The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) calculates that a single gas lawn mower emits the same amount of volatile organic compounds in an hour as a car driven 350 miles. Multiply that times 54 million—the estimated number of Americans who mow their lawns every weekend—and it’s a staggering amount of toxic particles entering the atmosphere—some five percent of the nation’s total air pollutants. And because lawn mowers are used predominantly in hot months when ground-level ozone is the highest, they bring added misery to asthma sufferers.

© Lisa Blackshear

And that’s just the toxins that get into the air. Each year, the EPA says that homeowners spill 17 million gallons of gasoline when refilling their lawn products, six million more gallons than the Exxon Valdez spilled into Prince William Sound in 1989.

Electric Advantages

The Electric Power Research Institute of Palo Alto, California, says that replacing one half of the nearly 1.3 million gas mowers in the U.S. with electric mowers would be the emissions equivalent of taking two million cars off the road.

Electric mowers are not only better for the environment (because they create no exhaust emissions and run cleaner), they also need less maintenance (no spark plugs and belts) and are easier to use (no pull cord—just turn the key). On top of all that, they’re less expensive to run. The average electric mower uses the same electricity as an ordinary toaster, costing just $5 per year. The electrics also create considerably less noise pollution.

On the downside, electric mowers cost up to $150 more and are limited to use with smaller lawns; corded mowers are restricted by the 100-foot cord length and cordless mowers are limited to the runtime of their charge—30 to 60 minutes, depending on battery size. Corded mowers also carry the risk of running over the cord, although top models guide the cord to the side of the handle to prevent that. And cordless mowers can present an environmental hazard if their lead-acid batteries are not disposed of at a recycling facility.

According to consumer ratings, Black & Decker leads the pack. Consumer-search.com reports that B&D’s corded model, MM 875 ($230), is “maintenance- free” and has a one-lever height adjustment that’s easy to maneuver. Its cordless model, CMM 1200 ($400), does a better job than most corded electric mowers, plus mulches more effectively and cuts more evenly. Other corded models that fared well are the Craftsmen 37051 ($220), and the Homelite UT13120 ($200), that reportedly has the widest cutting deck (20 inches) of all electric mowers, as well as the highest maximum cuttings available.

Cord-Free

As for cordless models, Consumer Digest rates the Neuton Cordless Mower ($400) higher than B&D, mostly due to its lighter 48-pound weight, its whisper-like hum and its “reel” mower, which cuts the grass at a diagonal angle that’s considered healthier for the grass.

Most of the major mower companies make electric mowers, as do many smaller manufacturers, including Sun-lawn, Neuton, Homelite, Yard Machines and Worx. The difficulty is finding stores that carry them. Locally, Home Depot carries one brand—Homelite. Nick Redwood, department manager of Lowes in Orange, Connecticut, says his store sells a maximum of four different models. The Black & Deckers are the most popular, but Redwood says customers rarely ask for electric mowers. He sells only one for every 20 gas mowers.

Bill Moore, webmaster for EV-world.com, has owned a Black & Decker CMM1000 for three years and says he had to resort to the Internet to find an electric mower because there were none on showroom floors where he lives in Omaha, Nebraska.

He now says he’d never go back to using a gas mower. “It was tiring,” he says. “I can’t prove it medically, but the electric doesn’t produce the same level of fatigue; it’s not spitting out a quart of fuel and giving off exhaust fumes.” The one drawback, Moore says, is that he occasionally needs to make an extra pass because the blade of his B&D is 19 inches, compared to the 20- or 21-inch blade of most gas mowers.

John Longo of Milford, Connecticut stopped into Lowes on a recent Saturday to purchase his second electric mower. He says he bought his first 10 years ago, kept it for seven years, then went back to a gas mower. “It’s a man thing,” he jokes, “I went for more power.”

But Longo says he couldn’t deal with the mess and noise. The clincher for both Moore and Longo is the simplicity of use. “The electric mower is always there, ready to go,” says Moore.

LUANNE ROY is the listings editor of the Fairfield County Weekly. She lives in Seymour, Connecticut.

STUART — STUART — When St. Petersburg boaters Nancy Frainetti and Jeff Springfield pulled up to the fuel dock at Hutchinson Island Marriott Marina in Stuart Tuesday afternoon, one thing was noticeably absent — engine noise.

A leisurely cruise from the River Forest Yachting Center on the St. Lucie Canal in Tropical Acres to the Marriott served as the final leg of the 8-day, 250-mile “Cruise to the Atlantic.”

