "Flakes", think again. Kevin Costner and his business partners at Ocean Therapy Solutions come to the rescue of the Gulf !!!

http://fieldnotes.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2010/06/15/4511802-ocean-of-dreams-kevin-costner-helps-out-with-oil-cleanup?Gt1=43001

http://www.ots.org/news10062010.php

http://www.ots.org/technology.php

If you wonder if you can ride a Motorcycle and never have, I say YES, you can !

Here's a short Video showing how the Chevrolet Volt works

Mission: Find out about making my home a Solar Powered self-sufficient Green Power node

Now I'm off to a local company armed with pictures and measurements of our house to find out about Solar panel installation costs and how much energy we could possibly generate to run our home, and charge our future electric car(s), and could we even generate enough electricity every year to sell back to the Power Grid and generate income for our family...I'll let you know what I find out when I get back !


***June 7th Update***   The place I went for advice was Northwest Mechanical, Inc. They are located at:


3024 NE 145th Street
Shoreline, WA 98155
(206) 267-HEAT


http://www.nwmechanical.com/


Their Solar specific site is:


http://smartsolarsolution.com/home.html


If you want to see if your home is viable for solar power harvesting, go here at fill out the form:


http://smartsolarsolution.com/quoterequest.html

I met with Jeremy Keller, Design Engineer. The first thing we would do would be to get $100 Solar Site Assessment to see if our house [roof] is even ideally oriented correctly. Ideally you want to have south-facing roof area, where you intend to put the solar-energy collector panels. Our two largest roof sections are southwest and southeast. So it may work.

Depending on what you want to do, collecting enough solar energy to power your hot water heating requirements, and/or generating enough electricity to do that and power your house, you may be able to do that. The best thing to do is get your power company bill in *.pdf [Adobe Acrobat] format and email it to Jeremy, to see if it would be feasible to generate all of your power needs.

You can email Jeremy at: jeremy@nwmechanical.com

***June 15th, 2010 UPDATE***

I'm probably going to read a few books to get me more up to speed to see if we can really make our home Solar powered:

President Obama speaks about the implementation of Clean Energy and Cars

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/37360313#37360313

Check out my New Facebook Page !

I will use this Facebook page to simply share information with you as it becomes available:

http://www.facebook.com/pages/httpgreenertransportationblogspotcom/123809510976623

Okay now I'm really Geeky - I can post my photos from my phone to my Blog via Flickr

This is a test post from

MVRTV BMW F800GS Video Test - Part 1 through Part 8

I wanted to get back to the motorcycles now for a bit, and I wanted to start posting some of the video motorcycle reviews posted by the wonderful folks at the MVRTVCOM channel on YouTube [http://www.youtube.com/user/mvrtvcom].                                                               
These reveiws are the type that I hope to be able to create and post when I get a bit more of my equipment laid in to help me record some HD video and audio. Hopefully I can get my GoPro HD Helmet HERO Camera soon ! I have a lot of plans and ambitions for my Green blog, including lots on sustainable energy, and may need to get myself one of these BMW F800GS bikes sooner than later, so I can get out into the wilds to report on the remote installations of wave power generator stations, or the coming wind farms of the Columbia River Gorge plateaus.

Anyway, these are great videos, and the way video reviews should be done. I hope you have the patience to watch them in their entirety. They are well work your time. These videos are best viewed full screen, so please click on the outward moving four corner arrows pictogram, and this will enlarge the video to full screen.

An Email Letter I received today from Dan Davids of Plug In America

From: Dan Davids
Date: Thu, May 20, 2010 at 11:43 AM
Subject: Help Plug In America turn the tide
To: xxxxxxxxxx@gmail.com


Dear Fellow Clean Car Supporter,

I think I speak for all of us when I say that I am outraged at the environmental catastrophe that is occurring right now in the Gulf of Mexico. It is a horrible feeling to watch helplessly as tens of thousands of barrels of oil spew into the ocean each day, threatening species loss, habitat destruction, and economic ruin on an unimaginable scale.

