Environment isn't getting much of a break in a city where the good times still roll

The oil industry dominates New Orleans, where a few concessions to the environment include small solar panels atop parking meters, above, and a growing network of electric streetcars, including this one on Canal Street, below.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

NEW ORLEANS -- On a six-day visit to the Big Easy, I thought my eyes were playing tricks on me.

Downtown streets were filled with an unusually large number of big SUVs and pickup trucks, and only a small number of gas-electric hybrids.

I rode plenty of electric streetcars, but saw not a single all-electric car from Tesla, Nissan, BMW or other manufacturer.

And solar panels seemed more common on parking meters than on buildings and homes.

In the city's Garden District, I saw a rare Toyota Prius gas-electric hybrid in a neighborhood filled with SUVs.

Oil, music and fish

A visitor soon learns how important the petroleum industry is to New Orleans and Louisiana, despite the Deepwater Horizon spill six years ago that nearly destroyed the fishing industry in the Gulf of Mexico.

Oil companies are the major sponsors of two major music and food festivals in April -- the French Quarter Festival and New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, which began Friday.

Louisiana is the primary source of the nation's crude oil, and the second-largest refiner of petroleum for gasoline and plastic, according to the New Orleans Tourism and Marketing Corp.

Meanwhile, the Louisiana fishing industry has bounced back, "accounting for 26 percent of all seafood landed in the country, and 40 percent of all seafood consumed by Americans each year," the city's marketing group says. 

Tesla New Orleans

Tesla Motors has promised a service center in New Orleans beginning in 2014, but Model S owners are still waiting.

A friend who lives in the city says he has seen a few Teslas.

The company Web site lists a New Orleans service center as "coming soon."

Tesla has installed free Superchargers and destination chargers across Louisiana for Tesla owners.

Even with limited range, EVs are perfect for lifestyle of a group the media ignore

An all-electric car with a range of about 85 miles like the Nissan Leaf or BMW i3 is ideal for many senior citizens, whose driving is limited to food shopping, visits to doctors, volunteering, and driving to senior centers or the gym.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

A huge group of well-to-do Americans greeted the "reveal" of the 2017 Chevrolet Bolt with a yawn on Wednesday.

Retired seniors already have a nice choice of affordable all-electric cars that fit their lifestyle and the limited driving they do, including the Nissan Leaf and BMW i3.

The Bolt, with a range of 200 miles and a starting price of $37,500 before options, will be a little late to the game when it goes on sale at the end of this year or early next year.

And if an affluent senior wants to reward himself or herself for a lifetime of hard work, they certainly would pick a jazzy red Tesla Model S over the pedestrian-looking Bolt.

That way they could take advantage of a network of free and fast Tesla Superchargers, which Chevrolet hasn't addressed.

The 2017 Chevrolet Bolt four-door hatchback can be mistaken for a lot of economy cars on the road today.

Tax-credit myth

The news media often repeat the claim of General Motors and other automakers that the cost of their plug-in EVs will be reduced by a federal tax credit of up to $7,500.

What they don't say is that you still have to lay out the 40 grand or more before you can apply for the credit in the following tax year.

The minimum tax credit is $2,500 plus $417 for a battery with at least 5 kilowatt hours of capacity, and it goes up $417 for each additional kilowatt hour, according to the Internal Revenue Service.

The Tesla Model S I bought last April has a 60 kilowatt-hour battery, and would qualify for the full $7,500 credit this year.

But if I don't owe the IRS the full $7,500 in taxes, than I'd get a lower credit or none at all.

Many retired seniors don't pay federal taxes so the tax credit is useless to them, and it may prove to be useless to me, too.

Jersey payoff

There is an immediate payoff, if you buy an all-electric car in New Jersey -- you don't have to pay the 7% sales tax.

That's a nice piece of change in your pocket -- $2,800 for an EV that costs $40,000 with options and about $5,600 for a Tesla Model S.

Limited driving

I'm retired and live in northern New Jersey.

On Tuesday, I drove my Model S about 50 miles, including a visit to the gym and supermarket in the morning, lunch at a Japanese restaurant in the afternoon and on an errand in the evening.

On Wednesday, I drove even less, making two stops in Englewood before returning home.

Porsche names a new car after a pancake, suggesting it hopes to flatten competition

Is a Pajun a planned Porsche or a Korean pancake? At So Gong Dong, a popular tofu restaurant in Palisades Park, N.J., the Haemool Pajun is a grilled rice-flour pancake filled with squid and scallions, above, served with a soy-based dipping sauce.

The Porsche Pajun, a concept for a smaller Panamera or Panamera (Pa) Junior (jun).

