How YOU can help!

[Derwin]

Below is an email I received from a fellow club member. It details how we can help make a difference in getting zero emission electric cars on the road. I post just for your information only. You can participate if you want, but please don't think that I, or anybody in the club, is asking you to do so. Again, I am posting this just for informational purposes only.

Hello Derwin, can you please post this for me? It's too big for me to post! It is from Chelsea Sexton of Who Killed the Electric Car fame. Thanks, Dave

http://origin.ih.constantcontact.com/fs064/1101605686066/img/3.gif?a=1102027007732
Action Gram

*March 21, 2008*

*Plug In America Needs Your Help. You Are Invited!*

*Plug in America Press Conference and Rally*

*Date: Wednesday - March 26, 2008*

*Time: 10:30 a.m.*

*Where: California EPA Building*
*1001 I Street *
*Sacramento, Ca*

*Electric Car Drivers: Bring Your EV!*
*Greetings!*

We want zero emission electric cars on the road, and we want them NOW! Help PIA inspire Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and CARB Chair Mary Nichols to do the right thing by clicking here (http://rs6.net/tn.jsp?e=001phrqc5IJ-f4Sx6dQHASEHyIbDWgjz77xvdZHxT8kxaqzC2D06Z9IqxSpJmr y_cFNsp2oDybaGyyYosb0sfpeP66pFkjFoognwClk4z1-ZnvybXSoCtaW0oW6AXQsxYFJh6i6xeV_bTk (http://rs6.net/tn.jsp?e=001phrqc5IJ-f4Sx6dQHASEHyIbDWgjz77xvdZHxT8kxaqzC2D06Z9IqxSpJmr y_cFNsp2oDybaGyyYosb0sfpeP66pFkjFoognwClk4z1-ZnvybXSoCtaW0oW6AXQsxYFJh6i6xeV_bTk)=).

And get ready for a rousing Rally and Press Conference near the California Air Resources Board (CARB) Headquarters at the corner of I and 10th Streets in Sacramento on March 26th.

Now is your chance to join the action before CARB votes on a proposal that could keep zero emission electric cars out of consumers' hands for decades. Raise your voice at the March 26 rally alongside Plug in America, Tesla Motors, former CIA Director James Woolsey
, Rainforest Action Network and others. Please join us at 10:30 a.m. and bring your friends. No RSVP required.

Tell both the Governor and Chair Nichols to support production of electric vehicles - the automotive technology that could work NOW to help clean our air and cut CO2 emissions. Click here (http://rs6.net/tn.jsp?e=001phrqc5IJ-f50SD53BeSCBsZk_1yeXDIFIF35v2KJ9C7XUzLtyFmOrCq16Z8 a-u6FyExAH9kT8zs73MiqA7l3Jt5p43q2OhPtxpIDSTiBmAwvmcy iC24yCJGOEzfFaRvSOF-erx1FRwU (http://rs6.net/tn.jsp?e=001phrqc5IJ-f50SD53BeSCBsZk_1yeXDIFIF35v2KJ9C7XUzLtyFmOrCq16Z8 a-u6FyExAH9kT8zs73MiqA7l3Jt5p43q2OhPtxpIDSTiBmAwvmcy iC24yCJGOEzfFaRvSOF-erx1FRwU)=) and don't forget to forward this message far and wide to family, friends, interest groups and social networks like MySpace. If you can think of a way to spread the word, do it!

As gasoline prices lurch toward the $4.00 per gallon mark, let's all work together to hasten the day when we can dump the pump and start driving clean, efficient electric cars.

Hope to see you in Sacramento on the 26th!

