Electric Bikes -N- Scooters Blog

Archive for May, 2007

I guess most Americans are too well off to care if the massive oil companies are taking advantage of them. According to a survey by Consumer Reports, only half of Americans say they want to sacrifice the size of their vehicles or the performance of the vehicle in order to get better fuel economy.

Here are the astonishing figures:

People willing to get a smaller vehicle to get better gas mileage = 52%

People willing to give up performance to get better gas mileage = 49%

People willing to take fewer amenities (power windows, steering etc.) fo better fuel economy = 45%
Now, the use of hydrogen and diesel is more expensive to use on their hybrid cars, but the mileage is far better and only 31% of the people surveyed would pay more to get one of these types of vehicles.

And a whopping 60% said that they were concerned about the environment.  Actually, that figure surprises me coinsidering the number of people I saw throwing garbage all over the place this past memorial day weekend. 

I guess there is even brighter news on the horizon, gas prices are expectred to rise again over the course of the summer.  If you match that along with the fact that our government wants to raise our taxes again, the future looks real bright.

I’m being sarcastic of course
 

The Mayor of New York City wants the city’s taxi cab fleet cleaned up. He has mandated that all of the Big Apple’s taxi’s be electric hybrids within the next 5 years.

He told the NBC TODAY show that these vehicles will emit less exhaust and run on much less fuel. He felt that the cabs were “belching” exhaust all over the city creating an unhealthy environment. He said that the new hybrid cabs are basically electric cars that are augmented by gas. The vehicles that they are using now get about 14 miles to the gallon while the new hybrids will get up to 36 miles to the gallon.

Hybrids are not new to the city that never sleeps. There are already about 400 hybrid electric cars running around the city. this will save the taxi companies about $10,000 a year.

The vehicles will come from predominantly Toyota and Lexus and other companies are sure to follow.

Now, can you imagine what would happen if a large amount of the population started riding electric bicycles and electric scooters ?

Saab has created a car that is both electric car and a gas car at the same time.  This vehicle has an electric motor that is placed in parallel with an internal combustion engine.  There are other similar cars on the market today like the Toyota Prius, which actually stores energy in batteries to be used when the car accelerates. 

Other car manufacturers are experimenting with this concept including one that uses bioethanol  (fuel made from crops) which  absorbs C02 that the car emits.  No matter what happens, with the rise in gas prices, people are going to slowly move toward other methods of fueling their vehicles.  Whether they use biofuels or they are simply electric vehicles.

The big oil companies have America over a barrel, no pun intended.  As I am sitting here writing this, I am listening to a debate on one of the major network news shows (controlled by oil company owners, no less) as to why so many refineries have shut down this year, driving up oil prices.  It seems that the oil companies, despite their vast wealth, have not been maintaining their refineries and in most cases have been shutting down for 40 days straight due to these problems.  My, isn’t that convenient?   It also comes as no surprise, that this series of events has materialized right before the summer vacation is to begin. Of course, the media that tells us all of this wonderful news is controlled by the major oil players, so when we hear all of this disinformation, it is usually coming from the very people that created the problem in the first place. 

Our government isn’t much help either.  Our President, an oil man himself, has issued very mild plans to get America moving away from fossil fuels.  So slow is

The most disturbing part of all of this is the fact that most Americans believe what they hear. Since I started work on my website, Electric Bikes –N- Scooters, I have become acutely aware of the fact that America is actually lagging behind in this area. This is the same country that put a man on the moon within 10 years of President Kennedy issuing a challenge to do so.  This is the same country that made computers a household item and then led a technological revolution that changed the entire world.  Yet, when it comes to moving away from oil as a source of fuel, we are told that it is a long-term change.  Once again, this is a very convenient situation for oil companies.

Our site, Electric Bikes n Scooters.com is dedicated to educating as many people as we can to the latest technologies available to them.  We would like to be considered as “alternative fuel activists” and see that America’s leadership pushes us to the forefront of this new frontier.  We want to see America, like China and

Unless there is a grass roots movement in America to fix this problem, the U.S. will continue to lag behind other more progressive countries.  Don’t expect politicians, that start running for reelection right after they take office, to help us.  Despite everything they tell you, the politicians are a big part of the oil cabal.  Their hands reach out and into the very deep pockets of the oil companies and there is no question about it.  Don’t expect the newscasters to do it either, they are also very well kept by the cabal.

What can you do?  Become involved. Change your lifestyle somewhat.  Quit watching American Idol long enough so that you can write or at least call your elected officials and in no uncertain terms, demand that they do something.  If you live close enough to a store, walk or ride a bike. (An electric bike or scooter would be great!)  Whatever you do, get involved!  Don’t sit back and expect the other guy to change things because he won’t.  (As a matter, of fact the other guy is probably waiting on you to do something.)  To sum it all up in an old saying, “If you keep doing what you’re doing, you’ll keep getting what you’re getting”, and that could be very expensive after awhile.

I just wrote a pretty good review of the DVD Who Killed the Electric Car? Today, as I was teaching my history class, my tenth graders and I watched most of the DVD together. I’m amazed at how smart those students were, because very quickly they understood how we, as Americans, are being taken advantage of every single day.