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

I'm not holding my breath for an all-electric Porsche sedan that is being hyped as having enough range to take on Tesla's Model S.

The soonest the car will be produced, according to prognosticators, is 2017.

The concept is a four-door hatchback like the Model S, but smaller than a Panamera, hence the nickname, "Pajun."

Steve Siler of the Car and Driver Blog winks:

"PA-namera JUN-ior, get it?"

Pajun also is a Korean rice-flour pancake.

This wouldn't be the first auto-culinary reference from Porsche, which produces the Cayenne SUV.

A compact version of Cayenne, called Macan, is now available, so the Panamera appears to be next for a downsizing.

The Pajun -- if that is the official name -- also would be the first purely electric road car from the German manufacturer.

Imagine how much quieter our cities and highways will be when EVs rule the road

Tesla's Model S blends the styling of a race car with the luxury and utility of a four-door hatchback.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

"Quiet" doesn't begin to describe the experience of owning and driving an all-electric car, especially one with the heft of a Tesla Model S.

Wind noise, tire noise and the sound of hitting irregularities in the road are just about all you'll hear -- unless you're listening to your favorite jazz or public radio station.

The Model S has a one-speed transmission, so gathering speed is seamless and effortless.

The absence of mechanical noises is truly remarkable -- and just about everything else on the road seems so old fashioned.

Model S drivers are making a splash, not making noise.

Their cars don't smell like all those other vehicles that depend on the antiquated internal combustion engine for locomotion.

The store at Garden State Plaza, a shopping center in Paramus, N.J., can once again sell the Model S directly to the public.

Laughable SUVs

If you want a good laugh when the light changes, put some distance between your Model S and that lead-footed driver in an elephantine SUV trying vainly and noisily to keep up with you.

When EVs rule the road, our cities and highways will be so much quieter than now, and the air will be so much cleaner.

Bad press

For such a revolutionary car, the Model S gets a surprising amount of bad press.

Much of it appears to be generated by media upset that California-based Tesla Motors doesn't advertise, denying them many millions of dollars in revenue.

Other automakers inflate the prices of their vehicles to cover their considerable marketing and advertising budgets, including all those dealer ads that appear in newspapers.

And every time gas falls below $3 a gallon, writers fall all over themselves warning consumers that gas-electric hybrids and EVs aren't worth the extra cost.

But what they always ignore is how green cars benefit the environment, and the pure pleasure of owning one.

You need three people -- not a hybrid or electric car -- to get this toll discount

The driver of a Toyota Prius hybrid, below, still hasn't gotten the word about the Port Authority Green Pass toll discounts available to drivers of green cars. His E-ZPass, above, is white, the kind available to all drivers.

The sticker on the left says, "You just got passed by a hybrid." I don't know the meaning of the sticker on the right.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey operates in mysterious ways.

The bistate agency offers off-peak toll discounts to drivers of hybrid and all-electric cars as long as they obtain a special green-colored E-ZPass, called a Green Pass.

The New York State E-ZPass agency does the same, but doesn't honor Green Passes obtained from New Jersey.

A bigger break

But the Port Authority offers an even bigger toll discount valid 24/7 at all agency crossings -- not just during the restrictive off-peak hours -- and you don't need a green car to get it.

What you do need is a private E-ZPass account and a "carpool" -- defined as three occupants.

If you have a driver and passenger in the front seats, 
a dummy or dead body in the back might do.

And there are hoops to jump through:

You have to enroll your E-ZPass first, then come to a complete stop in a staffed cash/E-ZPass lane so that the toll collector can verify the number of occupants in the vehicle.

I usually say, "Carpool discount," and receive an acknowledgement.

The carpool toll is only $5 -- an E-ZPass discount of $4 or $6 all day long, weekdays and weekends -- but it's not available to commercial vehicles or fleets.

The Green Pass off-peak toll is $5.50.

Both plans are largely unpublicized.

For E-ZPass holders, the toll during peak hours is $11 (6 a.m.-10 a.m., 4 p.m.-6 p.m.; Saturday and Sundays, 11 a.m.-9 p.m.).

At other times, the off-peak E-ZPass toll is $9. The cash toll at all times is $13.

All Port Authority tolls are set to go up again this December and in December 2015, if a court challenge is unsuccessful.

E-ZPass in many states

The Port Authority Web site's E-ZPass page lists many states that issue the same or similar tags for paying tolls, including Pennsylvania, Delaware, Virginia, Maryland, Illinois, Main and New Hampshire.

If you own a hybrid or green car in those states, check with your agency to see if you qualify for special toll discounts.

See: E-ZPass Bridges & Tunnels