World's first high-speed all-electric sport utility truck to be launched by Phoenix Motorcars

Earth-friendly, energy-efficient vehicles that produce zero emissions seem to be from a dream of the future. But several companies are already well on their way to introducing such vehicles in North America and around the world. Recently, more than 400 environmentalists, investors and celebrities gathered for the unveiling and induction of the only five-passenger, all-electric, freeway-speed sport utility trucks at Los Angeles' famed Peterson Automotive Museum, and there, they nabbed a sneak peak at the newest electric automobile soon to be launched: The Phoenix Motorcars "SUT" or sport-utility truck.

These new SUT vehicles will be made available by Phoenix Motorcars (www.phoenixmotorcars.com) for full release in 2008, but if you are lucky enough to live in California, a limited number of vehicles will be released to selected consumers in late 2007.

Phoenix Motorcars' SUT is an all-electric, sport-utility truck with a top speed of 95 miles per hour. It's a zero-emissions vehicle with no tailpipe or evaporative emissions, no emissions from gasoline refining or sales, and no onboard emission-control systems. Like other electric cars under development, this model can accelerate with great speed, from 0-60 mph in 10 seconds. However, performance electric cars from other companies like Tesla Motors can go from 0-60 mph in a whiplash-inducing 4 seconds.

According to the website for Phoenix Motorcars, the company "manufactures zero-emission, freeway-speed fleet vehicles. It is an early leader in the mass production of full-function, green electric trucks and SUVs for commercial fleet use." The trucks can drive roughly 130 miles before needing to recharge, but the company is currently working on an expansion pack that would extend the range to 250 miles.

Charge me up!

The question on everyone's mind about this vehicle is: how do you charge the battery? It's accomplished with an onboard 6.6kW charger that plugs into a 220V wall socket. The battery operates in cold and hot weather and is expected to last more than 12 years. It only costs about a $3.00 to charge the battery, and it takes about six hours to charge. (A range of 130 miles for $3.00 worth of electricity is quite a bargain, considering it would cost about $30.00 or more in gasoline to go the same distance...)

The six hour charging time is typical for electric vehicles. The power is supplied through your household current, so the electricity could be generated by coal, solar, wind, hydro, and nuclear sources, depending on what your electric utility company uses. Off-board charging can be accomplished with a special charger in as little as 10 minutes, and a company called GreenIt is planning the construction of rapid-charging stations for electric cars.

Phoenix Motors is generating a lot of interest from consumers, and may start selling vehicles to the general public in the next two years. Actor and environmental activist Ed Begley, Jr., has recently purchased one and sees it as the car of the future. "This electric vehicle is rising from the ashes of the failed electric car industry," said Ed Begley, Jr. "This is a cool vehicle. It is fast, green and attractive."

Phoenix Motors acknowledged their supporter, saying they were "so appreciative to Ed Begley for his tireless efforts in helping to create awareness, not only of this vehicle, but of the larger environmental issues that all of us face," said Dan Elliott, CEO of Phoenix Motorcars. "We're equally as excited to be working with a team of brilliant partners, Altairnano Technologies, Boshart Engineering and UQM Technologies."

The cars will sell for about $45,000 -- not a bad price when compared to around $85,000 from some other electric car competitors.

The Phoenix Motorcars vision

Phoenix Motorcars started out as an alternative fuel research company that planned to design commercial products. They hope to eventually produce 20,000 electric vehicles a year, but for now will have to settle with the 500 currently slated for the first production run. The Ontario, California vehicle manufacturer hopes to expand production to more than 6,000 in 2008.

According to Byron Bliss, Vice-President of Sales, Phoenix Motorcars plans to sell fleets of vehicles to school districts and businesses, government agencies and companies with large groups of outside representatives.

The 2007 market strategy of Phoenix Motorcars targets operators of fleet vehicles, such as public utilities, public transportation providers, and delivery services. This market presents a significant opportunity for an increasing number of fleet operators now seeking freeway-capable, zero-emission, all-electric vehicles. Some government agencies
currently use plug-in hybrids.

The car company is planning to follow up the truck model next year with a sport-utility vehicle (SUV) that can go 250 miles on a single charge. The price to consumers will remain about the same. The cost to the environment, however, represents a substantial improvement over any vehicle using a combustion engine. Clearly, if we are going to sustainably live on this planet while still retaining the luxury of personal transportation, we are going to have to shift to clean, green and energy-efficient vehicles. Phoenix Motorcars hopes to play a significant role in that future, and should they succeed, we will all share in the benefits.