Frainetti and Springfield, owners of Endeavour Green, builders of electric hybrid yachts, left St. Petersburg June 16 and traversed the Okeechobee Waterway in their 24-foot boat while using only $16 in electricity and a few gallons of diesel fuel.

“We did this to show people that this is not a ‘toy boat,’” said Springfield, a longtime captain who said many boaters think electric-powered boats are typically for small lakes and short trips. “A typical boating family might enjoy a 20-mile trip. We had legs of this trip of 40, 47 and on Monday, 52 miles in a day.”

The technology behind the Endeavour involves a 48 volt array of batteries that turn the 13 horsepower D & D motor. The electric motor uses a twin belt setup to turn the drive shaft for a 3-blade bronze inboard propeller.

The batteries can be charged at home or marina by plugging into a 110 volt outlet. To recharge the batteries while under way, a 3.5 kilowatt Master Volt Whisper diesel generator is employed. During the 8-day trip, Springfield said only nine hours were put on the generator and at 3.8 hours per gallon, they needed less than three gallons of diesel.

The Endeavour provided comfortable passage, Frainetti said, despite record heat during their trip. A full-length canvas top — one that can fold down and serve as a boat cover when not in use — shades a large area.

“We endured a little weather — but that’s something boaters are used to handling,” Frainetti said. “It got a little hot out on Lake Okeechobee Monday, but we managed to keep it from baking our brains.”

Frainetti said that although the Endeavour has Eisenglass and air conditioning, they survived without it.

Frainetti said she saw several manatees during the trip and counted 38 alligators while crossing Lake Okeechobee.

Springfield said the hybrid technology is receiving a lot of interest from the boating community. He said that one selling feature is the simplicity of its design.

“It’s an easy boat to own,” Springfield said. “It’s very simple — there are no complex systems. All the electrical components are solid state design. There are no fumes, vibration or noise. And because you are carrying little or no fuel, insurance rates are great.”

For more information visit www.EndeavourGreen.com or call (727) 573-5377.

A brand new boat making waves in South Florida, and it runs on batteries. The Endeavour Green Company, part of the Endeavour Catamaran Corporation, showed off it's "green" boat. Co-owners, Nancy Frainetti and Jeff Stringfield, traveled from Saint Petersburg to Stuart. They did it all on battery power, no gas or diesel fuel needed, unless you want to use the back-up generator on board. The Endeavor Green Company created the boat, which is equivalent to a gas or diesel fueled deck boat. The starting cost is around $42,000. The owners say it's well worth the price, and it helps the environment. Endeavour Co-owner, Nancy Frainetti, says, "We have no emissions on the electric propulsion. So, it's as green as can be. What a wonderful benefit."

The boat is also decked out with a bathroom on board and air conditioning. It charges up each night, and usually costs only $1.50. Take that versus a gas or diesel engine that could cost you anywhere from $50 to $75 dollars a day to gas up.

Oakland California USA,  Electric Motorsport Inc. has unveiled its two entries for the June/12th Isle of Man TTXGP.  In the open class is a modified production electric motorcycle called the GPR-S.  The Electric Motorsport GPR-S were the first Production Electricmotorcycles capable of attaining legal freeway speeds in the USA.

In the Pro Class, the entry is the Electric Motorsport R144.  This conversion is based on an R1 race chassis. This motorcycle utilizes a high performance electric motor designed and manufactured by D&D Motor Systems, Inc.

Electric Motorsport is a technology company that specializes in Light Electric Vehicles and electric propulsion systems. Over the past eight years the company's website www.electricmotorsport.com has become a one stop shop for electric vehicle builders around the world.  Electric Motorsport is proud to say they have supplied electric drive systems and components to many of the TTXGP teams that will be competing.  Why does Electric Motorsport supply its competitors with hi-performance electric drive components?  Electric motorsport Founder and CEO Todd Kollin says "its mainly to promote the technology and to have some one to race with, and besides we are in the parts business. Racing is just the fun part and its not much fun without competition."

Electric Motorsport Inc has always placed an emphasis on the Electric motorcycle as away of using renewable energy such as solar, wind, hydroelectric, and geothermal to propel ourselves from one location to the next.  The company has sold 1000's of electric motorcycle conversion kits. Electric Motorsport even sells books on how to convert your old gas motorcycle to electric. These conversions are great if you have a old bike that does not run so well or has a blown engine.  An electric conversion can bring the thing back to life but without having to deal with oil, gas, noise, fumes, warm ups,tune ups, gear boxes, clutches. To learn more check out their website at www.electricmotorsport.com

ASHLAND, Ore. — Electric all-terrain vehicles may not impress the dune- and trail-riding crowd that rides for recreation, but a few small companies expect organic farmers and vineyard growers will pay a premium to gather cattle and spray vines without the carbon footprint of a gas vehicle.

