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Published On: Mar 17, 2007 02:40 PM
Total entries in this category:
Published On: Mar 17, 2007 02:40 PM
Who Killed the Electric Car
My sister, Lorraine, said, "See this movie and
get pissed".
I have been a big fan of the electric car for a
long time. I have been seeing them around my little town of Davis for about a
decade. I would often see an all-electric vehicle at the Farmer's Market or at
parking spots downtown. I would always wonder where I could get one. I had
always assumed that eventually they would be mass-marketed someday and that I
would be able to buy one.
When my poor little Mazda MX-3 started to get old (she was 14 years old before I bought my Toyota Prius)--I started looking around for an electric car to buy. My reasons were simple:
1) Gas was getting to be $3 a galloon. I also had every reason to believe that gas prices would continue to rise since we have reached "peak oil ".
2) I teach occasionally at the UC Davis Extension at the Sutter Street Galleria and they have free electric car recharging stations there. I figured that I could drive my car for free if I had an electric car. I could charge up my car for free while I taught! What a deal! And Wow, it would be an end to paying for gas!
3) The City of Davis has many free car re-charging stations throughout the city that I could use. Even my church, University Covenant Church has free electric car recharging stations.
Great I thought! Now if I could only find one to buy! So I contacted a parent (Darrell Dickey) who also had his kid in DPNS. I had talked to him previously about solar panels (we both had them) and electric cars. You can visit his website at http://evnut.com/. After e-mailing him and asking him where he got his cool all-electric Toyota RAV-4, he told me that they were no longer for sale in California. In fact, he told me, they had only been for sale for a brief 6 months before they were pulled from production. "You're kidding me?" I said. "Why?"
Well, the answer (or at least one answer) to "Why?" is the movie "Who Killed the Electric Car ". The movie takes you through a history of the electric car starting in 1832 to the present. Back in the early 1900's when cars first started to hit the road the majority were electric cars. It wasn't until the advent of the Model T Ford that gas powered cars started to hit the road in greater numbers.
It wasn't until smog and pollution problems started to plague California that the California Air Resources Board decided to do something about it. In 1990 (with little fanfare) they passed the ZEV (Zero Emissions Vehicle) mandate that stated 2% of all vehicles sold in California had to have no emissions by 1998 and 10% by 2003. The American auto industry fought the mandate and was able to repeal it by 2003. In the meanwhile, GM, Toyota, Ford, Honda and many other car companies had already built and sold electric vehicles in the state of California. So what did they do with these modern and futuristic electric cars?
See the movie to watch all of the details. But you will find that the EV-1 (created by GM) was recalled when the 3-year-lease ended and almost every single EV-1 (there were about 1000 of them) were smashed in the desert. This was all despite owner protests that asked GM if they could buy the cars from GM and pay off the remainder of the lease.
Toyota and Ford were a little nicer than GM. Both of these companies allowed their owners to buy off the remainder of the leases and those cars are still on the road. I am proud to say that my little town of Davis actually has a small fleet of Toyota RAV 4's. Unfortunately, since they cannot buy any more Toyota RAV-4's they have started to buy GEM's. GEM's are actually remodeled electric golf carts that only go about 25 MPH. I hope that both myself and the city of Davis have more choices in the coming years. I am currently drooling over the Mitsubishi Colt EV which might make it to the United States by 2008. In the meanwhile I will drive my Toyota Prius around and pray that someday I actually have a choice to choose an electric car the next time I buy a new car.
Quotes from the movie:
WHO KILLED THE ELECTRIC CAR?
Oil Industry: Guilty!
Car Companies: Guilty!
Bush Administration: Guilty!
SEE the MOVIE, get pissed
http://www.whokilledtheelectriccar.com
When my poor little Mazda MX-3 started to get old (she was 14 years old before I bought my Toyota Prius)--I started looking around for an electric car to buy. My reasons were simple:
1) Gas was getting to be $3 a galloon. I also had every reason to believe that gas prices would continue to rise since we have reached "peak oil ".
2) I teach occasionally at the UC Davis Extension at the Sutter Street Galleria and they have free electric car recharging stations there. I figured that I could drive my car for free if I had an electric car. I could charge up my car for free while I taught! What a deal! And Wow, it would be an end to paying for gas!
3) The City of Davis has many free car re-charging stations throughout the city that I could use. Even my church, University Covenant Church has free electric car recharging stations.
Great I thought! Now if I could only find one to buy! So I contacted a parent (Darrell Dickey) who also had his kid in DPNS. I had talked to him previously about solar panels (we both had them) and electric cars. You can visit his website at http://evnut.com/. After e-mailing him and asking him where he got his cool all-electric Toyota RAV-4, he told me that they were no longer for sale in California. In fact, he told me, they had only been for sale for a brief 6 months before they were pulled from production. "You're kidding me?" I said. "Why?"
Well, the answer (or at least one answer) to "Why?" is the movie "Who Killed the Electric Car ". The movie takes you through a history of the electric car starting in 1832 to the present. Back in the early 1900's when cars first started to hit the road the majority were electric cars. It wasn't until the advent of the Model T Ford that gas powered cars started to hit the road in greater numbers.
It wasn't until smog and pollution problems started to plague California that the California Air Resources Board decided to do something about it. In 1990 (with little fanfare) they passed the ZEV (Zero Emissions Vehicle) mandate that stated 2% of all vehicles sold in California had to have no emissions by 1998 and 10% by 2003. The American auto industry fought the mandate and was able to repeal it by 2003. In the meanwhile, GM, Toyota, Ford, Honda and many other car companies had already built and sold electric vehicles in the state of California. So what did they do with these modern and futuristic electric cars?
See the movie to watch all of the details. But you will find that the EV-1 (created by GM) was recalled when the 3-year-lease ended and almost every single EV-1 (there were about 1000 of them) were smashed in the desert. This was all despite owner protests that asked GM if they could buy the cars from GM and pay off the remainder of the lease.
Toyota and Ford were a little nicer than GM. Both of these companies allowed their owners to buy off the remainder of the leases and those cars are still on the road. I am proud to say that my little town of Davis actually has a small fleet of Toyota RAV 4's. Unfortunately, since they cannot buy any more Toyota RAV-4's they have started to buy GEM's. GEM's are actually remodeled electric golf carts that only go about 25 MPH. I hope that both myself and the city of Davis have more choices in the coming years. I am currently drooling over the Mitsubishi Colt EV which might make it to the United States by 2008. In the meanwhile I will drive my Toyota Prius around and pray that someday I actually have a choice to choose an electric car the next time I buy a new car.
Quotes from the movie:
WHO KILLED THE ELECTRIC CAR?
Oil Industry: Guilty!
Car Companies: Guilty!
Bush Administration: Guilty!
SEE the MOVIE, get pissed
http://www.whokilledtheelectriccar.com
Posted: Mon - January 1, 2007 at 02:01 PM