The argument for the Club to not support electric vehicles at this time may have some merit, but rather than just talking against electric vehicles lets make a proposal of a least supporting efforts to develop technology on how to make it happen.  It certainly makes more sense than supporting the much less feasible idea of hydrogen powered cars or of using all the corn crops to make ethanol.  If we are worried about problems from coal fired power plants to charge the batteries, what about the new technology that I understand makes coal plants completely "clean".  Is that a viable option for power plants?
What ever happened to lobbying for new stricter emission controls for auto engines?  It was California emission control legislation that got the electric car business started and got it to where it was before the auto makes recalled them and shredded all the existing electric cars.  Can solar panels on cars help to solve the source of electricity for electric cars?  If not what about supporting research in that realm to make it feasible?

Dennis Nicholson


----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Donna Buell 
  To: [log in to unmask] 
  Sent: Sunday, January 21, 2007 10:57 AM
  Subject: Sierra Club and electric cars


  There is a very interesting conversation going on at one of the national Sierra Club list serves – here’s the gist:

   

  >I attended a discussion of the film "Who Killed the Electric Car?" 

  >last night with the creators of the film and some local Professors. I 

  >was surprised to hear that they have approached Sierra Club and were 

  >told that the SC does NOT support electric vehicles.

  > 

  >Does anyone know the story on this? 

  > 

   

   

  >The Club has not endorsed the concept of electric cars as a proven 

  >benefit.  We continue to be cautiously optimistic about their potential.

  >We will not be likely to support any technology which is not 

  >commercially available, because we cannot measure the net impacts of 

  >such a technology until we see it.  I happen to think that electric 

  >cars will reduce CO2 emissions, but other people in the Club are 

  >skeptical of the net benefit.  A lot depends on the toxicity and 

  >recyclability of the battery technology selected for the next commercial electric vehicle.

  > 

  >Dan Becker has been quoted in national media saying some rather 

  >negative things about electric cars.  Part of the problem is that he 

  >doesn't get to pick what a reporter quotes, and the statement was given 

  >a disproportionate amount of emphasis.  Another part of the problem is 

  >that a lot of people are overly confident that the electric car solves 

  >a lot of environmental problems.

  > 

  >One part of the solution for this is if the electric car development is 

  >linked to increased renewable electricity generation.  That hasn't 

  >happened yet.  As long as the electric car is promoted in an 

  >environment where it could result in increased construction of coal 

  >power plants we have to be guarded about how we support the concept.  

  >There is a great deal of advocacy for the Plug In Electric Hybrid 

  >(PHEV) which is sheer nonsense, based on some highly speculative 

  >writing Amory Lovins did some ten or fifteen years ago.  There is 

  >enough truth to his ideas to be willing to see how it develops, and no 

  >more.  We can't be sure that a large fleet of battery storage vehicles 

  >will reduce issues associated with the variable availability of wind 

  >and solar power.  It might aggravate those issues.

  > 

  >The Club promotes continued research and development for a variety of 

  >technologies, and the electric cars seem to offer a potential to become 

  >a viable part of a carbon strategy.  A small advance in battery 

  >technology or some shifts in the relative costs of renewables versus 

  >fossil fuels could seal the deal.  Until that happens we must be a 

  >little less than absolutely supportive.

  > 

  >And that's not good enough for some people.

  > 

   

   

  Thanks. It always helps to know the backstory.

   

  As I mentioned, this is why it becomes difficult for activists to get too bogged down in a debate about specific technologies (which all have pros and cons, competing interests, and change quickly), especially when talking to reporters.  Better to talk about overall goals regardless of the technology, I think. 

   

   

   

   

   

   

   



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