Circa 1897: the first truly electric car? the "Runabout" by KFI 640 AM's founder, Earl C. Anthony

I (JP) took this photo at the Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles, and while already a fan of AM talk radio station, KFI and of electric vehicle, couldn't possibly have imagined that the history of the two were so beautifully intertwined.


Newcomb Weisenberger, an engineer for KFI AM 640 for 33 years, and I'm sure one of their greatest treasures, had the great pleasure of working directly with Earl C. Anthony, and had the wherewithal to preserve many  amazing  pieces of not only automotive history, but also military and technological history.  OldRadio.com has been gracious enough to host Newcomb's memoirs, which are a fascinating and delightful experience to read.


I'd like to directly show you to his account and recollection of Earl C. Anthony's "Runabout," which has been touted as the "first fully electric car" by many in the field, perhaps even utilizing an early form of regenerative braking! ECA built it at the young age of only 17; according to the placard at Petersen, he was, "a competent electrical engineer who also designed and built the 1.5 horsepower motor that powered the car." 


The vehicle you see in the photo is believed to be a reconstruction built on a new wooden frame and using the existing other parts (to include bicycle forks!) due to an accident the vehicle was involved in on the very rough and unkind early Los Angeles roads.

Circa 1966: the first Hydrogen Fuel Cell vehicle

Another great find at the Petersen... If only it were possible for us to keep pretending that Electric Vehicles, Hybrids, or even Hydrogen Powered Fuel Cell Vehicles were even a somewhat recent endeavor... they aren't.

In 1966 GM presented the "Electrovan," based on the 1966 GMC Handivan, which is credited as "the first hydrogen fuel cell car ever produced." Hydrogen power is by no means new, at the time of the Electrovan, fuel cells had already existed since the early 1800's, and even NASA's Gemini spacecraft ran off hydrogen, with the water produced actually being drunk by the astronauts! General Motors does seem pretty secure in its claims to have been first to use a fuel cell to power an automobile, though.

HydrogenCarsNow.com has a great article on the van, it's capabilities, weaknesses, and a lot of other valuable information on Hydrogen cars.

eROCKIT - a Segway Killer? a new vehicle altogether?

The recently launched eROCKIT (http://www.erockit.net/) is creating quite a stir, most notably on a recent TechCrunch article touting it's abilities and applications while trying to somehow tie it to the Segway in terms of tech without making it seem like birth control on wheels. 

Barring the eROCKIT's creator's claims of feelings of "moral superiority," feeling "super human" and being "king of the road," it is strides more attractive than a Segway, and much faster, but it isn't quite garnering the attention that we're sure the Ferrari's he's passing are.

So what gives? Are we the only people thinking this thing is going to need more than an ad campaign scored by Herbie Hancock?

Well, you kind of just have to watch the videos to understand. They give a small taste of what Electric Vehicle enthusiasts have been calling the "EV Grin" for years now. It's cool, it's clean, it's fast... it's quiet, yet has gobs of torque from the moment you hit the accelerator through the point you pass yet another filling station that holds no sway for your wallet (unless you want a Redbull.) Now, if only the price point for this will come down low enough for it to be more than "a toy for the rich" as the Volt and Leaf are being labelled here and there, that could REALLY be what would make the eROCKIT stand out. That, and if they throw in a cool pair of shades like he has in the video.

An Intro to the Pickens Energy Plan

"I'm only opposed to one thing: our imports of oil"

Pickens: We are in a crisis. In 1970, we imported 24% of our oil; today it's 70%.

T. Boone Pickens on CNBC, breaking down how we can cure America's addiction to foreign oil. Why ethanol and bio-fuels will not provide large scale results, and how Natural Gas and wind farms CAN do this.

He's leading the way for America in terms of oil independence.