A picture is worth a thousand words
On Saturday, I participated, with my green Toyota Prius, in the Hybrid Rally and Parade at LA Auto Show. About 30 hybrid and electric vehicles circled the Convention Center en masse, honking in support of the demonstration held outside to “demand a doubling of average car fleet gas mileage and a doubling of the number of buses in LA.”
We used a church parking lot as a staging area. A wedding was in progress and in a perfect irony, this behemoth stretch Hummer pulled in to pick up the wedding entourage. Green activist Linda Piera-Avila pulled her Prius next to the behemoth, and I snapped the photo.
Prius. 46 mpg
stretch Hummer. 4.6 gpm
Code Pink went inside and staged an action at the Hummer booth. LA Indymedia has photos. 1., 2. Medea Benjamin was active in this, and it just occurred to me that even though she’s well-known, she is still always out there on the front lines.
Hybrid Driver has streaming video on the hybrid parade. Most of the cars were the Toyota Prius. There were also several Honda Civic hybrids, several Toyota RAV 4 electric vehicles, and even a Ford pickup electric vehicle (yes, they exist!).
Toyota and Honda now have several hybrid models on the road, with many more planned. They’ve completely left Detroit in the dust with this important new technology.
I’ve had my Prius since October 2001. I average 46 mgp in LA traffic. The car does not need to be plugged in to recharge, merely driving it recharges the electric motor battery. It has a good sized trunk, a comfortable back seat, and I can cruise up steep grades at 80 with lots of power left. Yes, it’s a real car! Mine was $21,000 out the door, not counting the $2000 federal government rebate.
How many more years do you think it’ll take Detroit to catch on?