Closing in on what promises to be an historic weekend at the
Alt Car Expo. Do you know what part you will play in this event?
Read below to see what you can do.
We just passed 500 names on our mailing list with the addition of the
people from the DVD release party for Who Killed the Electric Car
– thanks Plug in America for all that you do.
Best Russell Sydney
310-450-7419
In this Sustainable Transportation Club Newsletter:
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Community based action
BICYCLE RALLY is on for the ALT CAR EXPO
Cyclist are checking in and you can
still help put it over the top
this FRIDAY Dec 8th
You can still sign up to volunteer for the Alt Car Expo Dec 9-10
The Club is being asked to run the ride and drive for two wheelers.
Remind all your friends about the Expo this week
Building the buzz is still
happening – an email to send out is at the
end of the newsletter. (enough said – no discussion below)
Outreach and Education
Web site for bicycle events http://www.bikeboom.com
This is a calendar of bike events around town –enough said
no further info below
(thanks to Scott Sing)
Alt Car Expo Speaker Update: Sherry Boschert author of
Plug-in Hybrids: The Cars that Will Recharge America
One member wants global “no-car days”
Getting your Sustainable Ride
Electric Motor Scooters and Cars on the Westside
New Dealers in town
Batteries for EV’s - Amp Hours are not all created equal
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
You can find the subject you want by looking for the separator bars
with the row of XXXXX’s in this document.
Please send any relevant information for inclusion in this
newsletter.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Community based action
BICYCLE RALLY is on for the ALT CAR EXPO
Cyclist are checking in and you can
still help put it over the top
this FRIDAY Dec 8th
The bike riders will definitely be there. The numbers will depend on how
many people are able to get off work. You can be one of the riders that
turns this from a good event for bicycles to a great one.
WHO: Cyclists from various groups including
LA County Bicycle Coalition, C.I.C.L.E., SM Critical
Mass, “Cycle Santa Monica!”, various local Clubs and the
Sustainable Transport Club
WHAT: A high profile Bicycle Rally as part of a bigger rally
featuring the latest alternatives to gas powered cars
from the Alt Car Expo.
WHERE: The Santa Monica Pier to the Expo site at
Barker Hanger in Santa Monica Airport.
WHEN: Friday December 8th 2006
Press & Media Interviews/Photo sessions 10:15AM
Finish gathering and getting signs organized by 11:15
Start moving around 11:30
WHY: To let California know bicycles are a real transport alternative
- the media is invited and should show in force
Please RSVP if you can attend to:
electric@sustainabletransportclub.com
or call 310-450-7419 and leave a message
Or just show up
For more information on the Alt Car Expo please go to www.altcarexpo.com
Just so you know there will be a BIKE VALET at the Expo.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Outreach and Education
You can still sign up to volunteer for the Alt Car Expo Dec 9-10
The Club is being asked to run the ride and drive for two wheelers.
We are getting good responses to help with the Sustainable Transport Club
booth at the Expo We will feature an updated display of electric
bicycles and scooters as well as information about all the alternatives. We
will also be working to build our mailing list.
Then we have been asked to help run the Ride and Drive section for the
bikes and scooters for the two days. That sounds like a good way to
promote lightweight alternatives and you can help out. Spending a couple
of hours – particularly around lunchtime – would make a difference.
You can help at the booth or at the ride and drive so let us know which
you would like best. This is going to be a blast for anyone with a passion
for getting people out of their gas-guzzlers and out of the practice of
poisoning our air.
Please let us know what you can do to help– 310-450-7419 electric@sustainabletransportclub.com
Do you want to watch history being made or be part of making it happen?
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Outreach and Education
Alt Car Expo Speaker Update: Sherry Boschert author of
Plug-in Hybrids: The Cars that Will Recharge America
Thurs, Dec. 7 - Featured guest at LA Green Drinks at Duke's Hideaway
in the Culver Hotel, 9400 Culver Blvd., Culver City
Saturday., Dec. 9 – She will be speaking at 3 pm on the
Bookstore Stage at the Santa Monica Alternative Car
and Transportation Expo. See www.altcarexpo.org And
she will be around the Plug In America booth at the Expo
all weekend, Dec. 9-10.
Monday, Dec. 11 - Get this: she will be going back to
Gardena High School for the first time in 32 years, to
talk with the journalism class. That'll be a trip.
Tuesday, Dec. 12 - CANCELED Talk to Society of
Automotive Engineers at the Toyota Museum in Torrance
has been cancelled.
Please forward far and wide. Thanks,
(New Society Publishers, November 2006)
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Outreach and Education
One member wants global “no-car days”
Patricia Dotzler has been tossing around the idea of no car days. This has
included a proposal that UNESCO should sponsor global “no-car days”
every month. She writes: “We should also support the annual global no-
car day, held every September 22nd. I suggested that "no-car days" can be
a skillful means to accelerate awareness of global warming. I told them
that Plum Village and all of its monasteries have established weekly no-
car days, and that we are in the process of shifting to greener cars, as well
as working to reduce our carbon emissions by 50 percent. And I asked all
UNESCO delegates to do the same, to drive less, to drive more fuel-
efficient cars, to reduce their overall carbon emissions.”
