Posted on 09/14/2014 11:17:43 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
Where is the automobile headed in our gradually warming world? Fully electric like the Chevy Spark, Nissan Leaf, or Mercedes SLS AMG Electric Drive? Plug-in hybrid like the Chevy Volt, Ford Energi models, or Porsche 918? Flying cars like the Terrafugia Transition? Something else entirely? One thing's for sure: Wherever it's headed, folks buying at the pointy end of the price pyramid will get there first and help field-test the tech for the rest of us. If you have both the means and the inclination to live your automotive life on the green-tech bleeding edge -- or if you need the world to think that's how you roll—allow us to present the two most compelling options available today.
The reigning green-car champ is the surprisingly high-performance, fully electric Tesla Model S P85+. The car world's lone successful Silicon Valley startup earned Motor Trend's 2013 Car of the Year calipers on the strength of its M5-like driving dynamics, giant iPad-esque user interface, innovative optional 5+2 seating, front and rear trunks, and epic 265-mile EPA-rated battery range. And during the year we've spent driving a long-term Model S, the expanding network of Superchargers has made long-distance electric travel (at least in our bottom half of California) a surprising reality....
(Excerpt) Read more at motortrend.com ...
The Tesla fan club is worse than the Apple fan club, although that's my perception because I use a Mac and happen to like it. One difference is that I didn't get a government subsidy to buy my mac.
Then you should also mention that Musk attacked the writer and the NYT and caused the backpeddle. Musk can be a regular ahole when he's defending his toy cars.
Oil is sold on the market. I don't see Singapore or Luxemburg sending out warships to get their share of the oil. Nor would we have to, but we want to defend other interests.
Singapore and Luxembourg don't because they depend on us to do it for them. Singapore is a great example actually. I had a friend from there and he described their military as such: they have a small defense force, designed only to hold off any attackers long enough for Uncle Sam to arrive.
Anecdotal evidence aside, under the US-Singapore Strategic Framework Agreement, our navy regularly rotates combat ships through Singapore.
The United States is the largest consumer of oil in the world, double that of the next highest which is China even though we have one-quarter of their population. Relative to other countries, oil has a grossly disproportionate impact on our economy (just ask anyone who lived through the 1973 oil crisis) and so we have no choice but to protect those shipping lanes. Other countries just get to reap the rewards. It is unjust, but there is nothing we can do about until we wean ourselves off of oil. Which is the main reason I think switching to electric cars (even if it means a little government help) is a very good idea.
Hmmm, 1973. Why does that year stick in my head? Ah now I remember. It's because we had other interests that were decidedly secondary to getting oil. If all we cared about was oil it would be plentiful, no shipping lane protection and no 1973 oil crisis. Not to mention we had just closed the gold window.
Which is the main reason I think switching to electric cars (even if it means a little government help) is a very good idea.
Ugh. If a little is good then a lot should be even better. Why subsidize $75k electric cars for the privileged when we could double or triple the subsidy and get them $150k electric cars?
Not secondary, primary. Our primary interests were not about oil, oil was secondary.
I think you are misinformed about the subsidy. It is $7,500, not $75,000. But I agree that cars that cost over $50k like the Tesla Model S should not get the subsidy. That is a luxury car and their customers are not buying it for economic efficiency. Keep the subsidy for the $35k Chevy Volt and the $30k Nissan Leaf to bring them down to $27.5k and $22.5k, respectively.
And no, you don't need to double or triple the subsidy because all you have to do is make them price competitive with gasoline cars, not make them free. Over time, the subsidies go away (each manufacturer gets 200,000 before they ramp down) so they are only there to help offset the price while the technology is new and expensive. Prices have already fallen by a few thousand dollars in the four years they have been on the market and they will continue to fall as li-ion batteries continue their downward cost trend.
I don't believe in any subsidies right now. The R&D of things like batteries is important so we should give money to national research labs or places like that right now. Economy of scale for batteries is a joke. We are using up lithium, not scaling up. The more we waste on overkill like the Tesla, the more expensive it will get.
Keep in mind that only a tiny percentage of total electricity used to power a Tesla Model S will come from a supercharger. Most will come from a garage plug. You could be right insofar as it might be an incentive that they only offer Model S owners, which Tesla can afford since the owners paid around $100k for each car. Owners of the future $35k Model 3 might have to pay.
“The ‘free solar power’ thing is nothing more than marketing hype to impress the rich greenies.”
I'll have to concede your point on that one.
Germany in WWII had perfected making gas and motor fuels out of coal. The cost must have been ruinous, though or they wouldn’t have had to try taking those north African oil fields.
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