Advocacy

After deliberating for a while Boulder has decided to let ebikes go pretty much
anywhere bicycles are allowed. The article mentions that ebikes will not be
allowed on "open space" trails which are dirt tracks meant mostly for hiking
and mountain biking. This is a very common-sense restriction. I wouldn't even
want to take an ebike on one of those trails.

Last week a NY Times writer, John Broder, wrote a piece about the Tesla Model S that made it look really bad. He took it on a long trip, from Washington D.C. to up-state Connecticut, intending to use the Supercharger network along the way to keep the car rolling.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/10/automobiles/stalled-on-the-ev-highway.html?pagewanted=1&_r=3&ref=automobiles&

It's been happening to me for so long that I'm used to it. The person approaching in the parking lot asking "is that electric?" It's even happened while driving or riding down the street - including one time when someone from three lanes over at a stop light was yelling "is that electric" -- "yes" -- "where did you buy it"? (that was a custom electric motorcycle conversion) -- "I built it" -- "can you build me one??!?" And, yes, that conversation was from three lanes away.

Anyway.. this has surely happened to everyone else here.

How do y'all handle this situation?

Yesterday I picked up an interesting book, Divorce Your Car! : Ending the Love Affair with the Automobile, so I'm thinking about this right now. Dave, I think the 'Circles' blog posting you made months ago fits very closely to this book. Most of the book goes over various strategies to decrease dependence on cars for getting around. I've tried most of the ideas..

The Blink Network just posted a PDF with sample notices an EV driver can put on electric cars that are blocking access to a charging station :- https://www.blinknetwork.com/drivingelectric

Like:

DrivingElectric.org is expected to launch this weekend in coordination with National Plug-in Day. The site is envisioned as a community for connecting "EV Curious" (prospective electric vehicle owners) with those who already own electric vehicles. I have become involved with the effort to launch the site ... FWIW. The following announcement was sent by Felix Kramer last week. It's possible at this time to join the website and kick the tires, but the official launch is this weekend.

According to this news blog focusing on Sheepshead Bay the NYPD has put out a flier with this text:

In an effort to ensure the safety of the motorists and pedestrians of New York City, the NYPD would like to advise citizens of the rules and regulations related to specific motorized devices.

The following motorized devices cannot be registered within New York State and therefore these devices cannot be operated on the highways, public streets or sidewalks of New York State.

It's really bugging me all the trashing being heaped upon the Chevy Volt. Originally when I learned of that car, I didn't like the idea, the gas engine is a compromise that offended my "100% pure electric vehicle" stance. But the more I write news articles about the Volt, the more I grow to like the pragmatic choice. In any case, there's a bunch of right wing extremists bashing the Chevy Volt with outrageous stories that are 100% false. It seems like they don't even care they're lying through their teeth.

I just received this action alert from the Sierra Club ... of course this is focused on U.S. people.

As I understand the idea, LEED credits are used to determine LEED ratings of a building. Usually (I think) that means whether the building uses non-toxic materials, or is well insulated, or whatever.

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