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Clark Howard's Tips

Norway's TH!NK City electric car coming to the United States

April 21, 2008

The Norwegians have a new electric car coming to the United States in 2009 that's got Clark very excited. It's called the TH!NK City and it gets 110 miles on a single charge and goes up to 65 mph. The cost? About 2 cents a mile! And it doesn't eat up foreign imported oil like a gas-engine vehicle.

In other news, a group of researchers in the lab have developed an easy way to take sugar and turn it into a power plant for a hydrogen-powered vehicle. This development is not ready for the mainstream yet, but it's in the works. There are a lot of promising advances that are going to take a while to materialize in the marketplace.

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In the meantime, Clark wants to encourage you to look at offbeat transportation alternatives. Washington D.C. has launched a Smartbike program. You pay $40/year for access to bicycles that are strategically placed around town. Users have a code to unlock the bikes and lock them up again at the other end of their commute. It's almost like a Zipcar program for bikes!

Worried about getting too sweaty during your ride? Buy an electric bike for around $600 and it will be no sweat getting around. Clark knows this all sounds kooky, but we need to expand our minds and realize we're not sitting ducks for foreign-oil interests. Christa has long had a fascination with a bicycle that runs on a weed whacker motor. If you Google "weed whacker bicycle," you'll even find videos that detail how to convert your bike.

More Clark Howard Car Cost Tips The 10 cheapest cars to own and operate  Big 3 automakers rolling out great incentives and rebates  Are gas rebate credit cards a deal?  Clark's used car buying tips  Are gas additives for real?  Scooters and bus commuters all the rage  Compact vehicles may be a better deal than sub-compacts  Getting out of a car lease  Honda to launch affordable line of hybrids in 2009  Teens lax in buckling up; small cars becoming safer  Full list More Clark Howard Consumer Tips Kroger testing lower prices, rewards cards  Home Depot offers FREE CFL recycling program  Be on the lookout for sweet deals at the gym  Ikan can make home delivery of groceries even easier  Banks offer diverging interest rates on savings and CDs  Mortgage bailout proposal to help banks, not homeowners  Credit limits being reduced without your knowledge?!  Payday lenders charge up to 1,400% interest  People's economic expectations the worst they've ever been  Could you withstand a 50% decline in income?  Full list