The ever-evolving Coda sedan in Santa Monica. (Jim Motavalli photo)

LOS ANGELES–I spent four days in California running back and forth between green car companies, including Coda, Tesla, Fisker and AC Propulsion. This state is becoming the epicenter of EV development for several reasons: environmental inclinations, weather, and governments (both state and local) increasingly willing to subsidize both EV purchases and the charging stations they’ll need to plug into.

Among the charging projects targeting California are ChargePoint America, the EV Project and a new $5 million effort by the Bay Area Air Quality Management District. Many of the charging companies are located in California, too, including Coulomb Technologies. Given all that charging synergy, it’s not surprising that Santa Monica-based Coda’s early production will go to California only. I visited Coda and found a beehive of activity, as the company tries to get a car ready for the market by the end of the year.

The Ford Expedition: The big SUVs are baaaack.

Just when you think you have the trends figured out, something happens that’s completely counter to your thinking. No wonder people are tying themselves in knots trying to figure out the size of the EV market next year. On the one hand, automakers are going green with a vengeance. I give special props to Korean success story Hyundai, which recently pledged – completely on its own – to achieve incredible 50 mpg fleet averages by 2025. (Hyundai, along with the rest of the U.S. market, will have to achieve 34 mpg by 2016.) But on the other hand, the Big Three are adding shifts to keep up with the renewed demand for huge SUVs. I’m talking about the very largest ones, the Tahoes, the Expeditions, the Infiniti QX56s, the Durangos.

Every automaker, including the big ones making those gas guzzlers, is wrapping itself in green. But big SUVs are still where the profit is, and their sales are up 19 percent compared to the same period a year ago (small cars are up, too, but only 14 percent). Infiniti even increased production on its massive QX56 because of off-the-charts demand….

The Ford Expedition: The big SUVs are baaaack.

Just when you think you have the trends figured out, something happens that’s completely counter to your thinking. No wonder people are tying themselves in knots trying to figure out the size of the EV market next year. On the one hand, automakers are going green with a vengeance. I give special props to Korean success story Hyundai, which recently pledged – completely on its own – to achieve incredible 50 mpg fleet averages by 2025. (Hyundai, along with the rest of the U.S. market, will have to achieve 34 mpg by 2016.) But on the other hand, the Big Three are adding shifts to keep up with the renewed demand for huge SUVs. I’m talking about the very largest ones, the Tahoes, the Expeditions, the Infiniti QX56s, the Durangos.

Every automaker, including the big ones making those gas guzzlers, is wrapping itself in green. But big SUVs are still where the profit is, and their sales are up 19 percent compared to the same period a year ago (small cars are up, too, but only 14 percent). Infiniti even increased production on its massive QX56 because of off-the-charts demand….

Ben Sollee (on the bike, with cello) gets ready to hit the road. (Photo courtesy of Ben Sollee)

You could say singer-songwriter Ben Sollee likes a slower pace of life. Sollee’s music on two recent albums is modern pop, but it’s spare, melodic and played on acoustic instruments–with his expressive cello up front. And if the show you happened to catch started late, it’s not because the band’s van broke down on the highway–Sollee and his percussionist travel by bicycle. Call it the Ditching the Van tour, because they do.

“Going green” for many bands means fueling the vehicles with biodiesel and playing on solar stages. Sollee is from Kentucky, where producing energy often means the environmental disaster known as mountaintop removal mining (a theme that runs through his second album, Dear Companion). That would be reason enough to park the gas-guzzling van, but the bicycle-based tour that begins August 18 is more about thinking and acting locally than it is about reducing carbon footprints.

“‘Green’ has become a verb,” Sollee says. “It’s a marketing and selling point that has become a byproduct of musicians’ lifestyle on the road. There are a lot of expectations put on you, and it leads to this crazy pace of life-three-month periods where you’re driving long distances from one venue to the next, loading and unloading the van, then staying in a cheap hotel. You don’t even remember most of the shows when you’re doing that.”

And that’s why so many songs are about motel rooms, or why the road life sucks. Sollee thinks he’s found a better way. “We do regional tours, playing only at places that are within bicycle range,” Sollee said. “And that means we look to play in places with bike shops (and sometimes in bike shops), strong local communities that maybe don’t see a lot of touring music.”

