>Great story. We could use more media reaction like this. Where are the >other open-minded reporters? Big oil and overconsuming auto can't possibly >own them ~all~. Can they? >
No, David, they don't. I simply found a local columnist (who can cover any topic he chooses) who had written about a somewhat-related topic (gas-powered vs electric scooters) and asked if he'd be interested in the "EV saga". Within 3 days the story below was in print. I encourage everyone on this list to do the same. It's the only way to counter those press releases we keep seeing. So, here's the story on our Th!nk City from last week's Press Democrat here in Santa Rosa. Unfortunately Chris Coursey's columns aren't on their website, so I'm posting it here... We just passed 6,000 reliable miles in our Th!nk City, Nick Dr Nick Carter, Owner, npc Imaging, 3000 Cleveland Avenue, Suite 209, Santa Rosa CA 95403-2117 [EMAIL PROTECTED] Tel/fax: +1 (707) 573 9361 http://www.npcimaging.com Th!nk City EV driver & President, North Bay Chapter, Electric Auto Association *************************************************************** ** Now available at npcimaging.com... ** ** Music Engraving Today by Steve Powell now in stock. ** ** The Art of Music Engraving and Processing by Ted Ross & ** ** Handbook of Instrumentation, both on CD-ROM ** ** 41 CD sheet music titles: thousands of pages from $14.95! ** ** Books by Stone, Ross, Gerou & Lusk, Stiller, Gamble, etc. ** *************************************************************** ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ THE PRESS DEMOCRAT ELECTRIC CARS UNPLUGGED IN CALIFORNIA Date: Wednesday, September 25, 2002 Section: LOCAL Edition: CITY Page: B1 Byline: Chris Coursey Column: Chris Coursey Nick Carter has never owned a car, but he wants to sell one to you. The problem is, the car he'd like you to be driving is darn near impossible to buy. Carter, a British transplant who has lived in Santa Rosa a little less than a year, is president of the North Bay Chapter of the Electric Auto Association. He's sold on battery powered, zero-emission vehicles, and believes that you and I and a lot of other people would be, too, if we could just get our hands on the things. But even though the technology exists to produce electric cars capable of (almost) the same performance as their gas-guzzling cousins, most big manufacturers are phasing out ``EVs.'' ``It's a crying shame,'' says Carter. ``This is the car that can save our air and reduce our dependence on other people's oil, and they want to quit making them.'' Carter drives a little blue number called a Think City. Manufactured in Norway for Ford Motor Co., the Think is a two-seat sub-compact designed for short commuting. Powered by 530 pounds of batteries, the Think runs silently and smoothly, quickly accelerating with gas-powered traffic. It has a top speed of 56 mph (though Carter says he's pushed it to 65 on the freeway) and a range of about 50 miles. ``I go home at night and plug it in and recharge it for about a penny a mile,'' he says, comparing that to about 6 cents a mile for a car that gets 25 miles to a gallon of gas. It's not for everyone. It won't get you to Tahoe for a ski trip. It won't haul the family to visit grandma. But if you're like Carter, who does most of his driving alone between his east Santa Rosa home and his west Santa Rosa business, the Think and other EVs are the answer to some of the world's most pressing questions. So why are there so few on the road? California in 1990 became the only state to require auto manufacturers to sell zero-emission vehicles as a portion of their fleets. The ``ZEV mandate'' resulted in about 2,500 electric vehicles in California, but production has petered out as manufacturers met their quotas and the mandate has been watered down. While several manufacturers sell golf cart-style electrics that are restricted to neighborhood streets, Toyota is the only big car company to offer a road-ready EV for sale (the electric version of the RAV4 does 78 mph and has a range of 125 miles). Most other electrics, however, are only available by lease. And even that source is drying up. General Motors (which is suing to repeal the ZEV mandate) and Honda have quit building their EV1 and EV+. Ford has announced that its Norway Think plant may close next year. Carter, the man who has never owned a car, isn't able to lease a Think because Ford requires lessees to live within 35 miles of the dealer (the closest is in San Francisco). He rents for $219 a month from Hertz. He says technology has gotten to the point where electric vehicles can satisfy the vast majority of driving needs. But manufacturers don't market EVs, and while big auto makers are pulling the plug on their EV programs, the public is left in the dark about benefits that are being missed. Hybrids -- the low-emission, high-mileage cars that combine gas and electric power -- are great, says Carter. Buyers of such cars ``automatically double their gas mileage while the politicians argue about whether it should go from 20 mpg to 20.5.'' But EVs take it a big step further. ``I'll go sit in my car in my garage with the door closed and the motor running, and you do the same in your garage. After about 15 minutes, call me on your cell phone and tell me how you're feeling.'' Several electric vehicles, including Carter's, will be on display Sunday morning at the American Lung Association's ``Blow the Whistle on Asthma'' walk at the Violetti Road entrance to Spring Lake Park. Contact Chris Coursey at 521-5223 or [EMAIL PROTECTED] Keywords: AUTOMOBILE GASOLINE UTILITY LAW ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---- All content � THE PRESS DEMOCRAT and may not be republished without permission. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---- All archives are stored on a SAVE (tm) newspaper library system from MediaStream Inc., a Knight-Ridder Inc. company. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ----
