Happy St. Paddy’s day, folks! Hope you spent it safely and responsibly, in the spirit of Corn Car’s Official St. Patrick’s Day Mascot, Flashy the Drunken Leprechaun (pictured at left).

Now then, to business. Two states - Florida and Washington - have recently introduced tax breaks for electric cars. Both states intend to drop their sales tax on the vehicles, and the proposed Florida bill intends to give tax breaks to businesses that use electric cars. Some in Florida are even suggesting that lanes on main roads and highways be reserved for electric cars. This is a pertinent issue in the Sunshine State, home to some of the worst driving in continental America; a state where “merge” is a personal challenge and the levels of pack-animal aggression would make even Marylanders scratch their heads. It is an automotive hinterland where people routinely back out of their driveways at 60 mph. That they’ve even considered sacrificing an entire lane for the smaller, gentler electric car is staggering.

Of course, before we get all gooey, CEO of Volkswagen Group of America Stefan Jacoby says that it will take 35 years for the electric car to “gain a significant share of the global automotive market.” Indeed, he insists that “there is no country on earth that is really properly prepared for electric cars,” because most power grids aren’t set up to withstand hundreds of thousands of vehicles plugged into them. Which is a legitimate concern, and one that we’ve pondered from time to time. But it’s also true that Jacoby doesn’t want electric cars to take off before then, what with VW’s commitment to diesel engines and all.

Either way, it’s good to get people using electric cars now so that our infrastructure can mature with the technology - we certainly don’t want to be saying that we’re not ready for electric cars 35 years from now, do we?

Even though Ford is hiking their base-level ethanol blend to circumvent expensive testing, and even though they’re shy about admitting that they’ve even gone that far, we’re still pleased that they’re taking this step towards more responsible energy use. It’s certainly in keeping with the company statement about flex-fuel vehicles; Ford has made more than 1.6 million of them since 1996, and their Model T was the first flex-fuel vehicle ever made, running as it did on any combination of gasoline, ethanol, or caramelized hate distilled from the brain of Henry Ford.

Of course, more recently, Ford’s environmental record has been, erm, mixed, to say the least. And their products are bearing a similar cross - hell, they’ve built marketing campaigns on the admission that their cars are shit. So whether or not this is an honest effort to move forward or an end-run around economic reality can’t be determined. Again, we’re glad that Ford is refocusing their commitment to flex-fuel vehicles, but it had better be genuine. All it would take is one battery of product recalls (like the ones for the Ford Escape) to make flex-fuel cars unpalatable for another 30 years.