When silence isn't golden

Silent running...

It's one of the things about #339 that I haven't really decided how I feel about exactly.

On the one hand, I think it's a hoot!

How do I fully convey what it's like to be able to pull out of my driveway early in the morning -- or come home really late, like at oh-dark-thirty hour -- and not make a sound?

"Magical"??

"Mystical"??

Or when I cruise through a parking lot and the people walking in the lot that I drive by or follow (to get their parking space, of course) are just startled that this "car" is just there and moving -- and they just had no clue!

Priceless.

But then I started hearing/reading that people are complaining about all these "silent hybrid and electric cars."

Really?

OK. I can understand why blind pedestrians would be concerned about silent cars like 339. So, maybe it is a Good Thing(tm) that they're training guide dogs for the silent dangers. (Seriously!! Click the link!!!!)

And maybe under that pretense, I can understand why Japanese car-makers are considering "noisier" hybrids.

BUT... Why can't I help think this is a Stupid Idea?? I mean just look at Lotus' plan for external speakers on hybrid cars -- just so they can make noise to warn pedestrians when the car's in electric mode.

Seems extremely silly to me!!! Not to mention, an added expense and complexity 'cause now you have to program the computer to switch on the speaker only when the hybrid's gas engine shuts off.

And, oh, then you have to program it so the sounds that come out of the external speaker are loud enough at the right speeds...

And let's not forget about being able to program the "right" sounds...

Hmmm... The rumble of a V8 engine? The whine of a jet engine? Or should it be just a "beep-beep-beep-beep"?? Oh, I know... let's make it customer adjustable... You know, like cell phone ring tones!!!

Oh.

Joy.

Yet another annoying bit of noise that I would need to shut out mentally!

AND, it might come to next-gen electric cars. Fisker's already planning on it.

Still, it does seem REALLY STUPID to me. And, I'll admit, maybe that's because I'm such a "pioneer" and use to the idea of "silent running?"

I mean, I'm pretty much conditioned to rolling down my window and cranking up my radio when I pull into a crowded shopping mall parking lot. You know, so I can "make noise" as 339 rolls "silently" among the rows of cars and mindless shoppers -- those who are more intent on looking for their cars or struggling with their packages or yakking away on their cell phones or flirting and having fun with their girl friends rather than actually, you know, pay attention to where they're walking? (Honestly, you could be driving a big, rumbling, yellow, blue-smoke-belching school bus and they would be clueless that you're behind them!)

And I gotta question.. What's the point?

I mean, wouldn't a QUIETER world be an Even Better Thing(tm)?? Shouldn't we be working toward making ALL cars and other vehicles into electrical or hybrid vehicles? (You know, turning all those MILLIONS of vehicles in the U.S. into Earth-friendly transportation systems -- and "silent killers?")

And in all honesty, I can't wait for the day when I'm sitting in silence in stop-and-go-traffic because MY car isn't making noise idling (and wasting fuel!!!) AND because ALL the cars around me -- including that stupidly big, slow and ugly school bus filled with noisy brats! -- are ALSO silent because they're NOT idling and wasting fuel!!

And just try and imagine this: You're standing on the corner of Broadway and 42nd Street in Manhattan on a bright, sunny work day afternoon waiting to cross the street. And when traffic stops all you would hear is.... Silence!! No idling engines... No rumble of trucks and buses. I mean, they're there. But... SILENT!

Wouldn't New York... The WORLD... Be a MUCH nicer place???

So why are we still conditioning people to EXPECT cars to MAKE "noise"??? Why should something that is wonderful -- and wonderfully different -- be made "ordinary"??? Shouldn't we be doing the exact opposite??

But then, on the other hand... After all this "tirade" against adding noise to the silent-running electric car.... I gotta admit. I do sometimes miss the roar of a throaty V8 engine.

And to be honest, the geek in me is right now SCREAMING: "DUDE....!!! How cool would it be to be able to download a 'car tone' that makes 339 sounds like a Battlestar Galactica Viper?!?!?!?! Or maybe even like a UFO or a stealth fighter or an X-wing??? "

To make noise or not make noise??? Silent running or not-so-silent running???

I'm still torn....

Vive la difference!!!! Read more!

Why do I drive an Electric Mini Cooper...?

Today, of all days, seems to be the day to answer (in part) this question:

Why did I choose to be a part of this Mini-E program?

It must be because I'm such a geek that has to have the latest technology, right?

Yeah, well... Maybe. Who else but a true geek would be happy driving a car that can go only 100 or so miles between fill-ups? Or, would be "ok" and otherwise accepting of the fact that it'll take more than a week to replace just one "faulty battery module #42?" (More on the pending repair in another, future post...)

Of course, that kind of attitude is to be expected of someone who's a dedicated "greenie," an "eco-warrior"... A person like me then, right?

::scoff:: As anyone who knows me well can tell you, I'm FAR from being a "crunchy granola, hemp-wearing, Wiccan-believing, 'Earth-child!'" Nope.

I still love my nearly 12-year old, gas-powered, CO2-emitting Honda CR-V. (Not as big of a gas suck as a GMC Suburban or a Hummer, say. But still, 20-MPG is on the low end of the mileage spectrum of "eco-friendly" vehicles!)

