[urq] Thought-provoking stuff.......NAC, but all Car stuff.

[urq]

I've yet to see the movie, but I've heard from a few friends who have ... 

I don't know who is under scrutiny in the film, but I suspect the GM EV-1 is
one of the major players.  I remember the tents in the parking lot at Cisco
Systems back when, where they were playing up the benefits of the EV-1 and
getting people interested.  I remember seeing a couple on the road.  I
always thought the EV-1 was a practical car ... I'd buy one before I'd ever
think about a hybrid.  I'm actually staying in pretty close touch with the
goings on at Tesla Motors ... perhaps I can get myself in there somehow (not
likely! :)  Eventually the good guys will win out ...

BTW, there are green ways to keep your car charged up ... I've got a 4kw
photovoltaic array on the roof today ... and will work to get more when the
prices come down.  

Hey, I've recommended that Arun consider converting his 200Q to electric!
;-)

Steve B
San José, CA (USA)

-----Original Message-----

Please forgive the NAC, and also posting to the three lists I subscribe to,
but I saw something last night that is starting to disturb me.  Let me start
by saying that I am a quattroholic, currently owning a '95 S6 Avant, a '91
200 TQ 20V and an '83 ur.  I've had a total of 8 Audis (7 quattros) in my
driving career and have loved every one of them.  That said, I just watched
"Who Killed the Electric Car" last night and I found it quite compelling.  I
also found it quite disturbing.  If you haven't watched it yet, I suggest,
even for entertainment sake, that you go and rent it.  Now, I'm not one of
those "conspiracy" types, but I find it quite troubling to know that we, the
car buying public, are not given the option of purchasing a different
propulsion technology for our transportation that would seem on the surface
to be very economical, reliable, "emissions free" (I put that in quotes on
purpose....of course I know it takes either nuclear, natural gas or coal to
make the el
 ectricity to charge the damn things,) etc.  The fact that the major
automobile manufacturers have gone to great lengths to destroy every last EV
they had made makes for some interesting "conspiracy" thoughts in my mind.
What are they trying to hide? 

My intent here is merely to provoke some mindful thought about what we, as
consumers, are facing in the real world when faced with high gas and oil
prices (while oil companies are enjoying record profits), environmental
pollution from oil and gas spills, and not to mention Global Warming due to
internal combustion engine exhaust, (I'm not even going to go into the
geo-political conflicts costing American lives in the oil-rich Middle East.)
And to also inform people that there are (were) other viable options
available as recently as 5-10 years ago that could possibly have kept us
from the possible environmental predicament we are currently facing.  Am I
willing to give up my trio of quattros at the moment?  No, but I am thinking
of the possibilites of transforming a 4000 quattro to electric power
sometime in the future........the technology is there to do it.

I invite all thought provoking criticism, constructive and otherwise.......