G. David Felt

G. David Felt Staff Writer Alternative Energy - CheersandGears.com Wednesday, November 07, 2012 Tax Payer supplied Charging stations. Are we getting our money’s worth? Recently, a newly expanded Park and Ride by my house went live with charging outlets for 20 cars having been installed at the Mountlake Terrace park-and-ride lot at 236th Street SW and I-5. A dedication "plug-in" ceremony was held Saturday a few weeks ago even though completion of the place happened back in May. Each of the 10 stations is equipped with two outlets. One is a 120-volt, "level 1" outlet that charges a car from empty to full in 16 to 30 hours, depending on the type of vehicle. The other is a 240-volt, level 2 charger than can juice up a car in eight to 15 hours per the community transit press release. This is the most charging stations installed in any one location so far in Snohomish or King Counties. The new stations in Mountlake Terrace are the first to be installed at a park-and-ride lot in the county, according to websites that show station locations. Mountlake Terrace applied for and received a $55,000 federal grant for the stations. The city paid for installation, which she estimated at a few thousand dollars. The ChargePoint brand stations are made by Coulomb Technologies of Campbell, Calif. The project was done with the blessing of Community Transit, which leases the site from the state for the park-and-ride lot. Commuters with electric vehicles can now park, plug in and let their cars charge up all day while they're gone. The service costs 85 cents per hour with a maximum of $4 per session. The charging stations take credit cards. The charger shuts off automatically when the car's battery is full. The state also is planning to install a network of stations this year along I-5 from Oregon to Canada and along U.S. 2, called the "Electric Highway." Most of these will include level 3, DC "fast chargers" that can power a car from empty to full in 30 minutes. Washington state has choosen fast chargers for the freeway systems from AeroVironment, Inc. This allows most EV’s to charge in less than 30 minutes but for older cars or to top off a battery, you will have the level 2 chargers from AeroVironment also. Plans are for users to be able to use personal credit cards or sign up for the AeroVirontment Network . The AV network is a fob based system to use for charging. During the install period, AeroVironment is allowing free charging till the complete highway system is in place. You have both the Community Transit blog and the City MountLake Terrace (PDF) talking up this event. This big question to be asked is was this really needed or necessary? In this picture you can see that 10 of the white signs are actually visible and these are to be used by plug in cars, but they seem to sit empty all the time. To the left where you see a couple cars parked the signs and the charging stations are actually covered in black plastic bags so the parking can be used by the general public as there is never enough parking for traditional gas powered cars. So we have 20 spots built for Electric only auto’s and 10 of them are actually covered up allowing traditional auto’s to park there with the other 10 being vacant and not being used at all. One can see this in the picture below also that the signs are covered in black plastic. In submitting a request to Mountlake Terrace, I got no response and in calling to the office no one was willing to talk about the electrical parking spots and the lack of use by these spots on top of the actual cost. The generalized comments have been it only cost a couple thousand to install the units, but one has to challenge that considering the unionized nature of Electrical work done in Washington State. It is interesting that depending on the model you have a cost of $490 to $39,900 per model depending on what model is chosen and then the installation cost. Yet some systems have no cost listed as the company wants to only do custom quotes. A fairly complete list of charging systems with some prices can be seen here. A recent story on the installation of charging stations on Stevens pass, Highway 2 in Washington State here says that they have chosen a vendor for the 8 to 10 DC fast chargers that came within the $1 million budget. Also stated in the next paragraph is that this is part of a $250 million electric highway. The Seattle PI had the following story on their web site that states the Seattle area is getting 2500 charging stations as part of the $230 million dollar Electric Highway. Altogether, 15,000 charging stations will be installed in 4 states (Washington, California, Arizona and Tennessee and the District of Columbia) This equals out to a cost of $15,333 per charging station for the electric highway and is in addition to the charging stations installed by Cities at park and ride lots. Tonia Buell, from the Washington department of transportation in an email response has stated that Washington already has 12 DC fast charging locations on the state’s electric highway program in addition to the public schools and private business who are installing hundreds of Level 2 (medium speed) chargers through the EV project. In asking if the state is funding any of these charging stations, the response was no this is primarily funded through the US Department of Energy, Electric Auto supply companies, private businesses and citizens contributing to the EV investment. The Washington DOT has posted on their web site about 8 to 10 fast chargers from a DOE $1.5 million grant and they talk about the EV Highway but do not mention the rest of the costs. Depending on which story and quote you go with, we either have $15,333 dollar charging stations or $16,666 charging stations. The cost of the charging stations plus which level you can use for your EV auto, Level 1, 2 or 3 gives you a 10 to 30 minute fast charge time or up to 8 hrs or longer. So you travel 80 miles if you truly can get this on a Nissan Leaf and then wait up to 30 min to charge and then travel another 80 miles. This alone means to travel the 174 miles from Seattle Washington to Portland Oregon you will need 3 stops for charging, 1 ½ hrs. plus your almost 3hrs of travel time. So you have a 4 -5hr trip from Seattle to Portland versus a 2 ½ hrs. trip in a petrol or CNG auto. Washington state DOT is using the story published by Motor Trend as a positive support and proof that you should ease your range anxiety. Yet even in this story, the amount of time spent charging along the so called EV Highway still also shows how much extra time it will take to travel a modest 250 miles. Even with the Flyer that is being provided to anyone who asks about the EV highway, it seems to beg more questions than answers. In regards to maintenance, the electric charging companies have a vested interest in these systems paying back and are responsible for maintenance to the units so as to not have a cost to anyone but those using them according the WSDOT. Yet what happens to a person when one of these systems is offline due to a need of maintenance and with no real answer being supplied on what is the life expectancy? Hours spent on a 120V charge will not cut it on a road trip. So in going back to our original question, Are we getting our money’s worth? Is the tax payer money really being well spent by investing in this technology at this time and what about the required Maintenance? Looking at the global picture we will eventually get to a need for this kind of charging, but society as a whole is nowhere near ready for using luxury golf cart type autos on the main roads for long road trips. The amount of vacant sitting parking spots dedicated to such a small amount of auto’s seems to show excessive waste in tax payers’ money when other needs should come first. It would seem that jumping on this technology which has been pushed by a very wealthy, well connected group of individuals is spending hard working tax payer’s money for a solution that is not needed at this time. Most people can charge their cars at home, drive to the park-N-ride lot and get back home without having to pay to charge up. So the question still begs to be asked; Is the tax payer getting their money's worth for the Electric highway? View full article

