Jeff Woelker : Chicago SEO, SEM, and Social Media Consultant

10 year old Silicon Valley Startup: 1
110 year old Detroit Auto Industry: 0

Well at least somebody is concerned with getting the electric vehicle off the ground. In a recent post on Google’s blog, they have been partnering with a few other silicon valley startups to get electric vehicles into the mainstream faster than the US auto industry seems to want to do:

We’ve been working with Google engineers and Hymotion/A123Systems to build a small fleet of plug-in hybrids, adding an external plug and additional batteries to a regular hybrid car so that it runs on electricity with gasoline (or even better, biofuels) to extend the driving range for longer trips.

Be still my nerdy heart. And with Congress finally getting into high gear, we may actually be making some progress towards oil independence, maybe, sort of, kind of.

Well, you have to start somewhere, and as my Digg traffic told me, consumers are definitely excited for a car that can deliver both fuel economy, practicality, and eco-friendliness.

So I’ve been seeing these Chrysler ads lately touting 30 mpg as “great fuel economy”.

Does this strike anyone else as ridiculous? I know this guy thinks so. I mean, this is the 21st century. According to this source:

After 1920, mpg seems to have stayed in the range of 13-15 mpg until federally-mandated fuel economy standards were enacted in the 1970’s. As a result, fuel-efficiency increased from 13 mpg to 21 mpg over the next 25 years (after 1970).

For me as a scientist, futurist, and technologist, I find this fact offensive. In almost 90 years we have moved from 13 mpg to 30 mpg? That screams of laziness, complacency, and lack of American ingenuity. The Prius is getting 60 miles per gallon in the city and 51 on the highway, which is still pretty impressive, but where’s the real vision? Why not 100 mpg? 200 mpg? 500 mpg?

The next focus after getting the fuel economy to admirable standards would be to make it economical for the average person to be able to afford them. That really will be who wins in the US auto market. Or you can just go car free. Thoughts?

Update: This got dugg. BOY HOWDY!

According to a recent EIA announcement:

“Retail regular grade motor gasoline prices are projected to average $2.81 per gallon this summer, 3 cents below the average of $2.84 per gallon last summer, according to forecasts released today by the Energy Information Administration (EIA) in the April Short-Term Energy Outlook. Retail diesel fuel prices are expected to average $2.82 per gallon over the summer, down 6 cents from last summer’s average price of $2.88 per gallon.”

Well, gas prices nationwide are already at $3.19 per gallon and the summer hasn’t even started yet, so by my calculations this estimate is in the ballpark of doesn’t make any sense at all. I mean, look at these numbers:

Image copyright of GasBuddy.com

As you can see, last summer, gas prices peaked in May and stayed steady for most of the summer and then rose again in August and September with the problems associated with Hurricane Katrina. And with some minor extrapolation on the data provided by GasBuddy, it looks like if there is a minor hint of a gas shortage, crisis, or some other weather related problem gas prices could easily shoot to $4 or beyond. Even if it doesn’t necessarily hit $4 per gallon, $3.97 is pretty darn close for my tastes.

So really, what is the point of this concern over numbers and reports? Essentially, I’m telling you to drop your current means of transportation and:

• Take public transit
• Buy a bike
• Walk to work
• Ride with a friend
• Buy a hybrid vehicle
• Drive less
• Drive smarter

Do what you can. You’re wallet will thank you and the environment will thank you.

ZAP World announced yesterday that as part of their worldwide rally in Las Vegas, they approached Dominoes to deliver pizzas using their Xebra electric car. I think this is a great marketing idea as well as getting to point of electric vehicles. Since most people drive about 40 miles a day to and from work, this is mode of transit (assuming bike or public transit is not an option) is perfect. Just get to work, plug it in, and you’re all set for the day.

Here are a few more links to some other related reason why electric vehicles or using alternate means of transportation is both good for the environment and good for your wallet:

• True cost of driving
• City Decongestion
• Biking and the environment
• Gas Price Calculator
• SmartUsa Touring the US
• SmartCar
• Amount of Gas Saved by Taking Public Transportation

Image copyright Zap Electric

And if you’re looking for fantastic Chicago pizza, order from Vince’s Pizzeria on Devon!

