legislation

Girl Bikes 1500 Miles for Electric Vehicles

khallgeisler — Wed, 28 May 2008 00:00:00 -0400

Liza Stoner, a 14-year-old environmentalist, plans to bike from Minneapolis to Washington, D.C. this summer to raise awareness about electric vehicles. When she gets to the capital, she'll deliver a petition to lawmakers requesting tax credits and incentives -- an ambitious project for someone who doesn't yet drive or file taxes. Sign her petition here.

Liza was inspired to take on the Ride for Renewal after seeing "Who Killed the Electric Car," the 2006 documentary about GM's ill-fated EV1 project. Unlike GM, which crushed every EV1 it built and stacked the carcasses one on top of another, Liza sees electric cars as the way of the future. They can be fueled by renewable power like solar and wind, they require less maintenance, and they don't require new infrastructure.

The ride is sponsored by the Fellowship for Renewal, an organization that supports young environmental and social justice activists. When Liza hits the road for real on June 16 (right now she's training for the 1,585-mile ride), she'll be posting diary entries on her site.

Liza's home page says that she is "hoping to be a very active environmentalist." After this ride, with her petition triumphantly smacked down on some politico's desk, she can probably check that one off her list.

For more information, check out:

15 Tips For Better Mileage -- Want to Get 70 MPG in Your Toyota Prius?

The Hype About Hypermiling

Two Wheels Are Greener Than Four

Honda Civic GX Tops List of Greenest Cars

Driving Green = Fewer Greenbacks

Top 10 Most Fuel-Efficient Cars: Save Gas, Save Money

Record Month For Selling Gas -- Saving Cars Getting Better Than 30 MPG

Car Makers Face Stricter Fuel Efficiency Rules

khallgeisler — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 00:00:00 -0400

On Earth Day this week, Secretary Mary Peters of the Transportation Department announced a proposal that would require car makers to raise average fuel efficiency at a faster pace than Congress asked for last December. Congress set a baseline of a 3.3% increase each year from 2010-2015; the new proposal would raise that to 4.5% each year.

That means the current average of 25.7 miles per gallon for passenger cars would go up to 35.7 mpg by 2015, while light trucks would be raised to 28.6 mpg by 2015. According to a New York Times article, car makers are already headed in the right direction, thanks to consumer demand. Since buyers are increasingly interested in better fuel economy for ecological and economical reasons, the current average of cars purchased and driven off the lot is over 31 mpg.

It could be worse for car manufacturers -- if they didn't accept this proposal, they might have had to take on California's far stricter fuel-saving measures. The new standards fall between California's aggressive policy, which would raise fuel economy to an average 42.5 mpg by 2015, and the wimpy regulations passed by Congress, which required automakers to hit 35 mpg by 2020.

The general car-maker consensus seems to be relief at not having to deal with patchwork, state-by-state rules or, worse, a bunch of states aping California's tough stance. Given that our dollars have already upped U.S. fuel economy above the requirement, and the fact that Hummer sales are down (yay!), we little people can have more of an influence on clean air and gas-guzzling than than we think.

Photo by constantskepticupdates.

Electric Cars: Are these Eco-Friendly Autos Really Silent Killers?

khallgeisler — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 01:00:00 -0400

Under cover of silence, they creep up on unwary pedestrians, inching ever forward on soundless, black tires, no internal-combustion engine to give them away. They are the latest urgent threat to prod Congress into lightning-quick action: hybrids cars and electric vehicles. Da-da-DAAAAH!

On Wednesday last week, the Pedestrian Safety Enhancement Act of 2008 was introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives requiring the Trasportation Department to determine whether a minimum sound level for cars and trucks is needed. If they find we do need it, the Transportation Department will then set it. If it passes, automakers would have two years to comply with the minimum noise level. A similar bill was passed by the Maryland state senate and house last month.

The bill addresses the concern, as expressed by the National Federation of the Blind, that blind pedestrians in particular will not be aware of approaching electric-only motors. The bill's target seems off, though, since a better solution might be to improve crosswalks for everyone's use, including children, the elderly, and people with their iPods cranked to maximum who like to dance across the street.

EV and hybrid-car owners do share the NFB's concerns. Revisit this RiverWired.com post to read quotes from early EV adopters. Suggested sounds range from horse hooves to squealing tires. Others already use some kind of aural alert, like shouting "Hey! Hey! Hey!" with the window down or relying on the sound of a heat pump or whirring fan to alert people to their ninja-like presence.

Ninja image by Shawnimals.

CARB's Not So Good for You

khallgeisler — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 01:00:00 -0400

In a stunning example of spin, the first sentence of the California Air Resource Board's press release after Thursday's vote on the number of zero-emissions vehicles in the state reads: "The Air Resources Board today [March 27, 2008] voted to triple the amount of zero emissions vehicles that staff had proposed for automakers to produce from 2012 through 2014." It goes on to say that the board had proposed setting the level of ZEVs required to be sold in the state at 2,500, but it voted to increase that number to 7,500.

But until last week, the number had been 25,000. This means they reduced the number of ZEVs by 70%, not increased it three-fold.

The amendment that passed in late March also required an additional 66,000 plug-in hybrids to be on the road between 2012 to 2014. If automakers decide for some unlikely reason to go for the gold and produce the 25,000 ZEVs California originally demanded, then they don't have to meet this plug-in hybrid number. That's about as likely as GM's Bob Lutz joining Greenpeace.