Actually not at all, the EV highway is here and while I still do not support it or how the tax dollars have been spent, the west coast has plug in stations pooping up everywhere!

SNOW

Very true, over the weekend a mid 40's looking man in his RDX just froze and would not move when the fire truck took the middle turn lane to get around busy traffic to respond to a very bad accident. There was plenty of room to pull over as everyone else including myself did, but he just froze. Some people truly should not be driving. The fire truck blew his horn a couple times and finally other cars got out of the way and he pulled back into the traffic lane and then back into the middle turn to get around everyone and through the intersection to respond. The fire department needs this option to get their job done.

No you are right it is more of a pinkish red than red or fire engine red. The stiching does match the interior color and it is darker than what you see as the flash is making it lighter than it really is.

I will say this that every person I have talked with that drives a Volt says it is better than Prius or any other hybrid they have looked at and test drove. I am starting to see a ton of Volts on the roads here in Seattle. They seem to be becoming very popular.

I have to say I really love the Black and Red interior on the ATS with the Carbon Fiber accent panels. This is one of the best interiors I have seen GM do on a car. Also If I had the surplus cash I would buy the old Vette that was traded in as it is freakin perfect. Such a beauty. Edit: I embedded the photo gallery into the original article - Oldsmoboi

This Linex monstrosity needs to go to the crusher.

Washington State North Cascade Highway is a drivers dream with the banks, turns and elevation changes. It is a drive I make every year as the 500 miles make the 8hr drive well worth it. I suspect we will still see this car sold in healthy doses to the fleets. GM cannot ignor the free marketing and visual selling the rental market gives. I would hope they just balance it better with the rest of their product lines.

Saw a Bright Red 62 Vette last night in perfect shape. The guy traded it in on a new Caddy!

Correct, I have been down sizing them, but last night I got that weird error and after 1hr of trying to upload to the gallery the pictures I had ready under 2mb in size, I went to bed. Will get going on it now this morning. YEAH I have the Gallery Up!

