Hybrid Vehicles - a car buff seeking automotive redemption

The San Antonio City Council recently announced that owners of hybrid vehicles could register for free parking at any of the city’s 2010 parking meters.

They aren’t alone, many city councils across America are taking action while the Federal Government is dragging its feet.

I wasn’t able to find any statistics on hybrid car usage in San Antonio - but would be interesting to see what affect this has on the percentages in the city.

San Antonion joins a range of other city councils who have joined the push including:

• Charlotte, North Carolina purchased 2 dozen alternative fuel vehicles for their city fleet.
• Houston, Texas committed to making up to 80% of the 3500 vehicles in their city fleet hybrid by 2010
• Los Angeles offers free parking at designated meters throughout the city. This is expected to last until at least 2007
• Other councils across America who have lowered taxes and registration costs for hybrid vehicle purchases

technorati tags:san, antonio, hybrid, vehicle, car, automobile, council, parking

Anybody who is interested in a cleaner tomorrow, anyone who is interested in hybrid vehicles and alternative fuel technologies should watch this video.  

It’s production quality isn’t perfect but the message it sends should resonate.

Don’t just watch it and forget. Watch it…think….are you addicted? Can you admit it? What are you going to do about it?

Somebody recently pointed out to me a number of innovative car-sharing programs that have been established in key American cities.

Services like www.zipcar.com and www.flexcar.com allow flexible sharing of vehicles. Members reserve online the use of a vehicle for a set period of time. An electronic card allows them access to the car and all gas and insurance costs are covered.

Some of the green benefits claimed by the companies are impressive:

• An increase of 14% percent in public transport use.
• Members drove an average of only 369 miles per year (compared to normal use of 5295 miles per year)
• Over 40% of our members decide against purchasing a car, or end up selling their car.
• Each car replaces the use of 20 privately owned vehicles.

I don’t have any way of measuring these claims - but would love to hear from someone who has more direct experience with some of these services.

Car sharing will not solve our automobile problem. These kind of services work best in densely populated metropolitan areas with highly developed public transport systems. Private ownership will be a reality for the forseeable future. Longer term, the flexibility of private vehicle ownership also means that many people would be unwilling to entirely adopt the system.

However, reducing our dependance on traditional automobiles is going to require a multi-pronged response. If we can encourage uptake of this kind of service alongside the growth in hybrid vehicles we stand a much greater chance of achieving success.

technorati tags:car, sharing, green, emissions, pollution, environment

In yesterday’s Los Angele’s Time a small article caught my eye.

According to the writer - the Bank of America is piloting a hybrid vehicle purchase plan for almost 21 000 employees in Los Angeles, Boston and Charlotte.

Workers who purchase one of the Federal-Government tax-credit eligible hybrid cars will also receive a $3000 rebate from the Bank.

Hopefully, this is an initiative that is likely to be watched with great interest by other corporations.

Bank of America is not the first corporation to debut this kind of scheme. Google has been offerring a $5000 rebate for some time - and St Paul Travellers Inc. Insurance company offers its employees discounts on Insurance for hybrid purchases.

However, the initiative from Bank America is important because of its potential size - and also arguably the mainstream status of the corporation. The fact that traditional business-focussed corporations will support this kind of scheme shows the increasing penetration of hybrid car awareness.

technorati tags:hybrid, rebate, automobile, car, vehicle, environment

A film I’m looking forward to with great anticipation is EV Confidential: Who Killed the Electric Car? - it came out June 28th but I still haven’t been able to make the journey to the cinema.

As described on its website: http://www.sonyclassics.com/whokilledtheelectriccar/electric.html

"Filmmaker Chris Paine examines the development and eventual destruction of General Motors’ EV-1, an automobile that required no gas, oil, muffler or brake changes."

Needless to say the film has been controversial - GM has run a sustained publicity campaign trying to manage damage control about some of the allegations in the film.

On their website they claim that:

1. The EV-1 cost 1 billion dollars to develop.

2. There were only 800 leases of the vehicle in a four year period.

3. A waiting list of 5,000 only generated 50 people willing to follow through to a lease.

4. Low demand meant a lack of available parts for repairs.

I remember feeling very angry when GM pulled the vehicles off the road. It had been a development that seemed to signal a significant shift in the policy of one of the world’s biggest car manufacturers.

That anger will make me see the film - but I found GM’s rebuttals of the claims equally interesting.

Has anyone seen the film? Any thoughts? You are encouraged to record them in the comments - or if you want to review the movie I would be more than happy to post it onto the blog.

Most people should be aware that its possible to get tax-credits for purchasing a hybrid vehicle. However, the system is complex and its important to know how this will work in your individual circumstances.

Under the Energy Policy Act of 2005 the Government replaced clean fuel burning deductions with a tax credit for the purchase of certain vehicles.

There are a number of conditions its important to remember:

1. The vehicle must have been purchased after January 1st 2006

2. It cannot be a lease

3. The tax credit is time-limited - after the manufacturer sells 60 000 vehicles it is progressively reduced over the next 4 quarters (Toyota is the only manufacturer to reach this benchmark as of June 2006)

Tax-credits range from $600 to $3150 so they can represent a powerful incentive for puchase.

To ensure access to the most up-to-date information - it is worth the IRS at the time of purchase or checking out their website on www.irs.gov

My name is Mark Kitchener and for most of my life I’ve been inspired, made passionate, obsessed about, driven, brought and lingered over the classic automobiles of the 1960s and 1970s.

There was something about their raw power, sitting in the front seat and feeling the throb of the engine in every fibre of your body. I loved the intricate mechanics, the painstaking search for new parts, and the innovative and slightly dangerous stop-gap measures when you found that something was no longer stocked.

I was a card-carrying member of automotive clubs. I attended conventions, and built websites. I liked their growl and I didn’t care that they were walking pollution time-bombs, almost revelling in their ability to chew through petrol.

At the end of 2005 - everything changed for me. It wasn’t a startling revelation - the first time I drove in a hybrid I wanted to laugh at the feeble way it responded to my foot on the accelerator. But sometime during that year - I started to see:

I saw:

1. On a trip overseas I was able to see the devastating affect of our impact on some of the most beautiful places on this earth.

2. The violence and conflict fueled by oil.

3. The incredibly real impact of spiralling oil prices on millions around the world.

I will never stop loving the classic muscle cars - but I have accepted the new fundamental truth - hybrid vehicles offer us the only hope.

They are not a plaything for "liberal celebrities", they are not a passing fad. They are the future, a solution, a last vain attempt to dial  back the clock.