Be sure to keep a watchful eye on Wikipedia/Lithium Pharmacology ... for the next decade or two !
How to win over the EV refuseniks ? A little cool male tribal iconography goes a long way ...
Plug Play: Nirvana - Lithium "I'm so happy...etc".
Could an (almost) natural lithium high, an EV smile...a Tesla Roadster, a little Nissan Nirvana/Leaf.. have saved Cobain ?
Or click click Kurt's car-
digan-like jumper(right) for ad-free MySpace Lithium Nirvana ...
July, 2010
Eureka ! Toyota,Tesla to rEVive(resurrect? See below) RAV4 EV .. with lithium.
Hallelujah!
(All Google News results)
Bravo, Bravo, Bravo!
Quite frankly we're ravng like kids at Xmas , like Spaniards in S. Africa.
This is obviously something we've craved for so long, for which we've travelled so far, for so many years...
A huge thankyou to everyone at Tesla for making this happen. For rEViving what has always been by far the best, most threateningly normal, myth-busting, truth-exposing, media-stereotype-demolishing, potentially most disruptive, game-changing EV ever to hit the streets..of America, Jersey in the UK Channel Islands, Japan and finally - since 2010 - the British mainland, the Midlands, Birmingham - and the M-b***dy-5 !
Of course, whilst it will be thrilling and re-energizing to watch the story of the next-gen li-ion RAV4 unfold(..and hopefully not unravel ! ) it will also of course be deliciously, squirmingly amusing to see how the British/EU media - who have always shamelessly refused to acknowledge the existence of the electric RAV4 EV over the past 13 years - now set about covering the new version of the vehicle.
So far - unsurprisingly and true-to-form - very few UK/EU mainstream media outlets have responded at all. Those that we have found are still - incredibly - refusing to report this as a new version, still steadfastly failing to acknowledge the existence of the original, the current, the unstoppable, un-kill-able electric RAV4. (Search BBC.co.uk - so far nothing, nada, nichts..).
Yep, that's right chaps - when you've dug yourself in so deep and buried yet another Inconvenient Truth for so long it is so much easier, ain't it, to continue to hope that you can just go right on fooling most of the people(including yourselves..) most of the time.
June, 2010
Last year's 24 hour Le Mans winner Marc Gene test-drives Peugeot Ion
- on Spanish primetime TV News/Noticias
(TV channel: La Sexta ie. the "Sixth" - as in "Sense" perhaps ?) ..
Sixth Sense - Spanish TV news clip(short ad precedes..)
.. and it happened por dios less than a week after we posted up our "Spanish Synchronicity, Serendipity, Simultaneity & Stevia" piece below.
This is, we believe(..and our Spanish sources confirm) the first test-drive of an electric car ever broadcast by a major Spanish TV network as a primetime news story.
Sweet !
- If Spanish is all Greek to you - Marc Gene, in a nutshell, tells us that the Ion is, if anything, easier to drive and handle than a petrol-powered car.
Gene adds - refreshingly - that the electric car will also be far cheaper to maintain than conventional "ICE" cars (ie. not just to run/power/fuel).
("Ion" - pronounced" eye-on" in English - as in lithium "ion" - but as "eee-on" elsewhere. "eee-on" can obviously be all-too easily confused with largely dirty energy company e.on )
Related:
Freshly picked clips - Audi e-tron at Le Mans June 2010 !
Elusive .. though not exclusive
That's right - after 6 x 24 hours of fruitless searching, here, freshly plucked, are two top-class clips of the in-wheel-powered(x4), awesomely audacious Audi e-tron at Le Mans earlier this month: show-boating, show-stopping, show-lapping etc etc.
A single & singular tour de force.
- oder anders gesagt ...
"Vorsprung durch Elektro*-Technik" (© *EVUK 2003 - first coined by our very own polyglottal wordsmith Paul Govan.
Audi - it's Your$ for the a$king!)
Audi e-tron at Le Mans - clip 1: show-lap at Le Mans(June 2010) - shot from inside a Tesla Roadster ..
Audi e-tron at Le Mans - clip 2: this grey IS the new black...
Watch above clip - with German commentary
June, 2010
Britain's only RAV4 EV + EVUK + Morgan LifeCar(and other EV's..) at Glos Motor Show - June 12-13th !
A celebrity guest "fly-in" is also scheduled ! (.. though somehow a car would seem more appropriate - see Base Notes)
Driving the message home: Richard Haywood's RAV4 EV in Birmingham, Brum, the Belly of the Beast, the Heart of the Midlands - once the clunking hub of the British Motor Industry
.. is the bitter-sweet symbolism still lost on anyone ? Ah yes, it would all have been so different if just one electric RAV4 had been brought in, beamed in, sneaked in, smuggled in a decade ago ...