New LED lighting technology embraced by consumers, Total Cost of Ownership saves money over incandescent, fluorescent bulbs

he launch of our new LED lights from EcoLEDs (www.EcoLEDs.com) is already proven to be a huge success. Thank you to all the customers who have purchased our new LED light bulbs from BetterLifeGoods (www.BetterLifeGoods.com). In the first 24 hours, the sales of these lights greatly exceeded our expectations.

The primary question that has emerged from conversations with potential customers concerns the perception that LED lights are very expensive. This article attempts to answer that question, as well as providing additional details on where these new LED lights can be successfully used around the home or office.

First, the price issue: LED lights are, indeed, far more expensive up front than incandescent lights or fluorescent lights. Our high-end 10-watt LED light bulb, for example, currently costs just under $100. It replaces an incandescent 100-watt light bulb that typically costs around $1. So at first, the 10-watt LED light seems to be $99 more expensive.

However, lights do not actually work unless they also consume electricity, and thus the real question about the cost of light bulbs must take into account the Total Cost of Ownership, or TCO. What is the TCO for producing 50,000 hours of light with a 100-watt incandescent bulb?

As it turns out, a 100-watt light bulb actually uses 101.5 watts of electricity. Over 50,000 hours (which would require replacing it 50 times with a new bulb), it will use 5,075 kilowatt-hours of electricity, costing approximately $500 (based on ten cents per kilowatt-hour). So a 100-watt light bulb actually costs you $500 to operate over 50,000 hours. On top of that, it produces a whopping 10,150 pounds of carbon dioxide emissions which directly promote global warming and climate change. Mercury is also released into the atmosphere from all the energy usage, thanks to the fact that much of the electricity consumed in the world comes from coal-fired power plants that emit toxic mercury into the air.

So the Total Cost of Ownership for a 100-watt light bulb is well over $500 for producing 50,000 hours of light.

In contrast, what is the Total Cost of Ownership for our 10-watt EcoLEDs light bulb? The LED light itself costs about $100 up front. It uses 10.8 watts of electricity, which adds up to 540 kilowatt-hours over 50,000 hours. That's about $54 in electricity, vs. the $500 needed to power the 100-watt bulb mentioned above. Plus, our 10-watt LED light reduces CO2 emissions by 9,000 pounds, producing only about 1,080 pounds of CO2 instead of the 10,150 pounds produced from a 100-watt incandescent bulb.

The Total Cost of Ownership for a 10-watt LED light bulb is $100 for the light, and $54 in electricity for producing 50,000 hours of light.

Thus, the LED light is $154 vs. $550 or so (electricity + the cost of replacement bulbs) for incandescent lights.

Which brings us to the question: How much would you rather pay for 50,000 hours of light? $154 or $550? It makes obvious financial sense to pay only $154, especially when you're also protecting the environment at the same time.

Why LED lights cost more up front

Overall, LED lights are far less expensive to own and operate than incandescent lights. Still, many consumers are frustrated at the up-front cost. It's tough to fit a $100 light bulb into a tight budget. I share that concern, and I wish these lights were a lot less expensive to manufacture, but the fact is that quality LED components cost more. The copper, aluminum alloys and lenses that go into our LED lights are quality components, not cheap disposable parts like you normally find in an incandescent light. Building a quality LED light costs a lot more money than building a cheap light that you toss into landfill after a thousand hours of wasting electricity before burning out.

LED component prices are falling each year, however, and the future will no doubt bring more affordable LED lights to the marketplace. We anticipate that retail prices will fall 10 percent per year for quality LED lights, and we will of course work to bring down the prices of our own LED lights as quickly as we can. A less expensive light means increased affordability by a greater number of consumers, and that means a greater impact on saving energy and halting global warming. If we could sell these lights for one dollar and not go broke doing so, you can bet we'd be selling them for that dollar!

LED lights will never be as cheap as incandescent light bulbs. However, they will always pay you back in significant savings over time. And as electricity costs continue to rise, LED lighting makes even more economic sense.

As a consumer, you see, you're really buying hours of light, not just the bulbs that produce the light. The cost of the bulb is the smallest part of the equation. You'll find a similar situation with inkjet printers and inkjet cartridges. The printer might only cost $49 up front, but you might spend several hundred dollars in ink cartridges in a single year in order to operate the printer. Thus, the Total Cost of Ownership of the inkjet printer must take into the account the cost of the ink.

