Posted on 02/03/2011 12:48:20 PM PST by pissant
(CNN) -- President Barack Obama's goal of putting 1 million electric cars on U.S. roads by 2015 could run into a huge roadblock -- the American consumer.
According to a report released Wednesday by researchers at Indiana University, automakers are unlikely to manufacture enough cars to reach the president's goal because of a potential lack of buyer demand.
Nissan and General Motors, makers of the Leaf and Volt, respectively, already have the capacity to produce enough cars to meet the goal. Serious questions remain, however, about the level of desire among potential buyers worried about cost, ease of use and likely resale value.
"After the early adopters, what is going to motivate the mainstream people to buy the vehicles?" asked Gurminder Bedi, a retired Ford Motor Co. executive and one of the authors of the report.
(Excerpt) Read more at edition.cnn.com ...
Sell them to the good people of Texas.
Hmmm. Let me think. How will Obama fix this little problem. Eureka! He will subsidize states and cities run by Democrats to take them. Another problem solved and created by government. And paid for by us suckers.
A) Put cart before horse;
B) Now get horse;
c) Never mind.
I guess it’s pretty clear at this point that Mr. Obama does not understand that the most important aspect of capitalism are profits.
In addition, even if a million of these cars were sold, we would still need ELECTRCITY to charge them!
OMG.
Baraq can meet the goal by driving the gasoline price up high enough.
However that may impede his re-election chances.
I can see his campaign commercials now:
FOUR MORE YEARS of 10% unemployment and $4 gas
0bama will do his best to run gas up to $5 a gallon this year to help meet his goal.
FORE!!!!!!
Reality is such a DRAG for these leftists. That few would want to shell out $40,000+ for a glorified golf cart with limited range is hard for them to believe. Of course if Obamacare passes in the Supreme Court that will give our rulers the green light to mandate purchase of these things. And don’t think the won’t try something like this (probably along the lines of phasing out manufacture of actual autos in favor of these stupid carts).
Obamacare has established a precedent: if Americans are too dumb to decide what to buy, mandate them to buy whatever government thinks would be good for them.
Every Obamacare supporter should be forced to explain why a government having the power to mandate purchase of private health insurance wouldn’t also logically have the equivalent power to mandate the purchase of an electric car. After all, wouldn’t that create jobs, help GM (which we taxpayers part own) and help save the environment?
While health care sometimes seems way too complicated or controversial for a rational discussion, I think a HUGE majority of Americans would intuitively realize that a government with the power to force the purchase of electric cars has grown WAY beyond a reasonable size.
How well do batteries work at -20degrees F ??
What does Barak drive?
It would only be for lack of an alternative, which the government is well on its way to arraigning. I heard a Volt dealer on the radio this afternoon who was despariging the product, but he did say that when CAFE standards hit 40mpg in a few years, Suburbans and Tahoes would have to disappear to be replaced with the like of this. We may soon no longer be able to live by the creed of "The internal combustion engine, accept no substitutes".
“Baraq can meet the goal by driving the gasoline price up high enough.”
...and that’s exactly what he’ll do if he gets re-elected....he’ll jack up the fed. tax on a gallon of gas...when we have $4,$5 and $6 gas people will buy the new cars....ever noticed how the Leftys are always saying “Well, in Europe they pay $8.00 a gallon”...like that’s a goal they aspire to.
Yeah, they would've really worked good in the freezing temps and no electricity to recharge yesterday.
“In addition, even if a million of these cars were sold, we would still need ELECTRCITY to charge them!”
That’s ok, you just plug the cars in, and free electricity comes out of the outlets like magic.
Look to the new “ObamaEnergyCare” bill. If he can mandate that we all have to buy medical insurance - why not mandate that we all have to buy the battery car?
“Reality is such a DRAG for these leftists. “
They just want to legislate it away.
Sorry to say, he WILL sell a lot of them, and we’ll all pay. Every federal, state and local government that buys vehicles will be pressured to buy these pieces of cr*p.
Baraq had a Chrysler 300 sedan when he lived in Chicago.
Now he’s chauffeured around in a limo which is a GM pickup truck chassis with a “Cadillac” armored body. (I had the pleasure of working on that program before I retired. The first use was at GWB’s inauguration in 2001.)
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.