And if I use a Styrofoam cup for my coffee or soda or buy a disposable plastic bottle of water, I'm not whipping myself for "dissing Earth-mother Gaia" or feel I have to run out and plant 20 young sapling in remission of my "environmental sins."

Oh... well... Then, I must be the opposite! One of those rich snobs who have more money than sense and want to flaunt my "eco-ness" out of pure vanity...

"Lookit me! I'm elite!!! I have an electric Mini in this cute, distinctive livery... Available to ONLY 500 drivers... A select few who could afford to blow $850 a month on this so-very-rare, but so-very-Earthy-eco-chic car... for ONLY a year! I'm special!!!"

::scoff:: I wish... And as others remind me, for what I'm paying for #339 I could have gotten a really much-nicer, finely-equipped, lux mobile... a BMW 7-series... a Mercedes... But for a Mini Cooper??

("Boy, Mini must be/should be treating you like Royalty, then!" Hmmph!!! Another "I wish!!")

So why did I become a Mini-E pioneer?

In part: Because of Sept. 11, 2001.

I remember that day.

I worked (back then) for a news organization for one of the major TV networks. And I remember every single, horrid moment.

While many of us were glued to our TVs watching the news... It was "news gatherers" like I who were just flooded with information... TOO much information... And the sense of panic from some very "seasoned journalists" out in "the field" that day.

But of all the things I remember seeing... During those first 24 hours... And the days that seemed to drag on... Mostly, I remember:

The footage of people in certain OPEC nations... shouting... chanting... singing... celebrating what had happened to us Americans.

I also remember the week after 9/11, my sister picked up and drove home a brand new 2001 Toyota Prius.

Yes, my sister and I were "pioneers" back then too because we actually ordered the Prius back in April 2001 -- way before many folks thought hybrid technology was "ready for prime time" or worth the "extra cost." After all, gas wasn't even close to $2 a gallon!!! (Ahhh... the good old days!)

But, I was enthralled with the technology and wanted to show her how it worked by taking her to a Toyota dealership "just for a test drive" back then.

We weren't planning on buying a new car in April 2001. But after she drove it AND heard of all the advantages of (and dealer incentives for) the Prius... She was sold. ("How can I not buy this car?" I believe I remember her asking that day.)

And I certainly felt better because after Sept. 11, 2001, I truly believed in this simple equation:

Prius = less gas = less need for imported oil = less money to OPEC = less money to people who plan/carry out Sept. 11-like attacks = less need to send troops to said OPEC nations to secure flow of said imported oil = less "reasons" for people to blindly hate Americans!!!

Did we change the world? Maybe. (To say anything else would be pure hubris!)

I certainly know for a fact that for the weeks and months following 9/11/2001, we "Prius pioneers" were certainly stopped by a lot of people who asked us A LOT of questions... Does it really save a lot of gas? How does it work? Does it drive like a "real" car? Where do you plug it in? (Heh!)

And, I know for a fact that today hybrid car technology is much more prevalent among the minds of consumers and car-makers!

So, will I and the hundreds of other Mini-E pioneers "change the world?" Again, that would be pure hubris!

BUT, I do know that I'm being asked almost the same questions about #339 now as I was being asked about the Prius in 2001. (Only this time, they're asking, "Is that a hybrid? How come it doesn't have a gas cap?" Heh!)

Finally, in remembrance of this day, eight years ago...

A precious few -- despite over-whelming odds and impossible situations -- chose to stand and do what they believed was right. Even if, as was the case of United Flight 93, the outcome meant their death, that handful possibly prevented the death of thousands.

I don't know if Kennedy really said, "One man can make a difference."

But it certainly seems true.

So to all my fellow Mini-E Pioneers, electric car enthusiasts and friends... On this day, in the immortal words of Todd Beamer:

"Let's roll!"

Read more!

All charged up!!!

It's not just the Mini-E that's all juiced... But I am jazzed too!!!!!

I just got off the phone with a journalist for a French newspaper called, Le Parisien. He read my humble little blog and interviewed me for an article he's working on regarding Obama's massive $2.4 billion government grant for automotive battery development!!!

Check out the New York Times story:

$2 Billion in Grants to Bolster U.S. Manufacturing of Parts for Electric Cars

Anyway, I'm really PSYCHED!!

I didn't vote for Obama. But I like this move to push for battery development -- even though "the other guy" proposed the same thing during last year's campaign, too!

• McCain calls for $300 million prize for better car battery
• John McCain, Battery Booster
• Obama joins the anti-McCain battery prize league (Consider this was in June 25, 2008, several days after McCain announced his proposal. See above.)

In general, I'm not a fan of most of the Prez's politics and thinking/direction... But I'm psyched that I'll be in a major newspaper (even if it is a foreign paper in a language I don't understand!), helping to push the Mini-E project. (That's my job as a "pioneer," yah?)

Moreover, anything that promotes/advances electric cars and revitalizes the U.S. auto industry (which, according to the NY Times article, has a big opportunity in this still-very-level playing field!) and lessen our dependency on fossil fuels from countries that hate and want to kill us....

That, my friends, is a Good Thing™.

Now, excuse me while I run out to the company parking lot with a few of my friends/co-workers to take pictures of me and #339 to go with this fellow's article for Le Parisien!

Stay tuned!!! ;-) Read more!