Two Billion Cars: Driving Toward Sustainability
Two Billion Cars: Driving Toward Sustainability – Review
I will admit that since this book is written by Californians and originally introduced by California’s recent governor, I didn’t read this as closely as perhaps I could have. I will admit that I quickly learned a few things, but as someone having done research on the industry myself, I deeply felt they eventually left a few key details out. That reportedly said, this is a good widely read for you IF: you don’t know or care that Arnold was an young promoter of the Hummer; you see hydrogen as still a potential for the future; you think oil companies are blameless in all things; you agree that completely electric cars are also the future. There are some fine details here about hybrids, and some about the CAFE standards, but what really bothered me is no reflection on the reduction of the MPG of the Geo Metro because of improvements in safety, or the standards that say cars have to be safer to be on the roads and yet SUVs are among the most dangerous to drive. The authors also appear to blame the consumers for eventually buying into the SUV craze, but I believe that the market for SUVs was persuaded on us after 2001. That, coincidentally, was the same year the auto makers eventually stopped making the Metro altogether. So read this book to add to your knowledge, but not to tell you everything you want to know because I think they come up shy. They also are mostly dealing with a topic that is quite dated already, but writing on contemporary issues that’s always a danger. So I too think they make well-thought out guesses about the path of the future, including the demise of ethanol. You might get some original ideas for your own life in attempting to become transport savvy. But if you previously know that cars are eventually becoming more and more MPG happy, then you might not need a book like this, although the history material is fairly well presented.