The Smart Drive

TheSmartDrive.com announces “EV Finder“, a way to visualize data about electric vehicles across the globe. Using Google Maps we have plotted out vehicles registered with the EV Photo Album in an easy to use point-click or searchable way.  Search a random area of the globe or type in a US zip code and radius to find electric vehicles near you.

Here is the URL:

http://thesmartdrive.com/evfinder/

For information on linking and other information visit:

http://thesmartdrive.com/evfinder_about

If you just want to cut to the chase and see all the vehicles and how they are dispersed around the globe, check out:

http://thesmartdrive.com/evfinder/index.php?evaid=1&limit=4000

In my opinion this is probably the sexiest electric car made yet:

http://green.autoblog.com/2011/11/18/rimac-automobili-concept-one-rolls-off-the-turntable-onto-the-r/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DMQd5nGEkr4

I think most people in the world hear “Oil” and think “That’s just gasoline” and if cheap oil started to run out they would just drive less.  This is not the case, as presented in the documentary A Crude Awakening: The Oil Crash, the world is addicted to cheap affordable oil, and the bad news is, it’s not going to be cheap forever.

This film presents the idea that as peak-oil is reached the price per barrel is going to increase dramatically, affecting everything from transportation, to food, clothes, plastics, housing, everything.  After watching this I started noticing how addicted to affordable oil the world is.  Even coming from a background of energy conservation and alternate fuels, this film really changed the way I look at how much of society is built on petro-chemicals and what would happen if oil were to go away. I recommend everyone watch this film to understand the how people use oil and the importance of energy independance.

http://www.oilcrashmovie.com/

TheSmartDrive is not dead, just been on hiatus for a while and it’s time for a recharge!

Until things get back up and running check out Autoblog Green. This site is always updated with the latest news on green vehicles, electric, ethanol, hybrid, diesel, etc.

I have been offered a great opportunity, drive a Tesla Roadster without restrictions for 5 days. The opportunity to drive a $110,000 car for a week doesn’t come along very often for many people, so I thought I would share my thoughts on driving the current king of EVs.

Take a look at the full write-up here: http://thesmartdrive.com/electric-vehicles/tesla-roadster-review/

I just wanted to make a quick post about a new online video series that is just starting up.  “Fully Charged” is a weekly video series on YouTube and iTunes that aims to showcase plug-in electric vehicles.  The video below is the first episode/pilot, take a look at this EXCELLENT explanation of electric vehicles.

It’s been a while since I have posted anything on here, sorry.  A friend of mine is interested in sustainable fueled vehicles and vehicle efficiency and is going to be contributing his thoughts to TheSmartDrive every now and then.  Doug is an avid supporter of sustainable fuels and has worked on battery electric, hybrid electric, and solar power vehicles.  I’m sure you will find his posts interesting.

This is a good SVO overview for anyone who wants to know the basics of running a car on SVO. I would have to disagree with the idea of shutting down and starting a car on SVO in the summer. After the repairs to The Smart Drive’s SVO vehicle I would STRONGLY suggest you clear your SVO system every time.

Here is an interesting article about the efficiency of converting biomass into liquid fuel, vs using it to generate electricity for EVs. http://arstechnica.com/science/news/2009/05/biofuels-can-power-more-miles-if-used-to-charge-batteries.ars