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After showing you the Aptera Motors 2e, I decided to look into some additional choices for those of you who would like to keep it green as well as buy American.

All of these are American or Canadian companies and are on the cutting edge of the electric/hybrid technologies.

ZAP’s Xebra sedan - Zap stands for Zero Air Pollution has a top speed of 40 mph, can run up to 25 miles on a single charge and seats up to four.

The Meyers Motors NmG -NmG for No More Gas seats 2 and has a range of up to 45 miles and a top speed of 80 mph.

Persu Mobility - the tilting, three-wheeled Hybrid that its builders have devised a new term for the vehicle — an Urban Life Vehicle, or ULV. Sales of the Persu Hybrid are planned for early 2010.

Green Vehicles - three-wheeled Triac plug-in hybrid has a top speed of 80 mph and a driving range of 100 miles that can be boosted by as much as 25 percent with an additional battery pack.

Bombardier Recreational Products - Can-Am Spyder is neither a bike nor a car, but rather something in between. It  comes with features like pedal brakes, a reverse gear and power steering.

Campagna Motors - T-Rex has combined the look and handling of a car with the size and fuel-efficiency of a motorcycle.  The six-speed T-Rex is zippy with a top speed of 144 mph and can do 0-60 mph in 3.9 seconds.

Tesla Motors - The Tesla Roadster, the all-electric, emissions-free sports car can do 0-60 mph in 3.9 seconds, has a top speed of 125 mph and does 244 miles on a single charge, according to the company.

For six months now I have been attempting to conserve as much gas as I possibly can, all while commuting ove 100 miles per day.

At first I was quite successful at this. making some large gains and achieving a high of almost 43 MPG. Raising my average MPG to 39 plus.

After about 2 months things leveled off and I was consistently getting 39 to 41 MPG without much effort. or so I thought.

In August I purchased new tires. These tires are far from being LRR or Low Rolling Resistance type of tires. My mileage took a hit because of this although I do not know exactly by how much because of another factor.

In August I started to car pool. Now you might not think this is a bad thing, but my mileage dropped dramatically when I did. Part of the reason is when it is not my turn to drive, I have to make short 5 mile trips to our meeting place. These short trips are not at all optimal for saving gas. Because the engine does not have a chance to warm up to operating temperature it uses more fuel for the entire trip.

A week of short trips like this and my mileage goes to 32-33 MPG. Still not a bad number, but it is not 40 plus, like I have gotten used to.

My driving has also gotten a bit on the sloppy side. Being slightly impatient and passing some cars when before I was fine with just sitting back and not worrying about how long it was going to take me to get to or from work. Actually thinking about it, going home has been more of the problem then going to work.

All of this, especially the hit on MPG’s, has taken a bite out of my enthusiasm. I still want/need to save on gas, but I seem to have “hit the wall” with hypermiling.

This thing called hypermiling is a lot of hard work and takes quite a bit of dedication.

Now I do know that with car pooling we have essentially doubled our mileage in the overall picture of conserving fuel. But in my own micro economy, my wallet and pride have taken a hit.

As always you can find out more about saving gas at SippingFuel.com

So, New Jersey is giving away $100 in gas for car pooling 24 days in 2 months. That’s about as close as you can get to free gas money.

But, there is another way to get/earn “free gas money”.

Well free is relative term here, what you are getting the free gas money for is advertising.

There are several companies that will pay you to plaster your car with advertising. Everything from full car wraps to license plate holders. Dollar amounts seem to range from $400 down to $5 per month.

Here are a few of the companies that I have found.

Free Gas Help
Mycar Mycar
Getting Free Gas
Auto Wraps

Are these companies scams? Maybe some of them are, I don’t know for sure but I do know that there is a growing trend for this type of advertising.
This may just be a fad so if you want to cash in I would suggest that you do your homework and jump on in.

I plan on checking into it myself.

Find out more at SippingFuel.com - Saving you money at the pump

So, Sen. John Warner, R-Virginia has suggested that we once again go back to the 55 mph national Speed Limit. Read the article Here.

I have mixed feelings about this. Having been subject to the past 55 mph speed restriction I am really not liking the Government telling me how I should be saving gas. I really do not like the Government telling me to do anything, because there is simply way too much of that going on.

As we have all seen over and aver again you simply can not legislate common sense. Yes, when you slow down you save gas. People should be doing this on their own without the Government telling them to do so. Much like the Seat Belt Laws.

But on the other hand saving 167,000 barrels or more a day does sound like a decent idea.

But lets face reality here, we like to push the rules all of the time and I seriously doubt that the majority of people will actually slow down enough to that much of an impact. If they would, they should have already slowed down to save their money not because the Government, (who most dont believe anyway) have mandated a law to do so.

What do you think?

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