There is likely little to come out of this debacle that's positive, but a silver lining might be that Americans will finally wake up to the folly of continuing our unabated dependence on oil. As you may know, over 40% of oil that Americans use is consumed by cars, trucks and SUVs. If every American car were plug-in electric and charged at night, the Department of Energy reports America would not have to build a single new power plant to fuel them. There would be no need to drill for new oil. Our future fuel is already available.

Plug In America has long promoted the benefits of plug-in electric vehicles for good of the environment, economy, and national security. With the ongoing crisis in the Gulf of Mexico, we see the opportunity to turn the tide of public opinion away from cars powered by dirty oil to those that use cleaner and more efficient electricity. We also see a chance to ensure that the debate over the climate bill in Washington results in provisions that foster the proliferation of plug-ins.

But to continue this vital work we need your help. Strike a blow against big oil by supporting Plug In America's campaign to accelerate America's adoption of plug-in electric vehicles.

Donate today: at http://www.pluginamerica.org/donate

Thank you for your support.

Sincerely,

Dan Davids
President, Plug In America


Despite what you may think, I'm not trying to get you to donate to Plug In America. I just think Dan has a great site, and he provides a lot of useful information about the coming dawn of Electric transportation in America and the World. Here is a great link that shows just how many vehicles have recently launched or are about to launch:

http://www.pluginamerica.org/vehicles/

What I'm quickly discovering is that this effort is huge ! And it is coming like a freight train, but the odd thing is that barely anyone in America knows about it yet. And the major Media outlets are virtually NOT COVERING IT... YET.

Let'se  examine the several reasons that after decades of supression of the all Electric vehicle, that now, all of a sudden we're are poised at the edge of transportation revolution. Economics. People simply aren't as dumb as the Oil Industry thinks were are. When gas went over the $4 a gallon price, the oil companies sounded their own death dirge. Combined with their very public and therefore very helpful Gulf of Mexico super environmental disaster. If the oil addicts of the world don't get it, after seeing the helpless and incompetent response from BP, then we really are dumb and deserve to die in our own cesspool. But I don't believe we are. I believe America will use this to springboard back to a golden age of economic boom times, and will launch the next phase of our human advancement. I believe the people of the world are already uniting behind this effort on a massive scale. It's simple. Air polluting tranportation to a possibly non-polluting method [if we can increase our electricity generating sources to a majority of non-polluting methods: solar, wind, wave, and hydro-electric]. And we can drive the same number of miles each year for a fraction of the cost.

The large historical autombile manufacturers like GM, Ford, Chrysler, and various foreign manufacturers are coming out with PHEVs [Plugin Hybrid Electric Vehicles] and EVs [Electric Vehicles] as fast as they can, because this will help them meet the new more stringent U.S. Federal Fleet mileage mandates. It's kind of a game of cat and mouse though. The Oil companies are smart. They saw what happened when gas prices went over $4. Americans stopped buying their addiction delivery modes - the large SUV and large truck. These gas wasting vehicles are the main profit generators for the oil companies and were also huge profit generators for the American Auto Industry. However, when people had to spend $80 - $90 [based on a 20 gallon fuel tank] or more, for each fill up, America and the world said "enough". The result was that the "Big Three" automakers of America almost disappeared. So they want to stay in business, and the only way to do that is to make vehciles that get 35+ mpg, or maybe use no gasoline at all. Also, if the oil companies can somehow keep prices at the gas pump below say $3.50, then they can maybe lull the American people into a false sense of security. However, with the economy still on rocky ground at best, and the stock market down 1500 points in the last 2 weeks, things are not looking good for consumer confidence. Even if we can get a couple million people to buy electric vehicles over the next five to ten years, coupled with higher mileage gas or hybrid vehicles, this will only marginally diminish our need for gasoline.

