U.S. Government Ignores Obama's EV Plans, Cuts EV Purchases In Half
Last year, President Barack Obama declared that one of the “Apollo projects of our times” is the goal for the United States to be “the first country to have a million electric vehicles on the road by 2015.” Companies that made and people that bought those electric vehicles received generous government money. One holdout in the rush for EVs: The U.S. government. It did not do as its President said, and ended up with a drastic cut in purchases of electric and hybrid vehicles after the speech was delivered.
GSA Purchases of EVs and Hybrids
U.S. General Services Administration purchases of hybrid and electric models fell 59 percent in fiscal 2011 to about 2,645, Bloomberg reports after analyzing data obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request.
The GSA procures approximately two thirds of the government’s vehicles . The other third is bought by the U.S. Postal Service.
The GSA bought 145 Chevrolet Volts in fiscal 2011, 1,380 hybrid Fusions, 101 Honda Insight hybrids and one Toyota Prius.
At the same time, the U.S. government is more in line with another Apollo project, namely buying only alternative-fuel vehicles for the U.S. government fleet by 2015. In fiscal 2011, the federal fleet added 32,000 cars and trucks that can burn E85. That’s 58 percent of the 54,843 cars bought by the GSA in fiscal 2011.
And it is a bookkeeping trick. 88 percent of the government’s “alternative-fuel vehicles” are flex fuel cars. They can use ethanol. But they can also use regular gas. They usually do. Out of necessity: “There are only about 2,512 ethanol fuel pumps available among the estimated 162,000 fueling stations that sell gasoline,” says Bloomberg.
For years ago, Obama promised that by 2012, “half of all cars purchased by the federal government will be plug-in hybrids or all-electric.” They better write those purchase orders fast to meet that goal.
Bertel Schmitt comes back to journalism after taking a 35 year break in advertising and marketing. He ran and owned advertising agencies in Duesseldorf, Germany, and New York City. Volkswagen A.G. was Bertel's most important corporate account. Schmitt's advertising and marketing career touched many corners of the industry with a special focus on automotive products and services. Since 2004, he lives in Japan and China with his wife <a href="http://www.tomokoandbertel.com"> Tomoko </a>. Bertel Schmitt is a founding board member of the <a href="http://www.offshoresuperseries.com"> Offshore Super Series </a>, an American offshore powerboat racing organization. He is co-owner of the racing team Typhoon.
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We should go to an all-electric transportation system ASAP, and fast-track nuclear electric plants to support the increased demand. As the nuclear plants are decommissioned (in 50 years or so), the waste can be shipped to the Moon by Rutan Rockets, Inc. and stored in a cloistered facility outside of the Gingrich One Moon Base (he will have been elected in 2020). Of course, by then we will have commercialized fusion electric power, so an excess amount of radioactive waste will be stored in the Moon Dump, which will eventually reach Critical Mass; the resulting explosion will push the Moon out of orbit, resulting in the first Interstellar Space Vehicle, which will be manned by the hapless denizens of Gingrich One. Ahh, to live long enough to see this bright future!
"U.S. General Services Administration purchases of hybrid and electric models fell 59 percent in fiscal 2011 to about 2,645, Bloomberg reports after analyzing data obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request." Without having read more than the original article, I fail to see how this data squares with "U.S. Government Ignores Obama’s EV Plans, Cuts EV Purchases In Half". FY2010 ended September 2010. The ONLY relatively mainstream EVs available at that time were the BMW Mini E (lease-only) and the Tesla Roadster. FY2011 ended September 2011. While the majority of the "hybrids and EVs" purchased were closed-loop hybrids, the 145 Volts purchased in FY2011 represent a small increase in purchasing over the (likely) 0 EVs purchased in FY2010. The significant decrease in hybrid purchases is worth investigating, but it's not the "truth about cars" to spin this as an anti-EV shift.