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I'm not a fan of current hybrid/electric vehicles, but I can totally see how we have to start somewhere with the tech (just like everything else) and it will eventually get way better.
The problem is that electricity doesn't exactly grow on trees, either.
Too early? The gas shortages of the '70s didn't warn us that doing anything we can to reduce dependence on foreign oil would be a good thing?
The 1903 Wright Flyer wasn't exactly a great cross-country macine but does that mean we should have stopped developing the concept?
Great, pull out your checkbook and personally write the checks for the $7,500 rebate/EV Obama is handing out in taxpayer money in his proposed budget.
What part of the taxpayer cannot afford to fund the purchase of these cars for others do you fail to understand?
If a product, any product, is worthwhile, it does not require a government subsidy of nearly 1/5th the purchase price or more in order for people to purchase it.
Oil is over 100.00 a barrel right now, Saudi reserves are as much as 40% overstated, world oil production had stayed flat since 2006 (http://www.eia.doe.gov/aer/txt/ptb1105.html) despite huge increases in world demand and you are saying it's too early?!
It's true that electric cars are inadequate to replace gasoline powered cars, (the current electric grid couldn't even support it) but there is no other choice. There are no other semi-practical long-term alternatives. Oil is a finite resource and we are running low...we are at the tipping point and our civilization will either rise or fall depending on how we weather the fallout. The next 20 years are gonna be VERY interesting.
It's not in the interest of the federal government to promote policies that will lead to a more stable foreign policy and also help to reverse global warming? What brand of political philosophy are you espousing? And, no, lifting restrictions on drilling, offshore or elsewhere, will in no way accomplish the task of ridding the dependency on foreign oil... and it of course does nothing to address global warming.
And the debt crisis is not being fueled by incentives on electric cars... it's being fueled by the Big 4 programs... hopefully Obama's challenge to Congress to deal with the Big 4 will yield positive reforms in the coming months.
You know exactly what brand of political philosophy he is espousing.
You know exactly what brand of political philosophy he is espousing.
I really don't... it's not a coherent philosophy that I'm aware of... besides simply opposing what the President says. Certainly Conservatism would not support what he's saying... perhaps extreme Libertarianism... but I think even that philosophy recognizes that government has a role to play in dealing with systemic issues that cannot be addressed individually. I don't know... it's baffling.
Obama wants electric cars to appear as new and hip - and wants to be seen as advancing forward. But electric cars are as old as the 19th and start of the 20th century.
They had fancy interiors, with expensive materials, and averaged $3,000 by 1910. Electric vehicles enjoyed success into the 1920s with production peaking in 1912.
The decline of the electric vehicle was brought about by several major developments:
By the 1920s, America had a better system of roads that now connected cities, bringing with it the need for longer-range vehicles.
The discovery of Texas crude oil reduced the price of gasoline so that it was affordable to the average consumer.
The invention of the electric starter by Charles Kettering in 1912 eliminated the need for the hand crank.
The initiation of mass production of internal combustion engine vehicles by Henry Ford made these vehicles widely available and affordable in the $500 to $1,000 price range. By contrast, the price of the less efficiently produced electric vehicles continued to rise. In 1912, an electric roadster sold for $1,750, while a gasoline car sold for $650.
So why the return to electric cars? It's not the free market...
Pollution, gas prices, government preference.
Pollution can be countered with better technology - and removal of radical environmentalists. Gas prices - more supply, remove the permatorium on the Gulf Coast. Government preference can be countered by removing the current occupants.
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