While some auto's have been $h!ty from all Manufactures of the world. I actually think the bulk of the blame needs to go to the Narrow Little group of over Ego'd Doo Gooders who have the connections in government to force all the Nanny devices upon people and in esence forcing auto companies to add a ton of unnecessary electronics in the auto's that force the price up outside of most peoples means. Example, If we were to properly charge the higher price of making people really learn how to drive the wheels off an auto and hold them accountable to their driving performance, you would not need the stupid Backup Camera's being forced on everyone, Lane Departure avodance, Cruze Control Auto braking, etc. The list is long on all the Nanny devices being forced into auto's due to people not being responsible for proper driving and doing stupid things like playing with their Apple products, twitter, IM, eating bowls of cerial, shaving, makeup application, etc. So many distracting things that is forcing self driving onto us and taking away the pure pleasure of driving .

Indeed, but the whole concept of "the United States becoming independent from foreign oil" opens the door to one hell of a deep rabbit hole to walk through, and even still the bigger picture in play is just another tree in the forest. I'll run the risk here of possibly looking radical to some of you and speak my mind a little more. Let's consider one simple fact for a moment: all petroleum is exclusively priced in US dollars and most transactions take place with US dollars. Arguably, it's a big factor in what allows our dollar to hold its status as the world's reserve currency. Since the eggs are all locked in one basket so to speak, who then has the most to lose if our demand for petroleum takes a huge nosedive in favor of alternative fuels and that spurs on a huge domino effect across the world? Ask yourself that and research it for yourself, and maybe you'll see where I'm coming from here, maybe you'll see why other abundant and/or renewable energy sources are so horribly crippled in our country. I see the point you are making but then also look at it from the stand point that those getting into Advance Superior Fuels like CNG will be the next so call Oil Barons, or in this case Gas Barons. The old money and old crowd will try to do all they can to control and hold onto their monoploy, but their time is coming to an end. The Future is Natural Gas. It isn't just Big Oil that stands to lose in this fight. Those who have their hand in the pot will probably maintain control here for quite a few years to come. Let me add this before I bow out on the subject: until we can reach a consensus on how to make currency simply a means of buying goods and services rather than a means of establishing and maintaining power and status, we will never see an end to the issues that are plaguing us today. Alternative fuels being one of those issues. Excellent Point Made! Great Discussion!

Indeed, but the whole concept of "the United States becoming independent from foreign oil" opens the door to one hell of a deep rabbit hole to walk through, and even still the bigger picture in play is just another tree in the forest. I'll run the risk here of possibly looking radical to some of you and speak my mind a little more. Let's consider one simple fact for a moment: all petroleum is exclusively priced in US dollars and most transactions take place with US dollars. Arguably, it's a big factor in what allows our dollar to hold its status as the world's reserve currency. Since the eggs are all locked in one basket so to speak, who then has the most to lose if our demand for petroleum takes a huge nosedive in favor of alternative fuels and that spurs on a huge domino effect across the world? Ask yourself that and research it for yourself, and maybe you'll see where I'm coming from here, maybe you'll see why other abundant and/or renewable energy sources are so horribly crippled in our country. I see the point you are making but then also look at it from the stand point that those getting into Advance Superior Fuels like CNG will be the next so call Oil Barons, or in this case Gas Barons. The old money and old crowd will try to do all they can to control and hold onto their monoploy, but their time is coming to an end. The Future is Natural Gas.

You get it for $4K and you got yourself a hella deal!

I don't get how putting a big subwoofer in your car somehow instantly equates to a "bad taste in automotive design," but alright. Say, how do I buy a ticket to get off of this whole "Gen Y has no taste in auto design" stereotype bandwagon? Because, not to sound conceded or anything, I think I do in fact have decent taste as far as automotive design goes. I never said that all Gen Y has bad auto taste, but the Gen Y does seem more concerned about their connection in life to facebook and twitter than in are and auto design.

But OCN drives a manly Jeep... There is some stylish merit to some of the treatment, but the starting point is a total joke. The 500 Abarth has some nice engeneering and design, but....the starting point again is a sorrority chic car that makes my Miata look like Dfelts Suburban....

All the cars are sexy as they burn Clean Natural Gas!

