{"id":4101,"date":"2007-03-01T12:32:54","date_gmt":"2007-03-01T16:32:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/biznews.fiu.edu\/?p=4101"},"modified":"2017-11-09T08:13:30","modified_gmt":"2017-11-09T13:13:30","slug":"audience-gets-electrifying-news-at-lecture","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/biznews.fiu.edu\/2007\/03\/audience-gets-electrifying-news-at-lecture\/","title":{"rendered":"Audience gets electrifying news at lecture."},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Charles
Charles Whalen, public relations director, Florida Electric Auto Association, with students and his electric car following the lecture on plug-in hybrids<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

On January 24, 2007, the day after President Bush\u2019s State of the Unio n Address in which he backed off from his strong statement that \u201cAmerica is addicted to oil,\u201d Sherry Boschert<\/strong>, author of Plug-In Hybrids: The Cars that Will Recharge America,<\/em> spoke to a packed classroom on the Modesto A. Maidique Campus of Florida International University.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn his speech, the president said more research needs to take place on batteries and that biofuels have more advantages,\u201d she said. \u201cThis position won\u2019t make car manufacturers do much.\u201d<\/p>\n

To date, major car manufacturers haven\u2019t taken the lead in producing electric cars, which are cheaper to run, produce zero emissions, and dramatically reduce dependence on oil\u2014even though the technology exists and some companies have made some efforts.<\/p>\n

\u201cElectric cars run on domestic power,\u201d Boschert said. \u201cWe\u2019ll never go to war over electricity.\u201d<\/p>\n

Research counters manufacturers\u2019 assertions. <\/em><\/p>\n

\"Charles
Charles Whalen, public relations director, Florida Electric Auto Association, with his electric car<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Manufacturers claim that they haven\u2019t been producing electric cars because no one wants them, the batteries aren\u2019t good enough, and they\u2019re too expensive, she said.<\/p>\n

Yet, in her research for the book, Boschert\u2014who installed solar panels on her house in not-too-sunny San Francisco in 1997 and generates so much power that she sells it back to the grid at 35 cents per kilowatt hour and purchases what she needs at off-peak hours for four cents per kilowatt hour\u2014discovered ample proof to dispute each point.<\/p>\n

During her talk, she referenced the documentary Who Killed the Electric Car?<\/em> It examines the multiple interests that ended up pulling off the road a zero-emission vehicle manufactured by GM and much loved by the many people who leased them.<\/p>\n

The documentary, and her book, point to the large numbers of people who do want electric cars, including those who watched their GM electric cars towed off and taken to a remote site where they were crushed. As part of their effort to keep the cars on the road, supporters created waiting lists, with thousands of names to demonstrate to GM that the demand existed.<\/p>\n

\"An
An electric car owned by Charles Whalen, public relations director, Florida Electric Auto Association<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

She also offered evidence for the reliability and availability of batteries today\u2014enabling drivers of hybrids to use 61 percent less gas.<\/p>\n

The question of expense may be the manufacturer\u2019s strongest argument, but Boschert cited statistics showing that people are willing to pay more to drive cars that don\u2019t pollute and don\u2019t rely on fossil fuels.<\/p>\n

\u201cNew technology is always expensive,\u201d she said. \u201cLook at cell phones, computers, and flat screen televisions. But people bought them, and besides, when any commodity is mass produced, the costs go down.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to her, the cost for a plug-in hybrid could be 10 to 15 percent more than that for a standard hybrid. But, she pointed out that people have to look at \u201cwell to wheels\u201d\u2014that is, the real cost to produce oil and get it to the car. By that measure, electricity is far, far cheaper.<\/p>\n

In her remarks, she cited many grassroots organizations that are making inroads in alternate energy usage, such as wind, singling out Austin, Texas, as America\u2019s cleanest city and noting its motto: \u201cWest Texas wind versus Mideast oil.\u201d<\/p>\n

Electric car makes appearance.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"Amy
Amy Mehu<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Following the talk, students had the chance to see, and even drive, a fully- electric Toyota RAV4 EV, brought to campus by Charles Whalen<\/strong>, the public relations director for the Florida Electric Auto Association.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe car has different gauges, since there\u2019s no gas gauge but, rather, an electricity gauge,\u201d said Amy Mehu<\/strong>, a senior majoring in environmental studies, who took Whalen\u2019s car for a spin around campus. \u201cIt doesn\u2019t make the same noises as my Honda Accord.\u201d<\/p>\n

Robin Escobedo<\/strong>, who is majoring in environmental science and liberal arts and will graduate this year, didn\u2019t have time to take a drive, but liked the lecture because it fit in with his current studies on sustainability and renewable energy.<\/p>\n

\u201cI liked hearing her reiterate what I know,\u201d he said, \u201cand I talked to her after the lecture to tell her about a movie I saw about cities replacing trolleys with buses.\u201d<\/p>\n

Boschert provided the audience with many ways to up the pressure on the car companies. For example, at www.pluginamerica.org<\/a>, her organization\u2019s resource-filled web site, visitors can find phone numbers of the auto manufacturers so they can place a call saying, \u201cI want a car that gets 100 miles per gallon and I won\u2019t buy a new car till I can get one . . . in other words, \u2018no plug, no deal.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

The lecture was presented by the Center for Energy and Business in the college\u2019s Knight Ridder Center for Excellence in Management and by the Department of Environmental Studies.\u00a0 It was sponsored by the Jack D. Gordon Institute for Public Policy and Citizenship Studies.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On January 24, 2007, the day after President Bush\u2019s State of the Unio n Address in which he backed off from his strong statement that \u201cAmerica is addicted to oil,\u201d Sherry Boschert, author of Plug-In Hybrids: The Cars that Will Recharge America, spoke to a packed classroom on the Modesto A. Maidique Campus of Florida […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":71,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[73,398,2285,2431],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/biznews.fiu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4101"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/biznews.fiu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/biznews.fiu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biznews.fiu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/71"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biznews.fiu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4101"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/biznews.fiu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4101\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":29538,"href":"https:\/\/biznews.fiu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4101\/revisions\/29538"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/biznews.fiu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4101"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biznews.fiu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4101"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biznews.fiu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4101"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}