Various outlets quote this AP story: All-electric car-sharing debuts in Baltimore

"The nation's first all-electric car-sharing program debuted Tuesday at the city's Inner Harbor, with manufacturer Electrovaya hoping urban residents seeking to go green and curious tourists will take the concept for a spin."

I did just that. On my way to the City Sands competition at Baltimore's Inner Harbor, I joined a few other onlookers around the three tiny green Maya 300s parked in front of the Maryland Science Center. Oddly enough, AltCar's staff posted their display boards on an open cab GEM, a familiar low speed, neighborhood electric vehicle (NEV) used by city staff and security around Inner Harbor, by the postal service elsewhere in the city and even as taxis in good weather.

Both Electrovaya and ExxonMobil logos were on display, but there was little to indicate that the body is imported from Changan Automobile Group of China, where it is sold with a gasoline engine as the BenBen. Electrovaya makes the electric drivetrain and assembles the car in Mississauga, Ontario while ExxonMobil manufactures the separator film between anode and cathode in the lithium-ion batteries. Green Car Congress is great for battery talk:

"The advanced performance separators exhibit enhanced permeability, higher meltdown temperature and melt integrity without compromising the shutdown temperature and mechanical strength. The higher meltdown temperature significantly increases the film's thermal safety margin."

AP continues:

"Electrovaya Inc. is offering its Maya 300 for rent at the Maryland Science Center. The car can go up to 120 miles on one charge of its lithium-ion battery system, and it gets its juice from a regular 110-volt outlet."

But, EV range claims always bear clarification. The Maya 300 can probably travel 120 miles at 30-40 mph under good road conditions. The staffer told us that driving at highway speeds would probably lower that range to 80 miles, and that ordinary recharging will take 6 hours. (He also mentioned they were still waiting for DOT approval to drive at higher speeds than NEVs.) Also, cold weather always reduces battery performance. There is also the issue of proper charging to maintain battery lifespan, which I suspect will cost early adopters a lot of money:

"The lifespan of a deep cycle battery will vary considerably with how it is used, how it is maintained and charged, temperature, and other factors. In extreme cases, it can vary to extremes - we have seen L-16's killed in less than a year by severe overcharging, ... We have seen gelled cells destroyed in one day when overcharged with a large automotive charger. We have seen golf cart batteries destroyed without ever being used in less than a year because they were left sitting in a hot garage without being charged."

Anyway, I signed a release and drove the Maya around the block. It was easy to start, the gearing was Forward - Neutral - Reverse, and it was very quiet - just a low whine on acceleration. But the very small tires made for bumpy handling over the ordinary manholes and irregularities of Key Highway. I'd be afraid to take the Maya across Pulaski Highway's terrible potholes, or at higher speeds on the beltway.

The interior was spartan, with controls centered to allow both left and right-hand steering wheel placement. The rear seats fold down to provide enough cargo space for moving a futon, perhaps, but probably not a futon frame.

AltCar Standard $0.00/mo $9.00/hr $72.00/day

AltCar Preferred $25.00/mo $7.50/hr $60.00/day (three free hours per month)

ZipCar Week $50.00/yr $8.00/hr $66.00/day

ZipCar Weekend $50.00/yr $9.00/hr $72.00/day

I could see renting the Maya 300 as a more commodious alternative to riding a bike or scooter, but their pricing structure is only competitive for car sharing. ZipCar is slightly less expensive but has only a handful of cars around Johns Hopkins, while Enterprise will rent an economy car for perhaps $45/day.

I recall when I first started buying tennis racquets mail order from Holabird, paying for shipping, but avoiding local taxes. I didn't think it would be long before states found a way to collect taxes, but that never seemed to happen. Until now.

I buy all sorts of things online and pay no sales taxes, but state governments are desperate for cash, and realize that collecting sales taxes is far less unpopular than raising income taxes. Affiliate marketers are up in arms because large online retailers like Amazon find it easier to drop them, as they recently did in New York, rather than comply with complicated provisions.

Amazon Threatens Cuts Over State Taxes

"Cash-strapped states trying to force retailers to collect taxes on online sales are spurring efforts by Internet retailer Amazon.com Inc. to avoid being swept under the proposed laws."