Uses for LED lights

Many consumers are wondering where they can use LED lights around their homes or businesses. Can they replace lights in room lamps? Ceiling fans? Desk lamps? Recessed lights?

To answer this question, remember that LED lights are really spotlights. They shine light in a specific direction with a certain beam angle. A wide beam angle shines light wider from side to side, while a narrow beam angle shines light in a narrow cone with extreme brightness. Thus, LED lights do NOT shine light in all directions like a typical incandescent light. This makes them the wrong choice for room lamps with lampshades or any light socket requiring "ambient" light in all directions.

What LED lights are great at is shining light straight down onto a surface or straight up to bounce off a ceiling (like a Torchiere light setup). Our high-end LED lights are fantastic in desk lamps, as they offer extreme brightness and outstanding light clarity that's useful for any work or study situation. They're also perfect for recessed lighting and down lights. I'm actually writing this article with the help of a 10-watt LED light in a small desk lamp that's aimed at my wall. It bounces white light across the entire room, illuminating my keyboard and computer. (It also stays cool enough to touch, since it doesn't waste much electricity as excess heat.)

LED lights are also great for porch lights, garages, sheds or any application where you need to leave the light on all night. That's because LED lights will use only 1/10th the electricity of incandescent bulbs, saving you big dollars on electricity. Even our 3-watt LED light is sufficient for nighttime use where you just want to "leave the light on" around your property.

All of our LED lights produce no UV radiation or IR radiation, making them perfect for use in museums, hospitals, offices or areas where UV radiation might degrade the surroundings (such as illuminating valuable artwork or photographs). The fact that they run remarkably cool also means they greatly reduce the fire hazard normally associated with the use of lights.

LED lights will make incandescent and fluorescent lights obsolete

I will offer a prediction right here: LED lights will render both incandescent light bulbs AND compact fluorescent lights obsolete. Many countries are already banning incandescent lights, and four U.S. states are considering their ban. Compact fluorescent lights will eventually be abandoned as the public learns the truth about their mercury content. Only LED lights offer energy efficiency and environmental friendliness at the same time. That's why LED lighting technology represents the future for both residential and commercial lighting.

Philips says it will even stop manufacturing incandescent lights by 2016, but most consumers will have switched long before then. Within a few years, only the most financially-ignorant consumers will even consider using incandescent light bulbs. Burning a light that wastes 95% of the electricity it consumes is sort of like driving a car that gets a fuel economy of one mile per gallon. No consumer in their right mind would continue to throw away their cash (and destroy the environment) when a sensible, efficient alternative is readily available.

And LED lights will get even brighter, better and less expensive in the coming years. Through EcoLEDs.com, I'm making an effort to bring these lights to eco-conscious consumers around the world. Within a few years, we hope to have lights exceeding 500 lumens of light output that will cost under $50 at retail. The trends are already in place, and U.S. LED component manufacturers are gearing up their factories for higher volumes.

LED components will follow price trends of PC components

The LED light industry today is much like the PC industry was in the 1980's. Remember what it cost you to buy a lousy 4.77mHz PC with a floppy disk drive and 64k of RAM in 1981? It was about four thousand dollars -- and it didn't even have color! I remember the first hard drives for Apple computers cost about five thousand dollars... and they only stored only 10 megabytes!

By comparison, you can now by a 4 gigabyte SD memory card for under a hundred bucks at retail! That's a massive reduction in cost as these electronics became cheaper to manufacture and widely accepted by consumers. LED components have been following a similar path. A single component that cost $10 today would have cost $1000 just a few years ago. And a few years from now, it might only cost 10 cents. Prices are falling by 50% a year on LED components, which means LED light bulbs will get increasingly affordable with each passing year.

Even right now, buying LED lights makes great economic sense. They pay you back in 1-2 years in electricity costs alone (depending on how much you pay for electricity), not to mention the benefits of protecting the environment from more CO2 and mercury emissions. That's an environmental cost that consumers rarely factor into their monthly electricity bill, but it's a very real cost associated with wasting electricity.

What is the value of preventing the release of 10,000 pounds of CO2 into the air? What is the value of preventing the release of a kilogram of mercury from a power plant? You see, nobody has really put a price figure on these things because polluting the environment continues to be seen by most American consumers and politicians as a revenue-neutral event when, in reality, it is a huge hidden cost against future economic productivity. Every gram of mercury and every pound of carbon dioxide released into the air places an unknown future cost on the national economy. With this in mind, consider the REAL cost of burning incandescent lights. It's not just what you waste in paying for electricity, it's also what future costs you indirectly impose upon the environment.

