Plug In America Campaign - Ask Gov. Brown to Veto AB 475

[richard]

Below is the text of the email sent out by Plug In America to all CA supporters

An explanation of the bill and the reason for the action

Please use one of the links below and let the Governor know this is a bad bill.

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We need to stop California Assembly Bill 475 before it becomes law. Originally this bill was meant to help consumers by allowing all plug-in hybrids to have equal access to charging infrastructure, something our organization supports. It was amended in late June, creating negative ramifications to all plug-in drivers. For months, Plug In America and other stakeholders negotiated in good faith with the bill's sponsors, General Motors and Assembly Member Betsy Butler, to prevent charger sharing from being outlawed and to make sure existing Chevy Volts were included. Despite those efforts, this bill was rammed through the Legislature at GM's request, without the changes the company had promised to support.

It's now on the Governor's desk, and we need your help to stop this poorly-constructed bill from becoming law. Click here to ask Governor Brown to veto the bill. Plug In America will collaborate with stakeholders to put a revised bill in play as soon as possible, that will protect these chargers for all plug-in vehicles, while saving the drivers and site owners from unintended consequences, and the state from wasteful use of already limited funding. It will provide for EV and plug-in hybrid parking. Please help us ask the Governor to stop this law from punishing everyone!

Thank you,

Jay Friedland
Legislative Director
Plug In America

 

[mwalsh]

Hey Richard! Yes, we've been on that for the last week or so, ever since Chelsea turned me on to it:

http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=5288" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

 

[walterbays]

Despite those efforts, this bill was rammed through the Legislature at GM's request, without the changes the company had promised to support.

Okay, I try to keep my tinfoil in the kitchen well away from my hats and don't usually subscribe to conspiracy theories. I've never thought GM's decision to crush the EV1 was anything other than a business decision, whether a good or a bad one. But...

Through secret backroom maneuverings they get AB 475 passed to cripple the public L2 infrastructure. They're rumored to be behind SAE's new L3 standard, gratuitously incompatible with the rest of the world standard, and with no cars on the road nor on the drawing board which might use the new L3 plug. http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=5264 So the public L3 infrastructure is frozen before it even gets started.

But why would GM go out of their way to harm their own Volt customers, who also want public charging? Well, if there is little or no public charging infrastructure then to many customers it would make more sense to carry around their own portable charger, i.e. a Volt, and be worthwhile to pay more money for it. If there is a robust charging infrastructure then more drivers will wonder why they lug a gasoline engine around when there is always somewhere to charge at their destination. If that's their reasoning I think it's even more misguided than the decision to crush the EV1. There will always be a big market for the Volt, in many households and regions where a pure EV just would not make sense. A slightly smaller share of a much bigger electric car market would be much more profit for GM.

Coincidence after coincidence? Or conspiracy? Will we be asking 10 years from now, "Who Killed the Electric Car Recharger?"

 

[EVDRIVER]

I'm going to lock this one to prevent splitting-