Hybrid
technology has gone mainstream in the automotive market in a big way
since the tech first came on the market in the late twentieth
century. The biggest improvements in hybrid vehicle performance and
range have come as batteries have become lighter, more powerful, and
more efficient.
In major cities across the country, mayors and
local governments see hybrid taxies as a way to cut
pollution and fuel use. Mayors from the cities of New York, Los
Angeles, San Francisco, Boston, Las Vegas and Washington D.C. are
asking Congress to give them the power
to force taxi companies operating in their cities to switch
to hybrid taxies.
New
York Senate and House lawmakers introduced a bill known as the Green
Taxi Act last year, but the bill is not getting the support the
mayors of the major cities hoped.
The
Detroit News quotes
Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (Democrat, NY) saying, "Congress must
take action so that communities across the country can move toward
hybrid taxi fleets. American car manufacturers would have no better
showcase for new, efficient vehicle technologies than the streets of
New York City and other major cities."
The reason the
bill is not gaining support in Washington is that Congress has
already granted the power to regulate fuel efficiency to the National
Highway Traffic Safety Administration. The same power cannot be
granted to individual cities. Supporters of the bill in major cities
claim that requiring taxi fleets to be all hybrids would save 50
million gallons of fuel each year. Similar laws that have been passed
were later struck down leaving little hope that the Green Taxi Act
will ever become law.
Even
if the Green Taxi Act appears to have stalled, hybrid technology is
also making its way into markets where it was unheard of only a few
years ago. BAE is looking to offer the military a hybrid
armored personnel carrier and Porsche has also given the
green light to a hybrid
918 Spyder supercar.
