redcarsi
1999tofocuso
fuelcella
dhybridelectricgasoli
ee
gi
eswhicharemoreattractivetotheco
sumer．Fordhas
owa
ou
ceditwilldothesame．
Threeyearsago．thecompa
yi
troducedtheThi
kCitytwoseatercara
dagolfcartcalledtheTHINKorThi
kNeighbor．Ithopedtosell5，000carseachyeara
d10，000carts．Butalackofdema
dmea
so
lyaboutl，000ofthecarshavebee
produced，a
dlesstha
1。700cartshavebee
soldsofari
2002．
“Thebottomli
eiswedo
’tbelievethatthisisthefutureofe
viro
me
ttra
sportforthemassmarket．”TimHolmesofFordEuropesaido
Friday．“Wefeelwehavegive
electricourbestshot”
TheThi
kCityhasara
geofo
lyabout53milesa
duptoasixhourbatteryrechargetime．Ge
eralMotors’EVIelectricvehiclealsohadalimitedra
ge。aboutof100miles．
Theveryexpe
sivebatteriesalsomea
electriccarscostmuchmoretha
petrolpoweredalter
atives．A
electricToyotRAV4EVvehiclecostsover42，000i
theUScomparedwithjust17，forthepetrolversio
．000Toyotaa
dNissa
…are
owtheo
lymajorautoma
ufacturerstoproduceelectricvehicles．
8
f“Thereisafeeli
gthatbatteryelectrichasbee
give
itscha
ce．Ford
owhastomoveo
withitshybridprogram“，a
dthatiswhatwewillbejudgi
gthemo
，”RogerHigma
，ase
iortra
sportcampaig
eratUKFrie
dsoftheEarth，toldtheE
viro
me
tNewsService．
Hybridcarsi
troducedbyToyotaa
dHo
dai
thepastfewyearshavesoldwell．Hybride
gi
esOfferGreatermileagetha
petrolo
lye
gi
esa
dthebatteriesrechargethemselvesFordsaysitthi
kssuchvehicleswillhelpitmeetpla
ed
ewguideli
es“o
vehicleemissio
s”i
theUS
Howeveritis
otyetclearexactlywhatthoseguideli
eswillpermit．Ju
e，I
Ge
eralMotorsa
dDaimlerChryslerwo
acourti
ju
ctio
，delayi
gbytwoyearsCalifor
ia
legislatio
requiri
gcarmakerstooffer100，000zeroemissio
a
dotherlowemissio
vehiclesi
thestateby2003．Carma
ufacturershopethelegislatio
willberewritte
toallowformorelowemissio
，rathertha
zeroemissio
，vehicles．
36．WhathavetheFordmotorcompa
yGe
eralMotor’sa
dHo
dado
eco
cer
i
gelectriccars
ATheyhavestartedtoproduceelectriccars．BTheyhavedo
eexte
siveresearcho
electricCarsCTheyhavegive
upproduci
gelectriccars．DTheyhaveproducedthousa
dsofelectricCars
37．Accordi
gtoTimHolmesofFordEurope，batterypoweredcarsAwillbethemai
tra
sportatio
vehiclesi
thefutureBwill
otbethemai
tra
sportatio
vehiclesi
thefuture．Cwillbegoodtothee
viro
me
ti
thefuture
9
fDwillreplacepetrolpoweredvehiclesi
thefuture．
38Whichautoma
ufacturersarestillproduci
gelectricvehiclesAToyotaa
dNissa
BGe
eralMotor’sa
dHo
daCForda
dToyotaDHo
daa
dToyotar