The Zing Prize:  Catch Us if You Can We are planning the Zing Prize as means for showcasing highly-efficient innovative vehicle designs.  Although the Nissan LEAF, the Chevy Volt, and the upcoming Ford Focus EV are good first steps at using less petroleum, all are heavy and much larger than required for getting a person back and forth to work.  As a result, all these vehicles (and the Tesla sports car) use substantially more electricity per mile than the GM EV1 of more than a decade ago.  Are we going in the right direction?  The car companies cannot resist the urge to sell you a bigger vehicle than you need.  That means more cost to you, more profit for the car company, and more resources consumed in manufacturing and usage. A 200-pound motor scooter can get you to work just as quickly as your car can.  There has to be something that offers better safety and weather protection, but does not weigh nearly two tons.  This is why the Zing! exists.  There are others at work on vehicles that don't consume resources as if they are unlimited, and we are happy to help promote them too.   Our plan is to showcase, rather than to exclude, and we will not use the convoluted measurement scheme that was used in the Automotive X prize to make electric cars appear nearly free of environmental burden.  (Floor the accelerator on a Tesla sports car, and you use as much electricity as 1500 one-hundred watt incandescent lightbulbs.)  In America, the coal, natural gas and nuclear we use for electricity generation comes with a high environmental cost.  Biodiesel, natural gas, and ethanol are some other possible resources we can consume in transportation.  They too, come with environmental costs and complexities in implementation.  But biodieasel can be very close to carbon neutral, so it has some appeal that is lacking with the coal and natural gas used to feed the grid.  One would hope that electric cars will become the norm, and one would hope that electricity will be generated cleanly in the future.  In the mean time, it makes sense to consider all options, but more importantly, USE LESS.       If you are interested in sponsoring or helping with this showcase, email Ken (@ this website.)

Contact Info: Gaia Transport Corporation 111 Hill Street Suite 3C  Roswell, GA 30075   678-983-8957 Email us

Your ad could be here! Initially, we will be looking for sponsors in two areas.  First are those companies who genuinely want to do the "right thing" (and want to be seen as doing the "right thing").  The Zing Prize competition is a great way to be involved in helping to pass along a healthier planet to the next generation... and a terrific PR bargain!   A second category is for companies whose products are used in our prototypes and production vehicles.  Every component we select must meet very high standards for efficiency, durability, producibility and economy.  It's not good enough to simply say "who cares about expense, let's make everything in carbon fiber."  This needs to be a producible, real vehicle that real people will buy at a reasonable price.  The vehicle must make economic good sense, in addition to being a vehicle buyers can feel good about.  When we find manufacturers who can make great components economically, we are happy to let the world know.