As a result, it is very difficult to get the American public interested in alternate fuel automobiles, specifically, cleaner, quieter and more energy efficient electric, hybrid electric, or fuel cell vehicles. Last year Ford Motor Company sold about 800,000 sport utility vehicles and canceled some of the more energy efficient lines. The primary American automotive concern, at the present, seems to be congestion, or gridlock. Fast-growing big cities like Seattle and Atlanta with little alternate transportation experience stop and go freeways.
Commuters are late to work and valuable company time is wasted.
And if an accident occurs on the freeway, traffic backs up for miles, adding hours instead of minutes of delay time. There must be a better way. The Germans seem to have one. I visited Berlin this summer where they just completed their third station, for new 150 mph ICE trains, where you can catch commuter rail or the underground to almost any spot in the city. Very few US commuters are aware of the physical, mental, and economic dangers due to auto congestion and tailpipe emissions.