Do you get the big picture?

Understanding all this requires "big picture thinking," and sadly, the ability to see the big picture is sorely lacking among many consumers, businesses and lawmakers. Americans seem to be primarily focused on the short-term picture: How much can I save right now? Can I get this cheaper today at the expense of some future hidden burden that will have to be paid by someone else?

Canadians tend to be very well informed about the long-term implications of their present consumption decisions. In fact, many of the customers ordering our EcoLEDs lights are located in Canada. They understand the big picture and realize that paying more money right now for a technology that will save them hundreds of dollars in the long run (while saving the environment at the same time) makes instant sense.

Many Americans understand this, too, but due to our crumbling education system, even the ability to do the basic math calculations required to even understand the Total Cost of Ownership seems to be a rare skill. The vast majority of high school graduates in the United States cannot calculate a 15 percent restaurant tip in their heads. How on earth will they ever understand the Total Cost of Ownership concept for energy-efficient lighting?

I don't have an answer for that. Not everybody will get this. The big picture will only be grasped by some. The others will have to be dragged into the future, kicking and screaming about the government banning their incandescent light bulbs. But the smarter, better-informed consumers out there (like NewsTarget readers) get this right now, and they understand that LED lights make instant sense in terms of personal economics and planetary impact.

(Full disclosure: I am the founder of www.EcoLEDs.com which manufactures and sells LED light bulbs, and I have a financial stake in the commercial success of EcoLEDs. A portion of every sale provides financial support to the non-profit Consumer Wellness Center, where I volunteer as the executive director.)

Media giants want to criminalize personal copying of movie DVDs to portable electronic devices

With so many portable video devices emerging on the market these days, there's a growing question about intellectual property and whether or not it's appropriate to rip video to formats that will play on these devices. One question is, for example, is it appropriate for you to rip your DVDs to a format that will play on a portable video device such as the iPod or the PSP? The manufacturers who make these devices and the companies that own video content would much prefer that you never rip these movies into any other format. There's a profit motive behind that stance. They want you to buy every movie two, three or four times, once for every format. For example, you've probably purchased many videos in VHS format back in the days when VHS tapes were the only things available. You probably purchased some of those same movies again on DVD. So why do you have to buy the same movie twice?

Forcing customers to upgrade their movie collections to new media formats is a great revenue model for the movie studios because they have opportunities to sell the same content to viewers over and over again. As a consumer, I don't want to be caught in that. I think that if you buy a movie once, you should be able to view it on different devices. You are still the only person that has possession of that content, and as long as you don't pirate that content and sell it or give it to friends, it's fine. If it's just for personal use, I see absolutely nothing wrong with ripping the same movie to multiple devices.

I also think the same should be true with books. If you bought a book at a bookstore and you want to read it on your laptop computer, I see nothing wrong with scanning the book, digitizing the pages and loading them on your computer so you can read it on the road. In fact, I've done this many times. Of course I've never shared these files with anyone, and I would never think of selling them, so I am actually protecting the intellectual property by keeping it to myself.

Yet publishers think that is breaking the law, and movie property owners also think it's breaking the law if you rip movies to other formats. With the legislative influence of the RIAA and the MPAA, it may turn out that if you ever record a movie you'll be arrested as a movie pirate and charged with a felony. It goes back to the classic Sony VHS recorder lawsuits decades ago. In fact, if Sony had won those lawsuits, then all VHS recorders would have been outlawed and people recording TV shows on VHS tapes would have been charged with piracy.

In my opinion you are doing nothing wrong if you own a movie on DVD and rip it to other player formats such as PlayStation portable, iPod video, cell phone video, or any other video format. Of course, if you go out and rent movies, and then rip them, then you are in fact doing something wrong, because you don't own that movie, you're just renting it. When you return the movie for rental, you should delete the files. In other words, you should only have those alternate files for as long as you have paid for the right to be in possession of the DVD. I think it's also unethical to buy a DVD, rip it, and then sell the DVD, because that shows your only purpose in buying the DVD was to borrow the movie so you could rip it. To be consistent, if you sell a DVD that you've ripped to a file, you should delete the file once the DVD leaves your possession.

