ecomorons.org

BREAKING NEWS – Our monthly Ecomoron Greenwashing Award for November goes to the company T3 Motion in Costa Mesa, CA. They are the manufacturer of the T3 personal vehicle (pictured above) which runs on rechargeable batteries – or, in the company’s words, “clean energy”. Congrats, guys!
The T3 trike has been featured in this blog as a vehicle that enables the officers of the Los Angeles Police Department to move at the speed of a cyclist, but without burning any calories.
So what made our jury pick T3 Motion for the prestigeous greenwashing award? It was the surprising yet prominent environmental claim on the company website, delivered with admirable chutzpah:

Clean Energy: At T3 Motion, Inc., we believe that our technology should be a benefit to both our professional end-users and the environment. Our zero gas emissions all-electric vehicle – the T3 Series – proves clean energy can also be cost-effective.

Our experts at the Ecomorons offices did of course put the company’s statements about clean energy to a test. The result is utterly surprising. See for yourself:

There is definitely no air pollution spewing out of this socket. Zero exhaust!
Just to make sure, we also used a second means of evaluation. We went to the California Energy Commission website for more info. The statistics there point out that 48 percent of electricity sold by the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power in 2006 was generated by coal power plants. The weird thing is: We always thought burning coal was dirty! We have to thank T3 Motion for setting us straight. Again, all the best to our zero emission innovators from Orange County!

(photos: PR Newswire Photo Service, Backhouse Images)

Just arrived at police stations around the country: the T3 personal vehicle.
The three wheeler looks like a cross between Rascal scooter and Segway. It is operated by a driver standing upright, at a maximum speed of 25 mph. Its power source: rechargeable batteries.

And this is the amazing thing: While it lets you get around at the speed of a bicycle, it does not have any of a bike’s unwelcome side effects. No more annoying burning of calories (except the few needed to keep you upright)! No more cardio workouts going uphill! No irritatingly toned legs! The T3 enables you to develop – and keep – your own personal love handles, double chin and double tummy!
As a special bonus, the machine even lets you waste energy as you benefit from its effects. You will have the privilege of changing batteries every 25, 50 or 75 miles, depending on battery type. It will leave you with the satisfying feeling of having pissed away resources for a task that you could have easily fulfilled with human power.
The desired results of the T3 seem to materialize immediately, as the above picture of an LAPD officer that appeared Saturday in the L.A. Times demonstrates.
Given the effects of the trike it’s safe to say that its engineers clearly knew what they were doing when they gave this thing a carrying capacity of up to 450 pounds. Go LAPD!