Dude, Where’s My [Electric] Car!?!!
Another great find tonight, and I can’t believe this one snuck past me. Thanks to the guys at PowrTalk I think I just found my next car. And it’s already monogramed for me!
Ready to hit the American market in 2010, Miles Electric Vehicles 4-Door Sedan is the first practical, affordable, 4-door, high-way-speed rated, all-electric vehicle you can buy (if you can still get a car loan…) for around $35K USD.
According to the Miles EV website:
“In early 2004, concerned by growing environmental problems linked to micro-carbon emissions, Miles Rubin set out to make a difference – by developing a line of safe, affordable, all electric vehicles that produce zero emissions. He centered the company’s activities in Tianjin, China, where the battery industry had expert manufacturing experience. Since then, Miles Electric Vehicles has begun importing low speed vehicles and is working to develop a highway speed, all-electric, midsize sedan.”
“The MILES XS500 prototype sedan currently under development will top 80mph and travel over 120 miles on a single charge – for about the cost of a gallon of gas.”
“Miles Electric Vehicles is owned by Miles Automotive Group, Ltd, and headquartered at the historic Santa Monica Airport in Santa Monica, CA.”
Hopefully I can get in touch with my local rep for some additional information and to arrange a demonstration. I’ll keep you posted.
What Should Obama’s Energy Policy Include/Exclude?
Senator Obama ran a brilliant campaign and yesterday a majority of Americans voted him in to the Office of the President of the United States. While there is certainly reason to celebrate today, in a few short months he will inherit a failed energy policy, one in desperate need of change – but exactly what kind of change?
The Obama-Biden comprehensive New Energy for America plan will:
+ Provide short-term relief to American families facing pain at the pump
+ Help create five million new jobs by strategically investing $150 billion over the next ten years to catalyze private efforts to build a clean energy future.
+ Within 10 years save more oil than we currently import from the Middle East and Venezuela combined.
+ Put 1 million Plug-In Hybrid cars — cars that can get up to 150 miles per gallon — on the road by 2015, cars that we will work to make sure are built here in America.
+ Ensure 10 percent of our electricity comes from renewable sources by 2012, and 25 percent by 2025.
+ Implement an economy-wide cap-and-trade program to reduce greenhouse gas emissions 80 percent by 2050.
In the past Obama has been a friend of the ethanol industry, supporting the subsidies that enabled the young industry to flourish in his home state (and surrounding states) early by encouraging private investment and innovation. He recently said corn ethanol is not “optimal” when compared with sugar cane ethanol, a comparison that is not entirely fair, since corn ethanol production produces feed for livestock as a byproduct.
Will he continue to support the ethanol subsidies, and work to raise the “blend wall” on E10 from 10% to a higher figure? (Ethanol production is about to “cap” out due to the lack of market for it’s excess product.) There is no mention of the Flex-Fuel Vehicle in the bullet points above, although it would be the cheapest fastest method for reducing (in a meaningful way) America’s transportation reliance on oil.
So, besides encouraging fuel conservation and mandating FFV’s w/ the Open Fuels Standard Act, what else should President Obama’s energy policy include and exclude?
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Dems Take Aim at Oil Company Tax Breaks
From Associated Press
…For the most part, the tax benefits are ones that lawmakers talked of repealing this year when Congress struggled to respond to the public outcry over soaring summer fuel prices and oil companies’ huge profits.
Topping the list for repeal are:
-Tax breaks for refinery expansion and for geological studies to help oil exploration.
-A measure passed two years ago primarily to promote domestic manufacturing. It allows oil companies to take a tax credit if they chose to drill in this country instead of going abroad.
Democrats say neither tax benefit should be needed for an industry reaping large profits at today’s high crude oil prices.
Over 10 years, the production tax credit saves oil companies $5 billion and the refinery measure and exploration credit a total of about $1.4 billion, according to Congressional Budget Office estimates.
Other oil tax breaks probably will go unchallenged. That includes some passed by Congress only a year ago and others already targeted for repeal this year.
For example, House Democrats have no plans to change a provision that allows oil companies to avoid billions of dollars in taxes by the way they calculate inventories. The Senate this year agreed to a repeal; the effort was abandoned amid House GOP opposition and an uproar from other industries that also benefit from the tax language.
House Democrats also are shying away from tampering with more than $1 billion worth of oil- and gas-related tax breaks, enacted last year. These breaks largely benefit small companies or gas utilities rather than the major oil companies now awash in cash.
Nevertheless, the House and Senate are expected to push legislation early to force oil companies to renegotiate flawed offshore drilling leases that have allowed the companies to avoid paying federal royalties. The loss eventually could cost the government $10 billion, according to some congressional estimates.
Other prime targets of House and Senate Democrats include:
-Alleged price gouging. Proposals to create a federal price gouging law for gasoline and other fuels probably will move quickly.
-More incentives and mandates to expand the use of ethanol and biodiesel as a substitute for gasoline. Requiring oil companies to phase in retail pumps that deliver fuel that is 85 percent ethanol.