G. David Felt Staff Writer Alternative Energy - CheersandGears.com Nov 30th 2012 Friday Night from 5pm to 9pm Dougs Cadillac of Seattle had their anual Customer Appreciation party with Wine, Woman and Cars! We were entertained by the local Seattle Big Band and Ball Room Dancing while enjoying excellent seafood, Cold cut meats, rice dishes, cheeses to go with the Wine and Beer. The only requirement was to bring a bag of non perishable food to donate to Food LifeLine of Seattle. The night started for me at 5pm and a test drive in the ATS AWD. This was an amazing car for me. At 6'6" tall I was still able to find a comfy seat position that allowed me to drive and realize that anyone who thinks BMW only has a driving machine has not driven an ATS yet. While the car is designed for smaller people as no one could sit behind me, the ATS is a Tight, dialed in driving machine. This car needs little movement from the driver to go where you want it to go. With the heads up display and an easy to learn CUE I was able to take off down the road and really enjoy just how easy it is to have an engaging experiance. My ATS was Silver with a Red and Black interior accented with carbon fiber panels. Being a computer engineer, I took to the car and the CUE system like a fish to water. I will admit that I heard many people talk about how they enjoyed Cadillac having people there to explain and train people on how to use the CUE system. So Apple like in their experiance. I have to say that Cadillac with their focus on making sure new buyers know how to use their auto's have a hit on their hands. The car cut up the road as I drove down highway 99 and found myself exceeding the speed limt by 40 mph doing 85 in a 45 zone. This is how easy and comfy the car is to drive and how fast the ATS is. Everything was in easy reach, the abilty to control the car via the steering wheel pedals or via the shifter allow anyone to have a enjoyable drive. If you want to just put it in drive and go, no problem, if you want to be your own F1 driver, use the steering wheel pedal shifters and the car moves. I honestly have to say I have never had such an enjoyable driving experiance. The last time I was giddy with driving was when I drove my friends 2011 M3 and yet this v6 AWD gave me the same experiance. Responsive and direct in the feedback. I can honestly say this is a driving machine with the ease of luxury for those that wish to just point and drive. I see young people really being taken with this car. The only strange thing was that the CD changer was in the glove box. I was very impressed with the adaptive head restraints that GM has put into their ATS and XTS as it is comfy and I can see how it would absorbe the impact of an accident to protect the occupants neck. This is probably one of the more surprising attention to details that Cadillac has given to the car. The XTS I drove was also an AWD. While a bit under powered and not as sporty as the AWD ATS, I will have to say that the engineers dialed it in for the intended crowd of baby boomers and the late 40-50 crowd. I was actually surprised at how responsive the v6 engine is and can see people not missing a v8. Being a v8 fan of power, this car has proven to me that you can have a luxury touring car that is responsive and comfy in a large format sedan. The show ended with a surpise for me as a man traded in his 62 corvette for the 2013 Back out edition CTS Coupe V that I was able to look at but was locked. He truly gave up his lovely vette for a new bad ass Caddy! Click here to view the article

Very cool, and as I have said before, this is our counteries future for getting off arab oil.

