It may not look like it, but the ‘modern’ transportation system, especially as it exists in the U.S.A., is broken, horribly. As I see it, the car companies and others are working hard on the appearance that modern transportation systems are okay. That’s just the sugar coating designed to make…
President Obama made a speech in Brussels on Wednesday that rewrites both his personal history, and the history around the Iraq War – BTW, the Shock & Awe invasion of Iraq occurred exactly 11 years ago today – so that he could bash Russia over it’s unilateral invasion and take-over…
Do we want a car that burns a different fuel? Or do we want to vastly improve the world around us? Some of us want to do the latter. Some of us recognize that the ills our society faces is much more than just changing one kind of car for…
Current laws across the U.S. prevent car companies from selling cars directly to the public. Instead the laws are formulated to require independent car dealerships, each of which must have a used car lot and car service center and other requirements that end up with the modern car dealership as…
It’s time for an status update on Tesla Motors’ battle to win the ability to openly sell cars across the U.S. While there has been a major setback (New Jersey) there are some interesting bright spots, coincidentally in states where Tesla is thinking to open the Gigafactory. Namely – as…
Last year the thing we all feared occurred – Electric cars, catching fire, blowing up even, the battery packs clearly on fire, spread all over international news. This was something to be feared because it might spook the buying public into thinking electric cars are dangerous. Tesla Motors, fortunately, were…
Beginning last summer, Tesla Motors CEO began making it clear that manufacturing a few hundred thousand electric cars per year (as Tesla plans to begin doing starting in 2017) would swamp the total lithium-ion battery manufacturing capacity in the world. It’s a simple bit of math – By 2017, Tesla…
Today, Honda launched a new project – the Honda Smart Home – that’s a glimpse into the future of buildings and transportation. And, it’s a future that isn’t terribly far away because most of the project uses off-the-shelf equipment. The idea is to look beyond zero emission vehicles to a…
On Monday, the UN’s World Meteorological Organization posted it’s yearly report on the climate: WMO statement on the status of the global climate in 2013. The report doesn’t mince words, it clearly says that human-induced climate change is causing higher global temperatures and more extreme weather events. The climate changes…
Over the weekend a big landslide struck Oso, WA, located on the Stillaguamish River about an hour north of Seattle. It’s a tragedy of large order, with several already confirmed dead, reports from emergency workers saying it’s worse than has yet been reported, whole neighborhoods wiped out, etc. I’ll pop in…
The NRDC has just released a report which demonstrates to the EPA how the U.S. could achieve aggressive climate change and carbon pollution reduction goals without costing very much to implement much less breaking the economy. The plan relies heavily on efficiency improvements, followed by renewable energy system deployments, and…
Many people are (rightfully) upset about the Middle Eastern countries and their supposed hatred of the United States. I kind of think that they’re rightfully upset at decades of Western (America and Europe) meddling in Middle East politics, manipulating the game to preserve access to Oil. And that this meddling…
Bob Lutz’s latest blog post on the Chevy Volt bashers finds him disappointed that a Conservative Icon like Charles Krauthammer would stoop to joining in with heaping lies upon the Chevy Volt. Bob Lutz, formerly the Chairman of General Motors, and father of the Chevy Volt, has found cruel disappointment…
Electric cars are more useful when they can be quickly charged. Case in point is the Tesla Model S, which can gain about 300 miles of range per hour of charging, making it the first electric car that’s suitable for proper American style Road Trips. The “range anxiety” bugaboo largely…
Despite diplomacy and threats of sanctions from the West, Russia is moving forward on Tuesday with plans to annex Crimea after a referendum on Sunday that was boycotted by the opposition. In this context, some are saying that Europe needs to rethink policies on hydraulic fracturing, lifting bans and regulations.…