Personally, I have a DVD collection that is always growing. I both own and rip that content, so I can watch the movies I own on other electronic devices. That way I can buy movies like "Oceans Eleven," which I think is a great film, and I can watch "Oceans Eleven" on my home DVD player or take it with me on a PSP or an iRiver, PMP, or other portable media device. If I ever sell that movie on DVD, I will delete those files. That's the honest way to handle it as a consumer. I'm supporting the movie studios by buying the DVDs, but I'm also allowing myself to be able to watch that DVD on a number of different devices that I own.

If you want to rip movies to other devices, you'd better do it now, because movie studios are pressuring Congress to pass laws outlawing any analog recording devices. In other words, you could be a felon just for pressing record on your VCR. That's what movie studios actually want and that's what they're proposing in current legislation. They don't want you to be able to record anything. A tape recorder will turn you into a felon if those laws become reality, and of course, you'll never be able to rip video to anything without breaking the law.

The intellectual property philosophies of organizations like Sony BMG are not only wrong, but dangerous. They are big brother intellectual property policies, where these companies would even install secret spyware on your computer, which is what Sony BMG did to millions of users without their knowledge, to prevent you from copying their music, meanwhile exposing your computer to hacker attacks. That's history, that's already been done. That's the way Sony BMG treats customers, and if we leave intellectual property laws up to the media giants like Sony, we'll all be branded criminals sooner or later.

So bottom line: Rip all the movies you want. Just make sure you own the DVD first, and don't share those movie rips with friends. But to protect your rights, fight against DRM (Digital Rights Management) schemes that force consumers to buy the same content over and over again for every new device or media format that comes along.

Want to stay informed about the fight against DRM? See DefectiveByDesign.org.

Tesla Motors pioneers all-electric performance sports car

Just when you thought the electric car had been killed, Tesla Motors (www.teslamotors.com) has made its presence known as a newborn to the automobile market and as a provocative car company that develops and manufactures electric cars with a driving experience optimized for performance and handling. So far, the response has been strong with all eyes on the company's new Tesla Roadster.

Nothing seems to have prevented Tesla Motors from finding business success since the company was launched. The initial production run of the Tesla Roaster sold out in four months, and current reservations for the 2008 model year are on a first-come, first-served basis. Demand right now is high, considering that the company is doing such a small initial production run of the model, with an anticipated delivery date in Fall 2007.

Producing only one-tenth of the pollution of a normal gasoline-powered car, the new Tesla Roadster is six times as energy efficient as the best sports car and produces zero tailpipe emissions. Best of all, it gets the equivalent in energy of 135 miles to the gallon and goes from 0 to 60 mph in four seconds flat. Lotus Engineering, the acknowledged worldwide leader in the assembly of sports cars, developed the Tesla Roadster in their design studio and supplied the initial chassis, which was significantly modified later by Tesla Motors engineers.

While most electric cars prior to the Tesla Roadster could only go a maximum of 60 miles per charge, this model is more than just a commuter car and easily achieves 250 miles per charge. The instruments inside the car even indicate to the driver how many miles can be driven before it needs to be recharged. The dashboard tells you the correct time, tire pressure and even the fastest acceleration for the day. Still, until more cities and towns provide recharging outlets on the road, or at least near major districts of the city, this is not a car than can easily be driven cross-country.

The high energy density, lithium-ion batteries that power the Roadster use the same technology as laptops, cell phones and many other portable electronics. When the battery is fully charged, the Tesla Roadster stores the energy equivalent of about eight liters of gasoline - a very small amount of energy needed for a car that performs so extraordinarily. There is no internal combustion engine, only the battery unit that can be recharged easily from an electric power grid such as a standard plug-in wall outlet.

And the best thing about charging the battery is that there is never a need to worry about waiting for the battery pack to be fully discharged before recharging it, since the car can be charged for as long as you like whenever you have access to power. There are three ways to charge the vehicle. First, it has a built-in battery charging system that can basically plug into any electrical outlet. Also, the car will be shipped with a Home Charging Station that will need to be installed in your garage by a qualified electrician. This seems like it will be the quickest way to charge the battery, since the company suggests it will only take about 3.5 hours to complete.

One of the best things about using electricity to power your automobile is that this currency of energy can be generated from any source, including renewable energy sources like solar, wind, wave and hydro. If everyone owned a car like this one, Americans could very likely reduce our country's addiction to foreign oil and assist in reducing the problem of global warming. Soon to be on the road, it would seem that these are among the most environmentally friendly vehicles available.