While automakers are toiling to produce electric cars that will fit the demands of American drivers, Ashland-based Barefoot Motors is on the verge of turning out heavy-duty ATVs that can go 50 miles on a charge costing about 90 cents.

"I think a lot of attention is focused on the more glamorous vehicles -- the cars," said Chief Executive Max Scheder-Bieschin. "But there are lots of other applications where the strength of the technology can be focused."

Debby Zygielbaum, vineyard manager at organic Robert Sinskey Vineyards in Napa, Calif., test-drove an early Barefoot prototype last year and is eager to be an early adopter when production starts in June. She'd like to haul her spraying equipment without fogging the vines with exhaust fumes, and the ATV could get free power from the vineyard's solar panels.

"It's becoming feasible where it will actually become a working vehicle to use in the field," she said.

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So Honda is getting into the electric motorcycle biz huh? Well, now we know what they plan to do with all the engineering talent suddenly available from their now defunct F1 & AMA efforts.

Motorcycle News (via our friends at AutoBlogGreen) says Honda is serious about building a workable Ebike and selling it to the likes of you and me by 2010. Sure, that sounds plausible. Honda has the engineering grunt and it pretty much has the whole motorcycle thing down, so it seems like a lead pipe cinch.

But is it?

The pope who wears Prada has a new set of chic custom wheels.

Pope Benedict XVI, who has made headlines with his high-style red designer loafers and his Gucci shades, is tooling around the grounds of Vatican City in an electric car outfitted in luxurious Natuzzi Italian white leather. His latest fashion statement was donated to the pontiff by Global Electric Motorcars (GEM), a subsidiary of DaimlerChrysler, and Natuzzi.

"It was a very special project and an honor to be involved in it," said Daniel Tranchini, chief global sales and marketing officer for Natuzzi, the world's largest manufacturer of leather upholstery, calling us from the International Furniture Fair in Cologne, Germany.

The car, which bears a vague resemblance to a golf cart, has the papal seal on the front and back and was made for short hops behind the walls of Vatican City. No word on whether there is a papal putting green out there.

Dozens of communities across the US have recently passed ordinances allowing golf carts to share the road with cars. The electric powered carts are turning into a viable transportation alternative for people feeling the strain of expensive gasoline.  A few communities around the country have even created dedicated cart lanes. With top speeds of approximately 20 mph and a very informal safety system, these tiny vehicles are only appropriate on roads with lower speed limits. New laws are going to have to be put in place to deal with safety concerns as the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration does not yet recognize golf carts as on-road vehicles.

USA Today: “More Golf Carts Leaving The Greens”

Vern Buchanan (R), the Congressman representing the Sarasota, FL area, is one politician who sees the "green" light. While visiting with solar and electric car maker, Cruise Car Inc, whose manufacturing and sales operation is in his district, the lawmaker made a plea for a national bipartisan effort to make the switch from fossil fuels to more environmentally-friendly energy sources. Speaking to the company's employees and assembled media, Buchanan said, "My sense is we've been misled as Americans in many ways for the last 25 years in terms of our energy and where we're going to get it. Solar, alternate energy, all that stuff is possible; it'll create jobs, it'll make a difference."

Proof of that difference was all around him. While obviously not the transportation solution for everybody, Cruise Car is doing a booming business. There's a 60 to 90 day waiting list for some of their vehicles, which can go up to 62 miles on a charge and are powered by the sun, though they can be plugged in for extra charging if necessary. The company is doubling its 10 employees this year and will be moving to a new facility (and doing more hiring) to keep up with an exponential increase in demand. Hopefully, more of our representatives will open their eyes to the many benefits of a greener economy and make the changes needed to speed things along.

[Source: Bradenton Herald]

Deciding to buy your child a go kart can be a difficult decision to make. If you have already decided to take the plunge, then you may be trying to decide whether gas or electric go karts are the better choice. Electric go karts have a number of advantages over karts powered by gas. This article will share with you those advantages.

Cheaper

Electric go karts are usually much cheaper than their gas counterparts. Karts powered by gas normally start around $400 or $500. You can find a lot of electric go karts that will only cost you a maximum of $200.

