Electric Cars Return to the Market
In the early 2000s, California was doing the responsible thing in encouraging car manufacturers to design cars that would have zero-emissions by the year 2003. The car manufacturers were successful in creating such vehicles but due to relentless political pressures, the California mandate was rescinded and most of the cars were eventually destroyed.
This follows the historical patterns of fear and annihilation. It’s simple. Oil companies were fearful because the Zero-Emissions Vehicles (ZEVs) would impact their long-term sustainability due to decreased dependence on their product, oil. They had the power and resources to manipulate people, companies, and the government by “motivating” them to consider more oil dependent alternatives. Their strategies included purchasing controlling interests in battery manufacturers, negative advertising (against electric cars), and financing campaigns that would restrict publicly accessible recharging stations.
One would suspect that they had the backing of the federal government since the government had the ability to control regulations related to environmental protections. However, critical members of the White House staff had been involved with the automobile industry prior to their tenure at the White House, which may have lead to the President’s decision to join in the suit against California’s Air Resources Board (CARB) and instead, promote alternatives such as hybrids. This would at least give the impression that there was a “happy medium.”
GM and the other auto manufacturers seemed to talk out of both sides of their mouths, probably for the purposes of survival. They were most likely being pressured or threatened by the oil industry or the political leaders and realized that this initiative was not going to survive in the immediate future, and all threats to the possibility of its sustainability had to be crushed because of the threat it posed to the oil industry. Despite the more then $1.7 million dollars raised by members of the public who wanted to purchase the cars before they were taken off the market, GM declined to sell saying that it was not economically feasible to maintain or service the cars and promptly sent the cars off to the crusher.
The good news is that electric vehicles are making a comeback in the form of motorcycles and cars. It certainly seems like the green movement and environmental consciousness has had a positive impact in the reintroduction of electric vehicles. Perhaps the decade or so that has passed has enabled the politicians, public, and manufacturers to find some common ground and to explore the initial fears that were definitely based on self-sustainability rather than global sustainability. While these vehicles are somewhat more costly than their comparable gas-burning models, owners can off-set the sticker price with tax rebates, suggesting that the cars have the support by the federal government this time around.
Bibliography
Anonymous (n.d.). “EV1 electric car was crushed by GM.” Retrieved on August 12, 2011 from http://www.ev1.org/.
Cogan, R. (2008). “20 Truths about the GM EV1 electric car.” Green car. Retrieved on August 12, 2011 from http://www.greencar.com/articles/20-truths-gm-ev1-electric-car.php.
Motavalli, J. (n.d.). “7 New electric cars.” The daily green. Retrieved on August 12, 2011 from http://www.thedailygreen.com/environmental-news/latest/new-electric-cars-460210#fbIndex1.
Ardith Renteria - Ardith has been an educator for the past 20 years.Her main focus is on improving educational equity for minority students.
Join the Conversation