If you're looking for a next-gen "green" car - or if the bloat and spectacle of the L.A. Auto Show just turns you off - you might want to check out the AltCar Expo this weekend at Santa Monica Airport.
More than 50 firms will be showing off the latest in hybrid, electric, biodiesel and alt-powered technology. The events schedule looks very promising: Among other things, there's an alt-car rally from the SM Pier to the airport, u-drive-it hydrogen fuel-cell-car demos and Left Coast Conversions' Reverend Gadget will be converting a gas-breathing Triumph from internal combustion to battery power while you watch ...
Among the rides I'm most curious about is the Electrum Spyder, an electric roadster that - at $70,000, with a top range of 300 miles and a 0-60 time of 7 seconds - might be able to console all those juiceheads who failed to order their Tesla fast enough.
Of course, no one's quite figured out how to make better, lighter, more permanent and efficient batteries yet, but if we don't start supporting the basic technologies, we'll be flat out of crude and biking ourselves to work amid a system of overloaded electric buses long before there's enough money in the R&D kitty to actually build a better electric mill.
The whole thing goes off from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday at the Barker Hangar, and - best of all - admission is free.
