Posted on 05/15/2008 10:17:52 AM PDT by Red Badger
The motor of Renault-Nissan's electrically-powered vehicle, built on the Megane model, is shown to the media in Tel Aviv, 11 May 2008
Record high oil prices and sluggish sales are forcing the world's biggest automakers to turn to electricity to power their vehicles.
Nissan Motor Company is the latest automaker to move in that direction, officially announcing Tuesday it plans to introduce an all-electric vehicle for sale in the United States and Japan by 2010.
Nissan's chief executive officer says the company will mass-market electric cars globally by 2012.
Nissan also forecast its profits will decline by 30 percent this year to $3.4 billion compared to $4.6 billion last year.
Nissan, Japan's number three automaker, joins Toyota and Honda in predicting smaller profits, as car buyers shun fuel-thirsty vehicles.
The senior editor of the Web site GreenCarAdvisor.com, John O'Dell, tells VOA many auto industry executives will be watching Nissan to see if its electric car venture succeeds. He says Nissan is trying to become the market leader by being the first major automaker to promise - and deliver - an all-electric vehicle for sale in a large market by a certain date.
The associate editor of the Web site WardsAuto.com, Mike Sutton, says the announcement is "fairly significant," but Nissan's move is mostly about market positioning.
Sutton tells VOA that other major automakers are also planning to introduce electric-powered vehicles in 2010.
American car company Chevrolet plans to introduce the Volt, a plug-in hybrid, in 2010. And Toyota says it will unveil the next generation of Prius hybrid vehicles the same year.
Hybrids use less fuel than conventional vehicles because they combine a gasoline engine with high-tech batteries and electric motors.
Chrysler, Mitsubishi and Subaru are also working on electric cars.
Fuel-efficient vehicles have recently been the lone bright spot for the auto industry. Toyota says sales of its hybrid cars have jumped 42 percent in the past year. Some dealerships in the United States say they have waiting lists for would-be buyers.
It is high but my daughter takes care of that so I’m not up on the costs etc.
My electric bill has more than doubled in the last two years.
It does not matter if it is oil or coal. Everything has to be shipped in by boat and we get hit on everything with “shipping costs” and they are not cheap.
There is plenty of energy available at the night time to recharge the batteries.
I have read that the Chevy Volt will get 640 miles on a charge. Of course it will be a hybrid
Yeah, I wat a car with one of those flux capacitors, or whatever it is!
And a rocket launcher for heavy traffic jams.
But coal is shipped about as economically as oil. The product being shipped however is much less and less volatile in price.
retail electric rates by state
http://www.neo.ne.gov/statshtml/115.htm
Dec 2007, fairly recent for comparison
Notice how most of the coal producing states are the lowest.
I like the Volt concept. Wouldn’t mind having one of those when they come out. Now that you’ve posted your Iron Man comparison, maybe I’ll order one in red and gold. ;o)
Now let's add a little "arrest me red" along with a splash of gold ....
I like it, except the red on the hood should only come down halfway to match the forehead to eye ratio on the movie version.
http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/Traffic/story?id=485098&page=1
Life for commuters can be heaven or hell. They report an average one-way commute time of 26 minutes (over an average distance of 16 miles). But the variance is huge: On the best days, the average commute is 19 minutes; on the worst days, 46 minutes. That means traffic, at its worst, can double the average commute time, adding 27 minutes each way
source: US Census Press Release: http://www.census.gov/Press-Release/www/releases/archives/american_community_survey_acs/004489.html
Based on a ranking of states with the longest average commute-to-work times, the ACS showed that New York (30.4 minutes) and Maryland (30.2 minutes) residents spent the most time traveling to their jobs. New Jersey (28.5 minutes), Illinois (27.0 minutes) and California (26.5 minutes) were also among states with some of the longest one-way commute times. States with some of the lowest average commute times included South Dakota (15.2 minutes), North Dakota (15.4 minutes), Nebraska (16.5 minutes) and Montana (16.9 minutes). (See state rankings [PDF].)
From the above, it looks like a vast majority of Americans stay within a round trip of 50 miles per work day. Add some chores, and we still make less than 100 miles per day. Plug it overnight. Repeat the next day.
I work 23 miles from home. Rarely I exceed 100 miles per day.
A more complicated hybrid of pluggable/combustible engine car would be even more suitable.
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