ECOSTAR DC50 - USA CANNONBALL EV RUN
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CITY CAR WARS - APRIL 2014 - SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
Chicago,
New York and Washington DC have been vying for the title of greenest city in
America. Mayor Vincent Gray is reported as saying that they want to: “make the District of Columbia the healthiest, greenest, and most livable city in the United States.”
1. the built environment 2. energy 3. food 4. nature 5. transportation 6. waste and 7. water
Transportation has been targeted with the goal of reducing automobile use to 25% of local trips. Hence, critics are saying that DC is waging a “war on cars.” City officials deny this saying that their plan puts other means of transportation on an equal footing with automobiles. Transportation is part of Sustainable, DC's plan because it ties in to so many aspects of the environment.
The
project manager at the Congress for New Urbanism, Chris McCahill said: “Cars make up about a third of greenhouse gas
emissions.” “They’re also tied to a great deal of our energy use, most of which is due to fossil fuels.”
CONGESTION
RIP OFF
The stare requires commercial and residential buildings to provide a certain amount of parking. “Historically zoning codes in the mid 20th century had the expectation that everyone would drive everywhere, so every building must have enough space,” said David Alpert, Founder and Editor-in-Chief of the popular blog Greater Greater Washington. David views an excessive dependence on cars as harmful to both city and suburb.
Exemptions on parking minimums have already occurred, and the Sustainable DC plan will accelerate this process. “District government proposed to remove parking minimums in transit rich areas downtown, to allow the market to decide how much parking,” said Zimbabwe.
Another way to reduce car use is simply to charge more for street parking, currently undervalued. Again, the market will decide, a change that Alpert described as “essentially congestion pricing for parking.” Currently, with artificially low prices, cars circle around looking for spaces, increasing congestion and hurting air quality.
WASHINGTON
DC’s effort to reduce automobile trips has led to charges, from the AAA mid-Atlantic, that DC is waging a “war on cars.” Explained Anderson, “Whether you call it a war on motorists or a campaign against cars, there no question that DC has developed a real hostility and abusive attitude towards drivers, seeking to take extreme advantage of them.”
To this claim Zimbabwe said of reallocating space that this “isn’t borne out of hostility but out of serving the diversity of demand in the district. Over half of the commute trips in the district are bike, walk, or transit today, but the space allocated on our streets isn’t consistent with this.”
Anderson further cited the proposal to eliminate parking minimums, aggressive ticketing and automated enforcement, and the arrest of motorists for driving on expired tags as parts of the campaign against cars. He also suggests that such actions are about “keeping the $100 million revenue stream flowing,” more than about safety.
Zimbabwe answered that “On enforcement, all of our activities are predicated on safety,” adding that “we had one of the safest years on record last year.” He also pointed out that two thirds of the cars on DC’s streets are not from the city. Most come from nearby suburbs in Maryland and Virginia.
Sam Zimbabwe said that over 38% of DC residents own no cars: “people own more bikes than cars.” He added that “we can’t continue to grow and be successful as a city and have everyone’s only choice be to drive. We then would be choked.”
A long struggle lies ahead. “Politically, yes it’s a challenge,” said Zimbabwe. “A lot of people won’t like it. Parking is cheap, they don’t want it to change. Any change, you can talk all you want about options, somebody’s not going to like it.”
Whichever of these great cities comes out the greenest, you can bet that it will be the one that embraces the fastest charging for EVs.
LOS ANGELES to NEW YORK - 2016 CANNONBALL RUN 2861 MILES
GOOGLE
SUGGESTED ROUTE - 2,861 mi, 43 hours
(Route has tolls) TARGET
70 HOURS
Continue to follow I-80 E - Entering Illinois
- 193 mi
Turnpike 16.5 mi
THE RECORD CAR - ECOSTAR DC50 SPECS:
ORIGINAL CANNONBALL BAKER TROPHY DASH
The Cannonball Baker Sea-To-Shining-Sea Memorial Trophy Dash, widely known simply as the Cannonball Baker or Cannonball Run, was an unofficial, unsanctioned automobile race run five times in the 1970s from New York City and Darien, Connecticut, on the U.S. Atlantic coast, to the Portofino Inn in Redondo Beach, a Los Angeles suburb on the Pacific coast. Conceived by car magazine writer and auto racer Brock Yates and fellow Car and Driver editor Steve Smith, the first run was not a real competitive race, as there was only one team running, but intended both as a celebration of the United States Interstate Highway System and a protest against strict traffic laws coming into effect at the time.
The most remarkable effort certainly was by American racing legend Dan Gurney (winner of the 1967 24 hours of Le Mans), who won the second run in a Ferrari Daytona. Dan himself put it best, saying: "At no time did we exceed 175 mph." With Brock Yates as co-driver, it took them 35 hours and 54 minutes to travel 2,863 miles (4,608 km) at an average of approximately 80 mph (130 km/h), while collecting one fine. Snow in the Rockies slowed them down considerably. The record for official Cannonballs is 32 hours and 51 minutes (about 87 mph), set in the final run by Dave Heinz and Dave Yarborough in a Jaguar XJS in April 1979.
The object of the Cannonball Baker was to leave the Red Ball Garage on East 31st Street in New York City, later a venue in Darien, Connecticut, the now-defunct Lock, Stock, and Barrel restaurant, located in the Goodwives Shopping Center, usually after midnight, and drive to the Portofino Inn in Redondo Beach, California in the shortest time possible. Those were the only rules. Nothing was specified as to the route, type of vehicle, or maximum speed permitted. There was a gentlemen's agreement that the vehicle entered would be driven the entire distance, not having it transported on another vehicle, nor having an identical second vehicle hidden near the finish, etc.
Speeding citations received along the way were the driver's responsibility and did not disqualify the vehicle, unlike the Cannonball EV Runs, where a speeding conviction is a disqualifier. Having to stop to receive a ticket increases the vehicle's overall time.
A taste for adventure capitalists
OFFICIAL CANNONBALL INTERNATIONAL ZEV ROUTES
LINKS:
https://www.fanfiction.net/s/6727932/1/Cannonball-Run-International http://www.emagazine.com/blog/sustaining-dc-restraining-cars1/ http://www.familyonabike.org/other%20info%20pages/awards.html http://www.endtoenders.co.uk/ https://maps.google.com/ VAUXHALL AMPERA endurance ev attempt 2010_ampera_e-revs http://www3.imperial.ac.uk/ http://www3.imperial.ac.uk/newsandeventspggrp/imperialcollege/newssummary/news_27-5-2010-12-26-15 http://www.formaplex.com/news/formaplex-launches-electric-car-world-record-attempt/ http://www.engadget.com/2010/05/31/racing-green-endurance-srzero-electric-car-to-make-16-000-mile-t/ http://www.rideacrossbritain.com/packages/end-to-end/ http://www.discoveradventure.com/challenges/land-s-end-to-john-o-groats-cycle http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Land%27s_End_to_John_o%27_Groats
The Cannonball EV Runs, are a series of events designed to promote and accelerate the development of an energy supply infrastructure for ordinary road going electric vehicles.
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