Saturday, October 18, 2008

Smart Transportation


Finding a car that is gentle on the environment, and fuel-efficient may be easy in Southern California, but choices are limited here in Southern Illinois. Ask about an electric car here, and dealers are likely to point to the golf-cart they use to transport customers around the lot. The 2005 Smart-ForTwo shown here seems to be way over priced at a local dealership.

They tell me there's a waiting list for these cars. I think I'll wait instead for a plug-in-electric. GM, Ford, and Toyota plan to offer plug-in-hybrid cars by 2010.

Can't wait for an electric car? You could buy a Prius now, and spend another $10,000 to have it converted to plug-in, but that seems a bit pricey to me. No, I think I'll wait instead to choose from the available 2010 models.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi John,
Thanks for all of this. I found you when trying to find a place that would allow a poor working stiff like me to test drive (beta test) an alt. energy vehicle. Do you know any?
Also, I used to live in Marion, by the wildlife refuge and in Murphysboro in 1979 - 81. Worked in Makanda for SIPDC (met Abbie Hoffman when he came to support us).
Thanks Stu (s_from_nc at yahoo dot com)

John said...

I hoped to be among the first in the midwest to test an electric car, but have had no luck, even though I've offered to purchase one at full retail price. It makes me think that manufacturers are afraid of an unbiased evaluation. Perhaps they're afraid of the extreme weather conditions here in the midwest, or the "show-me" attitude that some of us have.