Electric Vehicles

An open letter to politicians

1 October 2008

Citizens
Nancy Pelosi
Gabrille Giffords
Other Members of Congress

Along with the financial markets, I see that the federal government is considering money for the auto manufacturers.  Please Do Not give to the automobile corporations a no strings attached bailout.  Do give us, we the people, the opportunity to vote with our own tax $ in the form of vouchers for purchase, or better yet to buy our own electric vehicle conversion parts.  Here's Why:

The people running these automotive corporations have a track record we know.  In the name of cold blooded profit for shareholders, they have already squashed viable electric transport, the EV1 15 years ago, (see "Who Killed The Electric Car?").  They have repeatably opposed increases in CAFE standards, thus fostering our dependency on foreign energy, maybe not the best for our economy or national security, but good for GM, good for oil companies.  Lots of incentive to avoid change.  They are "working" on electric, tell us it should be ready "soon".  No doubt they hope to sell us many transitional models, and dreams of hydrogen, fuel cells, etc. many years in the future, meanwhile keeping us as cash-cow slaves to the oil companies.

They seem to have a habit of making decisions that are not in the best interests of sustainable society.  I do not see them as good or responsible citizens thus far.  I don't know if they have sustainability policies, but if they do, they haven't kept to it, it needs rewriting, or maybe more accountability.  We should hold all corporations accountable to a sustainable future.  If we they want my taxes, that's the deal.  As far as I'm concerned they're on probation.

When we are programmed for a new car purchase every 5-10 years, the level of replacement activity alone (producing a new vehicle, scrapping the old one) generates tons of atmospheric carbon which we could be avoiding.  The carbon generated by continued burning of fossil fuels because of delaying implementation to more efficient electric vehicles, gets us deeper into a carbon pit from which we must climb out.  See the short online video "The Story of Stuff" for a humorous exposition of how the fooforaw we consumers continually buy is digging the pit deeper.  Read "Impact from the Deep" October 2006 Scientific American for an understanding of how high CO2 kills the oceans, giving off sulfur gasses which poison the air.  Such an event occurred six times already without human help, resulting in massive extinctions.  Smells like hell on earth to me!

Here in Arizona we are blessed with abundant solar energy which we can convert to electric.  There becomes a greater incentive to solarize when we can travel on electric.  We can put the fossil fuel $avings toward solarization.  Better that than the pockets of Exxon or Chevron.  We want electric plug-in vehicles with optional back up tiny generator (biofuels?), and components that we can replace ourselves!  I want to convert, not buy more mediocrity from the likes of Ford or GM.

My old car, like the USA, still has a good chassis on her!