The long & the short - a recap re Richard-RAV4-EVUK:
- a few months ago, amongst the inexplicable mountain of Inbox SPAM we spotted this tantalizingly brief email header:
"RAV4 NOW in the UK".
If true, this was no humdrum header but one heck of a hold-the-front-page headline. For once we were looking at a between-the-spam email deserving of at least 5 x"!!!!!"
"Just to let you know I have the only RAV4 EV electric in the UK
It is a right-hand drive silver 5 door.
Let me know if you want to come and see it in Birmingham"
(Richard Haywood)
There followed much correspondence on our part along the lines of "If only this had happened a decade earlier it would have changed everything...etc " .. and the visit to truly irresistible Brum was indefinitely postponed(come on people - we've
t-RAVelled the world - Hollywood, Japan, the UK Channel Islands/Jersey - in an almost vain attempt to break the media silence and wake up the wilfully comatose and the comfortably clueless..)
But then Richard - "RAV4 Rich" if you will - followed up with this:
"I am hoping to go to the Gloucestershire Motor Show with the RAV4 EV as part of the Electric Vehicle / Future Technology display...
Apparently Morgan will be there with their Fuel Cell concept car the LifeCar .. other electric vehicles will also be there.
Will you be visiting the show?"
In short: yes we will !!!!! (Moira being the Right Royal We)
The location - Highnam Court - lies, sprawls just 4 miles from EVUK Central HQ - by far the shortest distance that Moira will ever have hopped in order to capture an elusive electric RAV4 (on film, you understand..)
Gloucestershire Motor Show - main site
Highnam & Glos Motor Show: Click for Google Map
Ah yes..Highnam: as poverty-stricken, pocket-moneyless kids we would cycle on heavy gearless bikes past Highnam .. on towards Newent to pick blackcurrants - piecemeal & by the bucket mind you - during the summer holidays between paper rounds/routes .. but that's another story for another day and audience perhaps ..
(But hey - does anyone care ?!)
Also - coming up ! Possibly by popular demand: an exclusive Q&A with rarer-than-rare RAV4 EV owner Richard Haywood (but ... does anyone want to hear ?)
Yes - we're at a crossroads all right - so please let us know - preferably en masse - if you want us to keep EVUK alive ...and kicking.
So - an EV Mega Mecca-Meetup at Highnam Court, Glos - via Linkedup, Twitter et al...?
Yes, in fact - in our cleanest of green dreams we would like to turn the June 12-13 Motor Show and RAV4 EV appearance into one Mother-EVUK'er(OK Ed - we're all past caring..) of a Facebook, Twitter, Linkedup EVent.
So Hear Ye! Hear Ye! Here's a last-minute urgent shout-out now to all long-suffering, EVUK'ers wherever you may be in the world - from China to Spain, from Hollywood to Neasden:
please flock in large numbers towards the Shire of Gloucester for this rather surprising and underreported/understated show, this charitable EVent(Pied Piper Appeal..in fact this EVUK piece is a Pied Piper appeal of sorts: how many adults & children can we persuade to follow musical Moira to the Court of Highnam to see Ye RAV4 EV etc ?).
Note to organisers: we have no desire to hijack or carjack the event - but simply to help ensure that the emission-free vehicles present are at least as well-attended and drooled over as the ever-so exciting and manly F1 & throbbing piston paraphernalia on display in the green, green grounds of Highnam Court ...
And don't forget, dear EVUK'ers, to please bring with you any and every lo- or hi-tech camera at your disposal.
We need hardly remind YOU that photos and footage of Brits & Europeans in the same frame as electric RAV4's are far rarer than pics and clips of extraterrestrial spacecraft or aliens on operating tables. Indeed, we know of none(ie. Europeans with/in RAV4 EV's) other than our own - ie. Moira's - awesome, truth-exposing, media-shaming collection.
Don't worry, we still have plenty of material, plenty of silences to shatter, crucial dots to join - but the question remains: ... do the public - the majority at least - really care a darn or a dime about anything more than cheaper, petrol-tax-free driving ?
And most importantly and topically of all - does anyone really care twopence or tuppence or a bucket of blackcurrants(see above) where the energy comes from ? And at what cost ?
Or where the toxic or radioactive waste is buried for up to million years - as long as it's Not In My Back Yard.. and as long as Me, My Family, My Gene Pool are not affected Now or in the immediate future ?