Safer

Go karts that rely on gas for power can be dangerous due to the fact that gasoline is extremely flammable. Most parents wouldn't be too thrilled with having their kids handling gasoline. Even kids can safely handle the batteries required by electric go karts. Also, most electric karts have some form of speed control so that parents can control how fast their kids are able to go.

Environmentally Friendlier

Everyone knows that burning gas releases toxic fumes into the atmosphere. For the environmentally conscious parent, electric go karts are the perfect solution. In addition to helping save the Earth, your kid won't be breathing in any poisonous fumes while he's having fun in his new toy

Noise

The engine of gas powered go karts make a lot of noise when running. If you live in a relatively quiet neighborhood, this may cause problems with your neighbors. Electric karts make considerably less noise

Maintenance

Maintenance costs for go karts powered by gas can add up quickly. You will need a constant supply of fuel. In addition to this, gas engines are more susceptible to breakdowns and oil leaks. With electric go karts, you can simply recharge the battery time and time again. Also, they have much less moving parts, so they are far less likely to break down.

Performance

Electric go karts usually have more efficient engines than gas go karts. They easily outperform gas powered karts in handling and performance. Also, they are virtually impossible to tip over while cutting sharp corners like gas go karts are vulnerable to doing.

Easier to Start

The price of gas is getting out of hand everywhere. Ok, maybe not Venezuela, where its cheaper than our bottled water at ¢15 a gallon, but almost everywhere else, it's expensive. In the Philippines its so costly ($4.50 gallon in a country where, according to the Philippine National Statistics Office, the average household income is about $4,000 USD a year) that the Philippine National Police (PNP) has started testing neighborhood electric vehicles (NEV) with the goal of putting them into regular action.

The customized vehicle can accommodate 4 adults and comes with a police light bar and "Polis" markings. There are no gears to shift, so operation is simple. With a top speed of 30 km/h (slow) they won't be involved in any high-speed chases but they're still adequate for routine patrols and providing police visibility. The force is also considering implementing bicycles.

The recent lifting of the low speed vehicle (LSV) ban in Quebec has shone the light of discovery on another electric vehicle manufacturer getting ready to go gangbusters. In Ste.-Therese, Quebec, very close to where the Chevrolet Camaro plant was once located, sits the home of Nemo. Locally designed and manufactured, their vehicle, the Must HD2 has garnered interest from 50 municipalities within "La Belle Province" as well as from individuals. Company president, Jacques Rancourt, says they've sold 15 trucks in the past week and a half since their legal status changed and now expects to move 500 units this year.

The Must HD2 sells for around $20,000, is built on an aluminum chassis and can handle a 1,000 lb payload. Being an LSV, it's limited to 25 miles an hour but has a 70 mile range. Since it's made in the North, it does has a robust heater and many options ranging from lithium ion batteries to an AM/FM radio with CD player. We think it's a pretty cool looking truck, seemingly capable of handling a range of chores and so we wish the makers of this little brute, "Bonne chance!".

TreeHugger has recently covered the Solar Sailor and solar- powered electric bike, but we've never seen anything quite like this. For the serious DIYer, SolarVehicles.org offers info, resources, advice and even blueprints for building your own solar- powered vehicle. Most of the models are somewhere between a scooter and a golf cart, and, according to the pictures on the site, they even work! It may not be the kind of thing you'd want to take on the highway or even a busy street, but they seem perfect for putting around town. Once built, the three and four- wheeled vehicles go between 25 and 40 km/h (about 15 to 25 mph) depending on the load/cargo and grade of the road. The site has all the info you'll need to build your own, from wheels to solar cells to frames, so you can get yourself around using the power of the sun. ::Solar Vehicles

When reader W.T. Stonehill passed along news about a new article in The Economist concerning 3-4 million "souped up" golf carts hitting the roads and off-roads in the US, we, like him, we're pretty excited -- perhaps it was another sign that the electric car hadn't yet been killed. Apparently, since 1996, a large number of DIYers have been buying up old golf carts and modifying both the engines and bodies to turn them into "mini- Hummers." This would be great, except for one fact that the article buries at the end: "Most golf carts are electric and clean. But the souped-up ones have petrol engines and are fast."

While we won't go deeply into the Freudian implications of one golf cart modifier's claim that his raised, 36-bolt electric golf cart "makes me feel like a man,” we'd love to hear about tinkerers that are keeping their carts clean and green while exercising their mechanical prowess and creativity. The golf cart is a great model for short-distance electric transportation, and we'll bet that they can be souped up while still running on batteries. ::The Economist

General Motors will be collaborating with Spanish energy company Iberdola on a feasibility study to determine the infrastructure needs to support plug-in vehicles in Europe. Similar studies are underway already between automakers and utility companies in the United States and elsewhere. The two companies have a relationship through other projects being run by EPRI. Under examination will be the needs for private, residential, and commercial customers as well as for publicly-accessible vehicle plugs. Among the issues that need to be resolved are how rates will be determined for vehicle charging and billing mechanisms. The study will be focused in Spain and the UK.

