Vacation in Marseille - EVs and Solar

Last week, we went down from Paris to Marseille, using TGV - French high speed train - at 300 km/h

We have been there several times and love it because the weather is warmer, and staying at the Vieux Port - old harbor - is pretty nice

We can do mostly everything in walking distance or using public transportation, sometimes electric, like this Solar powered free boat, going across the harbor

Two screens show the instant power Generated by Solar (around 3kW on the roof) and Used by the Motors (front and back, since it goes both directions)


The view of the harbor from it is great





Tramway, electric also and well designed


Also I saw some EVs here and there, even a famous shellfish delivers using small city EVs

Marseille City Water Service i-MiEV


A Renault Twizy parked with motorcycles here


A city small electric truck charging directly from the office outlet by the window :-)



A Smart ED, in black for once, with the a broken gas lid, did someone try to still gas here ? :-) no luck ...



New buses are Hybrid, still diesel, but at least their engine stops when they are not moving

MyELifeNow : 2 years and 300,000 + visits, thanks ! What I did and what you can do too !

Started two years ago to talk about what I do to use less energy, pollute less, I hope I have reached many people and will reach even more in the future

Thanks to all of you, followers and one time visitors ...

You too can do all this:
- Change all your home light bulbs to LED
- Install an Energy Monitor to see how much Electricity you are using
- Change your ICE car for an Electric car, the LEAF is a very good one (3 years without a single battery problem)
- Get an Electric Scooter: Vectrix VX-1 or BMW C-Evolution (coming to market in May)
- Change your gas/fuel heating system for a Heat Pump, you will get Air Conditioning with that
- Install Solar on your Roof to use the Generated Electricity
- Use most of your Generated Energy by Storing it for later use with my DIY ESS Kits
- Use High Speed Train instead of Air Planes , TGV here gets you to French Riviera from Paris in 3h only
- .... there are many others ways to improve .... find your own

DIY ESS - Powering the Electric Train !

Winter is here and it is the perfect time to take the Electric Train out of the closet and play with the kids in a warm home



My daughter is actually discovering since I did not use it for years, since she was to young; She seems to like it :-)



Helped by a little bit of solar, our home DIY ESS is providing power to the whole home, for heating, cooking, lighting, ... and even for the Electric Train !



Just starting with a small circuit


Yes, I put a solar panel on the train station roof, back 7 years ago - used for lighting -

A bit dusty, but still fine

Many rails in there, we did some big circuits years ago with up to 4 trains, including a TGV Est, the very first version of the famous French high speed train of the 80s 

Stay tuned ...

Train + Smart ED in Rome

The Hertz Corporation has partnered with Italian high speed rail operator Italo-NTV to offer a fleet of discounted smart fortwo electric drive rental vehicles from two train stations in Rome.

The partnership forms part of the Rome Manifesto, which aims to increase the use of electric vehicles and sustainable transport in the Italian capital. Ticket holders will be able to rent the vehicles from €8 per hour, with electricity for recharging provided by Italian utility company Enel.

Giuseppe Sciarrone, general manager, Italo-NTV, said: ‘Italo is an eco-friendly train that offers a greener way to travel. The train offers less noise pollution and energy consumption than other forms of transport and is 98% built from recyclable materials - a testimony to our strong commitment to the environment. Thanks to our partnership with Hertz, we are particularly glad to be able to offer our passengers a sustainable and efficient solution to get around in the city once they step off the train.’

Hertz offers a fleet of electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles covering three continents, including London and Oxford in the UK, Washington D.C., New York and San Francisco the United States and another in Shanghai, China. The company said it plans to use its fleet management tools and consumer-facing GPS systems, such as Hertz NeverLost in the United States, to form an electric vehicle grid.

Massimiliano Archiapatti, general manager, Hertz Italy, said: ‘Through our close co-operation with Italo-NTV, the operator's customers can easily go from the train to electric vehicle to get to their final destination. The smart fortwo electric drive's offer a fun and perfect solution to move about in the city - and will help support the Rome Manifesto for electric vehicles.’

Source: EVFleetWorld