Pasadena Fights to Keep Electric Cars

[Rose Siding]

PASADENA City Hall must act quickly if it wants to endorse a campaign to save 11 of Pasadena's electric cars from meeting their maker, a representative of Plug In America said at Tuesday night's council meeting.
Paul Scott, co-founder of the group, said his group would agitate and "shame" Nissan into letting the city keep, buy or extend the leases of the zero-emission Hypermini vehicles the automaker has asked be returned....

Used by city employees, the Art Center College of Design and the Rose Bowl, the cars' leases expired in December. Nissan has said they want them back and is expected to destroy them.

Mayor Bill Bogaard asked Scott to submit Plug In America's plan in writing for evaluation by the city while Councilman Paul Little said staff at Pasadena Water and Power, which initially brought the leased vehicles, was "trying to work through the issue."

http://www.pasadenastarnews.com/news/ci_4149586

earlier coverage-

Vanishing vehicles
City must give back electric cars

PASADENA - Just before the turn of the century, California sought to reduce the brown, choking air by filling the streets with a green hum.

The city of Pasadena plugged into the electric dream of zero-emission autos, making substantial investments in electric and hybrid cars, trucks and buses, and the infrastructure to support them.

Electric charging stations sprouted throughout the city and employees from Pasadena Water and Power, parking enforcement, the Rose Bowl and public works were soon zipping around town in tiny battery-powered cars.

While much has been made of the automobile industry pulling the plug on green technologies, and as moviegoers wonder "Who Killed the Electric Car?" the city is expected this week to reluctantly surrender the majority of its electric fleet.

"We asked if we could buy them, but they said absolutely not," said John Hoffner, public benefits manager at Pasadena Water and Power, of the 11 Nissan Hypermini EVs the city leased. "They were not going to allow any zero-emission vehicles on the road. They weren't going to sell them at any price."

http://www.pasadenastarnews.com/news/ci_4119819

via kos diary
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2006/8/8/23192/18141

[soothsayer]

1. Damn----maybe all conspiracy theories are true!

[cobalt1999]

2. there is an American alternative.

Although they are not highway capable, they are street legal.

www.gemcars.com

[zalinda]

3. That's what we have here in Syracuse

They seem to work fine. But thanks for the link, I had forgotten who made them.

zalinda

[JPZenger]

4. Update - City Employees Block Crushing of Electric Cars

http://www.pasadenastarnews.com/news/ci_4154600

"PASADENA - Quick maneuvering by City Hall and two Pasadena Water and Power vehicles thwarted automaker Nissan from reclaiming its electric cars Tuesday from city yards. Under a high-noon sun, two flatbed trucks sent to remove the zero-emission Hyperminis were met with little cooperation from the city, which said the unannounced move created logistical difficulties.

"We have a process for everything, and there is a process for this," city spokesowman Ann Erdman said. It didn't make it any easier on the contracted haulers that two PWP vehicles, including an all-electric RAV4, had blocked the road.

Nissan declined to renew the leases after they expired in December and subsequently asked they be returned. John Hoffner, PWP's public benefits manager, said the city's mechanics are able to maintain the cars and have required little support from Nissan. Lawrence said the cars would be taken to an Anaheim facility where a large "paddle-wheel" device would grind them down to component pieces for recycling.

...Tuesday morning, PWP employee Irma Cid-Lujan was at the city yard when she discovered the two haulers inspecting the vehicles. She informed her surprised superiors at the municipal energy company and then, she said, did her best to stall them while the city evaluated its options."

[JPZenger]

5. Photo of Haulers and Electric Cars

The above photo from the Pasadena paper shows haulers trying to figure out how they can remove the electric cars for crushing when their path is blocked by other vehicles.

[Pierzin]

6. Just as shameful as GM and the EV1

Stop the insanity!

[Cobalt-60]

7. Screw them

Pasadena needs to reverse engineer the cars and do a back fit job on some used nissans.
They can convert them as needed, with Nissan left in the cold.
It's not like they don't have engineering talent in town.
Of course there was that scene in animal house when they tell Flounder's brother that they were taking good care of the car until they woke up and it was gone!.

[BridgeTheGap]

8. Go see "Who Killed the Electric Car?"

It lays it out there very nicely. This is monopoly capitalism at work folks. Electric cars are too much a threat to petroleum companies and auto makers/dealers, who rely upon vehicle maintenance for huge profits. Electric cars need so little - they're just not profitable enough. See the movie!