This is great news for ZAP, but also great news for me as an electric car enthusiast. ZAP confirmed in an email today that they have received the largest order for electric cars ever and from a Chicago based startup called the Electric Vehicle Company (EVC), no not that Electric Vehicle Company. So it looks like I may have double the opportunity to secure either a Smart car or an electric vehicle from ZAP via EVC.

Whenever I bring up my excitement for electric cars though, I get the same response, “Yeah, that’s great, but where do you charge it?” That’s an easy solution to fix my friends. Electric outlets are a dime a dozen and as electric cars become more prevalent, more outlets will be added. The next question that always arises is “How can you get behind electric cars, when much of our electricity currently comes from coal fired power plants or nuclear power plants?” Well, at least the opportunity exists with those alternatives for renewable power sources such as wind, wave, solar, or geothermal energy. The oil option or some hybrid solution of part oil, part electric or part oil, part hydrogen, just isn’t going to cut it in the long term.

So EVC, if you’re listening, send me a promo kit or let me know when you are having any test drive events.

Photo courtesy of Zap of Concord.

I got another email from SmartUSA the other day and I’m still kind of a twitter that these mini-cars will soon be coming to the US soon, but not soon enough. I can feel my Sebring getting right on the verge of a nervous break down and I’m trying to see how long I can go without putting substantial moneys into it. I’m hoping to trade it in eventually for a Smart Car or perhaps a plug-in electric, if that ever comes to market. Chevy Volt? I’m looking in your direction.

Smart has added a pretty cool feature to show colors and styles together, which is fun for a Friday afternoon. Anyone know anyway I can get these guys to move any faster? I mean, I’m already #5 for “SmartUSA” in Google.

As if everyone didn’t already know, hybrids are popular. As gas once again does its’ $3 dance, Toyota and Honda published some sales stats for March and they can’t keep these things on the lot. EVERYTHING MUST GO! I’ll do my usual spiel and say US auto makers have to wake up. Chevy Volt? Smart Car? GM Concepts? Anyone? Bueller?

Hot on the heels of ZAP and SmartUSA (kind of) comes another entry into the electric car foray: NICE. These cute little boxes are completley electric and appear to have a lot going for them in terms of added incentives for city dwellers. The only problem is that they are only producing these things “across the pond” and as my friends at Gapers Block let me know, it’s quite a long swim from Chicago to London. As I continue to hope and pray, maybe one of these days the US automakers will produce an electric car or at least make a an effort at more hybrids. And for that matter, forget hybrid or electric, why not one that runs on a totally renewable resource? When do we get solar cars?

Just got an email today from SmartUSA saying they are allowing online reservations for their Smart fortwo. I went ahead and made one even though I am still heavily debating the whole fuel efficiency with this model (40 mpg), however it would be better than my current Chrysler Sebring at 24 mpg. The thing that intrigues me the most about this car is the parking as well as the looks it gets. You can park two or three of these things in the space normally reserved for a regular size car. To me that means I can stop b*tching about my current “boat situation” and park in some ridiculous spots on the street. Also, it doesn’t look like anything else, so I’m sure there will be some fun convos to be had about where I got it, how it functions, etc, which I can hopefully be an advocate for smaller, more fuel efficient cars instead of these monsters.

As of yet, I have not sat in one of these so the fact that I am 6′ 2” does not escape me, since the car is only two feet longer than I am tall. Hopefully, the dealers get them in soon and I make that decision in person.

Reserve yours today! 

You know that part in the movie Armageddon where the scientists come into the room with a bunch of wacky ideas on how to destroy/divert the comet headed towards earth, well this is pretty much the climate change equivalent:

Read more here

I like the ones where we have a dust cloud surrounding the sun, because, we shouldn’t change our habits on earth, we should just block out the sun. That makes far more sense to me. Or the one with sulfur in the atmosphere, sure, let’s just make our planet into FartWorld.

These ideas were from Nobel prize winning scientists? How about not relying on fossil fuels for everything? Could that help?

Happy Valentine’s Day