These sound like worth goals for us all. What do you think about
promoting no car days?
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Getting your Sustainable Ride
Electric Motor Scooters and Cars on the Westside
New Dealers in town
The Veloworks bike shop in Santa Monica (3106 Lincoln Blvd south of
Ocean Park) has started carrying electric scooters. This is an easy place to
check out the Skueter brand bikes and they may carry others soon. Phone
Sukeun 310-584-9797.
LA Electric Cars is opening up a show room for the ZAP cars on the
corner of Abbot Kinney and Venice Blvd. in Venice. You can test ride
these three wheel wonders there. They ride well enough to be a good
commuter and local errand ride. They are faster than the NEV’s, which go
25 mph. The Zap car goes 40 mph and does a good job of keeping up with
traffic. They are priced right at just over $10K. Phone Dave 213-622-2401 or 310-210-3331
All these rides will be at the Expo and you can get a jump on the show by
testing these out before hand. They are also being displayed on the
Promenade based on reports from Cycle Santa Monica!
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Getting your Sustainable Ride
Batteries for EV’s - Amp Hours not all created equal
The last newsletter touched on how you can figure out the range to expect
from a given set of batteries. It would be nice to be able to use the
standard ratings on the batteries for this purpose. The rating that is most
readily available is the Amp Hour rating.
The testing done over the last year has made it clear that this is not the
case; at least this is not easily done. There has been enough testing done
with different batteries on the same motor and controller that we can
compare the results.
The motors used were 1500-watt brushless motors received from the same
manufacturer in the same shipment. The controllers were either in the
same shipment or from the same manufacturer in the same time period.
The bikes they were tested on included two virtually identical machines
and one that was about the same size and weight. This is not a perfect
comparison and the testing was not done under rigorous conditions but the
results should represent the basic pattern that would be found under better
testing conditions.
Here is what was found from the testing:
Amp Hr Range in Miles per
Rating Miles Amp Hr
Lithium 30 Ah 24 0.80
Silicon 38 Ah 30 0.79
Gel Cell 40 Ah 24 0.60
Dry Cell 26 Ah 16.5 0.63
These batteries fall into two groups in terms of miles per amp hour; those
with the results around 0.60 miles per amp hour and those with ratings
around 0.80.
One possible explanation for the difference is that there are two ways to
test amp hour ratings, a 10-hour test and a 20-hour test. The Dry cell is a
10-hour rate and the gel cell is 20-hour rate and yet they perform virtually
the same. It is not known what type of test is used on the silicon and
lithium batteries.
The dry cell and the gel cell are both based on lead-sulfuric acid chemistry
as far as can be determined. The Silicon batteries use lead with a low
sodium silicate electrolyte and the lithium batteries are a completely
different chemistry.
The bottom line is that these ratings are not enough to be able to tell the
range unless you know the battery types are the same and are rated using
the same test procedures.
This puts us back at the idea in the last newsletter about knowing how
many hours it takes to charge the batteries at given amperage. Even then
different types of batteries will have different rates of voltage drop as they
get drained and this will also affect your range.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Please sign up to receive this newsletter by going to
www.sustainabletransportclub.com or call 310-450-7419 or by
emailing to rsydney1@verizon.net
Anyone wishing to be removed from this mailing list just hit reply
and put the word remove at the top of your response.
This newsletter is produced by Speakers Press for the Sustainable
Transport Club. You are encouraged to contribute articles that
support developing sustainable transportation. Authors contribute
electronic first serial rights only and retain all other rights.
Copyright Speakers Press November 2006. All rights reserved.
You are authorized to electronically forward all or part provided
this copyright notice is included. Except as noted above.
E-MAIL TO COPY FOR YOUR FRIENDS
Dear
This email is to get you up to speed with what is going on with the
Sustainable transport activities that I talk about so much. The upcoming
Alt Car Expo will be a really good chance for you to see first hand what is
going on with this.
This is a great freebee so you might want to check it out (Yes that means
free admission but parking cars is $5). Here are the details:
About the ALTERNATIVE to CARs EXPO
WHO: Manufacturers, distributors, & activists for electric & human
powered vehicles from big to small, as well as vehicles that use
biodiesel, ethanol, LNG, CNG, hydrogen and fuel cells.
WHAT: An exposition featuring all the latest technology and
information about Sustainable Transportation alternatives to
gas powered cars
The event includes a chance to
RIDE and DRIVE in these vehicles
WHEN: December 8th – a rally from the Santa Monica Pier on Friday
December 9th and 10th (Saturday and Sunday
TIME: 9:00 AM to 4PM
WHERE: The Barker Hanger
3021 Airport Ave
Santa Monica Airport
Between Bundy and Walgrove
WHY: To show how to free ourselves from dependence on foreign oil
To stop poisoning our atmosphere and reduce Global Warming
Gasses
This should be lots of fun. Perhaps we could get together to car pool or
ride out bikes to the event – maybe we can catch lunch or brunch as well.
Best
Your Name Goes here
Counting down to the Alt Car Expo – It this weekend folks