The Tesla Roadster can be recharged using solar energy; with installation for this option provided at the customer's home by SolarCity, a partner of Tesla Motors. SolarCity (www.solarcity.com) is a provider of solar energy systems, delivering power to homes and businesses. This solar technology comes with a comprehensive suite of services: from design and installation through ongoing system monitoring.

Safety and performance are not lost with the Tesla Roadster

The Battery Safety Monitor responds to an emergency involving the condition of the car battery - in this case, by automatically disconnecting the battery pack from the vehicle and shutting down power to the car and to all electric cables in the car. It also is programmed to prevent overcharging in much the same way. The four-channel ABS system offers shorter stopping distances that give you full steering control with no lockup, and the side beams are positioned to provide extra safety to the exact area where you sit. With driver/passenger airbags and rollover protection, the Roadster would appear to be a safe car, but we are not currently aware of any safety crash testing results, and there aren't enough units on the road to get a full picture of real-world collision results.

Each battery has an approximate life of 100,000 miles, after which you will see gradual drops in performance. These batteries are classified as non-hazardous waste, safe for disposal in the normal municipal waste system. Tesla Motors says that reuse is a key part of its philosophy and has a goal to include the cost of recycling into the purchase price of each car. The tires are even recyclable when they are no longer of any use.

Because the Tesla Roadster produces no direct emissions, the emissions test is never needed. Since it meets all of the necessary Department of Transportation requirements for insurance and registration, it is ready to drive off the lot immediately, just like nearly any other car.

The Tesla Roadster seems to have impressive technological advances. For example, the car has no physical starter key. It has no ignition. It's virtually theft-proof. To start the car, you enter your PIN into the console, but without it, the car will not move, which makes hot-wiring no longer possible. Also, the car has no visible door handles - a discrete touch pad located in the car releases the latches electrically. The car also can be locked and unlocked using a remote key to control the VMS (Vehicle Management System), the car's main computer.

The company is so confident about the performance and longevity of its product that the first service done on the car is not expected to be required until after the first 100,000 miles. Aside from that, the only possible early service that should be needed is tire and brake inspection.

Limited service availability and high price tag could be obstacles for potential buyers

However, something that is not all that impressive: There will only be Tesla Motors Customer Care Centers in their five key markets (Northern California, Southern California, Chicago, New York and Florida), although more centers may be available in other cities sometime in the future. For now, those who live outside these available markets may still purchase a car, but the bill will include an $8,000 out-of-service area premium to cover the costs of transportation and servicing.

Tesla Motors recommends to the customer that all service be done through one of these centers. For customers who live within 60 miles of a Tesla care center, Tesla Motors will offer free pick-up and drop-off service. Even then, it seems very likely you will be without your car a much longer time than if you were able to simply take it into a regular local mechanic. If the electronic car trend catches on more, maybe mechanics will start to learn this new technology as well and integrate this level of servicing into their businesses - making it possible for electronic cars to be worked on by anyone.

Another imposing fact to consider: The cost of a 2008 Roadster will most likely be shockingly high, and it seems obvious that most people in this country will be unable to afford such a price tag - just less than $101,000 (fully loaded). Even a standard model without many of the extra features (including two-tone premium interior and a touch-screen navigation system with voice guidance) is still incredibly expensive at just less than $93,000. The price is comparable to most high-performance sports cars with similar features and capability.

Tesla Motors sets the performance bar high with an eye toward luxury

It seems the Tesla Motors has developed an idea - to create its first car model as a high-performance vehicle. This seems to be done in order to develop the "performance DNA" from which they can create other electric vehicles in the future. However, the only way the price tag is going down anytime soon is if more people develop an interest in electric cars and are willing to purchase them. This will create an efficient system of supply and demand for electric cars, more e-cars will be manufactured, and competition may arise from other e-car companies that join the movement to switch from gas to electricity.

Included with the Tesla Roadster are all of the basic features, like air-conditioning and power locks, as well as two heated sports seats with inflatable lumbar support, a leather-trimmed interior, and a Homelink universal transmitter that is compatible with garage, gate and home lighting/home security systems. The use of animal products in the leather-trimmed interior, however, makes you wonder if Tesla Motors has thought hard enough about the impact of cattle ranching on the environment. You can't really call a car "green" if it's made with leather.

The stereo system is made by Blaupunkt and comes with a single-disc CD player (a bit disappointing that it does not include a multi-disk player) and MP3 playback. An attached Apple dock connector also allows you to connect your iPod to the stereo. This not only charges the iPod but also gives you basic control over it using the controls on your stereo.