A Tesla-Like All-Electric Sports Car

Today on CNBC, Chrysler CEO Bob Nardelli revealed a Tesla -like all-electric performance sports car called the Dodge ev along with three other vehicles operating either partially or entirely on an electric powertrain. The four vehicles are Chrysler's ENVI electric car program, and include an extended -electric Chrysler minivan, a new "gated community" electric called "the peapod" and a Jeep Wrangler four-door. The ev, the first of the four unveiled, not only operates entirely on plug-in power like the Tesla Roadster and appears to have similar performance numbers, also has some striking visual similarities with the Tesla. And why shouldn't it? While the Tesla's built on the Lotus Elise, the Dodge ev appears to be based on the Lotus Europa.

Which draws more juice from the electric grid, a big-screen plasma television or recharging a plug-in hybrid car?

The answer is the car. But the electricity draw by plasma televisions is easing the minds of utility company executives across the nation as they plan for what is likely to be a conversion of much of the country's vehicle fleet from gasoline to electricity in the coming years.

Rechargeable cars, industry officials say, consume about four times the electricity as plasma TVs.

But the industry already has dealt with increased electric demand from the millions of plasma TVs sold in recent years. Officials say that experience will help them deal with the vehicle fleet changeover.

So as long as the changeover from internal combustion engines to electric vehicles is somewhat gradual, they should be able to handle it in the same way, Mark Duvall, program manager for electric transportation, power delivery and distribution for the Electric Power Research Institute, said Tuesday.

"We've already added to the grid the equivalent of several years' production of plug-in hybrids," Duvall said at a conference on electric vehicles in San Jose. "The utilities, they stuck with it. They said, 'All right, that's what's happening. This is where the loads are going, and we're going to do this."'

Automakers, such as General Motors Corp. and Toyota Motor Corp. , are planning to bring rechargeable vehicles to the market as early as 2010. But speakers at the Plug-In 2008 conference say it will take much longer for them to arrive in mass numbers, due in part to a current lack of large-battery manufacturing capacity.

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Electric cars have been around for almost 170 years, but it's not just the limitations of battery power that have thwarted their more widespread use. Since Scottish businessman Robert Anderson pioneered the first electric carriage in the 1830s, most electric vehicles have lacked one of the key markers of auto success: good looks. Just take a look at La Jamais Contente, designed by Belgian Camille Jénatzy in 1899, or Billard and Zarpe's space-age oddity, the Elektra King (1961). Even today's models — the REVA, or Zap!'s Xebra — are proof that the best adjective to describe most electric cars remains quirky.

Now two new models show that green can be given a devastatingly cool makeover. Britain's Lightning GT and the U.S.-built Tesla Roadster both reach 60 m.p.h. in 4 seconds or less, their makers claim, with top speeds approaching 130 m.p.h. The Lightning GT — unveiled at London's International Motor Show last week and set to be available from the end of 2009 — sports an impressive, sleek and sexy design, drawing on Aston Martin's classic British look. Tesla, which launched its hot, little open-top two-seater a couple of years ago, has already sold out of the 2008 model and is eagerly taking reservations for 2009. Battery power has rarely, if ever, looked this good.

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Larry Horsley loves that he doesn't buy much gas, even though he drives his '95 Chevy S-10 back and forth to work each day.

Horsley, a self-described do-it-yourselfer, simply plugs his truck into an electric wall outlet in his Douglasville, Georgia, garage and charges it overnight, instead of buying gasoline refined from mostly imported oil.

"If I can keep a dollar from going overseas, I'll spend two dollars," he said. The whole conversion, including the truck, cost him about $12,000, which parts dealers say is about standard.

Another Atlanta-area tinkerer, David Kennington, converted his Honda Civic del Sol from gasoline to electric for a different reason: "I'm a raging greenie," he said.

Both Horsley and Kennington are fed up. They're among a growing number of Americans who are refusing to wait for big-car manufacturers to deliver mainstream electric vehicles, called EVs. Not only have they rebelled against the status quo by ripping out their gas-guzzling engines and replacing them with zero-emission electric motors, they say just about anyone can do it.

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