The issue here is air quality. It's a shock to go from the sweet clean air of the beach from the eastlerly breezes to the streets where the exhaust fumes are worse than any major city I've been in. Pollution control devices on cars have indeed improved air quality in urban areas. Gas carts are polluters of the worse kind with no emission mitigation. So to say gas carts are greener is just absurd. Used batteries are recycled, and are exchanged for cash by the stores that sell them.
But the question here is, would people accept a mandated switch, or would there be an uproar? This was the question posed. Are people so fond of the speed and power (and noise) that they would resist a switch?
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I hope that someday we can put aside our fears and prejudices and just laugh at people.