Green Manolo

No, not that Georgia. You may be surprised to hear it, but I’m talking about Georgia the country. Georgia has announced plans to replace its entire fleet of state-owned cars with electric or hybrid vehicles within four years. It seems the country is leaning toward an electric fleet – it has a rich supply of cheap hydroelectric power from dams in the Caucasus Mountains, which could make it a unique test case for widespread electric car usage.

Georgia is in talks with several companies, including General Motors, about the purchase of about 4,000 vehicles. Trucks and larger cars, including those in the presidential motorcade, will be exempted, since the electric vehicles available today are inadequately powered or armored, Ms. Kobalia said. As part of the sale, manufacturers will be asked to build service and recharging stations, easing the way for ordinary Georgians to switch to electric cars.

Will it happen? Who knows… but if Georgia manages to replace its fleet of vehicles with eco-friendly electric or hybrid alternatives, it’ll be in good company. While Georgia is the first country in the world to make this commitment, the town of Banff boasts Canada’s first all-hybrid bio-diesel/electric bus fleet, Phoenix, AZ has the nation’s second all carbon neutral taxicab service, and cities all over the world have pledged to switch over to all hybrid fleets for their service cars and trucks within the next five years.

Is going electric or hybrid the best choice for every city or country? Not necessarily, but those are the best alternatives we have at the moment, and it seems a lot smarter than chugging out emissions until a better alternative comes along, no?

This entry was posted on Monday, November 8th, 2010 at 2:34 pm by Christa and is filed under Green Living, Green Politics, Pollution. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.