"North Carolina is close to passing a law that would force online retailers to collect the state's 4.5% sales tax from marketing affiliates, people who get a sales commission from online customer referrals. Amazon, of Seattle, Wash., told its North Carolina marketing affiliates on Wednesday that it would stop doing business with them by July 1 if the law takes effect."

Affiliate marketers also claim the taxes are now unfair and will never be collected anyway.

A Stake in the Heart of 25,000 Small California Businesses

"An out of State merchant creates a banner ad with a tracking code. Internet publishers (like NewsBlaze or savings.com, ebates.com) place the ad with its tracking code on their website. A website visitor clicks on the ad and is sent to the merchant's website. Once there, they may or may not buy something. If they do, the merchant knows which site sent the visitor and compensates them at a pre-defined rate. The publisher doesn't know who the visitor was or even if a sale was made by the merchant, until much later, when they check stats at the merchant tracking site. The publisher has no part in the sale."

"The legislation says this loose relationship constitutes the presence of the merchant in California, the state of the publisher, which it obviously is not. If it became law, the merchant would have to collect California sales tax on the sale. The merchant has options. They can modify their system software, manage the myriad of California sales tax rates and pay California; or they can easily terminate their relationship with this now irritating California publisher. If they terminate the relationship, the publisher makes no income and the state collects no tax."

Opinion: Tax law change threatens small online businesses

"The reality is that small businesses like mine, which are paying income tax, will probably be put out of business."

Survivalist merchant Matt Savinar sees a darker agenda:

"Without getting too conspiratorial, I can't help but think putting independent sites out of business is the true intent of this law. Raising revenue is the rationale put forth to the public but putting independent websites out of business is the only thing it will actually accomplish. This is, "just coincidentally", coming at the same time that the MSM has declared a "war on the internet" and as the federal government has announced it will begin heavily monitoring and regulating blogs starting later this summer."

The Year of the Dollar

Analyst Tom Whipple reminds us:

"Much of the recent run up in (oil) prices was based on this spring's "green shoots rally," in which many professed to see signs that the recession would soon be over, and that increased demand would send oil prices ever higher. The rally, which had its origins in a change in accounting standards allowing insolvent banks to pretend they were doing well for a while longer, seems to be slowing and may be coming to a close."

and worries about the debt that sustains us:

"The underlying cause for the dollar's weakness is the massive deficit the U.S. government is running, and the continuing sale of billions of dollars worth of treasury securities. This in turn has left foreign investors worried that the value of their U.S. treasury holdings will one day be worth much less than they invested. For the foreseeable future, these investors have nowhere else to turn, for the minute they stop buying or try to sell significant quantities of U.S. obligations, they would immediately crash the dollar and their worst fears would be realized."

but we can always blame someone else for our problems:

"As we saw last summer, there will be calls to break the dollar's link to oil by restricting or even banning speculation. How well this will work in a globalized world is anybody's guess. Unless there is worldwide agreement, activities banned in the U.S. could continue in Europe, the Middle East or Asia."

"... we all have to prepare for life without much money, where imported goods are scarce, and where people have to provide for their own needs, and those of their immediate neighbours."

Dmitry Orlov gave a long, powerpoint-aided presentation in Dublin, Ireland on June 11th.I've been an Orlov watcher for several years now. He doesn't have all the answers, meaning I don't always agree with him, but he conveys an outsider's view of our culture that stimulates my curiosity. With doomers, the inconvenient subject of sustainable population always comes up, and Orlov has already observed a steep population decline:

"... shocking though this seems, it can be observed that most societies are able to absorb sudden increases in mortality without much fuss at all. There was a huge spike in mortality in Russia following the Soviet collapse, but it was not directly observable by anyone outside of the morgues and the crematoria. After a few years people would look at an old school photograph and realise that half the people are gone! When it comes to death, most people do in fact make it easy on themselves and come along quietly."

Russia is still losing population, and the usual explanations involve crime and heavy alcohol abuse. Both of those are ugly thoughts, but not as fearsome as all your neighbors killing you for your garden, or your government sending you off to camps.

However, Orlov himself notes that it is a mistake to assume that the future will resemble the past, so I don't just assume that Orlov knows the problems of the future because he's seen the Soviet system collapse.