Who Killed the Electric Car? showed exactly how the oil companies and the car manufacturers prevented America from becoming a totally fossil free society. It showed that those in power lust after nothing but greed and they will stop at nothing to maintain their powerbase and have their hands in the pockets of oil companies. This was a sad DVD watch because you could tell that the people in the automotive and oil industry as well as just about every politician in America was involved in taking every single electric car away from us. If you really want see an interesting DVD, one that isn’t there to entertain you, but to make you mad want to do something on a grassroots level, then Who Killed the Electric Car? is a video you will want to take a look at.

In case most of you don’t know, the U.S. Government has given a tax break to owners

of electric vehicles. Electric bicycles, electric scooters and small 4wheeled vehicles that run on electric power (called Neighborhood Electric Vehicles or NEVs) are the types of vehicles that the government is referring to. These are vehicles that have top speeds of 20 to 25 miles per hour. There are the same requirements in safety for these vehicles that regular 4 wheeled vehicles have- seat belts, headlights, brakes, etc.

The Internal Revenue Service offers a tax credit for using these types of vehicles. The IRS even has its own special tax form for e-bikes, e-scooters and electric cars that meet the IRS guidelines for electric transportation. If you would like to obtain a copy of this tax form (IRS 8834) you can go to the IRS Web site and download the PDF file. Also, the IRS has a listing of the guidelines for these types of electric transportation on their site as well.

The growth of electric bicycles and scooters in China is unprecedented in world history. Since 1995 the number of electric bikes and scooters in China has grown from 40,000 bikes being produced and sold to 10 million in the year 2005. This figure is pretty incredible when you consider the production and sales of cars in China is somewhere around four and a half million. There have been extensive studies as to why electric bikes and electric scooters are being so embraced by the Chinese. It would seem to me, that China is not afraid to make sacrifices and to bravely explore newer technologies and implementing them into the infrastructure. One of the reasons for the dramatic rise in Chinese consumption of e-bikes e scooters is of the advent of new battery technology. Newer batteries do not require liquids in them and therefore they are lighter and to last longer.

Also, another reason why the Chinese have been able to purchase electric bicycles and electric scooters more is because of newer technology in electric motors as well. With newer, brushless electric motors there is less maintenance and longer life of the motor. Also, the new brushless motors have more power.

Due to the fact that electric scooters and electric bicycles are being produced in record numbers, the prices of these items has dropped considerably, making it very easy for the average Chinese to afford this type of travel.

A couple of the reasons factor in and we may see this in America, but the Chinese have been forced to pay high gas prices. Therefore, the Chinese have increased their infrastructure with incorporating more electrical power. Since they have done this, electricity is much cheaper than gasoline and therefore a much wiser choice would be to buy and electric vehicle.

Environmentally, because of the fact that many Chinese cities and towns are very crowded there tends to be a lot of exhaust from gasoline powered vehicles. The Chinese have made it easier for electrical vehicles to operate in these situations and they have reduced the allowance of people who are driving gasoline powered vehicles. The pollution in the cities and towns were so bad that sometimes Chinese policemen had to wear gas masks and therefore any reduction in gasoline vehicles is seen as a big plus in Chinese cities.

We only pray that America will follow China’s lead and pick up with newer technologies and ideas in the world of electric powered vehicles.

A company in California called WestStart is really pushing to get alternative fueled cars a jump, has come out with a great web Site and concept called Clean Car Maps.  basically, you can go to this site, and select the type of electric vehicle or alternative vehicle  that you drive and then the site will  direct you to all of the fueling stations that have the type of car you drive.  I hope that some of these stations can work for electric scooters as well.    If you go to the WestStart Web site you will see all sorts of great information and ideas for alternative fueled vehicles.  There is also a rebate program in california for electric bicycles as well.  Check out all of the exciting info here:

One of the biggest arguments against using electric vehicles like electric scooters, electric cars, electric bikes or any other method of electric travel is the argument that it takes almost 6 to 8 hours to power up. Well, in case you didn’t know this, those big ramps that the airports use to move back and forth on aircraft all day are powered by electricity. Now, those are very powerful and heavy pieces of machinery and they need to be powered fast. Guess how much time it takes to power a large piece of machinery like that? Just a few minutes thanks to an incredible company named e-Tec. not only can this company produce chargers that can fire up the ramps at the airports but they have chargers that can charge up most electric vehicles in minutes too! E-tec has what they call a fast charge system that can power up an electric vehicle in just minutes. The can install a station just about anywhere too because underground gas tanks are not needed Check out E-Tec at this link!

10 years in the making and ready to roll the Vectrix is an electric motorbike that is equivalent empowers size to a 400 CC scooter. This is going to prove to be one of the most advanced electric scooter’s on the market today. Even though the large powerful battery that the scooter carries is rather heavy, the vehicle has a very low center of gravity and this makes handling of the scooter very easy.

The top speed of the Vectrix electric scooter is 62 mph and even though that is nothing new to some of the cream of the crop electric scooters, the Vectrix, with its futuristic look and near silent electric motor will definitely surprise people at across walks and turn a few heads.

The Vectrix is very easy to recharge and it has a three pin socket which will only take two hours to charge. The battery will give you somewhere around 70 mi. of riding pleasure.

About the only drawback some people see with the Vectrix is its price. The Vectrix will run you approximately $14,000. However, if you are looking for a beautiful vehicle in the maxi-scooter range that saves you money in the long run and provides you with endless riding fun, then the Vectrix is exactly what you are looking for in an electric scooter. To take a look at the Vectrix, please click on this link. VECTRIX