I am a little slow sometimes. Okay, a lot slow. I spotted an eBox at the SF Auto Show. I thought to myself, “This car sure looks like something to me.” Duh…it’s a modified 5-speed Scion xB wagon.

The way it works is after buying a Scion for $15K “engineers will remove the internal combustion engine and related components, and install AC Propulsion’s electric drive and battery system composed of more than 5,000 small cells.” The cost of the conversion is $55K. At that price, we wonder why people aren’t knocking down the doors.

I wonder how much it’d cost to make the car from scratch? Why can’t we be Earth-friendly without breaking the bank?

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Talk about survival of the fittest? There is one Koala in Australia that took on a car, got his head stuck in the grill and still came out a survivor. Could he be on television? A car hit the 8-years old bear at high speed, the bear got his head stuck in the grill of the car and went for a ride for 12km (7.4 miles). We’re thinking he lost a few years while zoom zoom zooming down the road. Still he’s alive.

“To have him survive and virtually unscathed is quite miraculous,” Australian Wildlife Hospital spokeswoman Carolyn Beaton said.

It’s the season for koalas to be on the move and drivers down under are being asked to drive with particular caution when in koala habitat areas. The bear, now nicknamed “Ely ‘Lucky’ Grills” was freed with a pair of scissors after hanging on with one arm and his head stuck. When the driver stopped at a railway station, he was cut loose.

Lucky, who might be better nicknamed Look-before-you-cross-the-road is recovering in a hospital. “Whilst Lucky was in shock, he quickly recovered and was nearly better after a couple of hours rest and a feed,” she said.

India’s Tata Motors wants to release the ‘Nano’ car this year. The price tag – 100,000 rupees or around $2,000. There are, however,

three obstacles that must be overcome.

1. construction costs  are nearly double what they were in 2006 when the car was first announced.

2. prices for materials for the car have risen comparably

3. the Indian government’s higher interest rates.

Tata Motors has already invested 20 billion ruppees, 3 billion more than it had planned just to build the factory. One unforeseen problem was flooding during the monsoon season! Still, trial production is expected this month or next and the car’s release is planned for October of this year.

Still, there is the problem of increased material prices, and even Tata subsidizes those costs, it may not be enough to keep the price down. Interest rates on the car for buyers wanting to switch from their motorbikes to a four-wheeler are expected to be around 17-18%. Imagine if they were using a credit card!

Even with all the obstacles, Tata Group is pushing ahead to provide safe vehicles for low-income families to use up all the rest of the world’s fossil fuels in a much shorter time span. The good news is that once all the fossil fuels have been used, we will have come up with an alternative.

So, why are we waiting until then?

Japanese policemen will be saving us from bad guys and saving the planet’s resources at the same time. Well, at least they will be doing the second. The truth is, Japanese police have never been too good at catching the bad guys.

Mitsubishi Motors Corp. will supply new vehicles, the Mitsubishi MiEV, to Japanese in Kanagawa prefecture, home to Yokohama. The electric car has a top speed of 130 kph and can travel 160km on a charge.

The mini patrol car won’t need much speed, however, because it will be used to track illegally parked cars. How fast do you need to go to do that?

source

BMW may not be targeting environmentalists with their new Electric Mini but we’re really excited even though only 500 units will be produced. Chances are that you’re not going to buy one because rumors already say 490 of these models have already been leased to selected customers.

Destined for California only (hear that Bill? a test drive?) the new Mini EV will help meet the the zero-emissions vehicle mandate that requires automakers to build 7,500 non-polluting cars by 2014. It will be built in BMW’s factory in England and then sent to Munich to get the electric drivetrain installed.

“This step will allow the BMW Group to gain an initial knowledge of how mobility can be achieved efficiently using purely electrically powered vehicles,” Dr. Norbert Reithofer, chairman of BMW’s board of management, says. “Our task here is to combine the ultimate driving experience with an efficient electrified drive with practically no emissions.”

Biggest drawback I see right now is that they don’t go mainstream with it, but I suppose the Germans want to test the market, before making the investment. Would you buy one? I know I would!

Wired

I can think of a couple of hundred reasons to drive a car instead of walk, bike, or inline skate.

Pollution, smution…

In Madrid, Spain, protesters stripped down and rode naked on bicycles to protest against the expansion of automobile use instead of riding a bike.

I’m only seeing the backside in these pix, but from what I do see, I am not that interested in what’s up front.

But, then again, I’d like to get a talking to from some of these protesters.

In the meantime, I am somewhat inclined to keep driving depending on who might ride naked to try and stop me.