cars

A coalition plugs (ha ha) for plug-in hybrids

How did everybody miss this?

Declaring the country's economy, environmental health and national security at risk, a grassroots coalition of cities including Austin, Baltimore, Denver, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Seattle as well as electric utilities and national policy organizations today kicked off a nationwide campaign to urge automakers to accelerate development of plug-in hybrid vehicles.

Click on the webcast if you want to see a bunch of stuffed shirts give speeches. Even Senator Hatch (the ultra conservative Republican from Utah) shows up late to throw in his two cents. The only real expert on the panel was Dr. Andrew Frank, the mechanical engineering professor at UC-Davis who has been studying this concept for decades.

The goal is to convince automakers to build plug-in hybrid electric cars by promising to subsidize purchases of such cars. The usual excuses are given as to why it is OK for government to subsidize, namely, because everybody else does it! Sometimes government drives me crazy. The tax credit for buying hybrid cars is completely unnecessary. I trip over a Prius every time I go out my door. Note in this link that an all-electric car would get a tax credit of $4,000. This would knock about $1,200 off the purchase price of one of these $14,000 high-end golf carts (if you are in the 33% tax bracket).

Two new eco-movies on the way from Participant Productions

Speaking of Participant Productions, I just discovered they have two more environmentally themed films in development:

1) Luna

Luna is based on the true story of Julia Butterfly Hill, a drifter turned environmentalist who galvanized the movement in the early 90's to save the redwood trees in Northern California from deforestation.

Julia Hill was a young woman without direction or purpose whose travels brought her to Northern California and the quiet majesty of the ancient Redwood trees. At that time, junk bond king Charles Hurwitz was leading a campaign to clear cut the redwoods via his newly acquired company Pacific Lumber to ensure maximum profits. Eager to protect the trees she had come to love, Julia agreed to work with a small environmental agency called Earth First to stage a tree "sit" which involves living up in the trees for days at a time to prevent the trees from being cut down.

Days became months and months turned into years, as Julia refused to come down from her tree until she knew the Redwoods would be protected. She braved fierce weather, injury and attacks from lumber men to save her tree, Luna, and the old growth trees around her. Julia's struggle drew massive media attention and she became an eloquent spokesperson for the Redwoods and the environmental movement.

2) Electric Dreams

Based on the book by Caroline Kettlewell, Electric Dreams tells the story of a rag tag group of rural students beating all odds to win a competition to create an electric car. Led by an idealistic new teacher and a garrulous shop instructor, the kids work together to convert a 1985 Ford Escort into an electric vehicle they call "Shocker." To the surprise of the community, Shocker takes the winning prize, beating out the better-funded and well-bred schools nearby. The students come away having learned about engineering, alternative energy, and about themselves.

For a complete list of movies coming soon, in theaters, on DVD, and in development, visit the Participant Productions website. Good stuff.

This is what a Honda sounds like …

Normally, with the exception of those for hybrids, I can't stand car commercials. But then there is this.

As you will learn from the length of the commercial, as well as the fact the car is on the "wrong" side of the road, it is for UK audiences. Sigh ... Europeans do so many things so much better.

I'd like to see a counter ad from Toyota with "this is what a Prius sounds like ..." followed by silence.

(Via PSFK)

Going to Sundance?

Formerly known as EV Confidential, Who Killed the Electric Car?, currently in post-production, will be playing during the 2006 Sundance Film Festival (Jan. 19 - 29, Park City, Utah).