Chelsea Sexton

Plug in America


Again, Click here (http://rs6.net/tn.jsp?e=001phrqc5IJ-f4Sx6dQHASEHyIbDWgjz77xvdZHxT8kxaqzC2D06Z9IqxSpJmr y_cFNsp2oDybaGyyYosb0sfpeP66pFkjFoognwClk4z1-ZnvybXSoCtaW0oW6AXQsxYFJh6i6xeV_bTk (http://rs6.net/tn.jsp?e=001phrqc5IJ-f4Sx6dQHASEHyIbDWgjz77xvdZHxT8kxaqzC2D06Z9IqxSpJmr y_cFNsp2oDybaGyyYosb0sfpeP66pFkjFoognwClk4z1-ZnvybXSoCtaW0oW6AXQsxYFJh6i6xeV_bTk)=) to send a message to Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger
State Capitol Building
Sacramento, CA 95814
Phone: 916-445-2841
Fax: 916-558-3160

Click here (http://rs6.net/tn.jsp?e=001phrqc5IJ-f6CXvky8qYzl_1z8IpR9E3onDCNnj8oN2S1AWs5vgmz-CN_TfFhs2W2ZA6Q7TKVZAQ3nMYCw0_QsvehwP4_G4OSIufgdqJ I09Bzl26_HDxy1ZqprwQ5blWO1Ogj5kuYGAM4I0ouklA3uO7I7 uEb66HG4jKLWKG3zfu3SDAkVcFD8rYwTojJUIh5905W-wPAvgg (http://rs6.net/tn.jsp?e=001phrqc5IJ-f6CXvky8qYzl_1z8IpR9E3onDCNnj8oN2S1AWs5vgmz-CN_TfFhs2W2ZA6Q7TKVZAQ3nMYCw0_QsvehwP4_G4OSIufgdqJ I09Bzl26_HDxy1ZqprwQ5blWO1Ogj5kuYGAM4I0ouklA3uO7I7 uEb66HG4jKLWKG3zfu3SDAkVcFD8rYwTojJUIh5905W-wPAvgg)=) to send a message to CARB Chair Mary Nichols.

Please check our website (http://rs6.net/tn.jsp?e=001phrqc5IJ-f5nEIqVgbPZUTyK-HFosKTr4IvncRF7aE8ERcTVNQbyLebpsGwoYqeIKi5iD4sUCuq GJvLkSG1X8xwAxv66bz2Cu6dwQH0wuyr5K6QMnuZ0Lg (http://rs6.net/tn.jsp?e=001phrqc5IJ-f5nEIqVgbPZUTyK-HFosKTr4IvncRF7aE8ERcTVNQbyLebpsGwoYqeIKi5iD4sUCuq GJvLkSG1X8xwAxv66bz2Cu6dwQH0wuyr5K6QMnuZ0Lg)==) often for campaign updates and send this Action Gram to everyone you know!

Chelsea Sexton
Plug In America
P.O. Box 1174 | El Segundo | CA | 90245-6174

[CelticFlyer]

Cool beans. That's six blocks from where I live. I'll be there! Thanks for the heads up, guys. ;)

[PHEVadvocate]

Here is what Tesla Motors thinks on this issue!

http://www.teslamotors.com/blog2/?p=58

Here is their rebuttal to the CARB staff:

http://www.teslamotors.com/display_data/Tesla_rebuttal_ZEV_expert_panel.pdf

Please write, call, or Email if you can. =y:

We have to keep the Politicians honest and make them do what is in the peoples best interest! :COP:

[Mark Tomlinson]

It's true, although exaggerated through the lens of political activism. The crux of the thing is that CARB is lowering the requirements for the number of electric vehicles because they think the current expectation can not be reached.

However, CARB's research is flawed. Most notably, they claim there are no mass produced EVs in production today. (There are requirements around that, like highway capability and x number of miles per charge). Whereas Tesla Motors has started production and will be shipping vehicles by the end of the month. The CEO of Tesla sent them a letter sternly correcting them and suggesting that the CARB requirements stay in place without modification.

Personally, I don't care one way or another. While it was CARB regulations that forced GM to create the EV1 and the repeal that allowed GM to dump it, times have changed. The V1 is going to be built with or without CARB's influence; as well as the Aptera and Tesla Roadster and Whitestar. Market pressure will influence the big automakers.

[PHEVadvocate]

Mark, I guess I never liked what CARB did in "Who Killed The Electric Car", and I don't want it to happen again!