And by all estimates, we may run out or oil complete in the next 15 - 20 years. Certainly the best thing for people to do for themselves is to buy either high mileage hybrids, or buy an all-electric vehicle as soon as they can. As we're just reinventing the power delivery system, and its support infrastructure, and not having to come up with a whole new invention, this should be a fairly fast and seemless transition. The best thing everyone can do right now is think about taking some vehicle like the Wheego Whip for a spin as soon as they can, just to get a feel for the vehicle and it capabilities: http://wheego.net/ at say a dealership like MC Electric Vehicles of Seattle: http://www.mcelectricvehicles.com/ .

Some Great Information resources for Electric Vehicle progress - charging station location, etc.

Here are some great links that I thought I'd post from a NPR website [National Public Radio], that my wonderful wife sent to me this morning. As this industry moves forward rapidly, and it is, I will post more:

http://marketplace.publicradio.org/display/web/2010/05/17/pm-new-generation-electric-cars/

http://www.betterplace.com/opportunity/

http://www.pluginamerica.org/

http://www.evchargernews.com/#regions

And here is a great one...everything you might want to know about Electric vehicles...The Electric Auto Association:

http://www.eaaev.org/eaalinks.html#NEVs

Getting involved in the Politics of Greening America and specifically our Transportation

One of my major goals with "Greener Transportation" is to address the extent of our global addiction to oil and it's by-products: heating oil for homes, and gasoline for automobiles of every kind [trucks, cars, heavy equipment, etc.]. Oil has simply become an untenable addiction, and in many cases makes no sense at all. We're damaging peoples' abilities to participate in the economy, save for our childrens' futures, and purchase the items, trips, etc., that we need and want to. In short, the high price of oil and its byproducts and deliteriously damaging the global economy. One of the subjects that many journalistic outlets seem to avoid like the plague, is the correlation to the rise of gasoline prices to the $4.00+ threshold to the global recession/depression which started mid-2007. I'm not saying that this price rise was solely responsible for the global meltdown, but it was definitely a large contributing factor.

Let's say you're a family of five, with a couple of pre-driving age children, two parents who work, and both drive to and from work each weekday, and you have a teenager who needs a car several times a week to get to his after school part-time job, as well as school extra-curricular events. In this scenario, this family has three vehicles. Now let's say gas is $4.00 per gallon, and that each car is filled up three times per month. Car number one has a 20 gallon fuel tank, so filling it three times per month costs $240. This particular SUV/Truck getsa combined 15 mpg, and is able to drive about 900 miles on these three tanks of gas [a not uncommon case]. Next car number two has a 14 gallon fuel tank and needs Premium unleaded [a foreign luxury car - Audi, again not uncommon]. Premium unleaded costs $4.30 per gallon. This car drives 45 miles roundtrip five days a week, or 225 miles per week, plus 75 miles on the weekend, for a total of 300 miles per week or 1200 miles per month. This car gets 27 miles per gallon. So it would need 44.5 gallon of premium unleaded per month at a cost of just under $192. Car number three [ a Scion tC], uses regular unleaded, like car number one. It has a 12 gallon fuel tank. It gets 24 mpg combined. It travels 30 miles roundtrip to and from work 5 days a week, for a total of 150 miles a week or 600 miles per month. It also travels 50 miles per weekend, for a total of 800 miles per month. Its fuel costs are approximately $133 per month. So this American family pays $565 per month just to fuel their 3 vehicles. This amounts to $6,780 per year in fuel costs alone for these three family members. Then there are yearly licensing tabs, insurance, maintenance, repairs, etc.

Just as a simple comparison, at current Seattle City light rates, it would cost an owner of a NEV [Neighborhood Electric Vehicle] $330 FOR 10,000 miles !!! Let's say this car travels 800 miles per month, just like the gasoline burning car number three above, then it would need about $27 per month to drive as many miles as car numer three above, which needs to spend $133 to travel the same distance, or about 1/5 as much money. If this family had 3 NEVs instead of gasoline burning vehicles, they could save [or invest in their childrens' college funds, take a trip to Tahiti, etc.] to the tune of about $5,800 per year in fuel costs !!! It would only cost this family about $1,000 per year to drive the same amount of miles ! But better yet, this family wouldn't use about 1650 gallons of gasoline per year. If you multiply this by one million people who might switch to NEVs or freeway legal all-electric vehicles like the Nissan Leaf [http://www.nissanusa.com/leaf-electric-car/index#/leaf-electric-car/index], and we could forego using 1 billion 650 million gallons of gasoline per year !!!

