Posted on 06/02/2012 6:13:25 PM PDT by kristinn
The Obama administration invested $2.4 billion as part of its goal of putting one million electric vehicles on the road by the end of 2015. But that effort has, in part, stalled.
Nothing is more emblematic of the industry's troubles than the Fisker Karma. In 2010, Fisker got a $529-million taxpayer loan to build a luxury electric sports car.
But the government cut off the loan to Fisker after $193 million when Fisker failed to meet its ambitious sales and production goals. Then, a Consumer Reports test dealt the Karma another blow.
"It is low. It is sleek. It is sensuous," the Consumer Reports' video narrator says.
"It's also broken," the narrator adds as a clip of the Fisker Karma being towed on a flatbed airs.
Fisker blamed the car's lithium ion battery, which happened to be made by another government loan recipient, A123 Systems.
A123 got a $249-million taxpayer loan. This year's first-quarter losses totaled $125 million.
The industry's misfortunes have seriously undermined President Obama's goal.
"We can replace our dependence on oil with biofuels and become the first country to have a million electric vehicles on the road by 2015," Obama said in January 2011.
To get to one million, the White House pinned its hopes on 11 models of electric vehicles -- including the Karma. Our CBS News investigation found that six of the 11 -- Ford Focus, Ford Transit Connect, Fisker Nina/Atlantic, Tesla Model S, Tesla Roadster and Think City -- either haven't made their first delivery or are already out of business.
Others aren't even close to the government's 2015 projections. For example, 36,000 Fisker Karmas and 505,000 Chevy Volts were supposed to be made. But current projections slash the Karma's 2015 number in half to 18,000 and put the Volt at one-eighth of the...
(Excerpt) Read more at cbsnews.com ...
What else could happen when you hand the keys to the US Treasury to a completely inexperienced yet arrogant egomaniac:
“I think I’m a better speech writer than my speech writers,” he reportedly told an aide in 2008. “I know more about policies on any particular issue than my policy directors. And I’ll tell you right now that I’m . . . a better political director than my political director.”
I’d be LMAO if it weren’t for that little fact that this is OUR money.
What a giant A-hole he is.
Last week I saw a TV program...maybe on Natl.Geo? about
the GM hybrid, and how GM mandated that all be turned in for destruction. It seemed so unbelievable that they could, or would, do that.
I have not had or needed a car since I left the USA in 2004, but from what I could see, the hybrid looked like a pretty decent idea, unlike the totally electric car which seems like a joke.
My question...What is wrong with the hybrid, as long as you can switch to gas when out of juice?
The owners seemed to love the car.
What am I missing here?
THE TULIPOMANIA: An Investing Bubble
http://www.thetulipomania.com/
CBS reported this?
Hunhh....
Excellent video. Luckily, a new Five Year Plan is in the works to rescue these turds. Bob
Obammy never was a very good businessman, come to think of it, he never was.. unless selling dope counts..
The main problem with hybrids is that the cars could never survive long enough to save its owner enough gas to compensate for the exorbitant price. Bob
Who wants to buy a car called the “Karma” anyway-a new agey faddish left-wing hipster p.o.s?
“The main problem with hybrids is that the cars could never survive long enough to save its owner enough gas to compensate for the exorbitant price.”
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I never knew what the average cost or life was for a hybrid.
I guess you mean that they are not 100,000 mile cars.
Why did GM demand that all of them had to be returned to
them and be destroyed?
The program obviously had a pro hybrid slant, as all of the owners were soooo happy with them, and tried every way in the world to keep GM from taking them.
I do not know how GM could do that, unless there was some clause in the purchase contract which gave GM sole control over the car.
A dear friend had us out to his place for a bbq with his family. His stepson was a rather colorful character who babbled on about the virtues of solar panels and electric cars.
He changed the subject when I commented that most go about 40 miles on a charge while a gasoline powered subcompact goes about the same distance on a gallon of fuel.
Imagine how people would react if a gas pump took eight hours to pump one gallon of gasoline...
