Our cars are choking the life out of our country.
Sounds dramatic, doesn't it?
But honestly, we import 65% of our petroleum and our cars are destroying our balance of trade, our economy, our air, our national security and our climate. You may have seen the report recently that polar bears may be added to the endangered species list because planet warming is destroying the arctic ice on which they depend for habitat while hunting. Polar bears are being found drowned because they have to swim so far now to find ice.
What's this got to do with new cars?
If we had either Electric Vehicles (EVs) or Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicles (PHEVs) with an all-electric range of 30 miles or so (and liquid fuel for the rest), we could reduce our petroleum consumption by half; almost overnight. The Department of Energy (DOE) just concluded a study that shows if EVERY vehicle were a PHEV, our existing generating capacity could charge 84% of them at night with no new facilities at all. Electricity for charging a PHEV is about 65 cents per gallon equivalent cost and pollution from power plants would be less than millions of vehicles spewing out exhaust.
But... you can't buy a PHEV from any automaker.
So, here's my thought. As more and more of us become convinced that we want either EVs or PHEVs, we should go to our local car dealers and ask "Do you have any vehicles I can charge up at home from my electric socket?". When they say "No", then we should say "Here's my home phone number, I won't be buying any new cars until you've got some that can be charged at home."
If you need a different vehicle, shop around, tell the dealers this, then simply get a good used vehicle (there are plenty). If you really want to drive the dealers crazy, also refuse to buy used vehicles from anyone except a private party.
Maybe we could generate some "grass roots" support for EVs and PHEVs at the dealer level. It looks like it might be about the only way to get this to switch.
Sounds dramatic, doesn't it?
But honestly, we import 65% of our petroleum and our cars are destroying our balance of trade, our economy, our air, our national security and our climate. You may have seen the report recently that polar bears may be added to the endangered species list because planet warming is destroying the arctic ice on which they depend for habitat while hunting. Polar bears are being found drowned because they have to swim so far now to find ice.
What's this got to do with new cars?
If we had either Electric Vehicles (EVs) or Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicles (PHEVs) with an all-electric range of 30 miles or so (and liquid fuel for the rest), we could reduce our petroleum consumption by half; almost overnight. The Department of Energy (DOE) just concluded a study that shows if EVERY vehicle were a PHEV, our existing generating capacity could charge 84% of them at night with no new facilities at all. Electricity for charging a PHEV is about 65 cents per gallon equivalent cost and pollution from power plants would be less than millions of vehicles spewing out exhaust.
But... you can't buy a PHEV from any automaker.
So, here's my thought. As more and more of us become convinced that we want either EVs or PHEVs, we should go to our local car dealers and ask "Do you have any vehicles I can charge up at home from my electric socket?". When they say "No", then we should say "Here's my home phone number, I won't be buying any new cars until you've got some that can be charged at home."
If you need a different vehicle, shop around, tell the dealers this, then simply get a good used vehicle (there are plenty). If you really want to drive the dealers crazy, also refuse to buy used vehicles from anyone except a private party.
Maybe we could generate some "grass roots" support for EVs and PHEVs at the dealer level. It looks like it might be about the only way to get this to switch.