By Nick Chambers •
June 17, 2008
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How would you like to drive an all-electric Mini? An EV Smart Car? A PT Cruiser? With the help of Hybrid Technologies, you can. They’ve taken many familiar vehicles, ripped out their engines, and replaced them with lithium batteries and electric motors.
On the surface it makes great sense and it seems there would be a huge demand for this sort of thing. Electric cars are nearly maintenance free. They don’t need oil changes and they have 90% fewer parts than gas cars. Plus, these EVs look like the normal cars that are already popular with many folks.
Editor’s note: There’s no doubt: Americans are feeling the pinch at the gas pump (even if we’re still paying less than residents of most other developed nations). Our friends at Low Impact Living, though, think Chrysler’s attempt to lure car buyers with the promise of gas at $2.99/gallon is, well, lame. This post was originally published on Friday, May 23rd, 2008.
Chrysler has recently launched its “Let’s Refuel America” campaign in which it claims to offer Americans protection from rising gas prices. Anyone buying a Chrysler in the month of May will get the deal. Here’s how it works: each qualifying buyer will get a ‘gas card’ that has been linked to their own credit card, but when they gas-up they will only pay $2.99 a gallon with Chrysler charged the difference. You can read more about it here.
This is a really lame-brained scheme. It reminds me of the McCain-Clinton proposal to cut federal gas taxes during the summer– it’s the wrong solution for our economic woes. Yes, we’re all hurting from gas prices and we need relief (what are the oil companies offering consumers in terms of help, hmmmm? anyone? hello?). But what Chrysler is offering is an incentive for consumers to ignore gas prices and drive, drive, drive– producing more green house gases and increasing global warming.
By Michael dEstries •
January 15, 2007
Could a shift in green thinking from world-wide automakers simply be a little window-dressing? Chrysler's Chief Economist, Van Jolissaint, answered this slightly by describing climate change as something "way, way in the future and with a degree of uncertainty."
