Where's my electric car?

It's amazing how slow the development of electric cars for widespread use is. It does not seem like it can get much slower. Some of the biggest excuses are insufficient battery technology, and fuel cells are too expensive. This is understandable, however someone should do the best they can with the technology readily available.

A company that is doing cool things with existing technology is Tesla Motors. This company has created an electric sports car. They use the body of a Lotus Elise, install an electric drive train, and use lithium-ion batteries of the style typically found in laptop computers. The car is very expensive, but the performance is outstanding. This company is an example of pushing forward with the best you have available. Take a look at their website and see for yourself.

Two men from Canada, Csaba Lemak and Patrick MacKenzie, have built the first known electric paramotor. As stated in the referenced article, the technology is nothing new. They are just people who push forward anyways. This is what we need from car manufacturers and governments around the world.

Add Solar to Hybrids and Pure Electric Vehicles

It seems strange that mainstream hybrid vehicles do not have solar recharge capabilities added to their vehicles. Thin film solar cells like the ones created by Nanosolar would be a great addition to the roofs or even the hoods of hybrid vehicles. The amount of solar energy produced would not be enough to run the vehicle, but it would be enough to help charge the batteries. The solar cells could be mounted to the roof and covered by a thin acrylic film to keep them attached. A better solution would be to build a composite roof with the solar cells embedded within them. This solution would preserve the smooth aerodynamics of the vehicle.

When plug-in hybrids become available for sale, it only makes sense to add solar recharging capabilities to them. Every milliamp of electricity produced by the solar cells is one less that has to come from the electrical grid.

For Power for People, Inc., one of our marketing ideas was to ask either Toyota or Honda to make a "Power for People" edition of their hybrid cars. The cars would be used in promoting our charity. The proposed "Power for People" editions would have had thin film solar cells embedded in the body of the cars. It would have been a win-win situation for all.

This idea is something that should be looked into.

Power for People, Inc., - What it was and why it no longer exists

Power for People, Inc. was a innovative idea that was never approved by the IRS. The concept was to be set up as a charity and build alternative energy production sites (e.g. wind, solar, micro-hydro electric, etc...), and possibly produce ethanol and bio-diesel using donations. The "profits" of selling the energy would then be given to other reputable charities to improve the lives of people in the areas where the sites were located. This corporation would have been a win-win situation for everyone involved.

This awesome concept was not approved by the IRS because it would be considered giving Power for People, Inc. an unfair competitive advantage over other businesses (even though we were not in competition with anyone because we were going to give all the profits away!).

Since I could not get my ideas pushed forward, I decided to create this blog to help push those ideas and help promote the ideas of others. There are a lot of smart people who have great ideas on the horizon, and I'll review some of those ideas here. Please feel free to add your comments and add to the pool of knowledge. Someday, someone with investment capital or someone in the government may see these ideas and make them a reality.