Electric Cars in the US in 2009 - Cool!
Posted in Environment, Technology by George
Happy end of Earth Day, everybody. Speaking of exciting Earth Day news, I just read that in 2009, an all-electric vehicle will be sold in the United States:
A Norwegian automaker backed by Silicon Valley investors plans to sell in the United States an electric car that goes 110 miles without a charge and costs less than $25,000.
Downsides? It only goes 65 miles per hour and only has two seats. But hey, if you’re commuting to and from a city all the time, this is a sweet ride. I’ll have to do some more research when I get a chance to find out more… looks neat!
April 23rd, 2008 at 9:27 pm
This sounds really great! There is a new trend of people moving into cities. A greater portion of the population in the US lives in or around cities than at any point in history, and that trend does not seem to be likely to reverse any time soon. If this electric car is mass produced and newer, cheaper versions are made available, they could be accessible to the majority of the commuting population. This electric car in combination with increased reliance on wind and solar power plants would make a huge dent in our CO2 emissions. There are lots of experimental policies in cities around the world that try to give people incentives for using mass transit and alternative forms of transportation around the city (walking/ biking). In London they are now charging a $14 fee or something to drive into the middle of the city during the work day. At the same time they have greatly improved their bus system and have even created express lanes for bus use only, allowing them to move through the city quickly, even in heavy traffic. It has been a great success so far. This is only one example out of many success stories in redesigning cities to reduce peoples’ reliance on cars. In the Netherlands there are multi-level bike parking garages at the subway stations, allowing for people to bike to the station and then use mass transit. European cities have some great ideas that I think we should look into mimicking.
April 23rd, 2008 at 11:54 pm
Re: London’s Congestion Pricing System.
I am very enthusiastic about the idea of congestion pricing. That’s what is going on in London right now and what almost happened in NYC but got shot down because it’s not a very popular political idea.
But the general idea of congestion pricing is brilliant: if you want to drive in the city, you have to pay the external cost you create on everybody else for doing it. That can take into account the congestion you create, the pollution you make, the increased risk of accidents you cause, the parking spaces you take up, etcetera.
And that leads to many beneficial effects. First, it decreases driving, while at the same time not banning driving, so if someone needs to get somewhere in the city fast, and must drive, they still have the ability to do so. Second, it makes public transit a much more viable alternative, because buses actually move quickly through streets that are not packed. And finally, it decreases pollution, accidents, and other negatives of driving.
I was disappointed that this didn’t get going in NYC. Maybe sometime soon… we’ll see.