Tradition is Not a Business Model @electric_power

In Tradition is Not a Business Model, Jensen Beeler talks with the heads of Zero Motorcycles, Brammo, MotoCzysz and Mission Motors about the year’s breakthrough in EV and electric motorcycle markets. This is a fascinating read, four very considered interviews.

This is at Asphalt and Rubber- definitely a bookmark.

Nods to Electric Power for the tweet!

Stimulous money almost out. I can haz?

I love this site, Greentech Media. Apparently I missed my shot to get eleventy million dollas for my little project.

Stimulus Money for Energy Companies Going, Going…

Matt Rogers, Senior Advisor to Energy Secretary Steven Chu, says 85 percent of the selections for grants have been made.

snap!

New Speed Record- Lightning, 166.388 mph (or so)

From Zoomilife, this story- Lightning set the record at a recorded 166.388mph at the SCTA World Finals at the Bnneville Salt Flats.

Take a look at Aaron Frank’s blog on Motorcyclist, here, for the Bonneville Diary.

our FIRST place to sleep!

Thanks to Innkeepers Betty and Sebastien Lauzon, of the Desert Rose Bed and Breakfast, we have our first confirmed host! The Desert Rose is a “Green” B&B, committed to operating and supporting Green initiatives in the Hospitality industry.

Inn Details

“The Desert Rose offers world class luxury and amenities at an affordable small town price. Our quaint desert setting will give you the most authentic Arizona experience.

“We are very centrally located, only 15 miles from Sedona, 10 miles from Jerome, 16 miles from Cliff Castle Casino and Montezuma’s Castle, and no more than 10 miles from at least 3 wineries.”

Here’s some more on them…
Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/desertrosebandb
Twitter: http://twitter.com/desertrosebandb
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/desertrosebandb

Thanks folks, see you in the Spring!

Rechargeable Zinc-Air Batteries

I say again. WOW.

via physorg.com, the manufacturer’s site here- ReVolt Technology.

wow. just wow.

…not much to say about this one. Except of course, that second image is called BIKE_CHAINED_retouched.gif, so I’m guessing its just more BS.

Sorry guys. Done with this story.

Lesson Learned. Get picked up by the AP. Congrats! @shockingbarack

I remember once sitting in the studio of a very bright guy, talking about digital photography, my day job. I was voicing an opinion about something, and he responded, and I started to pick a point with him, then suddenly it occurred to me. If I keep my damn mouth shut and listen, I might actually learn something.

Well, yesterday the Brammo publicity stunt went national, and it did so via the Associated Press. And in the Politics section no less.

Schooled. Not too proud to admit it either.

(PS. Could it be that shockingbarack.com has blocked my tweets from the site? OH, the PAIN.)

my sig on the Shocking Barack bike!

THANKS ElectricKAT!

OK, I take it all back…

Brammo in DC- LA Times tells a little more of the story…

OK, according to this LA Times coverage, there’s a little more to the Brammo Shocking Barack agenda than we’ve heard.

After they arrived in Washington, the riders and Brammo CEO Craig Bramscher met Tuesday with officials from the Energy Department and with lawmakers, including their home state senators. Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., said Brammo, which employs 52 people at its southwestern Oregon plant, was poised to become an economic driver for the state.

The company is lobbying to extend an Energy Department grant program to include two-wheeled vehicles. It also wants to expand a 10-percent federal tax credit available to electric vehicle buyers under the economic stimulus law.

Now, I’m getting torn about this caper. There are a few things that really started eating at me… with this story, I’m wondering why we didn’t know about these meetings and the E.D. Grant program side of the story. I know Schiff got a haircut, I didn’t know there was lobbying going on. From the site and the tweets, it sounded like nobody got to talk to anyone… strange. Somehow this makes me feel cheap, and used… well. That’s not something unusual for me…

Here’s what’s bugging me.

First, OK, they’re retracing the trip of the CEOs in a big jet, for $4. Fine, but they flew two motorcycles in from Oregon with a crew of 6. Now, I could do the math if I didn’t hate math so much, but my guess is they’re spending more for the trip than the CEOs in their Gulfstream. OK, OK, I get the point, but this is really close to just plain spin. A budget of zero? I think not, and now you’ve squandered your most precious gift- my trust.

Next, am I really supposed to believe that they’re taking 3 weeks of a head engineer and a creative director’s time to do this trip and waddle around Washington ringing doorbells? If not, and from the story above it appears not, then why don’t they just dish and tell it? If so, then here’s my biggest concern. Did they really, truly believe that Washington DC is going to drop everything and meet them? That President Obama will walk out, at the drop of a hat, and help them sell their products? (“Sales event”, by the way, is what one contact they quoted called this…)

This just makes them look naive and unrealistic, and reinforces a lot of the impressions of what the EV industry is all about- either the ultra-rich who can afford a Tesla, or a bunch of dreamers who have no grasp on reality. There’s enough out there to fight, misconception-wise, about EVs without help. Sorry, guys, I’m just sayin.

Finally, and this is petty, I know, but jeesh. This is being touted as some holy grail, to bring a solution to America’s transportation and economic problems to the attention of Washington DC and the American People. Seriously, what this is is a publicity stunt, pure and simple, in the grand tradition of all publicity stunts, and it curiously coincides with the product release (this weekend, I believe) of the Enertia at Best Buy. It is a Sales event, not a political statement. Again. Cheap and used…

Want an interesting read? Read this Op/Ed piece by Frank Rich about Balloon Boy’s dad. He makes the point that during times of economic recession and depression, desperate publicity stunts start coming out of the woodwork. It really, really bothers me that this caper could even be close to being considered a publicity stunt by anyone. Especially by me…

Brammo? This was a great trip, and could have, if the cards were on the table, served us all in the EV community really powerfully, sorry for the pun. I just wish you’d called it what it is… Sales and Marketing, and left the high horse at home.

Funny, early on I got on the comments section of a blog supporting the effort. I still support it, and it’s been interesting to see how they’ve done things and how effective it’s been. Although they have only just over a thousand followers on Twitter, it looks like the national press is picking it up now, and who knows where it’s going to go… but I’d ask this. If it does go big, and you do get some press, then decide if you’re just releasing a product, or you’re carrying a bigger cross. And no, you can’t have it both ways.

Oh, one more thing, and this is clearly me being a bitch. “The first American Electric Motorcycle”? Now, granted Vectrix is a scooter, and was assembled in Poland I guess, but c’mon. Maybe it’s just because it’s a company down the road from me, in New Bedford, MA, but these guys have been around for a while, and did a great job, and are holding on by their fingernails. Now is the time to close ranks and support everyone, and Vectrix needs all of our support, from every quarter. It would serve Brammo well, as well as this industry, to give credit where credit is due.

site: @evchels – awesome EV blog!

Chelsea Sexton’s blog here.

Tweets here.

“…just a girl who plays with cars.” Indeed.

“Sexton, who first gained public notoriety in Chris Paine’s 2006 documentary, ‘Who Killed the Electric Car,” is the co-founder of Plug In America and is now leading The Lightning Rod Foundation.

“She has long been a outspoken advocate for electric vehicles ever since the days she worked for General Motors as an EV1 specialist whose job was to assist customers who leased the short-lived, two-seat electric car. She helped lead efforts to keep the car from being recalled and crushed, an exercise that ultimately failed, but not before bringing public attention to the fate of these innovative machines.”

I got me a lot of readin’ to do. Thanks, Chelsea!