{"id":587,"date":"2005-01-15T02:12:00","date_gmt":"2005-01-15T02:12:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sustainablog.greenoptions.com\/2005\/01\/15\/sitting-in-for-ford-evs\/"},"modified":"2005-01-15T02:12:00","modified_gmt":"2005-01-15T02:12:00","slug":"sitting-in-for-ford-evs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/articles\/sitting-in-for-ford-evs\/","title":{"rendered":"Sitting In for Ford EVs"},"content":{"rendered":"
From JumpStartFord.com<\/a>:<\/p>\n Media advisory: Contact<\/u><\/b>: <\/b> <\/p>\n Sacramento \u2013 Today in Sacramento, Ford electric vehicle (EV) drivers, climate protection advocates, healthcare professionals, solar energy experts and human rights and peace activists will begin an \u2018EV vigil\u2019 to protest Ford Motor Company\u2019s confiscation and destruction of its all-electric, zero-emission Ranger pickup trucks. Inspired by civil rights sit-ins and powered by a 5,000-watt mobile solar array, citizens for clean cars are prepared to buckle-in for an extended \u2018car sit\u2019 over Martin Luther King, Jr. weekend at Downtown Ford in Sacramento. EV drivers Dave and Heather Bernikoff-Raboy, Bill Korthoff and supporters will resist the repossession of their Ford Ranger EVs and demand that Ford keep its original promise to sell the petroleum-free, pollution-free pickups to loyal California lessees.<\/p>\n At an on-site press conference at 10:00 a.m. on Saturday morning, speakers will call on America\u2019s worst ranked automaker to revive its EV program and immediately implement existing technology to improve the bottom-of-the-barrel fuel efficiency of the rest of its gas guzzling fleet.<\/p>\n WHO WHAT WHEN WHERE Yet another broken promise Ford fights progress America\u2019s oil addict Supporting statements \u201cI am outraged by the termination of Ford\u2019s electric vehicle program,\u201d said California healthcare professional Heather Bernikoff-Raboy. \u201cEVs do not have a tailpipe and do not emit smog forming pollutants or greenhouse gasses. It is criminally irresponsible to ignore skyrocketing asthma rates among children and adults. The central valley of California has the highest asthma rates in the state, 12 percent for children and 11 percent for adults. Fresno has a childhood prevalence rate almost double that of the statewide average. Pollution-free electric vehicles are a huge step in the right direction. The technology is practical and available now. Apparently Ford values its profits over the health of America\u2019s children. Ford never marketed these vehicles like it did its other gas-guzzlers. Over my three and half years of driving an all-electric pickup truck, at least one hundred people asked me, “Where can I get one?”. And that\u2019s just from one person driving one EV truck. Imagine where Ford\u2019s EV program would be today if the company mass marketed EVs like they do SUVs.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIf Ford were serious about breaking America\u2019s oil addiction, it wouldn\u2019t be trashing its fleet of zero-emission, zero-oil electric pickup trucks,\u201d says Jason Mark, a clean car campaigner at the human rights group Global Exchange. \u201cFord needs to make a u-turn and restart its electric vehicle program.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cFord\u2019s repossession of California\u2019s Ranger EVs is highway robbery,\u201d states Jennifer Krill, director of the Zero Emissions Campaign at Rainforest Action Network. \u201cCalifornia taxpayers coughed up substantial subsidies and tax breaks to help the EPA\u2019s worst ranked automaker comply with the state\u2019s 2001 ZEV-mandate. Ford took taxpayer money, gutted the popular law, killed its EV program and crushed the only clean cars in its oil-addicted fleet. Ford\u2019s oil binge is a danger to public health, human rights, national security and ecological sustainability. Hydrogen remains a tailpipe dream, and a handful of petroleum-powered hybrids is too little too late at this stage in the global climate crisis. \u201cFord executives may be vegans and yogis as they claim, but the company\u2019s repossession and destruction of all-electric, zero-emission cars and trucks is proof positive that Ford has fallen off the wagon,\u201d said Sarah Connolly, an organizer with the Jumpstart Ford Campaign. \u201cSolar powered EVs are an immediate solution to the persistent problem of Ford\u2019s low fuel efficiency and high greenhouse gas emissions. Ford blames lack of consumer demand for killing its EV program because it is in denial that there were long waiting lists for EVs of every make and model. It\u2019s time for Ford to pull away from the pump and plug in to petroleum-free energy.\u201d<\/p>\n For more information about the movement to break America\u2019s oil addiction and turn Ford in the right direction, please visit JumpstartFord.com<\/a>. From JumpStartFord.com: Media advisory: Saturday, January 15, 2005 Contact: Paul West, (415) 377-8304, media@ran.org Toben Dilworth, (415) 596-6051, on-site in Sacramento Ford Ranger EV Drivers Resist Repossession \u2018Car sit\u2019 vigil [ … ]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":56,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\n
\n
<\/u><\/b>Saturday, January 15, 2005<\/p>\n
\n
Paul West, (415) 377-8304, media@ran.org