All cars can be customized with added features (on top of a great number of standard features already), making the Tesla Roadster live up to its name as a luxury vehicle. These include Bluetooth cellular phone integration, XM Satellite Radio, a touch-screen navigation system with voice guidance and a seven-speaker premium sound system tuned for the Tesla Roadster cockpit.

By the way, I have no financial relationship whatsoever with Tesla Motors. I am not affiliated with the company in any way, nor do I get paid by the company to review its products or write these articles. This is my own personal opinion about an environmentally friendly product that comes from a company I highly recommend. If you are a distributor with Tesla Motors, feel free to copy and use this article as an educational guide. You may print it, email it or post it to anyone as long as you include the URL (web address) of this article and give proper credit to the author.

So, is the Tesla Roadster a smart buy? The short answer would seem to be yes, but only if you could afford it. Luckily, more electric vehicle options are springing up, which may soon drive competition and provide a wider array of affordable alternatives. I would hope we all want to eventually live in a society that is no longer dependent on foreign oil, a society that is able to provide basic transportation needs with its own sources of power. Do we want to continue polluting our world and destroying our environment through the burning of fossil fuels? Driving an electric car helps eliminates such destructive dynamics, and the Tesla Roadster seems to be taking us all in the right direction.

Let's hope Toyota is paying attention, too, and is working on its own all-electric vehicle that we can all afford.

NiMH battery charger showdown: Maha Energy MH-C9000 WizardOne vs. La Crosse Technology BC-900 AlphaPower

If you're searching for high-end NiMH battery chargers, you'll find the number of contending products is few. Only two consumer-level battery chargers are competing for the top slot: the La Crosse Technology BC-900 AlphaPower Battery Charger and the Powerex MH-C9000 WizardOne battery charger. For this review, I purchased them both and conducted numerous tests over a period of several weeks. Ultimately, I liked the Powerex MH-C9000 so much that I decided to carry it on www.BetterLifeGoods.com , so keep that in mind as you read this review. Here's my critical look at both products:

The La Crosse BC-900 Battery Charger

The BC-900 offers four main modes:

• Charge: Charges the battery to full capacity.
• Discharge: Discharges the battery to empty.
• Refresh: Cycles the battery multiple times to restore better performance.
• Test: Determines the actual capacity of the battery in mAh.

If offers multiple safety features such as temperature sending, polarity detection and a way to determine if batteries are defective. Four independent channels allow you to charge batteries separately, and an LCD display shows you the status of each battery.

The features of the BC-900 sound very strong on paper, but in actually using the product, I found it to be extremely confusing, difficult to use and finicky. The display has no backlight, making it quite difficult to read, and the control buttons don't respond in a timely manner. Each time I inserted a battery, I ended up pressing the buttons several times to get the setting I wanted. Even worse, I soon learned that if you inserted a new battery too quickly after selecting settings for another battery, all your settings for the previous battery would disappear in a flash, and the charger would revert to "default" charging.

As a result, actually getting the BC-900 to analyze four batteries in a row was frustrating and tedious. Here's what I found works: 1) Insert a battery in slot 1. 2) Click the MODE button until you get the TEST feature to appear. 3) Keep clicking the CURRENT button until you get a higher current like 250mA (leaving it on 100mA, the default, can result in the test mode taking days to complete). 4) Now WAIT for the display to stop flashing before you insert a second battery. This can take about eight seconds. If you insert a second battery before the display stops flashing, then all the settings you just configured for the first battery will be wiped out.

Once the flashing stops, insert the second battery and repeat this process. If you manage to get that to work, repeat for batteries 3 and 4. Keep in mind that during this whole process, you only have a few seconds to select the settings for a new battery that's been inserted. If you take too long, the battery reverts to default settings and you have to pull it out and start over. Complicating this whole thing is that bizarre limitation that if you select 100mA for a battery in slot 1, the BC-900 will not let you select a higher current for slot 2, so you have to plan the charging currents for your batteries in advance, then sort your batteries from highest to lowest charge currents, and insert them from left to right.

Needless to say, this whole process is frustrating enough to make you want to throw the BC-900 against the wall and smash it into a thousand tiny pieces. It is by far the most frustrating piece of battery-related electronics I've ever owned. Sometimes, I wonder if the person who designed it had any training at all in basic user interface design. Given that most consumers can hardly manage to set the time and date on their camcorder, I think this product is far too complex for the average consumer to figure out. It left me downright angry at the La Crosse company for putting out what I considered to be such a lousy product.

