Post from Random Musings:
American Electric & Hybrid Cars .......
| By sean - Jul 24, 2008 1:50:11 PM ET |
| Also listed in: Certified Green Partners | Green Living | Northern Kentucky Environmental Advocates | Taking Action | The Green Group | Tree Huggers |
While I must applaud GM's new concept car the "Volt" I await its release with some degree of trepidation. Ford now has a Hybrid SUV that uses soy based foam in its seat cushions.... Hey fabulous!
Now for the bad news...GM's the Volt is huge, way bigger than it needs to be. In fact it's the same size of some luxury sedans. While this will appeal to those of the mind set that bigger is better, it fails to recognize that bigger also means it requires more resource to build. Further, A GM executive was quoted, on N.P.R., as saying that it will cost $10,000 more than a normal car. Hmmmmm. Lets do some math. If the AVERAGE GM car runs around $30,000 and this car is going to cost $10,000 more... it quickly becomes apparent that the average Joe and his family will not be able to afford it. If most people cannot buy the car it solves nothing.
I mention this to notate that there is a car, called the "G-Wiz" available in England that runs around $18000 US, however, to the best of my knowledge; it cannot be purchased in the states. WHY! It occurs to me that this little love, by virtue of being more affordable, would go much further towards solving our energy crisis that the megalithic Volt.
Now we get to the new Ford Hybrid SUV (sorry I forget the name.) Great news! It gets a whopping 26 MPG highway. GRRRR! You know, back in the 1990's gas was relatively cheap. In this market of cheap gas there came unto the land a small car by an unheard of company called Geo. The car was the Metro 3cyl. It got 52 MPG and in its stripped down no option form ran about $6000-$7000. I know this because I bought another model that came out later called the Storm. I mention this because My 1991 Geo storm (that has had indifferent maintenance, random infrequent oil changes, and I don't remember the last time I checked the tires) get better Gas mileage than this new Hybrid. How does this solve anything?
Now the question becomes apparent why aren't the US car manufacturers applying their brain-pans to creating a car that could compete with the second hand market? If India can create a fuel efficient car for around $5000 I refuse to believe that our car manufacturers are unable to do the same with an electric or mega fuel efficient hybrid (perhaps go back to the 90's and revamp the metro 3cyl with a hybrid system).
Now it will seem to some of you that I am running down these efforts by US auto manufacturers and I am sure I will be vilified by some members for stating these facts while, in fact, I applaud GM's new concept car... they are currently in negotiation with the large electric conglomerates as to how to power them and new smart grid technologies that will assist in using the entire power production grid more efficiently. AWESOME! I applaud Ford whose Executive, at the recent celebration of the model T's 100th anniversary, stated that the electrification of the car is the next big step in automobile technology. FANTASTIC! But we must remember that all the technology in the world will not help if the people can't afford it. Again, I applaud the big three's efforts in this area but while they're working in this direction they need to think about small cheep options for people who mainly shop the secondary market, an ideology that Henry Ford himself would embrace as he demonstrated with the model T's being "cheap enough for a person making an average wage".
We won't be through this crisis until everyone is driving more efficient electric or hybrid cars. Hell, just bringing back the 3cyl metro would make a huge difference. There are currently foreign designs out there that could work that we cannot buy here. If they can do it so can we.
world without end,
sean
Now for the bad news...GM's the Volt is huge, way bigger than it needs to be. In fact it's the same size of some luxury sedans. While this will appeal to those of the mind set that bigger is better, it fails to recognize that bigger also means it requires more resource to build. Further, A GM executive was quoted, on N.P.R., as saying that it will cost $10,000 more than a normal car. Hmmmmm. Lets do some math. If the AVERAGE GM car runs around $30,000 and this car is going to cost $10,000 more... it quickly becomes apparent that the average Joe and his family will not be able to afford it. If most people cannot buy the car it solves nothing.
I mention this to notate that there is a car, called the "G-Wiz" available in England that runs around $18000 US, however, to the best of my knowledge; it cannot be purchased in the states. WHY! It occurs to me that this little love, by virtue of being more affordable, would go much further towards solving our energy crisis that the megalithic Volt.
Now we get to the new Ford Hybrid SUV (sorry I forget the name.) Great news! It gets a whopping 26 MPG highway. GRRRR! You know, back in the 1990's gas was relatively cheap. In this market of cheap gas there came unto the land a small car by an unheard of company called Geo. The car was the Metro 3cyl. It got 52 MPG and in its stripped down no option form ran about $6000-$7000. I know this because I bought another model that came out later called the Storm. I mention this because My 1991 Geo storm (that has had indifferent maintenance, random infrequent oil changes, and I don't remember the last time I checked the tires) get better Gas mileage than this new Hybrid. How does this solve anything?
Now the question becomes apparent why aren't the US car manufacturers applying their brain-pans to creating a car that could compete with the second hand market? If India can create a fuel efficient car for around $5000 I refuse to believe that our car manufacturers are unable to do the same with an electric or mega fuel efficient hybrid (perhaps go back to the 90's and revamp the metro 3cyl with a hybrid system).
Now it will seem to some of you that I am running down these efforts by US auto manufacturers and I am sure I will be vilified by some members for stating these facts while, in fact, I applaud GM's new concept car... they are currently in negotiation with the large electric conglomerates as to how to power them and new smart grid technologies that will assist in using the entire power production grid more efficiently. AWESOME! I applaud Ford whose Executive, at the recent celebration of the model T's 100th anniversary, stated that the electrification of the car is the next big step in automobile technology. FANTASTIC! But we must remember that all the technology in the world will not help if the people can't afford it. Again, I applaud the big three's efforts in this area but while they're working in this direction they need to think about small cheep options for people who mainly shop the secondary market, an ideology that Henry Ford himself would embrace as he demonstrated with the model T's being "cheap enough for a person making an average wage".
We won't be through this crisis until everyone is driving more efficient electric or hybrid cars. Hell, just bringing back the 3cyl metro would make a huge difference. There are currently foreign designs out there that could work that we cannot buy here. If they can do it so can we.
world without end,
sean
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Only open source technology could compete with thees oil and car corporations.
I'm promoting Open Source because it's rout to green future.
If now we will support Open Source starting from Open Source web browser or productivity suite or operating system in future wee will see OScar, and some OS wind power plant and many many things. We can solve it! So start solve it now!
Check it out.
Chris