"The Car that Could"Forward Drive: The Race to Build "Clean" Cars for the Future
Jim Motavalli, 2000/2001, Sierra Club Books
Ah, the glory days of optimism around alternative-fuel vehicles! At the turn of this century, it seemed like the auto companies were serious about producing electric vehicles, the clean-air regulators were going to stand their ground, and a cleaner, oil-free future was opening up before us. Motavalli does a good job at detailing the nefarious ways that the auto industry tried to push back and stick with business as usual, but ultimately he's too accepting of their promises and pronouncements. "A number of things could happen that would derail the clean car," he concludes. Among them, "The California Air Resources Board, the single biggest legislative driver, could cave in on its mandate requiring that 10 percent of an automaker's fleet be zero-emission vehicles by 2003.." He adds, "I don't think any of these things will happen." Well, they did. But don't hold that against Motavalli. Many of us were thinking like that in 2001. It's still a good read.