For many months, this was the only consumer-level battery charger I could find that offered a test / analyze mode. But in the Spring of 2007, Maha Energy released the WizardOne MH-C9000, which was a breath of fresh air compared to the La Crosse BC-900.

The Maha Energy WizardOne MH-C9000 NiMH battery charger

In contrast to the BC-900 from La Crosse, the Maha Energy WizardOne MH-C9000 is a dream to use! The display is astonishingly bright (really, it will blow your mind when you see it), the controls are intuitive, and the buttons actually respond like you would expect them to. The unit is so easy to use that I didn't even have to unfold the instruction sheet to start using all its functions immediately.

The MH-C9000 offers the following operation modes:

• Charge any NiMH AA or AAA battery simply by inserting it and walking away (no button pressing required, but if you want, you can also control the charge current).

• Analyze any NiMH AA or AAA battery to determine its actual capacity in mAh (milli-amp hours). This is like testing how much fuel is in your gas tank. It reveals the actual power capacity of the battery and tells you how long it will last when you use it.

• Break-In any NiMH AA or AAA battery to raise its capacity ceiling and maximize real-world performance. Can also be used to "wake up" seemingly dead batteries and revive them back to their peak performance.

• Discharge any AA or AAA battery to find out how much power it was storing. This lets you test both NiMH or Alkaline batteries to see what their true capacity really is.

• Cycle any NiMH AA or AAA battery to "exercise" it back to its maximum performance.

For each of these modes, if desired, you can select the charge and discharge rates, giving you total control over the treatment of each battery (this charger has advanced, independent circuitry to control each battery separately). For example, you can select charge rates from 100mA all the way up to 1000mA, in increments of 100mA. Or, you can just let each mode run on automatic, using default settings.

After the modes run, the MH-C9000 reports the results to you in a clear, easy-to-read format. It will tell you the mAh of your battery (in Analyze mode), the capacity that discharged, the capacity charged and even the ending voltage of the battery along with the time required to charge it. The MH-C9000 gives you a lot more information than the BC-900, and it's easier to read, too. Simply click the "Slot" button and you can cycle through slots 1 - 4 to see either the current status or end results of each battery.

The MH-C9000 has all the same safety features of the BC-900, including temperature sensing, polarity detection and even a battery impedence check, making it the safest combination of NiMH charging technology you can buy in a consumer product. The instruction manual is well written with clear diagrams, and the charger comes with a three year manufacturer's warranty.

(Full disclosure: I liked the MH-C9000 so much that I bought hundreds of them and now retail them at www.BetterLifeGoods.com , an internet retail site for green living products. I had been looking for a high-end NiMH battery recharger for over a year that I liked well enough to carry. The MH-C9000 is the best I found, and that's why I decided to carry it along with a 30-day complete satisfaction guarantee. All sales help support the NewsTarget network.)

The bottom line

In my experience, there's no comparison between the two chargers. The MH-C9000 wins hands down. Although both chargers offer similar specifications, only the MH-C9000 was really easy to use. The super bright backlit display makes it easy on the eyes, and the simple, straightforward logic of the user interface means that just about anybody can figure out how to use it right away.

To be fair, the MH-C9000 is newer than the BC-900 by at least a year. Perhaps La Crosse Technology is working on a new, updated version of their BC-900 that will have an improved user interface and smarter circuitry that doesn't wipe out your settings when you insert a second battery too quickly. Personally, as the owner of an e-mail marketing software company, I would never release a product with such a poorly designed user interface. The operation of technology products needs to be simple, straightforward and intuitive. The BC-900 is none of those things, in my opinion.

If you're looking for the best NiMH battery charger on the market, go with the MH-C9000. The only drawbacks are that is doesn't charge C, D, or 9V batteries, it doesn't come with a 12V car charger, and it's more expensive than most other chargers (retailing at $69 or so). Cheap battery chargers that lack important safety features can be readily purchased for less than $20 practically anywhere, so it you just want a blind charger that slams current into a battery with no idea of the actual capacity, go get a charger at Wal-Mart or Target. But if you want a quality charger that puts you in control while maximizing the life of your NiMH batteries, go with the MH-C9000.

The WizardOne MH-C9000 battery charger is available at www.BetterLifeGoods.com

PowerEx NiMH batteries (AAA, AA, C, D, 9V) are also available at www.BetterLifeGoods.com