A synopsis:

Fashioned like a tongue-in-cheek murder mystery, Who Killed the Electric Car? sets out to uncover just who is responsible for the demise of this ill-fated vehicle. The spirited film runs through the prime suspects, including car companies, oil companies, the government, and consumers. Beginning in the early nineties, under pressure from the California Air Resource Board, car manufacturers were forced to develop nonpolluting vehicles. GM made the first car, the EV-1, available for lease in the midnineties. After less than 10 years, citing lack of interest by the public, the automaker took the vehicle off the market and officially discontinued the project. Government policy was rescinded, and currently, GM and other automakers are crushing all remaining electric vehicles. Filmmaker Chris Paine follows electric car activists who are desperately trying to save the few remaining cars from being destroyed and hoping to change policy. A very timely subject, Who Killed the Electric Car? serves as a potent reminder that the powers that be will stop at nothing to maintain their position in the world. The film is an informative and thoroughly entertaining journey into the world of environmentally conscious technology and the cars that may one day be here...again. -- Lisa Viola

I'd say "see ya there," but, alas, I'm not going.

Cool.

Here's a nifty little guide to setting up your Prius as an emergency power supply for your house.

(via BB)

More!

About a week ago I did a short post on Prius/oil-related matters that seemed to irritate a few folks. I hadn't noticed until today that our occasional contributor (and pundit nonpareil) Clark Williams-Derry posted a response. He seemed to be approaching the question the same way some other people did, so I thought I'd offer a reply.

To recap:

A Wall Street Journal editorial (sub.) said this:

Petroleum not consumed by Prius owners is not "saved." It does not stay in the ground. It is consumed by someone else. Greenhouse gases are still released.

Treehugger's Lloyd Alter said (I paraphrase): What a jerk.

I said (again paraphrasing): Yes, he's a jerk, but on this narrow point, he's right.

Several commenters thought I was making a point about the futility of energy conservation generally. But I wasn't -- the point is about oil in particular.

Bart, and at greater length Clark, mentioned the "rebound effect," whereby reduced demand lowers price, which subsequently raises demand. Both of them make the point that although the rebound effect is real, demand only bounces back about 30-50%. So, while using less oil may not make the total efficiency gains you'd want, it does make some efficiency gains. It does save some oil.

To which I say: For "energy" generically, yes. For electricity, yes. For something like coal, where supply is plentiful, yes. But oil?

Calming down the hybrid hype.

Treehugger mocks this, from the notoriously hack-a-rrific Wall Street Journal editorial page:

Petroleum not consumed by Prius owners is not "saved". It does not stay in the ground. It is consumed by someone else. Greenhouse gases are still released.

I'm all for mocking the WSJ editorial page, but this statement is quite true. Oil supply and demand are tightly coupled right now and are only going to get more so. Any dribble of oil you don't use will be snapped up by someone else -- perhaps one of the growing legion of Chinese drivers -- and so on and on until the remaining oil becomes prohibitively expensive and forces the market to provide alternatives.

It would be nice to think that environmental sentiment could free the world from oil, but it'll never happen.

If your goal is to save money or save oil, buying a Prius should be far down your list.

Buy a Prius, if you like, to express your values and make a statement to manufacturers that there's a market for these kinds of cars.

But let's not let the hybrid hype get out of hand.

Is the fuel efficiency of hybrid cars worth the extra money?

Anybody thinking about selling their old car and buying a hybrid should check this out: Brandon U. Hansen at OmniNerd calculates the monthly gas savings of trading in your current vehicle for a hybrid; how much you'll need to take out in a loan; monthly payment of the loan compared to current car payment; and (voila!) a pretty graph showing the "maximum economically justified hypothetical hybrid sticker price vs hypothetical hybrid gas mileages for various gas prices."

The post considers lots o' info about hybrids, and comes to the conclusion:

While no "green" person would ever advocate buying a hybrid for purely economic reasons, it is painfully obvious that existing hybrids lack the ability to make up for their steep prices with gas savings.

Bummer. According to this, at least, hybrids don't yet have the right appeal to the typical American consumer.

Maybe you knew that already. But aren't the equations and graphs cool? I think so; then again, I used to do long division for fun.

Who killed the electric car?

Currently in production is EV Confidential, a documentary "about electric cars, hybrids, hydrogen, and the future of transportation."

Word has it that Sony Pictures Classics (SPC) has picked up the North-American/English speaking rights and will release EV Confidential in 2006.

Watch the trailer here.