"Nuclear power - who cares ?
Don't Ask, Don't Tell.
It's cheap and as safe as houses .. as low-risk and fail-safe as deep-sea offshore drilling ... and you can take that to the bank. Both ex-PM Gordon and brother Andrew Brown(EDF PR) would happily bet their(OK - your) mortgages on it."
Blow-out Preventer ... Fallout Preventer.
Fool me once - shame on you.
Fool me twice - shame on me.
Fool me 24/7 - I'm in TV Heaven.
(Click Jack for clip >>>)
"Mayak
? Never heard of it. Ditto Leaking Asse. Hindsight (and official inquiries) are the most wonderful things etc etc".)
Footnote: Mayak. Video. Ah yes - Mayak reduced to a footnote ! The second worst nuclear "accident" & explosion in history(after Chernobyl) - yet still even now - like the RAV EV circa 1997-2010 - Mayak remains completely unknown to 99.9 %(approx) of the population of planet earth ...
What - are you saying there's some kind of conspiracy..?
What - are you saying there's some kind of conspiracy..?
What - are you saying there's some kind of conspiracy..? (repeat ad nauseam et infinitum)
(Hmm - our footnote seems to be morphing into a BigFootNote ...)
That's right - the Mayak meltdown(OK - explosion, catastrophe...) may have occurred in 1957 - but even today the radioactive readings near the area's streams and rivers are way off the scale...hundreds have died and many still suffer from serious and rare illnesses as a consequence. Soviet authorities originally denied it had happened...the CIA knew the truth all along - but stayed silent to please the world's nascent nuclear lobby and industry(that's official - see the remarkable 2009 documentary "Le Cauchemar du Nucléaire" / "The Nuclear Nightmare". Click for clip. No known English version !!).
But be in no doubt whatsoever: if a Mayak-sized nuclear accident or meltdown were to take place in France, for example, it would without doubt wipe out that country's economy for decades if not centuries. Massive CAP subsidies will/would serve no purpose this time.
The psychological fallout: a total, global loss of confidence in all French agricultural products as well as in the global nuclear industry - just for hors d'oeuvres/starters.
Champagne and truffles anyone ? (..picture French politicians - on camera to the world's assembled press-gangs - force-feeding fruity fromage frais & pâté de foie gras to their gently bribed, wide-eyed but tight-mouthed offspring ..)
Would anyone swallow it - encore une fois/foie(gras) ?
And judging from the economic and currency instability, volatility, insanity we've already all witnessed and suffered for the past two years it is very difficult to imagine the Euro and Eurozone surviving the impact of a Euro-centred, Ural-scale, Mayak-like nuclear accident-waiting-to-happen).
Ah yes - "Powered by Plutonium" - surely one EV bumper-sticker that even the most hardcore, diehard pro-nuclear somnambulant is unlikely to consider proudly flaunting pre- or post- any nuclear Armegeddon-outtahere. Especially not next to the sticker
"Baby on Board"(the intrinsic message there being "Please Do Not Take Unnecessary Risks with My Child's Life...with My Gene Pool, with the Future Generation of Me etc")
...now let's get back to the Show:(it must go on - despite those 19,000 barrels(1 barrel= 42 US gallons) of vintage BP crude leaking nearer every day)
Base Notes:
Gloucestershire Motor Show - main site
Google Map - Highnam Location
It promises to be a fine, fun, care-free day-out for all the family - so why not bring along your entire Gene Pool for the whole weekend !
(Final note: organisers say that a celebrity guest "fly-in" is planned: they have however, sadly, confirmed to us that it will NOT be Jeremy Clarkson ..)
April, 2010
Spanish Synchronicity, Serendipity, Simultaneity:
1) Bolivia: EV's, StEVia, lithium("Bolithium" ?). A poor nation's double-ripe harvest.
(Stevia - up to 300 times sweeter than sugar. Wiki/Stevia)
2) Spain: 
Zapatero accelerates EV drive(Think Spain)
..the dots surely now join themselves, verdad ?
- DN! - reporting from Bolivia(April 19-23++)...y Stevia, Amy ? (instead of coca.. ?)
Una SEAT STEVia , por favor ? (Sure sounds sweeter than the "IBE"..)
See also: "SEAT al Sol"(Martorell solar site)
EV's & StEVia: a synchronous silence broken - simultaneously (almost !)
Disruptive, transformative technologies - disruptive, transformative commodities. But when-oh-when will we see disruptive, transformative, competitive prices ?!
