Posted on 09/27/2012 5:35:47 AM PDT by IBD editorial writer
Industrial Policy: This week, the world's largest carmaker said electric cars are a joke, and a congressional report said federal subsidies are a waste. You'd think that would shock President Obama out of his electric car fantasy .
Back in March 2009, Obama announced plans to pour billions of taxpayer dollars into the development of electric cars in the form of grants, federal loans and tax credits. "This investment will not only reduce our dependence on foreign oil, it will put Americans back to work," Obama promised.
"It positions American manufacturers on the cutting edge of innovation and solving our energy challenges." Plus, it would help meet Obama's goal of getting a million plug-in cars on the road by 2015.
Fast forward to this week, and take a look at how Obama's grand vision is paying off.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.investors.com ...
To go 200 miles, you fill your tank one time and use only half of it.
A plugin would have to be charged 2 times if you believe the sales pitch nd 4 times if you live in the real world.
More in very cold climates.
The first reference I found on the net says $4.00 per charge and 5.5 hours if you can get to a 22v charger.
So 4 times $4.00 = $16.00 plus 22 hours on various chargers.
This all very well for a person who drives only as far as he really should take a walk.
My point being that there are other costs beyond the cost of electricity.
Interesting in that I read a report the other day, and I did not keep the link, that ran a survey of what owners who trade in hybrids purchase with the trade.
Very very few purchased another.
It kinda stands to reason that only people who didn’t like their hybrids traded their cars in. Most are too new, for people to simply be trading their hybrids in for something newer, given that hybrids are being sold at full sticker value.
I don’t even have an electric toaster.”
I do—My Dad gave it to me for Christmas in about 1975. I still use it—37 years later. It works just fine.
That makes sense to me.
I’m not for electric cars.
But an electric motor is 90+% efficient.
An ICE is approx. 24% efficient.
Too bad there’s so much other crap to complicate it though.
The batteries are not cutting it.
Now you could put a trailer on the back of your hybrid, carrying a coal powered steam engine running a generator, and a supply of coal.
You'd have to stop once in a while to stoke the fire, and it would belch black smoke, but hey...you'd have unlimited range. And it would at least be honest.
I remember back in 2009 there were a lot of folks here in Central Kentucky who were extremely upset when Obama and his gang didn’t give any funds to a group that was trying to set up a NiCad battery factory near Glendale. Now everyone is talking sour grapes about how glad they are that the factory didn’t come in and that the property is still available for a future factory.
To be quite honest, I sorta agree with the Toyota naysayer in that Lithium electric cars will only ever be a bleeding edge product, sorta like the videodisk. The CD/DVD product (longer lasting, but not indefinitely lasting) will be ultracapacitators. But LI+ is still a useful step towards that.
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