Vitamin Funk

I love being out in California. The weather, the people oh and not to mention the cars. If a new car has recently been released you have a good chance of seeing it here first. I saw a gorgeous Audi R8 a few months back while up in Santa Monica and more recently a Mercedes-Benz SLR down in the Gaslamp disrtict of San Diego.  These are expensive high performance vehicles that draw the attention of everyone around, but they all have something in common that makes them not as exciting as some of the newer cars being introduced later this year – they all still run on petroleum.

Southern California is home to at least three new car companies that are making a move to renewable energy – just as oil is being traded at record highs on Wall Street. These are not your Prius and Insight though and have the ability to draw eyeballs while not draining your wallet at the pump.

Carlsbad, CA is home to Aptera Motors, the most amazing car being release to the market right now – it’s Jettsons like space-age design means you’ll get 200-300 miles per gallon with the gas-electric hybrid. There is also a full electric version which means you’ll never have to stop at a gas station again!  The car is made of recycled materials and uses state of the art technology like solar panels on the roof that keep the car cool while parked in the hot sun. The best feature of all though is its price, it starts at under $30k!

One new car that’s already been released to the public in limited quantities is the Tesla Roadster – an all electric sports car that’s faster than a Porsche and has Hollywood’s elite all wanting one.  0-60 in 3.9 seconds and a equivalent of 256 miles to the gallon this baby goes fast while still being green.  All this performance does come with a steeper price though and if you manage to get yourself on the very long waiting list you’ll have to shell out $109,000 for the base price.

The third car making waves across California is from another brand new company who’s strategy is to pair style and performance while still upholding their mission to get off our dependence on foreign oil. That car company is Fisker Automotive with their first car angelically titled The Karma.  This 4-door coupe goes 0-60 in under 6 seconds and has a very efficient hybrid engine using their patented Q Drive technology. This means you can drive the first 50 miles with zero emissions and the gasoline engine will kick in after that to help charge the battery. The thinking here is most American drive under 50 miles per day under most circumstances which means if you have a short daily commute you will very rarely have to fuel the thing up with gas.  The Karma also employs solar technology on the roof to help charge the batteries when the car is parked. Don’t pull out your wallets yet thought the Fisker Karma won’t be rolling out to the public until 2010.