Posted on 02/04/2013 2:10:43 PM PST by PJ-Comix
Hybrid car pioneer and “father of the Prius” Takeshi Uchiyamada says the billions poured into developing battery electric vehicles have ultimately been in vain. "Because of its shortcomings--driving range, cost and recharging time--the electric vehicle is not a viable replacement for most conventional cars," said Uchiyamada. "We need something entirely new."
Uchiyamada’s comments come as the U.S. Department of Energy announced Thursday that the government is backing off President Barack Obama’s promise to put one million electric cars on American roads by 2015. As Breitbart News reported last September, there are just 30,000 electric cars on American roads.
(Excerpt) Read more at breitbart.com ...
Ya gotta respect a man who admits defeat!
Is it ok now to run them off the road now when they are bogging down traffic?
U.S. Department of Energy announced Thursday that the government is backing off President Barack Obama’s promise to put one million electric cars on American roads by 2015.
The great thing for Obama is that the leftist media will trumpet this as a success just because he said he would do it.
For a democrat trying IS succeeding!
"The Prius situation has developed not necessarily to Japan's advantage."
Ah, come on.
Who should you believe - a successful businessman and engineer...OR...a fake quota baby who has never earned an honest dollar in his sorry life?
You listenin’ Obamadork?
Got your bat ears tuned up....loser?
“the electric vehicle is not a viable replacement for most conventional cars”
Of course he knew this when he started.
Any sophomore in engineering with a couple weeks in Thermodynamics could have come to this conclusion quite directly.
Some electricity comes from coal powered plants.....most residential electricity bills have jumped dramatically.....you have to wonder why the EPA was out to lunch on this.....does Carbon Footprint ring a bell?
How about the VW hovercar?
http://www.flixxy.com/volkswagen-levitating-car.htm#.URAzumdZOcY
...and why hasn’t this engine caught on?
http://circlecycleice.com/page9.php
I’ve always called it the Priapus.
Batteries need to get better and cheaper.
Then it will be a viable alternative.
There may well be a niche market which would support a small scale industry which, with a more well developed product, could gradually grow and thrive as the marketplace evolved. By the government choosing to intervene in the market at a time in the development cycle when the product is an abject failure, it not only wastes money that's not its to waste, but it squeezes out any entrepreneurs who might have been able to develop a viable product.
True. And I think its premature to write off the electric vehicle. Its just a matter of time before technology catches up to make battery only cars a real alternative.
But - in no way should Obastid or other governmental morons finance and subsidize this industry.
“Ya gotta respect a man who admits defeat!”
Especially in Japan where the next traditional step after admitting defeat is...sepaku.
Electric cars are not viable? Who should I believe,the CEO of a successful car manufacturing company or 0bama?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pz2eCFoafXk
Paul Shanklin
Song Lyrics:
(Parody of In The Ghetto by Elvis Presley)
As the snow flies...
At a used car lot on the edge of town
A liberal guy and a liberal gal
Buy a Yugo
And they drive with pride
‘cause if there’s one thing that this world needs
It’s environmental friends who’ll take the lead
In a Yugo
They say, “People don’t you understand?
Those Suburbans are ruining the land!”
But they’ll wish they had a full-size van one day
They’re pointing fingers at you and me
They say we’re too blind to see
But do we simply use our heads
And choose a better way
As those small wheels turn
Fifty miles to the gallon and their knees on their chests
We’re gonna save enough gas for all the rest
In a Yugo
Then one day on the interstate
They suddenly lose control
They swerve to miss a baby duck
And are squashed beneath a produce truck
But they drove with pride
And as the crowds drive past the little flat car
You know they saved a lot of gas but they didn’t get far
In a Yugo
And as they’re trapped inside
At a used car lot on the other side of town
A liberal guy and a liberal gal
Buy a Yugo
And they drive with pride...
If electric cars WERE viable, it had been done decades ago. Same with solar, wind, etc..
They do make for a nice, toasty (albeit expensive) fire.
Yeah, but the Prius isn’t an electric; it’s a hybrid. As is the Lohner that smoothsailing posted.
Cool engine.
Seems to have more than a few potential stress points that may fail.
