Electric What?

It's been a while since I've posted. Sorry. With all the dull weather outside and transitions in my life, it's been quite boring.

Today, however, was an exciting day.

For the past couple of years, I have been searching for an environmentally respectable way to get around. My solution has been primarily to try to get on my bicycle when the weather's nice and ride my scooter when my legs get tired. However, with wet winters, this is far from the ideal way to get around. In addition, I will be starting a new job in the north bay (more details later), so finding a car is almost a necessity.

I've looked at a variety of options over the years from biofuels to efficient compacts to hybrids to rain gear and a scooter and each looks like a considerable option. However, more recently I've been looking at electric vehicles.

I had heard several people talk about Who Killed the Electric Car and finally got my hands on it and watched. I was pretty moved by the message. It sounded like this was a pretty viable means of transportation and something that shook up the oil and automobile industries. For those that haven't seen it yet, please do.

In addition to the movie, I have had the good luck of having friends and acquaintances who are motivated to make a change. A groups of friends (one of which works for Tesla) and roommates have recently decided to pursue building an electric vehicle and today was a day full of connections.

Today, a few of us attended the monthly San Francisco Electric Vehicle Association meeting. It was great to meet some local people who are passionate about being environmentally responsible. In addition, they had some really cool electric cars from Miles Electric Vehicles available for demo. Mr. Miles, the CEO, was even in attendance to personally introduce the vehicles.






After our first SFEVA meeting, a few of us drove down to San Jose to meet with a man named Nick who built his own electric vehicle. Since he was originally trying to sell his vehicle on Craigslist, we posed as potential buyers, but as soon as he found out we were interested in building one ourselves he was eager to share his wealth of knowledge. (Thanks Nick!)

Here are a couple pictures of his setup.






So there is still much research to be done, but it is good to know that there are tons of resources out there and a community of electric vehicle enthusiasts willing to lend a helpful mind.

Stay tuned...