Congratulation USA! Maybe some of you have already heard the green achievement of your country. This time 1000 Green Steps don’t hear city or county but really COUNTRY! America converts their vehicles into electric drive transportations.

U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) already loan $1.6 million for Nissan to modify its Smyrna, Tennessee plant to build battery electric vehicles as well as the batteries to power them. The loan came from DOE’s Advanced Technology Vehicles Manufacturing Loan Program (ATVMLP), a $25 billion program authorized by Congress in 2007. Nissan has to be able to produce about 150,000 electric vehicles a year and 200,000 battery packs. Those vehicles will be ready at 2012!

Not just that, that same DOE ATVMLP loan had approved 8 other companies to do the conversion of USA vehicles into electric drive transportations. Those companies mentioned above are Tesla Motors, Maryland Science Center, Altcar, Maya Electric, Electrovaya, Exxon Mobil, IBM’s Big Green Innovations and IBM Almaden Institute.

Congratulation and Happy Green Driving!

Researchers at the University of Michigan will be collaborating with General Motors to design and test advanced batteries for electric vehicles as their green steps.

A new research lab, called the GM/U-M Advanced Battery Coaltion for Drivetrains (or ABCD), will be headquartered at U-M. The ABCD was established with a  five-year, $5 million award. Engineers at the lab will be be working to resolve issues related to battery life and performance.

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Enterprise Rent-A-Car has added approximately 5,000 hybrid vehicles to its U.S. fleet as their green steps program.

These cars, which include several makes and models of the Toyota Prius, Nissan Altima, Ford Escape, and Toyota Camry, can schieve greater fuel economy, use less gasoline, and have lower emissions than traditional vehicles.

The new hybrids will be be available at nearly 80 locations in 24 major markets across the U.S. Enterprise is calling these locations “hybrid branches” to underscore their high concentration of new hybrid cars. Also, for the first time, customers will be able to reserve these hybrids online or by phone.

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Ride an electric bike or scooter, you will never need to buy gas again. Meantime you are saving the environment.

Electric-assist bikes have two types: pedelecs, which you have to pedal to activate the electric assist, and e-bike, which does not require pedaling.

How powerful the motor is determines how much pedaling you have to do. The more powerful, the less pedaling.

There are many makes and models with very different quality when it comes to e-bikes.

When shopping for an electric-assist bike, go for quality, that is, performance, reliability and workmanship. Choose a manufacturer who is standing behind its products and has good track record . It may cost more initially, but will be worth it.

You can also convert your regular bike into an electric one by using a “do-it-yourself” kit. Make sure you get a high quality kit too, which will last you for a long time.

Happy E-biking. Also see Green Riding (2) — E-scooters.

For more information, click here.

A new residential development in Miyoshicho, Aichi Prefecture, Japan will use only LED lights for all outdoor lighting as their green steps.

Toyota Smile Life, Inc. is developing the parcel, known as “Green Avenue Azabu no Oka,” and already has 21 out of a planned total of 204 houses complete, according to an article yesterday in Tech-On.

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E-scooters include a wide variety of machines, from very complicated fancy ones to very simple ones without seats.

When buying an e-scooter, a couple of rules should apply.

First, buy from a reputable manufacturer. You get what you pay for.

Second, buy the most watts and amps as you can afford.

The scooter motors are rated in watts. The higher the wattage, the better. The powerful scooters will have sufficient power to ride both on level ground and hills.

Amp-hours is the measurement of the capacity of a battery to store energy. the more amp-hours, the better.

Make sure that you buy a high quality battery charger. Low quality charger will heat up the battery, which shortens the battery life.

Recharge your battery frequently. Shallower discharges and frequent slow charging will prolong the life of the battery.

Also see Green Riding (1) — E-bikes.

For more information, click here.