FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Media Contact: Zan Dubin Scott
O: (310) 392-1130; C: (310) 383-0956
PLUG IN AMERICA URGES TOYOTA TO QUIT U.S. CHAMBER OF COMMERCE
Advocacy Group Calls on Supporters to Join Protest
Plug In America is calling on its supporters to join the growing chorus urging Toyota to quit the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and to stop obstructing efforts to combat climate change.
"Plug In America is asking Toyota to stop opposing clean energy by aligning with the retrograde Chamber and to commit immediately to putting a plug-in vehicle into showrooms," said Plug In America President Dan Davids.
Toyota has not announced delivery of a plug-in vehicle, only that it will launch a three-year test program for a plug-in hybrid car later this year. Other major automakers including GM and Nissan have announced delivery of plug-in vehicles starting in late 2010 (details in Plug In America’s Plug-In Vehicle Tracker). Tesla Motors has sold consumers some 900 all-electric sports cars now on the road.
The pace of Toyota’s plug-in development puts the company at risk of "being seen as a technology and environmental laggard," Roland Hwang, transportation program director at the Natural Resources Defense Council, told the New York Times last week.
Plug In America supporters are joining in the second phase of MoveOn.org’s campaign urging the auto company to drop its affiliation with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. This phase involves writing letters to newspaper editors nationwide. Some of the electric-car organization’s board members and supporters took part in the campaign’s initial action by posting on MoveOn’s photo gallery photographs of their own Toyotas.
Many of these cars are all-electric RAV4 EVs that Toyota manufactured from 1997 to 2003, some of which have been driven more than 100,000 miles with virtually no repairs or maintenance.
"Toyota has already proven that it can make an excellent electric car," Davids said. "It should be leading the charge to a truly sustainable electric transportation future with plug-in cars. Instead, it’s dragging its feet."
About Plug In America: Plug In America is leading the nation’s plug-in vehicle movement. The nonprofit organization works to accelerate the shift to plug-in vehicles powered by clean, affordable, domestic electricity to reduce our nation"s dependence on petroleum and improve the global environment. For more information: http://www.pluginamerica.org.
Email zan@pluginamerica.org for a high resolution of this photo of Marc Geller, Plug In America board member. Geller is one of some 770 Toyota owners to have added to MoveOn.org’s campaign photo gallery.
