Comments on: Canada Takes Lead on Electric Vehicle Policy

By: MitziPytlewski

MitziPytlewski — Wed, 31 Oct 2012 15:22:16 +0000

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By: N.G

N.G — Sun, 26 Dec 2010 03:02:07 +0000

I am currently looking for a car to buy...
I am interested in Honda Fit Hybrid, but as I read the article from other site. Honda has decided that we don't have enough demand in our country. Other words, they just won't be able to make ENOUGH MONEY to sell this kind of car... I am quite dissapointed in the company's decision.
Even though, people talk about "Saving the planet" In the end, all they care is how much money company can make... Hopefully, Canada will inniciate the act of reducing CO2, and encourage car companies to sell hybrid cards...

I might just wait till 2012 to see if VW will sell smaller hybrid cars... Really wanted to get Honda, but I no longer have hope in this company.

By: Cindy

Cindy — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 22:31:01 +0000

David, I understand what you are saying…….is there ANY chance that if the prices were to go up that you would be able to help mom buy a hybrid? If not, what about a used hybrid? My mother is 88 and still driving, we bought her a 4 cylinder about 10 years ago……she has about 44k miles on it. LOL doesn’t drive much, but your mother is out in no where, perhaps buying her something more efficient would help her out and she can trade up. What about the 4500 clunker thingy Mr. Obama taunts us all with?
I hope it works out for you all. Personally, I think we should all go towards hybrids / electric cars and stop feeding the arabs and iranians all our money. Think lower gas mileage instead of BIG bruiser cars/trucks. If we do that……….the gas market will come down dramatically because NO ONE IS BUYING THEIR GAS! I wish we would actually go to natrual gas cars. We got lots of that in america! We produce tons of it a day!!

By: Austintatious

Austintatious — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 19:43:41 +0000

Americans will make the commitment only when they are convinced that they cannot afford, monetarily, any other way and/or when the Earth's atmoshere is so hostile that they become genuinely concerned. At present, they are convinced of neither.

Americans, in general, are intellectually lazy, relatively ignorant, and uniquely self focused. While some will, the majority wiill not rush to EV's or anything other green technologies simply because doing so is responsible, prudent, or even shown to be less expensive in the long run.

BTW, DC, above, hit the nail on the head by mentioning China. Like it on not, the Chinese are on the verge of busting things wide open regarding certain green technologies, including the mass production of affordable and practical EV's. Unlike most other major economies of the world, their economy is still in high gear.

What's more, they've already made great strides in the development, production and marketing of solar technologies and, while you wouldn't know it from listening to the morons in our Congress or our media, the Chinese are starting to make genuine progress in the area of mitigating human induced climate change there. While they clearly have a long way to go, they are starting to come to grips with their own climate crisis staring them squarely in the face.

All this is because their government, unlike ours, is generally capable of getting things done once they decide what to do, which is also no problem for them. Totalitarian, yes, but effective. Their government has concluded that, from a financial perspective, if nothing else, the status quo is unacceptable and that, if they get the jump on the rest of the world, they will come out far ahead. We're looking at their tail lights, as we speak.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, our government is, well, you know.

By: Samie

Samie — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 20:44:24 +0000

I agree in theory w/ commits about raising Federal taxes on gasoline, I would. But the real world sinks in I'm a bit I worried about the fall out of say even raising taxes 50cents. Why? Historically raising any tax to pay for anything gets nut jobs out their sheds & all hell breaks lose for politicians that support a increase on anything even if it's a temp. tax to keep teachers in schools. A better example is when Clinton/Gore fought to raise fed. gas tax & had a hard time from Congress getting even a little bit of their plan in place w/c by the way, among other things helped Newt & the Republicans gain back a majority in the 90's.
One more example last yr. remember when John McCain & Hillary Clinton wanted to suspend the federal gas tax to "help consumers at the pump" Funny b/c it would have hurt funding for our roads. So my point is if say we get a gas spike again you will have the same kind of dumb short-term solutions from some politicians.

So where does that leave us? I don't know. I agree w/ others in creating some tax rebate program or incentive that would go towards people in rural areas & middle to low income familes. I also would not increase the tax on diesel as a way not to mess w/ our freight system & give those V8 truck lovers an option to either choose a V6 or diesel engine.

The way I look at this problem is creating things like cap & trade, though some additional costs to reduce pollution or say petroleum use would be passed down to consumers. I would go soft on "clean coal" until more alt. energy & the grid is updated, that is to not shock folks who see energy bills increase due to harsh winters & give early converts to plug-ins & EV's a good cost savings compared to gasoline prices. Also in ten years update CAFE as well as the guzzler tax to reflect, I hope more production capacity, & cost savings of batteries/EV's.

Unfortunately politically the way to move to more fuel efficiency means going through producers not to say putting more burden on consumers would be more productive & create the best incentives....

By: brendan

brendan — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 14:44:58 +0000

Actually, the $3-4/gallon is the truer cost of the gasoline’s pollution and other costs. If your mother is poor, or is doing good rural work that the economy does not value, those are separate issues that should not, and cannot, be fixed by having an irrational energy policy–one that keeps fuel prices artificially low even if soldiers’ blood and billions from the treasury are wasted in wars to do so. If that sounds like communism or socialism to you, then consider that the U.S. is a quasi-socialist country now, but mainly just for the oil execs, investment bankers and — especially — auto companies.

By: DJB

DJB — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 14:08:06 +0000

If you are willing to give away $10,000 to people who buy plug-in hybrids, you should first be willing to give away one bike to every person in the city and lower transit fares to zero. These would be cheaper and cleaner transportation solutions.

By: David

David — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 11:16:32 +0000

Easy for a Prius owner in Baltimore to say “I want a $3-$4 floor for gasoline”. You don’t live in the middle of Nowhere, Indiana like my mother does. You aren’t retired like she is. You don’t own cars until they literally won’t run anymore to save money. You didn’t have to drive a minimum of 30 minutes on country back roads to get to work or up to a couple of hours to make farm calls, all while earning about $5/hour towards the end of her ‘career’. For me, living in Southern NH with a decent job, it’s different. I can look forward to buying a Volt if the car can actually do the job. Just remember – not everyone lives in the city.

By: tw8s

tw8s — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 02:59:33 +0000

Misleading headline – Important distinction.
*Canada* has not taken the lead – one city has passed an ordinance and one province has promised graduated rebates. Let the howling by condo developers, hybrid auto marketeers, big oil, etc. begin.
I think the true *incentive* price for gasoline is more like $5 to $6 per gallon. I just received a flyer from my local Ford dealer about Cash-for-Clunkers incentives offering an array of 20 (quote) fuel efficient vehicles including Taurus, Ranger, Flex and Super-Duty trucks along with Ford’s notable hybrid models. If buyers think that doing good for the world is a Lincoln MKT, we are a long way from advocacy for electric vehicle infrastructure.

By: WopOnTour

WopOnTour — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 01:32:02 +0000

The Zenn? Seriously??

You can't just brush aside 50 years of cumulative automotive safety standards just to get an electric car on the road. Cars like the Zenn are a joke. Basically an electric go-cart. If the OEM can't build them to meet or exceed the current standards for vehicle safety that exist, then they dont belong on public roadways...