E-Car Alternatives

Due to the response to our E-Car roundup we’ve included the cars everyone said we were missing… A lot of you seem very excited about the “smart” cars but i just don’t get it. Go the traditional econo car route and you’ll be a lot happier.

Smart ForTwo Passion – $14,000 smart_fortwo.jpg

  • Gas (econo)
  • 70 HP
  • 0-60 in 12.8 seconds
  • 90 mph top speed
  • 33-41 mpg*
  • 2 seater
  • 1/2 sized

The Smart ForTwo claims it gets 33/41 mpg but I believe that’s based on the “pure” model that doesn’t have an AC or radio. Real world testing shows a 32 mpg average*. Which isn’t bad but it certainly isn’t that good considering how ugly this car is or that it only sports a 3 cylinder engine. If you like the Jetsons buy this car. If you want to carry around more than your man purse – look elsewhere.

Why is this car such a rage in Europe then you ask? Because European countries are cute little places that lack -um- space. The Smart ForTwo is 1/2 sized. Meaning it can fit in the 1/2 spaces available in Europe. Here in vast America you don’t have to worry about how many scooters you’re displacing – and 1/2 sized spaces don’t exist. Seriously this car was design to save space – not the planet.

Honda Fit 09 – $14-20,000 fit1.jpg

  • Gas (econo)
  • 120 HP (up 11 from 08)
  • 28-34 mpg
  • 0-60 in 8.9 seconds
  • 4 seater

Winner of Car & Drivers 10 Best, the Fit hatchback is currently the econo-car with both the most fun and the most people & cargo capacity.

Splitting Molecules In The Den

So after hearing about it online and even seeing a HHO Booster working in real life on my good friend’s 4Runner – part of me still couldn’t believe that you could separate water molecules into its component gases so easily.

So I finally got around to grabbing two stainless steel light switch cover plates from Lowes on one of my many visits to the DIY paradise… And you know what? It works.

Using only the two cover plates electrically separated by a bit of styrofoam plate, a water bath with a bit of baking soda, and a couple D batteries I successfully split water in to hydrogen and oxygen. The funny thing is since I didn’t “condition” my plates (get whatever coating must be on them) the gas bubbles all formed along the edge of the plates. But still very cool.

So Hydroxy or HHO is not a scam it actually works. Well at least the water to gas splitting part – wither it will increase gas mileage or usher in a new era remains to be seen.

Crazy Ants Cousin Attacks Texas

Remember this the next time customs is annoying you at the border…

DALLAS – In what sounds like a really low-budget horror film, voracious swarming ants that apparently arrived in Texas aboard a cargo ship are invading homes and yards across the Houston area, shorting out electrical boxes and messing up computers.

The hairy, reddish-brown creatures are known as “crazy rasberry ants” – crazy, because they wander erratically instead of marching in regimented lines, and “rasberry” after Tom Rasberry, an exterminator who did battle against them early on…

The newly recognized species is believed to have arrived in a cargo shipment through the port of Houston. Scientists are not sure exactly where the ants came from, but their cousins, commonly called crazy ants, are found in the Southeast and the Caribbean…

The good news? They eat fire ants, the stinging red terrors of Texas summers.

But the ants also like to suck the sweet juices from plants, feed on such beneficial insects as ladybugs, and eat the hatchlings of a small, endangered type of grouse known as the Attwater prairie chicken.

They also bite humans, though not with a stinger like fire ants.

Worse, they, like some other species of ants, are attracted to electrical equipment, for reasons that are not well understood by scientists.

They have ruined pumps at sewage pumping stations, fouled computers and at least one homeowner’s gas meter, and caused fire alarms to malfunction. They have been spotted at NASA’s Johnson Space Center and close to Hobby Airport, though they haven’t caused any major problems there yet.

Exterminators say calls from frustrated homeowners and businesses are increasing because the ants – which are starting to emerge by the billions with the onset of the warm, humid season – appear to be resistant to over-the-counter ant killers…

It’s not enough just to kill the queen. Experts say each colony has multiple queens that have to be taken out.

At the same time, the ants aren’t taking the bait usually left out in traps, according to exterminators, who want the Environmental Protection Agency to loosen restrictions on the use of more powerful pesticides.

And when you do kill these ants, the survivors turn it to their advantage: They pile up the dead, sometimes using them as a bridge to cross safely over surfaces treated with pesticide…

But don’t worry the state government and the EPA are working to stop the ants… I’m sure they’ll do a much better job than they did with the fire ants moving in from Mexico.

E-Car Roundup

So as gas climbs to $4 and beyond, suddenly there seems to be a host of companies rushing to the rescue with their enviro-friendly car. So much so that I thought I would assemble them into one place for easy shopping. Interestingly many of these cars are not a friendly to your pocketbook as they are mother Earth.

Tesla Roadster – $109,000 telsa-roadster.jpg

  • Fully electric
  • 0-60 in 3.9 seconds
  • 125 mph (limited) top speed
  • 220 mile range
  • 2 seater

Tesla just opened a dealership in LA, but there is currently a 1000 vehicle waiting list since production was slowed due to transmission problems. Full production should be back up in December with the backlog cleared up by Spring.

Fisker Karma – $80,000 fisker-karma-electric-hybrid.jpg

  • Mostly electric
  • 0-6 in < 6 seconds
  • 125+ mph top speed
  • 50 mile electric only range
  • 100-650 mile hybrid mode range*
  • 4 seater
  • External speakers make sports car sounds when in electric mode

*The claims for both the range on gas and even the gas tank size are all over the place online. The lack of info regarding this on the company web site makes me believe the truth is on the low side of the speculation.

Preproduction models have been sold but regular production models won’t arrive until mid-2010.

Think City – $25,000 think-city.JPG

  • Fully electric
  • 65 mph top speed
  • 110 mile range
  • 4 seater

Goes on sale 2009 in the US

Green Vehicles Traic – $20,000 triac-rear-three-quarter.jpg

  • Fully electric
  • 80 mph top speed
  • 100 mile range
  • 2 Seater

Available “now” according to the company. Expect supplies to be limited until the company can get a full production line moving.

UPDATE: Green Vehicles are supposed to start shipping this July.

Toyota Prius 3rd Gen – $20-29,000 prius-ver3-concept.jpg

  • Hybrid
  • 160 HP (up 17 from 08)
  • 50-55 mpg
  • 0-60 in 12 seconds*
  • 99 mph top speed*
  • 4 seater

*08 Model specs

HTC Diamond – iPhone Killer?

This summer should be a hot time for slick phones. The 3G iPhone is due out – hopefully with some additional tweaks. Also the HTC Diamond is getting launched. The Diamond is the successor to the Touch – the closest a windows mobile phone could come to an iPhone.

With a much improved user interface, an accelerometer, and a size that will make iPhone owners jealous – things should get interesting. Below are some comparison shots.

diamondvsiphone2.jpg diamondvsiphone3.jpg

diamondvsiphone.jpg diamondvsiphone4.jpg