Chris Zell wrote: > First, I think Congress should convert all of Hawaii over to electric > vehicles. Maybe Puerto Rico, too. Who needs a 300 mile range?
Mandating the kind of cars people can drive is wrong, IMO; that's what got us the CAFE law and that's what led directly to the SUV craze. Incentives, great; heavy tax on gas, great (sorry, Kyle, I still think that, despite your valid objections); stuff that makes people decide on their own to switch to electric, great; but mandating it makes people start looking for loopholes, and what they seek, they (often) find. Two examples: Boosting the price of cigarettes with outrageous taxes makes folks think twice about smoking so much, and is reflected in the smoking rate, which has dropped (which was the original goal). Banning boozing in public makes people put their bottles inside paper bags (which was not the original goal). > > Unfortunately, this looks like a commuter car for rich folks like Ed > Begley. Other than that, they gotta get the price down for California, > especially in this economy. I could see homes with two cars: one for > long trips (gas) and one for commute (electric). That's what we've got. (FWIW, you don't have to bust the budget to do this. The newer of our two cars is 13 years old. The other one, which is the electric conversion, is old enough to walk into a bar and order a drink. "Modern" cars from the 80's and 90's hold up a lot better than the junk they were making back in the 50's and 60's.) > > > >
