Is This A Good Solution To Our Oil/Auto Company Problems?

[Deliguy]

I just had a weird thought. The government is giving tax breaks to auto manufacturers for building hybrid and electric cars, and they'll produce them to get the breaks but they're not really in demand so it doesn't really help with their faggy bailout program.

What if the government gave huge tax breaks to taxi cab companies for buying hybrids and electric cars. Most taxi companies buy whatever cars they can get for cheap, fix them up and turn them into cabs then run them into the dirt. If they had an incentive to switch them to electric or hybrid I'm sure they'd be happy to make the switch. That would cause them to save a ton of money on gas and emission taxes in the long run and it would be a huge profit for the car manufacturers to get all those cars out of their factories.

This sounds like a pretty good solution in my mind to the US dependency on foreign oil. In the US A HUGE percentage of the cars on the road are taxis and they use way more gas than the typical american because they get driven all day every day. With all those running on electric the US oil productions can almost be self sustaining for just americans so we won't be so dependant on foreign oil. Also there'd be a lot less pollution in big cities and less traffic because the cars are smaller and electrics are better at all day stop and go driving than gas.

More earth friendly, less oil used, less dependant on foreign oil, saves the car manufacturers, good for city roads and pedestrians. What am I missing in this that makes it a bad idea? I haven't heard of anyone suggesting this so there must be something i'm missing.

 

[nickycakes]

the last several taxis i've been in have been electric or hybrid

 

[indianman]

There is already a $3,400 tax credit for the first 60,000 buyers of every new hybrid model. Increasing that amount for cab drivers is a good idea, it may work.
Submit your idea at change.gov.

 

[Rage9]

Well when you start getting hit with this fucked up "carbon tax", yeah things will change. It's all a bunch of bullshit (OMG carbon footprint another scam). We aren't nearly as dependent on middle eastern oil as they'd like you to believe. If that was the case how does it drop from $100+ per barrel to like $40. The simple answer is that the middle east doesn't control the price of oil as they'd have you think.

 

[AdHustler]

not a bad plan - even better would be to somehow incentivize truckers to go green. They have huge carbon footprints and drive the most miles.

 

[AMagz]

sounds like a good plan, i think some cab drivers/companies are doing this now

 

[bb_wolfe]

I just had a weird thought. The government is giving tax breaks to auto manufacturers for building hybrid and electric cars, and they'll produce them to get the breaks but they're not really in demand so it doesn't really help with their faggy bailout program.

What if the government gave huge tax breaks to taxi cab companies for buying hybrids and electric cars. Most taxi companies buy whatever cars they can get for cheap, fix them up and turn them into cabs then run them into the dirt. If they had an incentive to switch them to electric or hybrid I'm sure they'd be happy to make the switch. That would cause them to save a ton of money on gas and emission taxes in the long run and it would be a huge profit for the car manufacturers to get all those cars out of their factories.

This sounds like a pretty good solution in my mind to the US dependency on foreign oil. In the US A HUGE percentage of the cars on the road are taxis and they use way more gas than the typical american because they get driven all day every day. With all those running on electric the US oil productions can almost be self sustaining for just americans so we won't be so dependant on foreign oil. Also there'd be a lot less pollution in big cities and less traffic because the cars are smaller and electrics are better at all day stop and go driving than gas.

More earth friendly, less oil used, less dependant on foreign oil, saves the car manufacturers, good for city roads and pedestrians. What am I missing in this that makes it a bad idea? I haven't heard of anyone suggesting this so there must be something i'm missing.

Dear Eli,

I think it's really insensitive of you to say that one taxi demographic deserves incentives and not mention the others. Did you know that there are thousands of taxi drivers in the middle east who have the same industry problems as their brethren here in the states do? Maybe next time, you could be a little more sensitive to the "other" taxi populations and suggest a gravity bailout as well.

It's no secret that gravity loss is a major concern around the world, and no one feels the pain of gravity loss more than a middle eastern taxi driver.

Anyway, I met you, you're a super cool guy, but you really missed the boat on this one. You're rewarding those American taxicab drivers, in their ivory tower streets of NYC, with incentives to go green, when in fact, it's the poop-scooping gravity deprived men and women taxi drivers of the middle east who are teh real victims.

Sincerely,

BB

 

[Deliguy]

^^^ lmao +rep made my morning.

 

[hellblazer]

This sounds like a pretty good solution in my mind to the US dependency on
foreign oil.

Pickens had a decent idea in regards to this. You could convert the 38% of 'fleet' vehicles to natural gas, which is a lot cheaper and which the U.S has a lot of. It's also a lot cleaner burning.

You could then build a wind farm right down the center of the U.S. Geological studies show some crazy wind pressure there.

It's not perfect, but it would definitely cut down on foreign oil consumption, while simultaneously contribute to cleaner burning vehicles. People don't like Pickens because he has a personal stake in it, but the dude's a billionaire already - why would he care if he gets any richer?

 

[Trademark]

What if the government gave huge tax breaks to taxi cab companies for buying hybrids and electric cars.

In some high-traffic cities, plans are already underway. For example, New York City approved regulations last year to completely transform their taxi fleet to hybrids.

Source: Plan for Hybrid Taxi Fleet Moves Forward - City Room Blog - NYTimes.com
Source: NYC taxi fleets may have trouble shifting to hybrids - USATODAY.com

Eli, I'm inferring that you're suggesting the tax breaks should come from the federal government. Because I suspect there's more governmental bloat at the federal level, I'd rather see the state and city officials take the lead. The motivation to do so could ultimately come from the feds.

For example, here's a conversation I'd love to see...

Federal government honcho: "Hey State Guy. We want you to reduce your emissions by 75% by 2012."

State government honcho: "Yeah? What if we don't?"

Federal government honcho: "Well, we'll cut your education fund, for one thing."

State government honcho: "That's not fair!"

Federal government honcho: "Mm hmm."

[State government honcho calls City government honcho...]

State government honcho: "Hey City Guy. You need to reduce your emissions by 75% by 2012."

City government honcho: "Yeah right. Keep dreamin."

State government honcho: "Yeah, keep dreaming about that sweet funding program we set up for your schools, too. I'll bet your constituents would love you if that went away."

City government honcho: "75% by 2012? You got it. I'll make it happen."

 

[guerilla]

Why not just force everyone to drive a hybrid? In a perverse way, that is what toying with incentives via taxes is. By lifting the taxes on one behavior or group you are punishing another by creating a market imbalance.

Eli means well, but a better idea would be to stop subsidizing everyone, and let the market find the best good, at the best price for each INDIVIDUAL.

A new hybrid might be a good choice for someone with money, but someone who is poor, might only be able to afford a 10 year old gas burner.

Central planning just creates a new crisis with each intervention. It's the consequences we don't see that always smack us in the face later.

 

[bobsoap]

You could then build a wind farm right down the center of the U.S. Geological studies show some crazy wind pressure there.

While wind energy sounds like a good alternative in theory, unfortunately it's not the perfect solution.

- it's expensive: a single windmill needs an average of 10 years until it has amortized itself
- it reduces living quality in the vicinity: windmills are incredibly loud
- it's unrealiable: because the wind does not blow at a constant rate, you can't use a wind farm to replace conventional plants entirely. Sometimes it will run at 90%, other times at 15%. Sometimes it won't run at all. So there always has to be a backup which can jump in within minutes, if necessary. This is usually another (conventional) power plant which has to be running in the background at all times.

Windmills are more of a prestige project than anything else.

Slightly off-topic for this thread though, sorry about that