Posted on 12/17/2009 5:09:38 AM PST by FlyVet
Hybrid gasoline-electric and all-electric cars will continue to cost more than vehicles with a conventional internal combustion engine for the foreseeable future, putting the new technology beyond the reach of many car buyers.
Sales of hybrid and all-electric cars therefore may be limited to affluent buyers who can afford to make an environmental statement and the vast majority of vehicles will continue to be powered by gasoline or diesel engines. While promising, the new lithium-ion battery technology won’t significantly reduce pollution or dependence on foreign oil by 2030.
(Excerpt) Read more at minyanville.com ...
The problem is that some this crap works in Europe and the left(who think that Europe is so much smarter than we are)think it will work here. What the retards forget is how much bigger this country is vs Europe. An example would be TN from Bristol to Memphis is 500 miles, while London is only 200 miles from Paris and around 600 miles from Berlin.
You have totally ignored a HUGE portion of the cost of auto ownership. Your obscenely costly HYBRID is going to cost thousands of EXTRA dollars annually for INSURANCE. If you live in a state like Massachusetts, there will be an annual bill called the EXCISE TAX, levied and paid LOCALLY for the privileage of auto ownership.
The extra gasoline costs for my beloved old station wagon will be a mere drop in the cash bucket you’ll be spending.
When I was talking about electric cars with my 5 yr old, I mentioned that we’d just park them at night and the electricity fairy would come by and touch it with her wand to recharge it for the next day.
She didn’t buy it. But a lot of “greenies” believe a fairy tale that’s very similar.
Algore:
“What are these laws [of physics]? We’re in power now, we can change the laws.”
We are now in what I think is the automobile death spiral. Governments (both state and Federal) derive enormous amounts of tax monies from the sale of gasoline. As these sources of tax revenues dry up, they will be forced to find new ways to offset this deficiency. I think they will increase the taxes on the purchase of new automobiles, licensing, and there will probably even be a mileage tax. These actions will further drive up the cost of owning and operating an automobile, thus fewer will be sold and operated. Plus, throw in hybrids and the supposed electric cars, and the tax revenues will decline even farther. The death spiral will continue with each new round of increased taxation and lower demand for cars. After all, one half of all voters work for government (I consider the public school system as government employees) and they are not going to do away with their own jobs. We can expect higher taxes and increased expense for automobile ownership until only politicians and their benefactors will be able to afford an automobile.
Is that a gallon of electrons?
It’s worse than the gallon to gallon comparison:
1.29 gallons of gasoline containing
148,350 BTUs of energy
to produce 1 gallon of ethanol containing
84,000 BTUs of energy.
Of course all the car, battery, and infrastructure credits will have to be paid for somehow. In the end, Obama's mathmaticians & Al Gore will show us how it's 100 times less costly to drive "green technology."
I’m holding out for my flying car.
This could though be optional for us here in my country. We have abundance of electricity, but need to import all gasoline.
One of THE stupidest platitudes,
the one that makes me the angriest,
is the phrase “green jobs”.
The greenies want their green cars, but no new power plants, no new high tension lines to carry the added electricity. We've already suffered brownouts in CA and the northeast without the added load. They want something for nothing, as usual.
Me: You smoke pot don't you!
Greenie Weinie: Blank stare
Oh, but we’re going to power them off of Windmills and Unicorn Poop. (/sarc)
I’m getting a Shetland Pony and a surrey with the fringe on top.
Why do you say it’s about thermodynamics? The efficiency of the engine is one factor. Others are fuel cost, ease of handling and storing the fuel, cost of the engine and drivetrain, and emissions.
No it is not.
Minimal sounds right.
Yes, it is legal. There are home units to distill your own ethanol for vehicular use, with a small fuel producer permit.
It’s illegal to sell non-taxpaid grain alcohol.
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