The White House Parking lot

is that HOV exemption still going?? that makes the Pri unfairly popular in that area since DC has one of the worst commuting nightmares anywhere in the country

 

Nothing unfair about it.

 

If the Obama Administration's Economic Stimulus package gets passed, it will be more and more common to see hybrids near federal buildings. One of the line items in the stimulus bill is $600M to fund the purchase of hybrid vehicles to replace part of the federal gov't's. fleet of vehicles.

 

Which the republicans already declared wasteful spending:

What GOP Leaders deem wasteful in Senate stimulus bill - CNN.com

Item #7.

 

Yup. That's why they're called "conserv"atives.

 

hopefully ha? hopefully a good sign. all i can say is that the majority of the people in the USA obviously voted for obama. the republicans should let the new president do what he thinks is right, within reason. too much BS has stopped bills from getting passed, progress and such.

 

It really is, compared to how much cheaper it would be to just keep driving whatever vehicles the government already owns. I have firsthand knowledge that GSA fleet vehicles get replaced around only 50,000 miles. I'm not sure how that is cost-effective.

And please don't think for a second that the government will be buying Toyota or Honda hybrids.

I'm sure this is nothing more than a way to give money to GM by purchasing fleets of "hybrid" Chevy Malibus.

Tim

 

I am fine with that waste if it leads to cheaper electric components. Just like building roads sometimes it takes the government to push a technology mainstream.

 

That'd still be better than giving Detroit 3 our tax dollars without us getting anything in return. At least with this proposal "we the people" will get a fleet of vehicles that are higher in fuel efficiency and lower in toxic emissions than what we're paying for now.

In fact, I don't expect to see (and would not support) this money being spent on foreign cars, hybrid or otherwise.

 

even sales of foreign cars go a long way towards supporting a large number of Americans. dealers, shippers, and farther down the line, maintenance workers, they all benefit no matter where the car is made.

a better option would be to purchase only those made in the USA... hopefully that will encourage Toyota to continue with their plans to produce the Prius locally

 

Looking at the vehicles generally purchased by the government, it should be fairly clear why they only drive them for 50k miles

 

I have posted this before so don't bite me to hard.
"Americans love their cars, and so apparently does Uncle Sam. He’s got 642,233 of them."
Transportation Secretary Mary Peters has two drivers. Their salaries totaled more than $128,000 last year.
The driver for Health and Human Services Secretary Michael Leavitt earns about $90,000 a year. That’s more than double the average salary of an office manager or accountant, and about $35,000 more than a registered nurse earns, according to a salary calculator provided by payscale.com.How Many Cars Does the Government Own? 642,233. - GovCentral.com


HUD spent 2.1 mil alone. The article or an other article I read states they put 50K on them and get rid of them. I suppose from a maintenance perspective, it would be the thing to do in the old days.


Then I suppose they auction them off and don't get squat.

 

drivers salaries are expensive, but consider that high level government officials get drivers so they can work while going from one constant meeting to another, BUT

they must be driven by usually a specially trained person adept in firearms, evasive driving, and with extensive police and counter measures experience.

considering the average police officer costs $150,000 to train, $10-15,000 to keep trained, and paid around $75,000 a year, all of a sudden those drivers dont really seem to be making much money afterall

 

Boy, some of our police here need a raise. I live inbetween a couple small towns up in the sticks and they spaz when they have to pay more than 2k a month. Seriously, the last bunch quit and they tried to pay the last guy $1800 a month.

 

base pay for just a sheriff's deputy without OT is $88,000 here. most bigger city police make more than that. i am sure some small town police officers in my area make less but not much less. our cost of living is a bit higher than the average though

 

Even if that could be better, it still would not be politically feasible or defensible, IMO.

Realistically speaking, if the conservatives could object to buying ANY hybrid cars at all, imagine the [fake] outrage they'd raise over Jap cars...

 

well the problem we have is undeniable evidence that consequences of global climate changes are accelerating bringing much more urgency to the need to reduce carbon emissions ASAP.

i really dont feel (along with nearly every scientist) that we can wait any longer. so the sooner we get higher mileage vehicles on the road the better. so waiting a year or so for Toyota to tool up simply is not a good idea. but at the same time, there is no real viable American option... now the FFH looks promising and i would be all for a fleet of them for applications where a bigger car is needed... but i am still a Pri fan, so i still prefer that option wherever it can work

 

At the going rate, by the time Congress approves this bill maybe even the Volt will be ready for prime time!

 

well Obama has been pretty quick on moving on a lot of this stuff. lets face it, he has a lot of UNDOING to do first before he can even get to his agenda