Comment Log Display

1442A Walnut St #368
Berkeley, CA 94709
5-22-09

Dear folks at CARB:

I have followed your work for many years, and am overall very
proud of the work that you are doing.  I have a 2004 Prius with
over 100,000 miles on it, and last year put a solar array on my
house specifically because I plan to convert my Prius to a plug-in
car and run it primarily on solar power. I use very little electric
power personally, and oversized the array just for this purpose.  
I believe that we (the general public) and the owners of cars taht
can be run on electric power via a plug-in device are much better
served by increasing the Tier One limit from 10 to 100, even 1000. 
The ability to run our economy, even if only a small percentage of
the transportation sector, using solar panels and clean
non-polluting non-CO2 producing energy, will be a necessary and
critical part of our new low carbon economy. As the viability of
plug-in hybrids increases in the market, and in particular
vis-a-vis the traditional American SUV, truck and auto, we the
people of the world will all benefit.  We in the US need this time
and opportunity to create a manufacturing/retrofit industry and
pathway, open to a large cross-section of society. Please raise the
cap for the Tier One segment to at least 100, and better, 1000.  We
have precious little time to get off of oil and fossil fuels, and
into the new low-carbon economy.

As  potential consumer interested in converting my Prius, I would
like to add--do not burden us with additional costs for this
testing.  Please please use some of the stimulus funding for the
state to support the testing effort and promote the plug-in hybrid
--the sooner that the issues are resolved, the faster state and
local governments can purchase low-carbon plug-in fleets, and
replace older dirty cars and trucks, and the sooner that shops that
are engaged in retrofits will be able to standardize their
processes and bring down costs.  Better than just covering the cost
of the testing, include incentives to cover the cost of
retrofitting an existing hybrid to a plug-in car.  Additional funds
released for (1) solar parking lots equipped with fast-charging
stations (2) Battery swap-out systems in places that they will be
convenient and cost-effective for customers and (3) a "smart card"
system similar to the zip car or other "credit-type" cards in which
the power used from the plug-ins to support the grid can be saved
onto a card, from which one can draw to either decrease the
homeowner's electricity bill, or to purchase and support organic
and green services and products (paints, energy audits, solar
systems, small wind and hydro systems, microfinance systems,
groceries, clothing, toys and so forth, even makeup (!)) and to
support non-profits doing good in other parts of the world, will
make owning and charging a plug-in car bring value to the most
sectors of the economy in the most seamless way. In this way, the
plug-in electric car can be part of a system to create jobs and
kick-start our economy - all without using or importing oil and
gas, or using food crops to create transportation fuel.

Thank you for your time and attention to this matter,

Jean Woo MD MPH