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 they’re 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 ...
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Please come on over and help us battle the rising tide of tax-and-spend Democrats and spend-and-spend RINOs. New Hampshire is almost as close to escaping overseas as you can get without going overseas.
The wife loves her new Toyota Corolla. Gets 42 mpg on her highway speed 90 mile round trip commute.
Anything with carbon in it, most likely biomass. Gasification and Fischer-Tropsch synthesis works with any carbon source---not just coal.
how do you figure?
typical mileage is
4 miles per KWH
There's nothing quite like a nationalized auto industry.
And it's free!
Personally, an electric car is useless to me. I know a lot of people that feel the same - the distance they live from their place of employment means 40-50 miles per charge is grossly insufficient.
Shouldn’t the auto makers focus on designing something that serves the needs of their custormers, and not the desires of the “public servants” who have the big checkbook? /common sense
My unbiased, layman's opinion on the matter? Let the auto industry go bankrupt. Maybe next time people will think twice before unionizing.
Poland has nearly 10% unemployment. Most of it’s young are in France, the UK, Germany working hard to send money home. Face facts, no other country comes close to comparing to the US in terms of overall freedom, livability and earning capacity. No other country. And that’s not going to change no matter how much obambi tries
Gas is going to head back up to $70 to $75 and stabilise around there. Now it’s just gyrating badly after the over-buying that nearly brought it to $150. It may spin up and down a bit more after this, but it will stick to $70 in the long run. Also, world-wide spending power is down so a car that saves fuel is always a good thing. I add in the caveat — each thing has it’s purpose, nothing but a heavy duty SUV will do for off-roading or farming duty. But for city driving for 1 person, no way does it make any sense.,
What 6 cylinder normal sized vehicle gets 50 mpg on gasoline?
“The wife loves her new Toyota Corolla. Gets 42 mpg on her highway speed 90 mile round trip commute. “
I love my new Tundra. It gets only 15MPG but if a Corolla hits me...
“With gas heading to $1.25/gallon, now is the perfect time to flood the market with electric cars.”
Exactly.
Wrong on all counts except I do use a PU for construction work, live in a city, no kids,but never drive under 75 on the freeway traffic permiting.
Since we, as a nation, drive more miles during warmer months - and we consume so much electricity to supply air conditioning needs in the summer to the point some major cities experience brownouts - How is the electric grid going to support all these cars being plugged into the grid without Nuclear (green weenies) and without coal fired plants (global warmists)?
110 volt socket....I have yet to hear the wattage and ANY estimate of cost of the charge.
Well, for hauling stuff around, your pickup truck makes the most amount of sense.
This whole hybrid thing is so much political correctness just like trading carbon credits.
Look ahead 10 years. It’s a sweltering hot day in August.
Due to use of electricity in the hybrids, there is not enough electricity for air conditioning. Newborns and the elderly are dying. The green people(Democrat Socialists) start ranting that this can not go on and that all automobiles must switch back to gasoline only.
Unintended consequences. Like moving from paper to plastic to save the trees. No thought whatsoever to all the plastic that now sits in our land fills.
Actually, Toyota’s and Honda’s are not foreign; they’re made in America by American workers who work for profitable companies, both of which are traded on the New York Stock exchange.
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