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Ford Launches First American Hybrid
Ford has finally rolled out their Escape hybrid SUV. Ford's website has more information. Ford will use Toyota's first-generation hybrid technology in the SUV (the 2004 Prius is Toyota's second generation technology). Best of all, the Escape is street-legal in residential areas. Update: 08/06 22:31 GMT by M : A reader points out that GM will be selling a hybrid pickup soon, but it isn't available for sale to the public yet, so Ford is still the first.
I'd just like to throw in my 2 cents on the article that is link to at the end of the slashdot story. I decided to browse it but then got pulled in and read the whole thing. Some of the comments made by the author were down right scary and heavy handed.
She's right--it wasn't the intent. But that's because these weight limits generally predate the 1990s SUV craze that lured suburbanites out of their lighter sedans and minivans. It's the vehicles that have changed, not the law. These ordinances remain on the books and they're not obscure. They're clearly marked on signs in many California cities. In fact, three of L.A.'s affluent neighborhoods have the signs almost everywhere you look.
The author is certainly correct that it is the SUVs that have changed, not the law. But what about slavery? Slavery used to be legal, and it was the people in America who changed and started believing slavery was wrong, not the law. So would the author be in favor of slavery back then because 'It's the people that have changed, not the law'. In my opinion laws in a democracy should change, to benefit the people living in the country. Just because a law is already a law does not make it sacred.
I suspect the biggest impediment to enforcing these bans is political will--SUVs are wildly popular, and it will take brave city and state officials to challenge the right of residents to use their own streets.
The author seems almost indignant that we have a democracy where popular things are allowed to exist. If America were a dictatorship, the author could show all those stupid SUV driving pricks a thing or two without fear of losing the next election! Stupid democracy! How elitist.
Six-thousand pounds does the same damage to roads (not to mention pedestrians) that it did before the SUV craze. I don't know about your state, but California's ongoing budget crisis doesn't exactly leave cash to burn for road repair.
Maybe California wouldn't be in a budget crisis if it didn't spend so much money on big government regulating everything? But sure, spend more money on regulating SUVs out of existence, which may end up costing more than letting them 'ruin' the roads and just fixing them.
For vehicles over 6K, classify them as trucks, pure and simple. Let their drivers use more gas, roll over more often if they want, and take tax breaks. And ban them from residential streets. Make them stick to the truck routes, including truck lanes on highways. (Heck, maybe even require a truck driver's license to pilot one.)
This comment is totally elitist, totalitarianistic, and harsh. How about rather than regulating everything you don't like out of existence, just leave me alone? If I want to drive a vehicle that has a higher risk of rolling over, then LET ME. Why do you care if I kill myself? I know what is best for me better than you know what is best for me.
I think the Golden State has stumbled on a way to end this hypocrisy, and the rest of the country should take notice.
I think this is a good comment to end my own comment on. Go ahead, golden state, end your hipocrisy all you want, but I doubt the rest of the nation is going to take notice. Most of us still live in common-sense-ville, thank goodness.
May my big chevy truck crush one of you hybrid compact driving morons... Just because you are too poor to buy a real vehicle does not mean you can bitch at me for doing so...