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Electric car sales falling short of goal
SFGate.com ^ | 10/17/12 | Angela Greiling Keane - bloomberg

Posted on 10/17/2012 10:46:31 AM PDT by NormsRevenge

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I'd love to have a little tiny electric car, I see all kinds of smart cars around, brave souls. Where do ya put the luggage and the spare battery? and the extension cord?
1 posted on 10/17/2012 10:46:32 AM PDT by NormsRevenge
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To: NormsRevenge
or consumers are merely slow to adapt to new things

Consumers adapt to new things with amazing speed if the new thing is something they actually want.
2 posted on 10/17/2012 10:50:30 AM PDT by cripplecreek (What does it profit a man if he gains the whole world but loses his soul?)
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To: cripplecreek

LOL. They weren’t slow to take up ipods.


3 posted on 10/17/2012 10:52:12 AM PDT by mrsmel (One Who Can See)
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To: NormsRevenge

Smart brand cars aren’t electric in the US - yet. They have a little three banger gas engine.


4 posted on 10/17/2012 10:55:47 AM PDT by Spktyr (Overwhelmingly superior firepower and the willingness to use it is the only proven peace solution.)
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To: NormsRevenge

Norm, you and me both. I’m a tech nut, so these cars fascinate me. I just don’t think they’re there yet. I don’t honestly think they’re going to be anytime soon either.

If the Volt could be brought to market for about ten thousand less, and without government help, I’d snap one up.

I have been saying that we need a vehicle that could meet those parameters, for more than a decade. And here it is.

Most folks need one long distance vehicle, and one short distance vehicle. Use the long distance one to travel. Use the appropriate ones for short and long commutes.

I would like to have a solar array, and a couple of pallet jack batteries. Toss a converter on there, and you’re fuel is free, off the grid and gas station free.


5 posted on 10/17/2012 10:56:18 AM PDT by DoughtyOne (We should ignore the absurd peripheral, and focus on the absurd Obama. People died. He lied!)
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To: NormsRevenge

It is a complete blunder to put all-electric cars on market. They are of limited practical use in terms of modern and near-future technology. They aren’t useful in American environment with longer daily commute, in cold or hot climate eating battery for heating and cooling. Not only electric ars are crap, hybrids are crap as well. Practical mpg for Pruis is awful comparing to larger conventional European diesel cars.


6 posted on 10/17/2012 10:56:43 AM PDT by cunning_fish
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To: NormsRevenge

...well, it isn’t free. You pay for the system up front. I was off base there. Still...


7 posted on 10/17/2012 10:57:05 AM PDT by DoughtyOne (We should ignore the absurd peripheral, and focus on the absurd Obama. People died. He lied!)
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To: NormsRevenge

The electric version of the Smart car is not yet available. Coming soon. Just checked the website to verify.


8 posted on 10/17/2012 10:58:37 AM PDT by all the best (`~!)
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To: mrsmel

That’s the first thing that came to mind.

I ran out and bought me an HD flatscreen TV when they became affordable. I adapted to computers and the internet pretty quickly when I was ready about 15 years ago. I had no problem adapting to digital cameras.


9 posted on 10/17/2012 10:59:45 AM PDT by cripplecreek (What does it profit a man if he gains the whole world but loses his soul?)
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To: DoughtyOne

Hey, the day of the Jetsons may get us all yet if we live so long.

Folks got along fine with horses, then horseless carriages and probably someday the roads will be full of solar and wind powered vehicles, a combustion engine will be a museum piece..

ya see the cardboard bicycle some guy came up with..?

ya never know where technology will go .. or who needs or wants it or is willing to pay for it..


10 posted on 10/17/2012 11:02:52 AM PDT by NormsRevenge (Semper Fi)
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To: NormsRevenge
Make an electric car perform on par with an ICE driven vehicle and they will take over the market.

Until then, it won't happen no matter how much tax-payer money is thrown at it via subsidies...

11 posted on 10/17/2012 11:03:14 AM PDT by Dead Corpse (I will not comply.)
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To: NormsRevenge

“Obama Capital” picks all losers wasting taxpayers money, Bain Capital had 85% winners to the delight of private investors.


12 posted on 10/17/2012 11:10:03 AM PDT by Oldeconomybuyer (The problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other people's money.)
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To: cripplecreek

I heard a Volt owner say that the car was fine, but they always had the feeling like they was driving a gas car with the gas gauge bouncing on empty w/ no gas station close.


13 posted on 10/17/2012 11:13:47 AM PDT by B.O. Plenty (Elections have consequences....)
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To: NormsRevenge

Perhaps Uncle Sugar will offload some Volts as ObamaCars. Then, we can have video of a crazed woman screaming about her ObamaCar.


14 posted on 10/17/2012 11:15:01 AM PDT by Army Air Corps (Four Fried Chickens and a Coke)
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To: cripplecreek
Exactly. People adapt to new technology mighty damn quick when it's something they want, but no amount of finger-shaking can shove it down their throats when they don't. You'd think the whole history of "green energy" would show that. Until it's cheap, reliable, and convenient, it's a non-starter, and no amount of Gaia guilting will make people change their way of living, no matter what they pay lip service to.
15 posted on 10/17/2012 11:17:58 AM PDT by mrsmel (One Who Can See)
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To: NormsRevenge

“The reality is - that business model isn’t there yet,”

Its not a business model...its the cars that aren’t there yet.

In short, they don’t work.

No amount of modeling makes that different.

If its such a hot idea, let business invest in it anc keep taxpayer dollars where they belong....in China’s pocket. [ie, don’t borrow more money]


16 posted on 10/17/2012 11:19:12 AM PDT by Adder (No Mo BO)
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To: Army Air Corps

C5s air-dropping hugh payloads of Volts over Ohio and Pennsylvania suburbs fully charged.. that would be a sight to behold


17 posted on 10/17/2012 11:20:08 AM PDT by NormsRevenge (Semper Fi)
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To: mrsmel

People didn’t exactly rush to the automobile till Henry Ford took an expensive rich man’s toy and started mass producing them efficiently and cheaply while actively advertizing and demonstrating their worth.


18 posted on 10/17/2012 11:21:10 AM PDT by cripplecreek (What does it profit a man if he gains the whole world but loses his soul?)
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To: cripplecreek

“or consumers are merely slow to adapt to new things”

My uncle is still waiting for them to perfect color TV’s.


19 posted on 10/17/2012 11:27:16 AM PDT by duckman (I'm part of the group pulling the wagon!)
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To: cripplecreek

Not being a car buff, I just recently realised that electric cars have been around as long as the “horseless carriage” itself. They haven’t taken hold in all this time. I don’t know exactly what is meant by “electric” in reference to the early years of automobiles, but they were around in some form, yet the gasoline engine rules.


20 posted on 10/17/2012 11:35:36 AM PDT by mrsmel (One Who Can See)
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