Posted on 12/04/2008 11:56:23 PM PST by 2ndDivisionVet
Now that automakers are all busy gearing up to make electric vehicles, consumers should be getting a choice of roomy, speedy, gasoline-free models that charge up at a standard 110-volt socket.
So when will those cars roll out of factories so plentifully that prices drop to what ordinary people can afford?
That was the question at the Electric Drive Transportation Association conference and exhibition in Washington this week, and on Capitol Hill as well, as the Big Three automakers made a pitch for aid. The recession, the credit crunch and the dominance of oil-driven transportation will make it difficult.
However, automakers see the future more gas price spikes, diminishing oil resources, the need to cut carbon dioxide to prevent climate catastrophe. They also see an incoming president, Barack Obama, who as a senator co-sponsored a plan to give tax credits for electric vehicles and now calls for 1 million plug-in, hybrid, made-in-America cars that get up to 150 miles per gallon.
As part of their pitch to Congress, Ford, Chrysler and General Motors promised to push ahead with electric vehicles, even though theyre money-losers now. Ford this week, for the first time, announced details of what it has in the works for electric-drive vehicles, including a battery-electric van slated for commercial fleet use in 2010 and a battery-electric sedan in 2011.
Japan is going electric, too. Mitsubishi, for example, plans to launch its small iMiEV electric car next summer and test it in California, Europe and in New Zealand. Nissan plans a Real Car with a 100-mile range that it promises will meet all highway safety tests and offer all the hot gizmos such as GPS and heated seats.
(Excerpt) Read more at star-telegram.com ...
What’s wrong with issuing a challenge for better fuel efficiency? Do you want to go back to the 5/10 mpg cars of the 60s? All those got hit BAAAADDLY during the 70s oil shock. And car makers learnt to make more efficient and yet more powerful cars.
And, there will have to be significant enhancements to the grid to handle the additional load of a significant amount of the fleet going electric. Another thing to consider is what happens when there is an earthquake or an ice storm or a hurricane and there is no electricity for a week or more? I suppose everything comes to a screeching halt.
Don’t recall a lot of plugs in my apt. bldg parking lot. And what about the power grid?
Dumbing down of America, Part 2.
Electric cars go 40 miles and then sit around a few hours being charged. The exhaust eliminated is actually belched out at the electric company’s power plant.
This is one more year the Democrats won’t get the Albert Einstein Intelligence ward.
Since there are 44.6 million shares outstanding I would hardly think a $50,000 to $100,000 investment would make her a major holder.
Lessee, we’re gearing up for lil’ electric toy cars, Obama is destroying the coal (and oil) industry which supplies electricity and other fuels, this is gonna be entertaining.
Our neighbors and we are in agreement to utilize combined pasturage as a woodlot, gardening and for a few horses so one way or the other we’re going to stay a step ahead of the fascist liberals, that is until they drive our horses to the glue factory with flatulance taxes, not to mention fireplace bans and home garden tariffs (we would be in competition with produce retailers you see)....
Lordy, these people are hopelessly insane—and dangerous.
and it will certainly have an added tax because the power grid will have to be expanded and supported and roads have to be kept up.
If you get 40 miles on a "fill up, it means plugging the thing in almost every day.
So here in NY, where it's 23 degrees right now, I have to go out and fiddle with my car BESIDES scraping the windshield and waiting for the thing to warm up.
Something about...If it works, don't fix it...DRILL, DRILL, DRILL
After almost purchasing Toyotas twice in my life, I finally had enough of American car repair bills and bought a 3 year old Toyota a year and a half ago, and have not had any repair expense whatsoever with it. It could not be more reliable so far, and I couldn’t be happier with it. I’ll prolly be sticking with Toyotas from here on out.
My sister, her hubby and daughters, I have watched all driving Hondas for decades, and running them up to in excess of 150K with very low maintenance.
wind harvesting is fun - until 2-4ft shards of ice start breaking off the windmill blades and become airborne :)
And I would like a free house on the beach with a cheerful supermodel always in attendance, thank you very much Deer Leeder (said as he genuflects to the East toward Warshinktun)
American expatriates who reside abroad are still liable to the IRS for income taxes, the same as if they lived in the US.
Having said that, my wife and I are still considering moving somewhere overseas as an option, if our freedoms get pinched badly enough here.
The most likely change is the switch to plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEV's) using essentially today's hybrid drivetrains with a much more powerful battery pack, probably using the ultracapacitor technology I mentioned. This would allow all-electric operation up to 80 km (50 miles) and standard hybrid operation after that. For example, I've read that the next-generation Toyota Prius and the new Honda Insight are designed so it the manufacturer could "drop in" a full PHEV drivetrain in a few years.
Without doing any research, I would say Poland. But Obama wants you here to suck your hard earned money away. Sorry, you have to stay.
The volt is not pure electric. It comes with a gasoline engine and generator to charge the batteries when distance traveled is beyond pure electric range. Estimates of 400 miles before another 8~9 gallons of gasoline would be required.
If they think it is expensive to run the air conditioner, just wait until they start charging these things!
well that is just silly as a product.
Why buy a shrimpy unsaft TINY slow moving ecconobox which needs 8-9 gallons every alleged 400 mile range when you can buy a six cylinder NORMAL sized decent speed moving vehilce that does the SAME THING.
the japanese have zero reliabilty for backwards compatability.
Especially after Joe Biden "bankrupts" the coal industry.
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