"I am not a trouble maker; I'm a catalyst for change", Quoting a Founding Member. ;)

[MVRacing]

Hey Derwin,
thanks for posting this. Following the links to Tesla's blog and white paper ... very interesting and educational. Put my name on the petitions and sent emails.

After "Who Killed the Electric Car" and reading thru some of the other research, wouldn't surprise me a bit if there was payoffs in the CARB. =n:

I do agree with Mark - "The V1 is going to be built with or without CARB's influence; as well as the Aptera and Tesla Roadster and Whitestar. Market pressure will influence the big automakers."

However, if CARB keeps or strenghtens ZEV then that forces more battery research and manufacture, driving down prices, and making my V1 cheaper.=D

[Mark Tomlinson]

Yes, PHEV. And surely you, if anyone, know that CARB is headed up by a pro-hydrogen chairman. I don't feel like looking it up right now, but there is a real conflict of interest going on there. I'm honestly surprised the EV crowd hasn't taken CARB to court about it.

I think everyone is doing the right thing by putting pressure on CARB. I certainly encourage it. But I like to pick my battles, and this one really doesn't matter to me enough to get involved. The Automotive X Prize, the "greening" of technology, and changes in the market place kind of make the ZEV Mandate irrelevant in my opinion.

But that's just me. If I lived in California or worked for VV or Tesla, I'd get involved.

[PHEVadvocate]

This is a simple short explanation on the CARB ZEV issue; it has a little history and their recommendations:

http://rechargeit.blogspot.com/2008/03/californias-zev-program.html

Google always has the answers! :)

[CelticFlyer]

I'm so bummed out. I couldn't make it to the press conference today. I'm swamped at work and couldn't get away. I'll try to post a news clipping of it if I find one.

Still may be able to spot an EV or two around town, though. I've read somewhere that there will be a rally of sorts.

[RAN]

I think that market forces and consumer demand are going to render anything CARB or any other government agency tries to regulate irrelevant in the ZEV/EV arena. People don't care about hydrogen special interests. They don't care about the Big 3 (or Big 10) automakers. People are tired of being reamed by Big Oil, Big Business, and Big Government, three entities that have utterly failed them, lining their pockets at the expense of the quality of our air, our health, our environment and our very lives.

The Tesla, Aptera, V-1, and several others will be built, and they will find a waiting demand that they can't begin to fill. Those who snooze will definitely lose.

[MarkH]

Ran, you have a gift for understatement. Very well said.

[PHEVadvocate]

Here are some videos from the rally:

NtdMr3WIGQw

4IwsGmcn42U

nIesA8Eid8k

Here are some pictures:

http://www.flickr.com/search/?q=carb+zev+isor

Enjoy! :)

[Mark Tomlinson]

Some interesting comments by the guy from Tesla Motors (if you haven't watched the videos). I double checked his numbers through some other web sites and blogs - they are accurate.

At the current rate of sales and the projected production rate (they are in production), Tesla will exceed both the CARB's revised mandated phase 2 and phase 3 numbers. I don't remember the exact dates, but that's something like 2,500 cars by 2012 and 25,000 by 2017.

But CARB's numbers aren't for a single automaker - they are for the entire industry. Therefore, Tesla alone will provide all of the mandated zero emissions vehicles required for the entire industry. This means GM can relax on the Volt and keep selling Hummers to soccer moms in California. No need to meet the CARB mandate because Tesla did all the work for them.

(I still haven't figured out how the thing will be enforced. I think it has something to do with buying and selling "ZEV credits".)

[CelticFlyer]

Wish I could have been there today. I really wanted to lend my support, but I couldn't get away from work. Thanks for posting pix and videos!

[MVRacing]

Tesla will be able to sell ZEV credits to the other auto manufactures who are not meeting their target goals. Wonder what that's worth?


http://www.uctc.net/papers/470.pdf

[RAN]

I keep wondering, if he were alive today, what Mark Twain would have to say about CARB and "ZEV credits?" LOL