Ridek modularity is safe, simple, and quick. It was conceived by the author in 1997 and patented in six countries, just ahead of General Motors, whose application was denied in 2003, though widely publicized as the Autonomy Car. With the dismemberment of GM's popular EVI battery electric car (documented in Who killed the Electric Car?) there was a concerted effort by industry and government to promote hydrogen fuel cell technology instead, despite clear evidence of its unsuitability (The Hype About Hydrogen by J J Romm, Island Press, 2004), Island Press, 2004). Early support for the electric car by the California Air Resources Board led to a variety of electric vehicles and charging stations but was suddenly reversed so that it actually discouraged battery electric vehicles. Campaigning by Al Gore and many others gradually brought back some common sense, but efforts to discredit the climatologists' global warming predictions continue unabated. The situation is reminiscent of the attempts to cast doubt on the resounding medical evidence against tobacco because the techniques, and even the people, are the same (detailed by historian Naomi Oreskes, The American Denial of Global Warming, 2007). Ultimately, the truth will out, as it did for tobacco, but so much time has been lost that the urgency of taking drastic actions, such as leaving carbon in the ground, has become all the more acute and dire. Ridek modularity can greatly help toward reaching the goal of making all forms of transportation free of carbon emissions. City governments can play a key role by starting with fleets of locally make rideks that form the basis of modek pools that provide cheaper and more convenient motoring for everyone. This seems to be the ideal base upon which to build.
To go with the ridek electric vehicle, though not restricted to it, CurbConnect
(described in A Better Plan for a Better Place by Gordon Dower, The Ridek Corporation, 2009)
is a patented charging system that needs no plugging in. Conducting plates embedded in a curb become
hot only when an authorized car makes contact. This can be completely safe and so inexpensive that every
parked electric car is automatically connected to the utility grid and enabled to buy or sell electricity
according to a mutually beneficial system known as V2G, short for vehicle-to-grid.