Every road trip I took with a friend of mine in high school or college, we had to stop off at a truck stop or Seven Eleven, so he could get a Giant Soft Drink. As I recall the largest size we ever found, which made his day, was 72 ounces. That’s more than a 2-liter package, which holds 67.6 oz. My friend once got two big gulp sizes at the same time, one for each hand, at a place that took his dad’s gas card. “Hey, that allows for faster filling,” he proudly said. At the end of a long trip we had to pull up to an industrial-size trash bin to offload all the plastic drink containers, bent straws, hamburger boxes and bags of half-eaten, cold fries.

Perhaps not surprisingly, my friend is now obese, as his his wife. Like my friend, and many of us, I also grew up on soda (”pop,” or “coke,” for those of us in certain parts of the country). My mom prohibited the sugary beverages for some years when my sisters and I were young. But eventually she lost that battle, and by the time I left the house for college I was guzzling three or four soft drinks a day, and our utility room was stocked with “cubes” (aka 30 packs) of different flavors, picked up for a few dollars each from Sam’s Club.

However, I started to get wise to soda’s adverse health effects, and I even became caffeine sensitive. So I cut out soda, and now only have it rarely, for an occasional treat. After several years I am no longer as caffeine sensitive, and if I need a little jolt I have some unsweetened tea (preferably green), hot or cold.

Take a look at the harmful effects of soda consumption over time, courtesy of our friends at Term Life Insurance:

I’m a connoisseur of cheap hotels. And I’m not just talking about the inexpensive kind. In fact, nowadays I don’t mind paying a little extra to get that cheap feeling in my overnight accommodations. It’s the ambiance of sleaziness that I crave.

In my younger days, a fleabag hotel was an upgrade in my travels, particularly during cross-country bicycle trips, when sleeping under bridges or stealthily setting up my pup tent after dark in a city park was the norm. At that point in my life, finding free — or at least dirt cheap — lodging was a necessity.

But somewhere along the line I developed a true passion for seedy hotels, to the point where now, when I could afford something nicer, I find myself seeking out those places that make a Motel 6 look like the Waldorf Astoria. You know, the kind of hotels where you need to put down a $20 deposit to get the free porno movies turned off in your room.

Holiday Inn, I believe, used to use the marketing slogan “Expect no surprises.” Well, when I travel I want some surprises. I want to get to meet people and see things I wouldn’t otherwise experience. I want to have some adventures — even some misadventures. I want to have some good stories to tell when I’m an old man. That’s why I gravitate toward lowbrow lodgings and away from national chains. And if I save money because of it, I can travel even more.

Just two weeks ago I stayed at a particularly slovenly hotel (actually a “motor lodge,” which is a sure sign that you’re in for a treat) during one of my book-tours-by-bicycle in the Pacific Northwest. It was so rundown and derelict that I was shocked to find a mint on my pillow in the evening. When I asked about it the next morning at the front desk, they assured me that it had probably just fallen out of the mouth of the guy who slept there the night before.

I’m a connoisseur of cheap hotels. And I’m not just talking about the inexpensive kind. In fact, nowadays I don’t mind paying a little extra to get that cheap feeling in my overnight accommodations. It’s the ambiance of sleaziness that I crave.

In my younger days, a fleabag hotel was an upgrade in my travels, particularly during cross-country bicycle trips, when sleeping under bridges or stealthily setting up my pup tent after dark in a city park was the norm. At that point in my life, finding free — or at least dirt cheap — lodging was a necessity.

But somewhere along the line I developed a true passion for seedy hotels, to the point where now, when I could afford something nicer, I find myself seeking out those places that make a Motel 6 look like the Waldorf Astoria. You know, the kind of hotels where you need to put down a $20 deposit to get the free porno movies turned off in your room.

Holiday Inn, I believe, used to use the marketing slogan “Expect no surprises.” Well, when I travel I want some surprises. I want to get to meet people and see things I wouldn’t otherwise experience. I want to have some adventures — even some misadventures. I want to have some good stories to tell when I’m an old man. That’s why I gravitate toward lowbrow lodgings and away from national chains. And if I save money because of it, I can travel even more.

Just two weeks ago I stayed at a particularly slovenly hotel (actually a “motor lodge,” which is a sure sign that you’re in for a treat) during one of my book-tours-by-bicycle in the Pacific Northwest. It was so rundown and derelict that I was shocked to find a mint on my pillow in the evening. When I asked about it the next morning at the front desk, they assured me that it had probably just fallen out of the mouth of the guy who slept there the night before.

At The Daily Green we’re no strangers to things you should rent instead of buy. Continuing in that spirit (and with a dash of humor), today we take a colorful look at some more bizarre things that you can rent (but may not necessarily want to in some cases). As always, if you do end up renting one of these things, make sure it’s covered by your renters insurance.