No - it's sadly not (yet!?) the SEAT StEVia ...(All-electric SEAT "IBE", Geneva 2010,Youtube) SEAT - call us ! Hablamos !
.. yes, we can see the straplines, imagine the ads....and hear the music already: 
"The SEAT Stevia -
- Sweet Dreams Are Made of This..."(Eurythmics, Youtube)
So come on SEAT - why not take a LEAF out of Nissan's book ? Beat them at their own unsubtle, green name-game ?
No - let' s face it: the name "LEAF" - unlike, for instance, "Stevia" - is a polarizing, divide-and-stall non-starter as far as most male drivers are concerned - designed(deliberately?) not to appeal to yer average Clarkson-adoring petrol+air-head.
To illustrate the point, here's a Daily Male conversation-twist you're unlikely to hear down the pub or in the rugby club showers any time soon:
Jim: ...too much political correctness - that's the ******* problem Dave. B***y PC brigade. Bl**dy treehuggers. Gotta live in the real world, I always, always, always say ...
Dave: Too right mate. So what ya' drivin these days then ?
Jim: Got meself a LEAF mate. Nissan. All-electric job. Jeez - the girls go crazy when I tell 'em I'm driving a LEAF.
<<
No - it just ain't gonna happen. But replace "LEAF" with something like ... the infinitely more neutral and "normal"-sounding "Stevia" - and, well, Jim safely avoids being soundly & roundly beaten to a mushed-leaf pulp by his many male "mates" ..in the shower, in the car park etc...
PG
Base Notes:
- Reminder: when EVUK's MG (ie. editor Paul Govan's
assistant sister Moira) visited Valladolid(Renault Spain) in 2006, electric cars...coches electricos ... were nowhere to be seen or heard on the Spanish automotive, corporate, political or media radar.
Read Moira's despairing 2006 article which includes several tinglingly telling extracts from her many letters to local & national Spanish media outlets ..
*****************************************************
"Sweet Stevia" - a perfect anagram of ...
"It's a sweet EV" (apostrophe''''s don't count !)
SEAT - we rest our case !
*****************************************************
Probé STEviA ... y vi SEAT (mas anagramas perfectas !)
April, 2010
7-pin plugs - the Taxman's Trojan Horse ?
(ZDF TV video - click on Abspielen/Play)
Can we all see the Positive + and the Negative - ?
Time for a little purposeful, pre-emptive scaremongering - as another deafening silence(old/new media, Google, Twitter ..) screams "Shatter Me Now!"
Let's light that fuse and stand well back ...
(ZDF TV video) We're not alone/allein ! Voltmobile's Rainer Plempe shares our concern: will 7-pin plugs with "intelligent" communication links , compulsory Smart Chargers etc put paid to low-cost, keep-it-simple, keep-it-private home-charging ?
But come on - Plugs & Pins - it's all just tedious techie talk, right ? Who cares?
Hmm - now might be as good a time as any to coin a phrase - but hopefully not a tax: yes, say hello for the first and hopefully last time to...
"EVAT"
"Electric Vehicle Added Tax" !!
Again - at this point all-out panic and rioting in the streets would probably be inappropriate: this is purely preemptive, preventative speculation on our part - designed to break the silence, ignite debate, sound alarm bells, trigger a little twittering ...
But it is all-too easy, is it not, to imagine those hideous headlines - circa 2015:
"Government/EU to introduce 25% EVAT - Electric Vehicle Added Tax as Electric Car Sales Soar"
"The Treasury/EU ministers announced today that a new EV electricity tax "EVAT" is to be introduced (EU-wide) to compensate for dwindling petrol tax revenues....the initial rates will be set at 25% ...and as of 2017 all registered EV owners will be required to install home Smartchargers to enable electricity suppliers and tax authorities to identify which and how much electricity customers are using to charge their electric cars...."
And how long will it then be before an initial modest surcharge climbs to 80%(cf. petrol tax) as more and more of us switch to plug-ins/EV's ?
For the record: - as of April 6, 2010 a Google Search on keywords "Electric Vehicle Added Tax" and/or "EVAT" delivers precisely "0" results.
Conclusion(tentative) ? At this moment no-one on Planet Earth appears to give an audible tweet - preemptive or otherwise - about "Electric Vehicle Added Taxes" .
EVAT - let's hope, or better still, ensure that it never happens....(ditto all GPS-based, Pay-As-You-Go tracking & taxing technologies...)
March, 2010
BYD-Daimler & Youtube'd GenEVa
- made easy