-Requiring power companies to produce a percentage of their electricity from renewable energy sources such as wind and solar power. Such a measure is a priority of Sen. Jeff Bingaman, D-N.M., incoming chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee.
-Extending energy efficiency tax credits approved by Congress last year. Most are scheduled to expire at the end of next year.
-Expanding a tax break for buyers of gas-electric hybrid cars and offering more incentives for automakers to build greater numbers of the vehicles.
Rep. John Dingell, D-Mich., who will take over as chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, said he plans hearings on legislation to spur further production and distribution of ethanol and biodiesel, and promote conservation.
But he suggested it will take time to produce legislation. “The process is a long one. It takes hearings, it takes fact finding,” said Dingell in a telephone interview.
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Democrats Promise to Invigorate Alternative Energy
Depending on your politics, you may be happy, disappointed, or indifferent about the outcome of the Tuesday elections which resulted in the United States of America listing slightly to the left.
As with any great body at rest, the US Congress has tended to remain at rest over the last two or three years, especially in regard to encouraging the search for, and adoption of, alternative energy sources.
In the marching orders for the new leadership of the US Congress is a mandate from America to ween ourselves from foreign oil and prepaare ourselves for a future without an abundance of cheap oil.
Here’s a few related initiatives:
- Using the existing standards, immediately set a higher mileage requirement for all automobiles sold in the United States. A mandatory 7% increase in mileage within 2 model years, and a 15% increase in 5 years.
- Increase incentives for biodiesel, ethanol and other alternative fuels as well as wind, solar, geothermal and other sources of alternative energy.
- Renegotiate oil and gas leases that waived royalty payments to the government. Oil companies are getting filthy rich at the expense of the US Taxpayer. I feel that mutli-billion dollar profit each quarter for the last few years speaks for itself. It’s simply outragious, and America is being fleeced.
- We should explore for oil on public lands, I think we have to do this quickly and purposefully. We currently depend on volitile Middle East oil for 20% of our current needs. If we can hold-the-line on our usage by adopting more efficient practices, then we can greatly reduce our dependence on foreign oil by developing our own existing reserves.
Okay - that last one might not be a traditional Democrat position, but I think it is the correct path ahead.
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South Carolina’s Alternative-Fuel Credits
Last year, the only tax incentive South Carolina offered to consumers for using alternative fuels was a $1,000 tax credit for installing a solar water heater. The state provided only enough funding for 20 people to receive the tax credit, and no one applied.
“In the past year and a half, we’ve seen tremendous awareness of energy issues and global warming issues,” said John Clark, director of the South Carolina Energy Office. “It seems to be snowballing, nationally and locally.”
The federal government approved tax credits for purchasing hybrid vehicles, solar heating systems, energy-efficient windows and other fuel-saving measures in 2005.
Unlike the federal incentives, South Carolina’s income tax credit for hybrid vehicle purchases is not slated to expire. The state credit is worth 20 percent of the current federal credit, which varies by vehicle make, model and year.
The state sales tax rebate for flex-fuel vehicles, which can use either gasoline or the ethanol-gas blend known as E85, is good only through June 30, 2007, but applies to new and used vehicles.
Hybrid vehicles typically cost more than non-hybrids, and there are waiting lists to buy some models, but vehicles that can run on E85 are common and usually carry the same price as similar models that only run on gasoline.
“There are a good number of E85 vehicles on the market,” said Pat Watson, executive vice president of the South Carolina Automobile Dealers Association. “You didn’t hear much about them before, when gas prices were low.”
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Tax Credits for Toyota Hybrid’s Begin to Phase Out…
One of the ways the US Government has helped motivate consumers to buy more fuel efficient vehicles is through generous tax incentives on the Hybrids. These include various models from Ford, General Motors, Honda and Toyota.
But as the manufacturer sells more of any particular model, those incentives begin to “phase out” in two steps, each one reducing the tax credit for that particular model by half.
Toyota appears to be the first manufacturer reaching those sales numbers, and on October 1st, 2006 the tax credits for the 5 Toyota-made models will be cut in half. If you want a Toyota Hybrid, you have until the end of September to get the full tax credit for your purchase! ($3150 on the Prius)
(From “FuelEconomy.gov”)
Qualifying hybrids purchased or placed into service after December 31, 2005 may be eligible for a federal income tax credit of up to $3,400.
Credit amounts will begin to phase out for a given manufacturer once it has sold over 60,000 eligible vehicles.
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When does this incentive end?
The credit will begin to phase out for vehicles offered by a given manufacturer after it sells a total of 60,000 eligible hybrid and lean-burn vehicles starting from January 1, 2006. RS will announce when a manufacturer has exceeded this sales figure.
Beginning with the second calendar quarter after the calendar quarter in which the manufacturer sells 60,000 vehicles, the credit will be 50% of the full credit amount. This part of the phase-out will last for two calendar quarters (6 months).
For the next two calendar quarters, the credit will be 25% of the full credit amount. The incentives for vehicles by that manufacturer will end thereafter.
In addition to the phase out rules, any vehicle purchased after December 31, 2010 will not be eligible for the credit.
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