AJC driven to create buzz around electric cars
Clean energy activists seek to wean America off Middle East oil
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“We are moving in the direction of electric cars,” says Douglas Stansfield, founder of the Electric Auto Association of New Jersey. Photos by Robert Wiener
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Green spaces
JOHN ROSEN, the American Jewish Committee’s New Jersey director, is asking businesses and houses of worship to reserve one or more spaces in their parking lots for fuel-efficient vehicles.
The Green Spaces initiative aims to promote hybrid, flexfuel, electric, or any other cars that log 30 or more miles per gallon of gasoline.
“We will provide you with a durable metal sign for your parking lot that reserves a preferred parking space for a fuel-efficient vehicle,” Rosen wrote in an e-mail to those attending the March 20 screening of Revenge of the Electric Car.
Those seeking a free sign or more information about the program may contact newjersey@ajc.org.
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March 28, 2012
A Chevy, a BMW, a Toyota, and a new sports car called the Tesla stood side by side in front of Temple B’nai Abraham in Livingston on March 20 as signs that Americans can relieve their dependency on Arab oil.
All of the cars are powered — at least partially — by rechargeable batteries that can be plugged into household electric current, much like cellphones.
“We are moving in that direction,” said Douglas Stansfield of Wantagh, NY, who founded the Electric Auto Association of New Jersey in 2008 and traveled 54 miles to the synagogue in a Toyota plug-in hybrid.
“I drove the first 15 miles on electric power, then automatically switched over to gasoline. The beauty of this is I am getting 87 miles per gallon,” he told NJ Jewish News as he stood in the parking lot.
The show and tell by Stansfield and other electric car enthusiasts was part of an evening devoted to the subject cosponsored by the American Jewish Committee, the synagogue, and a host of other organizations.
At the meeting that followed, AJC members and guests viewed Revenge of the Electric Car, a documentary about the technology.
AJC has been promoting electric cars as a Jewish communal issue in recent years.
“From a political perspective, we believe that America needs to wean itself from Middle Eastern oil,” AJC’s Metro NJ region president, Louis “Buzz” Warren, told the audience. “Too often the dollars we spend at the pump bankroll nations that seek to harm us.”
And, he added, “it is a deeply rooted Jewish idea that we are all partners in creation, and we are therefore responsible for sustaining the natural gifts that surround us.”
The event included a number of electric car and alternative energy advocates, including Chuck Feinberg of Rockaway, president of New Jersey Clean Cities.
“We support anything that reduces petroleum,” said Feinberg, whose organization promotes alternative energy in the transportation sector.
Feinberg called owning an electric car “the right thing to do. It is not a Jewish thing, in my opinion; it is an American thing, because there are American solutions to these problems and we should be taking advantage of them.”
Earlier, Feinberg and Stansfield conceded there are still practical problems to be solved before some drivers switch to electric cars, including the limited availability of charging stations.
Stansfield said that all-electric cars may not be practical for long-distance driving. But, he noted, “most people commute 40 miles or less.”
“All we ask for is a level playing field,” Feinberg told NJJN. “The oil industry has been subsidized by the government for 100 years. Now we want to take the subsidies away from them and put them into new technology.”
Joining the AJC in sponsoring the meeting were Summit Jewish Community Center, Christ Church, The Unitarian Church, Temple Sinai, and Congregation Beth Hatikvah — all in Summit — Congregation B’nai Jeshurun in Short Hills, Morrow Memorial United Methodist Church in Maplewood, Saint George’s Episcopal Church in Montclair, Temple Beth Shalom in Livingston, Faith Lutheran Church in New Providence, New Jersey Clean Cities Coalition, GreenFaith, and Environment New Jersey.
Comments
Paul Scott
March 30, 2012
So glad to see your support for this important technology. It’s true that you can completely eliminate your use of oil for transportation.
In late 2002, I installed a 3 kW solar PV system. I also bought a Toyota RAV4 EV, a fully electric version of their popular gas SUV. For over 9 years, I’ve powered my house and car with sunlight. My electric bill averages a mere $100 per year for both the house and car. I’ve driven over 103,000 miles on sunlight in a vehicle that always works perfectly every time and requires virtually no maintenance.
All of this is true. There were several hundred of us who got the cars depicted in the precursor to “Revenge of the Electric Car”, Chris Paine’s cult classic, “Who Killed the Electric Car?”. We saved about 1,000 of the original 5,000 EVs of that period and they are all still running pretty much the same as when they were made.
Today, there are over 5 plug-in cars for sale, the Chevy Volt and Nissan LEAF having the most volume.
These are amazing cars. Both are quick and powerful, quiet and smooth. And best of all, they use 100% domestic energy generated from sunlight.
Stop giving the oil companies your money. 90% of what you pay leaves your community. Over half leaves our country. This is a massive drain on our economy. Drive on kWh instead of gallons and about 20% of what you used to give the oil companies will go to the utility, the other 80 cents stays in your pocket. Consider the ramifications when tens of millions are doing just that.
We gotta start somewhere, and last year was the start. We replaced about 20,000 internal combustion cars with plug-in cars. This year we’ll get close to 50,000 more. The numbers will grow rapidly from there.
Get yours early. Show you care.