The Hunt for Electric Vehicle Auto Insurance

Armed with a White Wheego Whip VIN [Vehicle Identification Number] graciously given to be by Ray of MC Electric Vehicles [http://www.mcelectricvehicles.com/], I have begun my search of insurance companies to see who will insure an NEV [Neighborhood Electric Vehicle].

I began with my own Insurer, Safeco. I just emailed my agent. I will keep you posted as to what they have to say on the matter, and we'll see if I get a quote, or not.

Neither State Farm, nor Farmers had the Wheego Whip listed [http://wheego.net/pdf/wheego_whip_brochure_2010.pdf.
Doing some on-line searching most NEV owners said that both State Farm and Allstate will provide policies. We shall see. I've contacted State Farm, Famers, Allstate, and my own agents for Safeco.

Of course with the major Auto Company launch of the Nissan Leaf coming this Fall http://www.nissanusa.com/leaf-electric-car/index#/leaf-electric-car/index,  all of the major insurance companies have to get their act together soon, or risk losing out on what I anticipate will be a quickly growing market segment.

***UPDATE***

Okay...I received my first quote a couple hours after submitting my online quote request, from State Farm Insurance, for full coverage. He is the text from the exchange:

Subject: RE: Internet Referral INCOMPLETE Auto Quote - Scott D Menge
Date: Mon, 10 May 2010 13:25:16 -0700
From: malissa.d.glade.rby0@statefarm.com
To: scott_menge@hotmail.com
Hey Scott!

For full coverage, it looks like that car will be $528.51
every 6 months. Thanks!

Malissa
Malissa Glade LSA-SSA
Brooks G Tish State Farm Ins Agcy
http://www.brookstish.com/
State Farm Insurance & Financial Services
12504 - 116th Avenue NE
Kirkland, WA 98034
425.821.1717
800.821.8852
F 425.821.5997

-----Original Message-----

From: Internet Customer - Scott Menge
Sent: Monday, May 10, 2010 11:22 AM
To: Brooks Tish

Hello Brooks,

I'm looking to get a quote on a comprehensive auto policy quote for
the following NEV - Neighborhood Electric Vehicle, called the Wheego Whip.

The MSRP is $18,995 Lead acid battery array
VIN: 1W9WL21B1AC485166

***UPDATE***

Toward the end of that same Monday I received the following reply from my Safeco Insurance Agent:

From: ep@phillipsinsurance.net
To: scott_menge@hotmail.com
Subject: RE: Information needed for possible NEV purchase [NEV = Neighborhood Electric Vehicle]
Date: Mon, 10 May 2010 16:15:11 -0700

Hi Scott,

The $20k one would be approx $488 and the $30k one would be approx $535 every 6 months. They don’t pull info using the vin because they aren’t that common that there are insurance statistics on them, the rating is done by the value for now. That might change later on. Let me know if you have any more questions.

Thanks,

Emily Phillips
Phillips Insurance, Inc
10709 Beardslee Blvd., #201
Bothell, WA 98011
(425) 485-8660
(425) 485-8600 fax
http://phillipsinsurance.net/


As there are no real [or at least tabulated statistics yet, or none
the Insurance companies pay attention to] statistics yet, the
Insurance companies insure by monetary value. As both of these
quotes are a mere $7 apart, I would say these are fairly accurate.

SPOTLIGHT on Various Puget Sound Motorcycle Dealers & their brands

One of my goals with my Blog is to provide information about Puget Sound Dealers and their stock, makes and models, and hopefully a bit of human interest about how and why they started their particular dealerships. I will also list some of the accessories they sell - helmets, jackets, complete riding suits, gloves, lubricants, tires, and anything else they sell, especially unique items they carry which may distinguish them from similar dealers.

