Silly post. Create the straw man and tear him. Tell me, who makes that claim? If you can't understand how reducing our dependence on countries like Saudi Arabia, Iran (indirectly), Venezuela while slashing their revenue streams isn't a great thing for this country, feel free to be ignorant. At the same time, the U.S. has to make sure we end up leading the way in battery technology or we miss the chance at reducing dependency.
but's that's sort of my point, would people really care if all cars were hybrids? don't they perform just as well, if not better
Yes people would. To some, hybrids have a stigma about them as being no-performance cars that don't really save you that much more money over other gasoline counterparts in the long run. That's being overcome a bit in the past couple of years, especially with gas prices rising over the last few years. I think younger people today are going to eventually give up on the battle tanks that people want to drive today (at least I hope so). As for performance, no, the performance usually is less-to-a-lot less assuming you're talking about things like acceleration. My car's about to hit 160,000 miles and it's still running well, but I've been thinking about what to buy next for the last 2 years. I would love to buy something electric, but those things are jokes for the type of driving I do. They'd be worthless. Then I've thought about a Prius or a Volt. The Prius is doable, but man, I'd miss the ~ 250-300+ horsepower V6 models that I like. The Volt, at least on paper, seems awesome, but GM reliability + first run + new technology scares the hell out of me.
but they cost more and that are unknowns and the repair is scary and they not as flashy you talking about people here. . . logic is not exactly the best way to tell what they willl do Rocket River
Largely I agree. I just have a hard time seeing the production and sale of electric batteries, along with whatever it takes to recharge them, being as big an industry as oil. Obviously oil is used in other places other than just gas for cars, so it doesn't completely go away. Maybe I am overvaluing the oil sector as a percentage of the economy, particularly for Houston and Texas. Reading through this convinces me more that I am: http://www.dallasfed.org/research/pubs/fotexas/fotexas_brown.html.
Here's another devil's advocate point: The industry itself is not becoming more sustainable. A about a year and half ago (I think), Scientific American did a side to side comparison of your carbon footprint of: * buying a new Prius * restoring an old 1950's era Buick (or something like that) and driving it around with leaded gas. You are overall better off, in terms of helping the planet, driving the old Buick. That's because of all the energy and waste consumed and generated by building the Prius, and also the impact of disposing of its nasty battery every so often. (Sorry, but somebody has to put on the T_J costume once in a while.)
I doubt "the production and sale of electric batteries, along with whatever it takes to recharge them" will ever be as big an industry as oil. That fantasy isn't really the goal. If battery technology becomes successful and gains traction, the price of oil will plummet and oil producing countries will no longer be in control of a giant portion of the world economy. Also, their treasuries will shrink and their negative influence around the globe will decline significantly. There is no thought of oil going away, just losing it's total monopoly. That will shake things up enough. But again, it's important the U.S. gain the lead in battery technology. The race is on.
The US is already behind. For example, from what I've read, the Prius uses elements like lanthanum and neodymium in the production of the car and the battery itself. I think China controls over 90% of the neodymium production in the world. This is also one of the reasons that's led to speculation and the run-up of rare earth stocks. Needless to say, Japan is also a bit worried. Beyond even the production of neodymium, China produces over 95% of the world's rare earth metals and people are worried about them cutting back on exports. China began selling a plug-in hybrid (electric with a gasoline range extender) back a couple of years ago, but I don't think it did too well in China. They're trying to bring one out here in the US and in Europe in the next 1-2 years.
The business world speaks one language: money. When/if there is a dent in the profits, it will happen. I can't remember an instance where a major corporation did something out of good will. Which IMO is fine because that's the way things are set up. It's upto us to adapt. Vote with your money. Buy things which you believe in, and create awareness about them. In most cases though, you won't be able to counter the noise created by large coroporations. Personally, I still try. I think for a human, it's very difficult to make decisions which affect a period after their anticipated death. This is something we can all get better at because the only way the current system could work is if we could re-scale the impact of decisions we make to only affect the period when we're alive. Obviously, we can't do that, so the only other way to deal with it is to start creating a habit of it.
this is false. when the battery dies, the gas engine powers the electric motor and the battery gets recharged.
you can get a non-hybrid fuel efficient car at $15,600 bucks which will get you a solid overall 30 mph. the cheapest hybrid will run you about $24,000 (41mpg). The cheapest electric will be $40,000 (60 mph). In order to break even on either car assuming $3/gallon gas, you'll have to drive it over 300,000 miles. How many people get their car that far?? Even if you include gov't incentives, the math still does cut it, and we aren't even discussing the higher maintence costs. You don't buy a hybrid / electric to save money. If you do, you are foolish. You do it because you believe in energy independence and/or helping the environment.
Do the math on how much $$$$ is generated by the sale of gasoline and you will find the real answer..... Our economy is tied significantly to the gasoline tax.... DD
