Decoding the Confirmation Number

One more thing we get is the cost of charger installation, IIRC. Not sure when EV tells us whether they have selected us to be in their study ...

I hope they extend the exemption. That way we'll get exemption even for lease payments.

 

The extension did not pass and the legislature has adjourned. The sales tax exemption is dead for 2011. They could reinstate it at some future time, but it's very unlikely, given the budget crunch, and the fact that a sales tax exemption will not result in a single additional Leaf being sold here. Every Leaf Nissan allocates to WA will be bought. From the point of view of the legislature there is no reason for the exemption, and we are just being selfish to ask for it.

 

LOL. I'd counter that by saying we are early adopters willing to put up with likely hassles for the sake of the planet. They should replace sales tax & registration fee for automobiles with a carbon tax like some other places are doing.

But that makes my lease vs buy a little more difficult decision.

 

In the big picture, a small number of electric cars makes a small difference. It would probably do more good to take the money and install alternative power generation, rather than give tax breaks for the purchase of cars that will be purchased anyway. The state desperately needs money, It's not in a position to give money away to a tiny group of self-styled pioneers. It would make more sense to give money to people who bicycle or take the bus. How about giving money to people who exercise regularly, don't smoke, and keep their weight healthy? In fact, people who take the bus are doing more for the environment than people who buy thirty-thousand-dollar electric cars!

 

That is exactly the reason I'm saying the taxation should be based on what we want to discourage in terms of policy. It is so much better to tax environmental plunder (like fossil fuel burning), than give incentives for good habits. Unfortunatley for long people have considered environment as a "free resource" - and that is simply wrong.

Politicians ofcource find it easier to do it the other way. Give rebates, exemptions rather than have a good tax policy.

BTW, we are not self-styled pioneers. It is the policy of govts, center, state & city.

No doubt the best mode of trasport in terms of environment is
- Walk
- Cycle
- Mass transit
- Shared EV
- EV

If our weather was better, area less hilly & my back in a better shape, I'd cycle.

 

I believe it depends on what type of energy those buses use. If they are electric and they use renewable energy sources, then it would be better. But if someone charges their BEV using pv's that are 'thin-film', then I would like to know how riding a bus is cleaner than that! There is NO pollution when they make thin-film solar cells (Nanosolar), nor when charging an all electric car with them.

 

You still have the environmental impact of building the cars, and of building roads to accommodate ever-more cars. Plus the costs of enforcing traffic laws and dealing with accidents which rise with the number of cars and rise faster when the roads are overcrowded. Then you have the costs of lost time from traffic jams because of the number of cars, and the increased medical costs from stress-related illness because people are stuck in traffic for two hours for what ought to be a half-hour or a 15-minute drive, all because everyone is driving rather than taking mass transit.

Ev's are better than stinkers. But fewer cars are better than more cars.

 

There is almost nothing on this planet that doesn't depend - in one way or another - on fossil fuels. You literally have to be living isolated in Andamans or Amazon to be non polluting.

Assuming Nanosolar can actually make thin films and sell (as opposed to holding endless stream of press conferences) they would have a carbon foot print to
- extract, refine, transport materials to their facility
- People who work there need to get to the office, eat etc
- PV has to be transported and installed on premises
- All the material that goes into installing PV has a cordbon footprint

All this not even taking into account the carbon footprint of the factory etc. Infact the major problem we will face with Peak Oil is because of low EROI of PV. For every KJ that is used in making the PV you only get back 3 or 4 over 25 years.

See this, for eg. The Oil Drum | Managing the Peak Fossil Fuel Transition: EROI and EIRR

 

So why did you forget to tell about making all the buses and all the parts that have to be made for those, etc.? And most are diesel and that is sooooo DIRTY and polluted that there is NO way it is cleaner and better on the environment than solar. AND all the money going to foreign countries for the OIL to make the fuel. Sorry, I'm not buying into mass transit as 'better' or less polluting than solar and BEV's.

 

We used to have electric busses. Until GM bought them all for the sole purpose of taking them out of service to cripple mass transit so people would have to buy cars. Guadalajara, Mexico, still has two trolley car lines. They are delightful to ride.

 

I didn't. Read the first couple of paragraph carefully.

I'm just knocking down your NO pollution claim.