Last week I saw a TV program...maybe on Natl.Geo? about
the GM hybrid, and how GM mandated that all be turned in for destruction. It seemed so unbelievable that they could, or would, do that.
GM Hybrids were great, until they became self aware. Then they started sucking the souls out of unbaptized children.
GM’s PR department did an awesome job keeping it quiet.
There are many, many Toyota Prius hybrids with more than 100,000 miles on them. Getting 200,000 miles on them seems rare though.
Typical new price about $26K. Typical new price for a Corolla, by comparison, might be around $19,000.
What they need to do is spend another billion on electric tow trucks.
These people are ignorant about the (automobile, health care, electric generation, oil drilling, ...) industry and cause major failures when they illegally seize control of these sectors.
“GM Hybrids were great, until they became self aware. Then they started sucking the souls out of unbaptized children.
GM’s PR department did an awesome job keeping it quiet.”
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God only knows what you are babbling about, and he is not talking.
Cocktail time does strange things to some people.
That’s a weird, sickening story, Alex, typical of the bizarre Obama regime. I didn’t mean to come off as an expert, but we roughly calculated that at approx. 30mpg, it would take our Prius-owning friend decades to recoup the many extra thousands that he spent for that car over a comparable gas-powered one. Blessings, Bob
There aren't too many cars with 200,000 miles on the odometer. They are mechanical things; as they wear down their value drops but the cost of repair goes up. At some point it is just not worth it.
Modern hybrids are capable of extreme longevity. Also Google gives me this link:
Vancouver canada has replaced 80% of their taxis with hybrids. There are still 2007 Prius still running which have over 200,000 miles logged in. One Prius has 600,000 miles logged in and one hybrid battery replacement
Hybrids have the following advantages over traditional cars:
For that you pay with money. Hybrids cost a bit more than standard cars. It's your call what to buy. A hybrid, especially one made in Japan, can last a very long time. You can treat it as an improved, high-tech version of a traditional gas car - simply because hybrids run on gas. All the energy comes from gasoline, which means that you have plenty of that energy in the tank, and it only takes a few minutes at any corner to replenish it.
Pure EVs share some of these advantages. However the additional cost of a gas-electric hybrid is lower than the cost of a pure EV. Those numbers that are floating around, from $40K to $100K, are insane. I don't know too many people who would be eager to mortgage their home and buy such a car. Hybrids like Prius are within the typical price range, both new and used. You can buy a used Gen. II Prius today for maybe $12K - $14K. This is within reach of many car buyers. (Of course there is no help for those who only look for $500 jalopies.)
One day, when we have much more capable batteries, a pure EV will be just as practical as a gas car (or a gas-electric hybrid) of today. That day is in the future. We can't even figure out how to charge that EV with a huge power (8 MW) that we casually achieve at a gas station. Today if you buy a pure EV (or an EV-like hybrid, like Volt) you get an overpriced golf cart - and you can't even drive it at the golf course.
I have not had or needed a car since I left the USA in 2004, but from what I could see, the hybrid looked like a pretty decent idea, unlike the totally electric car which seems like a joke.
My question...What is wrong with the hybrid, as long as you can switch to gas when out of juice?
The owners seemed to love the car.
What am I missing here?
I believe you are talking about the GM Impact from 1996 -
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Motors_EV1
It was not a hybrid, it was an all-electric car.
He could have sold that million electric vehicles, if only he had offered up 30 to 45 thousand dollars in tax right-offs for each vehicle. $7,500.00? /s Pussy! LOL
“Hybrids have the following advantages over traditional cars:”
The REAL problem...
Once out of warranty, the ONLY place they can still be serviced is the dealer. There is a real reason 75% of Hybrid buyers will not buy another one. The cost of ownership doesn’t justify the added costs at anything less than $6-7 gas.
Battery replacement is the real issue, and costs around $2,200. Without it, all you are buying is a 1.5L-1.8L under-powered compact car.
Braking issues related to the computer control for battery recharging have become a HUGE issue, as well. Other Computer Control problems seem to become huge issues on the Prius after they go out of warranty as well.
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