I think the near future, using existing technology, is Nat GAS. It works. If Auto Makers get behind a “Passenger car” version, you’ll be able to swap out a tank (just like your gas grill).
Demand vs. Supply, the chicken and egg paradox of building the vehicle before having the proper filling stations.
That is something a Narcissist will never do.
This should have been very clear from the beginning. Battery technology is not even near what it needs to be to be cost effective. The best technology I’ve read about involved carbon fiber fly wheels to store energy but the federal government snapped that up and it is now used almost exclusively in satellites. There is still some fly wheel usage being considered by car manufacturers but primarily as a kinetic energy recovery mechanism. The beauty of flywheels is that they can “charge” spin up in a fraction of the time that a battery can charge and they can also store as much as 10 times the energy of a typical chemical battery using a fraction of the space. The only other near term option is fuel cell tech which appears to have floundered. Most green technology involving cars sadly at this point is more of a scam than anything of real import. There are very few situations where a gasline powered vehicle can not be more economically and ecologically friendly than an equivalent “green” vehicle.
http://powerpulse.net/story.php?storyID=15286
http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-13746_7-20068342-48.html
What happened to the turbin car? That was supposed to be the next big thing...several decades ago.
Too bad batteries don’t have their own Gordon E. Moore to make the rulz about them.
Formula One cars use some type of “kinetic energy” recovery system.
I’d be curious about your thoughts and if you can tell us how they work and for what purpose.
The tank on most gas grills holds 4 gallons of L P Gas.
,,, you’ll be able to swap out a tank (just like your gas grill).
...........The tank on most gas grills holds 4 gallons of L P Gas...........
Back to “full service” filling stations.
It didn't go well when I told them that the electric car stuff they were working on for the gov't just wasn't ready for prime time except for a few special situations.
Political Laws are no match for the Laws of Physics.
There were a number of propane cars running around in Canada ~20-30 years ago.
“Political Laws are no match for the Laws of Physics. “
But the laws of Federal Subsidies often defies what the Laws of Physics dictates.....at least for a while.
“Ya gotta respect a man who admits defeat!”
He means the electric battery only car is not viable.
His own invention is the gas-electric battery hybrid. And I judge that to be highly successful.
Hardly a defeat. Toyota dominates hybrid sales to a high degree. The technology is well proven.
Next year KERS will offer a 160 hp boost but still only for 6-7 seconds. Real different engineering goals than a street vehicle.
Ah, the hybrid car!
Dubai firm envisions horse-powered hybrid
That’s funny !!!
Now if they could just get the horse to eat its own exhaust.
Thanks,
I am curious if that HP boost needs to be used immediately or is it stored energy?
the Chevy Volt is a great car,
except it costs too much for what it is
Hell, I only gradiated from the third grade twice and I coulda tole y’all that.
That episode is right up their with the Whale Wars one.
At least the oceans stopped rising and the planet started cooling. Thanks Obama!
there are just 30,000 electric cars on American roads...
Yes, and how much did these 30,000 pieces of crap cost us American Taxpayers.
F!BO
Ya gotta respect a man who admits defeat!
%%
Yes, but this comment makes me nervous:
“...the electric vehicle is not a viable replacement for most conventional cars,” said Uchiyamada. “We need something entirely new.”
&&
Hmmm...Will that something new involve another Obama money laundering adventure?
No, too much estrogen involved....
In Bar Harbor, ME, there is a city-owned fleet of buses that run on propane. (Or maybe it’s natural gas.) Riding the bus is free to the public.
Sure, but gasoline is still a better and cheaper alternative. Always will be. The only successful places for electric vehicles are golf courses, Costco warehouses (electric forklifts), and amusement parks (bumper cars). Anywhere else, you're burning oil, coal, or natural gas to create the electricity to charge the batteries and it would simply make more sense just to burn gasoline.
Batteries need to get better and cheaper.
Then it will be a viable alternative.
At the start of the electric car craze, a friend opined that “We need to put everything into electric cars because we’re on the cutting edge of a big energy storage break through!”
I asked if we really wanted to “bet the farm” against technology that does not exist.
You remember when full service stations existed?
Most kids today will ask: Full Service, what are you talking about? They have no idea.
I was working in one at age 15 and did it all.
You must be over 40.
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