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Hello,
I'm a mom from a family of four with 11 yrs old and 4yrs old still in a car seat - a big 'safe' one (can't seem to find the compact anymore). We live here in Orange County, Southern California, the land of minimal-to-non-existent public transportation, and some of us live in our car more than in our bed. Yes, another typical commuting day!
I bought my Prius in Dec 2001, after 4 mos. of long miserable wait without test drive one - talking about desperation! Needless to say, I love it for all the factors that have been already posted, but also it fits my family need/lifestyle and at a price range that we can afford to migrate to sustainability until affordable technology is available for the mass market. I also read the EV1 club site, and quite a few people have very little tolerance for people like us that bought Hybrid. Their claim is that this prevent the manufacturers from moving toward independency on oil completely. I am glad that they can afford the EV1, and the RAV4, and I am glad that they spend their money unwastefully. My husband manage to find an Electric S10 used Pickup truck (range 40miles max) for $16K.
My goal is to educate others, especially those that are going to buy a new car within the next year, and try to make a difference in their purchasing power, so that the economy of supply and demand will eventually rules!
My problem with the whole EV/Fuel Alternative Vehicles purchase has been lack of education - no one at the dealers seem to know, no one is promoting. Here in CA, they have rebate from CA Energy Commission (bury in their website), our dealer never told us, esp when we had 4 mos to wait, we did not qualified for it. You have to apply before you buy the car, $1000 - that 's alot of money.
People stops me everywhere, and ask me - wow, it is so quiet, so how long do you have to plug it in at night, how far can you go, what is the maximum speed it can drives, how fast will it accelerate? Well, all sound stupid, but not really, no one ever told them what a hybrid really is.
So where do we go from here? As long as powerful lobbyist in Washington voted down on the 27mpg increase of fuel efficiency, US automakers continue to make larger car with their claim of safety, and manufacture a handful of non-realistic consumer-price-range EV to satisfy the Air Quality/Emission quotas, or making more choices of two-seaters (easy way out), than 4-seaters (really! the SUV was marketed for mom with their kids)it will always be a classic Catch22 ( we makes the car, but no one want to buy it, and soon they will win to repeal/modify existing mandates)
I thought at first about a caravan group of car together for a road rally going toward North CA, and the other group can go south, and try to meet in the middle, and get press and media. But maybe that is really wasting gasoline! Maybe we can just meet in smaller group on a certain day, in various highly visible location (Suburban car dealer, nature park, library), and just really educate the people, and take them for a spin?
Maybe if we can convince a new buyer with facts, then we are one step closer to where the grass is greener. (I already send out email to everyone on my list asking them to fwd my thoughts and love and reason for the Prius)
Please help with suggestion. I have always been a person of moderation in all aspects of my life - waste not, want not.
One person can make a difference with its small step!
Sorry for such a long email - I am not very good with writing!)
I'm a mom from a family of four with 11 yrs old and 4yrs old still in a car seat - a big 'safe' one (can't seem to find the compact anymore). We live here in Orange County, Southern California, the land of minimal-to-non-existent public transportation, and some of us live in our car more than in our bed. Yes, another typical commuting day!
I bought my Prius in Dec 2001, after 4 mos. of long miserable wait without test drive one - talking about desperation! Needless to say, I love it for all the factors that have been already posted, but also it fits my family need/lifestyle and at a price range that we can afford to migrate to sustainability until affordable technology is available for the mass market. I also read the EV1 club site, and quite a few people have very little tolerance for people like us that bought Hybrid. Their claim is that this prevent the manufacturers from moving toward independency on oil completely. I am glad that they can afford the EV1, and the RAV4, and I am glad that they spend their money unwastefully. My husband manage to find an Electric S10 used Pickup truck (range 40miles max) for $16K.
My goal is to educate others, especially those that are going to buy a new car within the next year, and try to make a difference in their purchasing power, so that the economy of supply and demand will eventually rules!
My problem with the whole EV/Fuel Alternative Vehicles purchase has been lack of education - no one at the dealers seem to know, no one is promoting. Here in CA, they have rebate from CA Energy Commission (bury in their website), our dealer never told us, esp when we had 4 mos to wait, we did not qualified for it. You have to apply before you buy the car, $1000 - that 's alot of money.
People stops me everywhere, and ask me - wow, it is so quiet, so how long do you have to plug it in at night, how far can you go, what is the maximum speed it can drives, how fast will it accelerate? Well, all sound stupid, but not really, no one ever told them what a hybrid really is.
So where do we go from here? As long as powerful lobbyist in Washington voted down on the 27mpg increase of fuel efficiency, US automakers continue to make larger car with their claim of safety, and manufacture a handful of non-realistic consumer-price-range EV to satisfy the Air Quality/Emission quotas, or making more choices of two-seaters (easy way out), than 4-seaters (really! the SUV was marketed for mom with their kids)it will always be a classic Catch22 ( we makes the car, but no one want to buy it, and soon they will win to repeal/modify existing mandates)
I thought at first about a caravan group of car together for a road rally going toward North CA, and the other group can go south, and try to meet in the middle, and get press and media. But maybe that is really wasting gasoline! Maybe we can just meet in smaller group on a certain day, in various highly visible location (Suburban car dealer, nature park, library), and just really educate the people, and take them for a spin?
Maybe if we can convince a new buyer with facts, then we are one step closer to where the grass is greener. (I already send out email to everyone on my list asking them to fwd my thoughts and love and reason for the Prius)
Please help with suggestion. I have always been a person of moderation in all aspects of my life - waste not, want not.
One person can make a difference with its small step!
Sorry for such a long email - I am not very good with writing!)