November 30, 2012 G. David Felt Staff Writer - Alternative Energy - CheersandGears.com Today Ford warned 89,193 owners of 2013 Ford Escape and Ford Fusions with the 1.6 liter turbo to park their cars till ford can have them towed in for service due to engine fire risk. This marks the third recall on the 1/6 liter turbo engines that is Fords cornerstone engine to lure buyers to American brands. Unlike fords last recall on these auto's which they promised to fix in two weeks of the last recall, this recall has no estimate of repair and Ford has promised to cover auto rentals till they figure out a fix. Ford says no injuries have been linked to this new problem, but until they figure out the cause, they are stopping production and parking all existing auto's with 1.6 liter turbo 4 engines to understand the problem. Press Release on Page 2 Ford Acts Promptly for Customer Safety by Recalling 2013 Escapes with 1.6-liter Engines and 2013 Fusions with 1.6-liter Engines for Risk of Overheating That May Result in Engine Fires Ford Motor Company is acting on behalf of its customers by conducting a voluntary safety recall of 2013 SE and SEL model Ford Escape vehicles equipped with the 1.6-liter engine and 2013 SE and SEL model Fusions equipped with the 1.6-liter engine The recall comes after reports of engines overheating, followed by vehicle fires starting in the engine compartment when the engine is running; no injuries have been reported Ford is advising owners of these vehicles to contact their dealer immediately for alternative transportation at no cost to the customer; U.S. owners also may call 866-436-7332 and Canadian customers also may call 888-222-7814 for details on securing alternative transportation Repair procedures are not currently available Customers can determine whether their vehicle is part of the recall by: Checking their 17-digit Vehicle Identification Number (VIN); the eighth character will be an “X” on Escapes or an “R” on Fusions, Logging onto Ford.com, select the “Support” tab, click “View Notices and Recalls” and input their VIN, or Calling the numbers listed above or contact their dealer [*]Escapes equipped with the 2.0-liter and the 2.5-liter engines are unaffected as are Fusions equipped with the 2.5-liter and hybrid engines DEARBORN, Mich., November 30, 2012 – Ford Motor Company today announced a voluntary safety recall of 2013 Ford Escape SE and SEL models equipped with the 1.6-liter engine and 2013 Ford Fusion SE and SEL models equipped with the 1.6-liter engine. Ford estimates that there are approximately 73,320 Escapes and 15,833 Fusions produced and distributed for sale in the U.S. and Canada with 1.6-liter engines, with most in the U.S. market. The issue does not affect 2013 Escape or 2013 Fusion models with other engines. Customers driving 2013 Escape vehicles equipped with the 1.6-liter engine and 2013 Fusion models equipped with the 1.6-liter engine are advised to contact their dealer as soon as possible to arrange for alternative transportation at no charge. Repair procedures are not currently available. Ford is voluntarily recalling these vehicles because of reports of engine overheating, resulting in engine fires while the engine is running. No injuries have been reported. Some drivers who have experienced high engine temperatures followed by engine fires say that their clusters have shown the message “Engine Power Reduced to Lower Temps” or “Engine over temp, stop safely.” Some also indicated that their instrument clusters sounded a chime and illuminated a red light. Drivers who see any of these indications should safely pull off the road as soon as possible, turn off the engine and exit the vehicle. Ford will compensate owners for costs tied to overheating as well. “We have identified an issue and are taking actions in the best interest of our customers,” said Steve Kenner, director of Ford’s Automotive Safety Office. “It is important that affected customers not ignore this recall and contact their dealer as soon as possible. While we recognize the inconvenience recalls cause our customers, we are taking these actions on their behalf to help ensure their safety.” Ford is working on a repair procedure. When parts are available, the company will notify customers so they can schedule a service appointment with dealers. Meanwhile, Ford is advising affected owners to contact a Ford dealer as soon as possible for alternative transportation at no cost to the customer; U.S. owners also may call 866-436-7332 and Canadian customers also may call 888-222-7814 for details on securing alternative transportation. Customers can see if they are affected by the recall by: Checking their 17-digit VIN, located on a label on the driver door opening, at the base of the windshield on the driver’s side of their vehicle, or on their vehicle registration. In vehicles with 1.6-liter engines, the eighth character will be “X” on Escapes or “R” on Fusions; Logging onto Ford.com, click “View Notices and Recalls” in the “Support” tab and input their VIN to determine if their vehicle is part of the recall; Calling 866-436-7332 in the U.S. or 888-222-7814 in Canada; or Contacting a Ford dealer Escapes equipped with 2.0-liter and the 2.5-liter engines are unaffected. Fusions equipped with the 2.5-liter and hybrid engines are also unaffected – as are all Titanium models. View full article

If it wasn't 40 grand, I would own one.... I agree that I think GM needs to get this technology cut in half and will see sales explode with new buyers. They are working on it. In 2001, the first iPod came in two sizes... a 5gb and a 10gb. They were Mac only and couldn't be synced with PCs without some very annoying hacking. All they did was play music. They cost $400 and $500 respectively. Today, a full color touch screen iPod nano with 16gb, built in radio, video playback, and accelerometer is $149. The iPod classic, the closest relative to the original iPod, now has 16 times the capacity of the original for a mere $249. The Volt is the original iPod of cars in this regard.. the proof of concept and of market. True, except I think that the Prius/Insight were more like the iPod in your example... The Volt is more like the Zune. GM should have learned from Toyota and Honda how to make it more affordable. I'm glad the car is doing well, but in my eyes, it's a failure because of the price tag. Toyota and Honda only have been successful due to the coolaid drinking lemmings. GM saw the short commings of their hybrids and went one step further and we have the VOLT and the Initial High Price. I would rather have GM do what they did than follow Ford who licensed from Toyota and had an ok version still with high price and sending more american money back to Japan. At least gm keeps all the money here.

Saw a very clean 2001 Dodge Durango RT. Have to say I still very much like those SUV's. Course the daughter has a regular 4x4 99.