Solar Powered Scooter

Have you heard about the Solar Scooter? No joke, Don Dunklee has developed a way to charge his electric scooter by solar power and he has created an instructional that you can download on how to do it. According to his guide:

"The basic bike is a stock EVT 4000E available from various dealers around the U.S. The rest of the system consists of a Xantrex (formerly Trace) C-40 charge controller, and 4 Atlantic Solar 30 watt, 16 X 25 inch panels mounted two to a side. The panels fold open while in charging mode and are closed while driving. Mounting hardware is basic off the shelf parts available from any hardware store."

The result is something a little hokey-looking but useful and very affordable for Don's commute to work.

Check out Don's Solar Scooter at Build It Solar.

Sydney getting on board

I happened upon an article about Sydney, Australia's push to make the city more scooter friendly to reduce congestion and improve the environment. The movement is part of an overall transportation strategy that is also encouraging walking, public transport and bicycling as alternatives to using cars.

As I've said in the past, pro-scooter planning should be a part of responsible city planning. In my city, we're working to address more scooter parking in congested areas. I am currently working on an article for the August issue of which discusses what has been done in cities such as San Jose and Portland, OR. I've sent and email to the Mayor of Sydney to offer some suggestions and to request an email interview. We'll see what comes of it.
Read the Daily Telegraph's article.

Vespa PR Machine Gears Up For Summer

A recent press release by Piaggio USA is once again playing on high gas prices, the relative affordability of scooters, and the concern over automobile's part in global warming to sell scooters. While this may seem like no news to us scooter riders, these press releases aren't geared towards us. As much as we can say that scooter sales have been growing, they still are just a small part of the automotive market. The fact that Hummers still sell means that us Americans just don't get that our over-the-top lifestyle is at the expense of the environment and the world. It is for those people (especially the city-dwellers) that these releases are sent out. Piaggio is the big kid on the block so they take the lead. I wish other scooter manufacturers would get in on the action and make more noise, but for now, we'll be glad that someone is spending the big bucks to get the message out. Now, if only we could convince Piaggio/Vespa US to get their website to reflect these pushes as well...

Read the press release.