First up is Moto International:

They can be contacted at:

http://www.motointernational.com/main.htm

7701 Aurora Ave. N., Seattle, WA 98103 USA
phone: 206-297-3822 fax: 206-297-3828
e-mail: sales@motointernational.com

Every time I go there, I always converse with David Richardson
himself [Author of Guzziology]. Here's a picture of David, taken
by "Guzzista" writer Kevin Hoffberg:

http://guzzista.wetpaint.com/page/Dave+Richardson+the+legend+behind+Guzziology

Here are some of the wonderful Italian motorcycles that Dave has at his dealership:

Here's a very nice brand new Moto Guzzi Norge

1200, 2007 model for just $9,900, with a 2 year

warranty. A great reliable, shaft-drive touring bike

with a 1200cc engine for under $10,000. Yummy

I want one.

If you're looking for something a tad more sporty,

here is a nice Aprilia Tuono 1000:

Here's a beautiful new 2008, with full 2 year

warranty for $8,499, which is $4,500 off MSRP.

Next up is a very interesting motorcycle, a 2009

Aprilia Mana 850. This bike is just $7,499, which

is $2,400 off MSRP, and of course has a full

2 year warranty. This is a GREAT entry level/new

rider motorcycle, that has no clutch lever, and you

can operate this motorcycle without having to use

a traditional clutch ! Another cool thing about the

Mana 850 - see that horizontal line bisecting the

"gas tank"? Well that is actually a storage compart-

ment that can fit an entire helmet! Gas goes elsewhere.

Here are some pictures, and then a link to a good

thorough review of this 2009 model:

And now the review link to Motorcycle USA:

http://www.motorcycle-usa.com/29/2533/Motorcycle-Article/2009-Aprilia-Mana-850-Review.aspx

Here's another great bike the Moto Guzzi 1200 Sport. This bike is not
on the US Moto Guzzi website, but is on the Italian site:

http://www.motoguzzi.it/#/motoguzzi/IT/it/moto/naked/1200-sport/1200-sport-4V

http://www.motoguzzi-us.com/en_US/default.aspx

The Italian website lists the MSRP at 12,460 EURO,

which is about $15,440 presently. This bike had just

arrived the day I took this picture, and still had protective

vinyl wraps on the exhaust pipes. So, I'm not sure if this

is a 2009, 2010, or what the price is, but I will post it soon.

Here is another great standard, naked, classic looking

bike, updated, but styling borrowed from the 1960s, the

V7 Classic:

What I like most about the Moto Guzzi motorcycle is the

Italian aura. The fit and finish is amazing, and the sound of these

big V-twin engines is something you must hear. I hope to take

a couple for test rides soon !

Next up is RideWest BMW dealership:

http://www.ridewest.com/

STORE HOURS:

Monday Closed
Tuesday 9:00AM - 6:00PM
Wednesday 9:00AM - 6:00PM
Thursday 9:00AM - 6:00PM
Friday 9:00AM - 6:00PM
Saturday 9:00AM - 5:00PM
Sunday Closed


Ride West BMW Motorcycles
8100 Lake City Way NE Seattle WA 98115
Phone: 206.527.5511 Fax: 206.522.5369
Toll Free Phone: 888-527-RIDE


From the moment you walk into ride west, you know you're
dealing with a completely different animal, in terms of buying
a motorcycle. You're dealing with "the BMW experience".
One thing that is immediately different is that all the bikes come
with 3 year 36,000 mile warranties, as well as 3 year 36,000
Roadside Assitance coverages:

One of the obvious observations one makes when looking around this BMW motorcycle dealership is that at least 50% of the bikes Ridewest has on display are dual-sport or trail bikes. These bikes are meant to help people explore as much of the earth as possible, and not just the parts that have paved roads !

Here are a couple examples, the F800 GS, and the R1200 GS Adventure:

A great DVD set which highlights the incredible durability and adventure capabilities of the GS bikes stars Ewan McGregor and Charlie Boorman:

Here's a link to the Long Way Round website:

http://www.longwayround.com/html/lwr_dvm.html