Internal combustion engine vehicles are a growing problem

• There are 587 private passenger vehicles per 1,000 persons in the United States (compared to 413 per 1,000 persons in Western Europe) resulting in greater consumption of resources and higher road congestion
  - Transport Energy Use and Greenhouse Gases in Urban Passenger Transport Systems, 2003



• More vehicles and higher use results in greater environmental degradation & CO2 emissions per person in America from private passenger vehicles are estimated to be 4,405 kg annually compared to 1,269 kg per person in Western Europe.
  - Transport Energy Use and Greenhouse Gases in Urban Passenger Transport Systems, 2003



• Internal combustion engines are inefficient in converting fuel to energy - more than 65% of the energy in each gallon of gas is wasted inside an internal combustion engine creating only heat, noise, friction and vibration!
  - U.S. EPA - http://www.fueleconomy.gov/feg/atv.shtml



• American-made vehicles have been getting bigger and more powerful but fuel economy, measured in miles per gallon, has been stagnant for the past 12 years.
  - Light-Duty Automotive Technology and Fuel Economy Trends: 1975 Through 2006 - ExecutiveSummary

Dependence on oil as a fuel is a growing problem

• World oil production is predicted to peak by 2010 ("the big rollover") and then to enter a phase of irreversible decline, leading to shortage and supply interruptions, rapidly rising prices and a greater concentration of oil power in the Middle East.
  - Transport Energy Use and Greenhouse Gases in Urban Passenger Transport Systems, 2003)



• The US burned about 20.6 million barrels a day in 2005, and imports were 65 percent
- Source: Bush's plan to wean US off imported oil: ambitious enough? Feb. 02, 2006


• Transportation accounted for 66% of all oil consumed in the U.S. in 2000
  - U.S. DOE, Report of the National Energy Policy Group, May 2001



• Other countries will increasingly compete with the U.S. for the oil available for export. Consumption by industrializing nations will double over the next 25 years, from 15 to 32 million barrels a day. To meet projected world demand of 118 million barrels a day in > 2025, global oil output would have to expand by more than 50 percent -- 40 million barrels per day -- between 2002 and 2025.
  - Natural Resources Defense Council

Damaging effect on the environment is a growing problem

• Carbon dioxide is the primary component of greenhouse gases (GHG) which are considered to be a major cause of global warming.
  - EPA Office of Transportation & Air Quality, Emission Facts, 2005



• The biggest source of carbon dioxide gas in the atmosphere comes from vehicle emissions. Refining one gallon of gasoline releases 24 pounds of carbon dioxide into the air. Another 19 pounds of carbon dioxide is emitted when a gallon of gasoline is burned
  in an automobile.
  - New York Times, A Refinery Clears the Air to Grow Roses, June 30, 2006



• Where around 65% of power-plants (like in Tennessee for instance) are coal-fired, one study concluded that EVs would reduce greenhouse gases such as CO2 by over 70%.
  - "Emissions, Quantifying the Air Quality Impact of EV Recharging," Green Car Journal, October 1993, p.116

Light on the pocketbook

• Every year, Americans spend more than $1,500 per household on gasoline and oil for personal transportation.
  - U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, web site:
  www.bls.gov/pub/special.requests/ce/share/2002/income.txt, April 2005.



• Electricity could cost the average driver about $240 if a vehicle like our ZENN was used for all trips
  for a whole year.
  - Based an average vehicle miles per year



• VerdeGoh!'s vehicles cost LESS than 2¢ a mile or less to drive (depending on your retail price of electricity) compared to 10¢ a mile or more with an internal combustion engine.
  - Based on average U.S. retail electric rate of 10.15 cents/kwh, In Tennessee that average is even less!
  Source: Energy Information Administration, Form EIA-826,
  Monthly Electric Sales and Revenue Report with State Distributions Report , 2006
• The number of household vehicles in the U.S. has nearly tripled from 1969 to 2001.
  - National Household Travel Survey, cited in Green Car Newsletter, March 2004
• Americans spend an average of $652 per vehicle each year on maintenance and 44% of American households have 3 or more cars.
  - Source: 2004 Bureau of Labor Statistics Consumer Expenditure Survey

The ZENN and other VerdeGoh! Electric Vehicles are practical, affordable and fun

• 47% of Americans have an average roundtrip daily commute of 20 miles or less, well within our vehicles travel ranges of 20-60 miles per charge.



• Average "road network speed" in selected American cities ranged from about 24 mph in New York, NY to 39 mph in Sacramento CA in 1991. Increased congestion is likely to have reduced average speed since then.
  - Source: Urban Transport Fact Book, Roadway Speed & Population Density: International Urban Areas, 1990/91



• A 2003 study showed that 76 percent of neighborhood electric vehicle users own two or more internal combustion engine vehicles but that the NEV replaces 65 percent of daily short-distance trips formerly taken with those vehicles."
  - The study was conducted by Green Car Institute, a non-profit, 501(c)(3) education and research organization based in San Luis Obispo, Calif. Researchers individually interviewed 260 California users of neighborhood electric vehicles (NEVs) during a two-week period in July of 2003.