The batteries deteriorate quickly. Buy one second hand and you'll probably need to have the battery replaced and it's not cheap.
Couple of points. I imagine it's one thing to change one or two manufacturing lines, or a whole plant, but it's a whole different thing to change your entire manufacturing outfit to a new style of engine/car. And it defies the idea of product differentiation; the manufacturer would be putting all their eggs in one basket (like GM once tried with the "ugly" concept car.) Second point is that cars actually don't do much damage on the global CO2 front. Let's say we expect global average temperature to rise a couple of degrees centigrade by 2050. The effect from the CO2 of cars will be like 0.04 of one of those degrees -- a 2% of the total effect. Coal plants, other fossil fuel power production, and jet travel all dwarf the CO2 effect of cars (according to Physics for Future Presidents, a book I have some faith in.)
From my standpoint, the transition to hybrid and then electric cars has more to do with striking back at the oil producing countries that hate our guts. Any benefit to the environment is fine and well, but political and security issues are primary here IMO.
Especially if you go to Sears Auto Center to replace a tire and they "accidentally" kill it testing the TPMS.
With the batteries they are much more expensive or everyone would have them. That and some of them dont even get that much better milage than a regular vehicle that is fuel efficient especially if u do a lot of freeway driving.
I'm still wondering why all computers aren't laptops, and why all printers and modems don't have wireless routers built into them.
I don't question that, but I wonder why desktops still even exist. Corporation or school replaces its computers, even nowadays it's still with desktops. Possibly for monitors, but docking stations make even that obsolete.
Laptops are still more expensive. They more expensive initially. More expensive to service and more likely to walk out the building unauthorized. I think with the printers . . . not everyone is ready for wireless connects maintenance wise and for some users. . simple frustration wise. As for the cars I think it is kind of complicated. It starts with $$$ The US cannot do it in a vacuum . . . .If they made that requirement It would hurt i think politically and economically [would our exports be more expensive and or undesirable?] We would piss off alot of other countries The transition has to be more gradual and organic Rocket River
I still prefer desktop for higher end needs. Gaming, data processing, and digital imaging. Basically anything more than just surfing the web and checking email, you get a lot more bang for the buck with desktop than laptop with some of the top end stuff not even available on the laptop.
Desktops are much more powerful per dollar and often you can reuse old parts from one to another. ` There are lots of vehicles that wouldn't benefit much from being a hybrid. It takes some thought and effort to make it worth your while. Making an F-250 a hybrid would either be really expensive or of little help efficiency wise. Also, better batteries are coming, but they are only a part of the problem with every car having a 25hp power assist motor type hybrid. I can buy a battery pack that will give me all that 25 hp for about a minute @ $300 and 6 lbs. But I need a motor and a controller and lots of other knick knacks that push the price and weight up.
So are technological innovation, minimizing the trade deficit and inflation, and not coating an entire body of water with crude.
I think it's the market to decide. If the demand for hybrids rise then companies will make more of them. It will be very interesting to see how the Chevy Volt performs - which is more of an electric car but sorta like a hybrid since it has a gas engine.
The gas engine is only used to maintain the state of charge of the HV battery. It's never used to propel the vehicle, unlike the hybrid.