\n
Toben Dilworth, (415) 596-6051, on-site in Sacramento
\n
\n
<\/b>Ford Ranger EV Drivers Resist Repossession
\n
\u2018Car sit\u2019 vigil to save California\u2019s pollution-free, all-electric Ford Ranger trucks underway at Downtown Ford in Sacramento.<\/p>\n\n
\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
\n
<\/b>Dave Bernikoff-Raboy, California rancher\/Ford Ranger EV driver
\n
Heather Bernifkoff-Raboy, healthcare professional\/Ford Ranger EV driver
\n
Bill Korthoff, solar energy expert\/Ford Ranger EV driver
\n
Peter Keat, director, Sacramento Municipal Utility District
\n
Todd Kerschaw, Peace Action Sacrament-Yolo
\n
Jason Mark, clean car campaigner, Global Exchange
\n
Jennifer Krill, zero emissions director, Rainforest Action Network<\/p>\n
\n
<\/b>EV \u2018car sit\u2019 vigil underway now
\n
On-site press conference from the bed of two Ford Ranger EVs<\/p>\n
\n
<\/b>Saturday, January 15, 2004
\n
10:00 a.m.: press conference<\/p>\n
\n
<\/b>Downtown Ford, 525 North 16th Street & Bafler Street, Sacramento
\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
\n
<\/b>
\n
California rancher David Raboy acquired his Ranger EV in 2001 through Ford Motor Company\u2019s GreenLease program. In a January 23, 2004 letter to Mr. Raboy regarding \u201clease end responsibilities and alternatives,\u201d Ford offered him the option \u201cto make arrangements to purchase the leased vehicle\u201d stating \u201cFord Credit can finance the purchase.\u201d Mr. Raboy sent a certified letter accepting the offer of sale while Ford continued to deposit recurring payments beyond the lease expiration date. Then, in a November 18, 2004 letter to Mr. Raboy, Ford broke its promise and reneged on its offer stating \u201cUnfortunately, there is no possibility to extend your lease or for you to purchase your vehicle\u201d and recommended that Mr. Raboy \u201cconsider the Ford Escape Hybrid as an alternative.\u201d Mr. Raboy reported the matter to California attorney general Bill Lockyer\u2019s office in phone calls on December 20, 23 and 30, 2004, and with a certified letter on January 6, 2005. Mr. Raboy\u2019s Ranger EV was fully powered by a solar system on his Northern California ranch. (Copies of correspondence and proof of payments are available upon request.)<\/p>\n
\n
<\/b>
\n
The Ranger EV repossession is the latest in Ford\u2019s ongoing assault on federal and state efforts to improve emissions standards and implement fuel efficiency market incentives like California\u2019s progressive new law allowing carpool lane access to hybrids that achieve at least 45 miles per gallon, a standard that not one Ford model meets. In late 2003, Ford supported the filing of a federal lawsuit to overturn California\u2019s popular new vehicle emissions standards, the nation\u2019s first-ever rules to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions linked to global warming and the most advanced automotive GHG reduction targets in the world.<\/p>\n
\n
<\/b>
\n
\u201cAutomaker Rankings 2004,\u201d a recent report from the Union of Concerned Scientists, ranks Ford as having \u201cthe absolute worst heat-trapping gas emissions performance of all the Big Six automakers.\u201d According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the overall average fuel efficiency of Ford’s fleet today is 18.8 mpg, dead last among the major automakers for the fifth consecutive year. Since the oil crisis of the 1970s, Ford has ranked worst in overall fuel efficiency of all major automakers for 20 out of the last 30 years. From subcompacts to SUVs, Ford’s current car and truck fleet gets fewer miles per gallon on average today than its Model-T did 80 years ago. Ford’s widely touted ‘eco-friendly’ Rouge River plant features a water-preserving green roof, yet manufactures 280,000 gas-guzzling F-150s a year, each truck generating up to 100 tons of atmospheric carbon over its lifetime. Marketed as \u201cthe first American hybrid,\u201d Ford’s so-called ‘no compromise’ Escape represents less than one half of one percent of its fleet and will have virtually no impact on its last place fuel efficiency ranking. On September 2, 2004, Niel Golightly, director of environmental strategies for Ford Motor Company, told USA Today<\/i>, \u201cClearly, the entire industry could build nothing but zero emissions cars today if it wanted to.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n
<\/b>
\n
\u201cMy all-electric Ford Ranger hauls more weight that my three-quarter ton Chevy with a 350 internal combustion engine,\u201d says California rancher and Ranger EV driver Dave Raboy. \u201cSince I have solar panels, my cost to run the truck is almost nothing. In three and a half years it has required no maintenance, no oil and no gas. I feel good driving by gas stations and not consuming oil extracted from conflict regions like the Middle East or fragile ecosystems like the Arctic National Wildlife Reserve. People stop me on the street all the time and ask how to get their own electric pick up truck. When I tell them that Ford is refusing to sell me mine and crushing the rest its EVs, they are infuriated.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n
America needs EVs not SUVs.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n
<\/b><\/i>
\n
# # #
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"