70 practice makes perfect Advanced English Reading and Comprehension
percent higher than 1990 levels. In addition to air pollution and greenhouse gases, automobiles
have resulted in traic gridlock, urban sprawl, and the paving of land for highways, roads, and
parking lots. If there are one billion cars on the roads by 2030, as predicted, cars will have to
change.
4 he quest for cleaner, greener cars in the U.S. has been slow going, and industry eforts have
luctuated with the price and supply of oil. Led by the Big hree—General Motors (GM), Ford,
and Chrysler—the American car industry resisted pollution control, shoulder belts and head-
rests, unleaded gasoline, catalytic converters, and air bags until legislation made them manda-
tory. However, a mightier impetus for change came with the 1973–74 OPEC oil embargo, when
within a few months the price of gasoline skyrocketed from 25 cents a gallon to a dollar and
Americans started buying smaller, fuel-eicient Japanese and European cars. he Big hree
reacted by turning out lighter economy cars—at least until oil supplies started lowing again and
prices stabilized.
5 In 1989, the U.S. Congress banned leaded gasoline, but the state of California, where cities
like Los Angeles were choking on automobile exhaust and smog, took an aggressive lead in the
battle against air pollution. In 1990, the California Air Resources Board (CARB) stipulated that
two percent of all cars sold in California must be zero-emission in 1998, and ten percent in 2003.
Only electric cars would meet these requirements.^1
6 While the automobile industry waged an all-out war against CARB’s mandate, GM
announced in 1990 that it would build an electric car. In December 1996, the lightweight, aero-
dynamic, snappy EV1 was introduced for lease only in test markets in California and Arizona.
Powered by nickel–metal hydride batteries, EV1s had a driving range of 100 to 120 miles. To
recharge the batteries at home, the lessee could use a safe and easy paddle charging system.
Between 1996 and 1999, GM built 1,117 electric cars in three generations. Drivers, many of whom
were celebrities, were enthusiastic about their EV1s and the car’s fast acceleration and smooth
ride. In fact, many would not have been deterred by the EV1’s retail price of $34,995 or the $20,000
to $30,000 replacement cost for the battery pack, but GM decided in 2003 to withdraw the car and
crush all but a few, which the company kept or donated to museums. Although GM justiied end-
ing the program due to high production costs and lack of economic viability, there is some specu-
lation that GM caved in to pressure from the automobile and oil industries and that the electric
car was doomed from the get-go.
7 While GM was developing the EV1, competing carmakers were coming out with their own
versions. heir limited driving range, a long recharging time, and the shortage of charging sta-
tions made electric vehicles better suited to city driving. he Ford Electric Ranger and the Chev-
rolet S-10 electric trucks were produced in limited numbers and leased to urban delivery leets,
but a few years later, both models were terminated and destroyed. Consumer-oriented vehicles,
like Toyota’s RAV4 EV, Honda’s EV Plus, and the Nissan Altra, also ended up as scrap. In Europe,
towns and cities were turning their busy centers into internal combustion engine–free zones,
where electric vehicles turned out to be more successful as taxis, small delivery vehicles, buses,
rental cars, and city cars.
8 In North America, electric cars just could not make it on the market despite the clear bene-
its of zero emissions, cheaper operating costs, 90 percent eiciency, and an overall reduced
dependency on oil. Naysayers might argue that since the electric car relies on fossil fuel–burning
power plants for electricity, they are not so environmentally friendly ater all. On the other hand,
the Union of Concerned Scientists maintains that it would take 1,440 EVs to produce the CO 2
emitted by one conventional automobile. Nevertheless, as long as gas remained cheap and plenti-(^1) From the late 1880s to the turn of the century, electric vehicles had enjoyed popularity in American cities, but
ater 1910, the internal combustion automobile emerged as the nation’s vehicle of choice, and electric car manu-
facturers disappeared.