Posted on 09/25/2012 10:38:06 AM PDT by Evil Slayer
Toyota has scrapped plans for widespread manufacturing and sale of a new mini-car that was to be powered as electric only. Reuters reports that Toyota stated they “had misread the market and the ability of still emerging battery technology to meet consumer demands.”
We would all be a lot better off, if Only Barack Obama and Harry Reid had the same amount of guts as Toyota to admit to making gross errors in judgment. Takeshi Uchiyamada, the engineer who oversees vehicle development as Vice Chairman of Toyota, was frank in stating, “two years later, there are many difficulties.”
Takeshi is no lightweight. He spearheaded the development of the Prius in the 1990s. When Takeshi talks engineers and students of thermodynamics listen. When Obama and Reid talk, people get screwed or simply choose not to listen.
Obama and Reid are evangelists for green energy, and both of these thermodynamic neophytes took instruction from Al Gore and Steven Chu in playing out the fantasy of lithium ion batteries replacing gasoline in vehicle propulsion. The problem was Obama and Reid did not bring their own money to visit Fantasy Island; we the 53% paid for their expensive tickets.
Americans should all be like Takeshi and frankly state that, after four years, there are many difficulties. Obama and Reid should admit they were wrong and pull the plug on their pipe dream of fully electric vehicles. More than two years ago, I gave outside witness testimony to the US Senate, run by Reid, that lithium ion batteries were simply a Betamax technology. Of course, nobody listened.
Obama and Reid have a real problem with Tesla, the pure electric car from California. Toyota has invested in Tesla and has now admitted the all-electric RAV4 will only sell 2,600 units in total over a period of
(Excerpt) Read more at breitbart.com ...
Probably worse than the Prius, which is the worst handling car I ever drove.
Properly named.
Probably the first.. and last one I’ll ever see ;)
Uh oh. Guess which country is going to get thrown under the bus over some islands?
I test drove one a couple of years ago. I found the way it took corners dangerous.....like it might flip over. Horrible!
OTOH, the Volt handled well. And it should for 50,000 : )
Well, since Ricardo Monteban is posing with it, at least it must have Corinthian Leather!
Electric vehicles - the coming next Big Thing.
Which it has been for over a century now.
Somehow the battery technology never proves to be as reliable nor as flexible as internal-combusiton engines.
Personally, I believe a well designed steam-powered vehicle stands a better chance of wide acceptance. Abner Doble developed a highly advanced design back in the 1920’s, with an almost instant start, a condenser system that was very sparing of water usage, and almost neck-snapping acceleration with a compound steam engine on direct connection to the drive wheels, no clutches, no multiple-ratio transmission system. Reverse was achieved by reversing the engine rotation, through shifting the steam feed to intake and exhaust ports.
Look it up.
In two months were pulling the plug on the GM Dolt.
Pray for America
“Misread the market”??
I thought Government was the only market they cared about in the green biz?
Whats with the VOLT needing a secon engine? Its just dead weight and with a 1 gallon tank.... when the EPA gives us the 4gal miniumum, then what?
You mean RICH Corinthian Leather, don’t you?
The two best things about government work are:
1. You get to spend someone else's hard earned money on whatever silly thing you want regardless of the consequences since there are never any consequences to you, (ie you are always putting someone else's "skin in the game") and
2. You never ever have to admit that you were wrong. You just say "We didn't go far enough." If the law/regulation/tax/etc. has the exact opposite effect from its stated goal, then you blame it on not going far enough. In liberal "logic" if a moderate amount of something makes thing worse, then a lot of it will make things better.
Bam bam bam bam!
Not steam but same principal. Exhaust is freezing cold air.
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