New Poll: Americans Shun Electrics

Why in the **** would anyone trying to go 1000 miles in a day, do it through Yellowstone?

 

Well, first there are the direct subsidies. They're partly preferential tax treatment, and partly outright cash grants. Depending on the definition of 'tax deduction', the total may or may not include bribes - ahem - 'contributions' to political campaigns. Regardless of accounting method, the direct subsidies are many billions of dollars. That may or may not sound 'massive' to you, but I think it fits most definitions. Recent political attempts to cancel these direct subsidies, both in Canada and the US, have not been successful.

Then there are the indirect subsidies, also known as environmental costs. Pollution of air, water, and soil costs everyone in terms of health and sometimes the ability to earn a living - like the recent Gulf spill. The relatively recent practice of fracking pumps chemicals deep underground, poisoning aquifers and groundwater. When whole communities find their water supply useless, they're fracked. Oil pollution is a huge cost we all bear, but nobody pays for directly - that's a subsidy.

That's a very good question. Now that you understand a little more about subsidies, think about all the costs of using petroleum. If we added all those together, and divided by the number of gallons sold, do you think the cost would be more or less than the current price? Recall from Economics 101 that cost and price are not necessarily the same thing. If your 'personal guess' is still 50%, you'd better give it some more thought before giving your final answer.

 

Or not; Did you read about those Leaf owners that are stranded on roads because the computer tells them that they can make it home, but they don't make it ? and they need to somehow find a way to get some charge ? It's normal to build your life around a car ?

For me is only math, not feeling like for others.
Leaf $33000 no range. My Prius was 21900 + range.
Again, people know what they need.
I do not have $50000 like you, so, I have to know exactly what is the best for the money, and to pay $10000 more for less does not make sense.
You like philosophy to much man . Real world is different.

 

To answer the question of who would need to be able to drive a car 1,000 miles a day, it's easy. Taxi drivers. Chauffeurs. Delivery drivers. Salesmen. Realtors. The list goes on. I personally worked for about 5 years as a chauffeur and averaged around 600 miles per day working 7 days a week, with variations from as few as about 250 miles a day during the slow season to sometimes over 1,000 miles in a day. No, that's not typical for the vast majority of drivers in the U.S., but it is typical for some of the ones whose work necessarily involves using the most fuel.

It seems to me that it would make sense to try to design vehicles that are able to cater to those who drive the most miles as soon as we're able to. Those will likely be the people first in line to adopt something more sensible. Look at how many cab companies either have or are in the process of moving their fleets over to Prius or other hybrids. It's a huge savings for them, not to mention that it's a boon to the environment when they can do the same amount of driving on half or less as much gas.

In the meantime, developing vehicles that cater to the huge number of people who drive comparatively few miles in a day first is a great way to help fund the development of those longer range vehicles for the biggest consumers of fuel. Incremental change makes a lot of sense, because it mitigates the inevitable mistakes that will be made during the process of change.

 

For those operating with CDLs, these examples sound like egregious violations of federal driver hours of service regulations.

 

I have family in new York, moved to Florida 7 years ago. Driving may sometimes be less of a hassle than flying, especially if I am going to stay for a week. I avoid putting my car in long term airport parking, rent a car for a week in NY, etc... Every year, I make the trip, 1100 miles from 4:00 AM to 8M, about 15-16 hours in one day with 1/2 to 1 hour rest half way.

 

:deadhorse:

 

Yup. Time to shoot the dang horse.

Let the (40% acceptance) shunning continue!

 

Those with a CDL can't drive those hours, you're correct, but a CDL isn't necessary in a lot of places for many of those jobs.

 

Fuzzy you live in Washington (state) we live in Washington (DC), how long do you think it takes to get to jellystone?

you are absolutely correct: people who drive the most pollute the most; replacing one taxi will do more environment then replacing 10 granny cars.

 

I question this logic. The first EVs, in my opinion, should be targeted at the most miles.
I would put forward that since the technology for 100-200 mile EVs currently exists AND that most people drive less than 50 miles a day, the first EVs should target that market.
EVs are simply not capable of hauling big equipment/loads over interstate distances, so why insist that they should.
If you are required to drive 1000 miles, I feel sorry for you as that iis expensive, and getting more so as time goes by.
For the other 99% of us, luckily we have less expensive options.

 

Got to see a Mitsubishi Miev yesterday. Yeah, they still have a waiting list.

Funny, that.

Oh, and I want one.

 

I assume you are joking. Otherwise I need new glasses as I'm sure the spedo was reading 114 kph (70+mph) while cruising silently down the highway on the test drive yesterday. I was barely touching the pedal. My Jetta TDI would be seriously struggling and barfing up great black clouds to even come close to that speed on the same stretch of road. We bought the Prius. We will be retiring our old gas Jetta to an add on kijiji. Still have to keep the TDI Jetta until the "break even" point but I think it will more likely be until the "break down" point. Then the old diesel V Dub will be replaced by a Leaf. As for a Prius being more damaging than a Hummer. Is that because Hummers were built from pixie dust by magical unicorns and run on the laughter of elves?

 

I guess what has bothered me on a subconcious level ever since this evergrowing thread appeared is the use of the word "Shun".

Somehow for me it conjures up images of "The Crucible" like groupings in darkened corners..."I Shun Thee Evil Electric!"..."Be gone thy plug in work of The Devil!" "Thee tail pipe of the accused does not smoke with the holiness of gas burning righteousness!".

I mean maybe sales aren't exactly brisk? Maybe a lot of people are uniformed or simply not ready for the purchase of an electric...but are we REALLY shunning them? Do we abhor the idea?

I don't think so.

 

This just dodges the safety issues of working such unsafe hours.

 

And maybe not. Is there not still a waiting list for the Leaf? Most people can't even buy one in their state. They have yet to get an opportunity to shun one.

 

I agree...that's kind of my point. I don't think people abhor the idea.

You can point to specifics and debate flaws in current products and/or difficulties in application but I don't feel most people want to "Shun" electrics...or Hybrids or any option.

 

It is difficult for the public to understand conflicting reports from some so-called "Auto Journalists" who themselves do not quite understand the technology.

We need to remember that for more than a decade, executives at GM were telling the public why hybrids and electric cars wont work, and then GM killed their own EV program. Recently(Old News) in 2009, Audi President said that Chevy Volt was a "Car for Idiots… at the same time that Audi was trying to come up with a hybrid car.

Audi President: Chevy Volt Is a

The point I am making is; car executives destroyed the customer base primarily by trashing the Prius for a long time. They usually answer questions by saying that these vehicles do not make sense. The press, what press?, anybody who can cut & paste can post on the internet. The public(God bless them) only believes what they are told. Now because of CAFE legislation and inevitability of electrification of the automobile, every car company is working on their own hybrid and electric cars. If there are no customers, they should blame themselves.

 

Quite logical.

I guess then, that replacing 10 city busses would be really good for the envoronment!


Note for the humor impaired:
That was sarcasm.
You really can't tell, since you don't do the humor thing and the [sarcasm] [/sarcasm] tags aren't working.

More sarcasm.

Dang! I'm in a loop!!!

 

There in lies the irony the the USA Today article. A waiting list of 20,000 formed in about 90 days ... just WAITING to get on the list ... so Nissan had to shut the waiting list down so it wouldn't get even more ridiculously long. Even when a buyer decides not to buy, the orphaned car gets snapped up in record time. They can't build the Leaf fast enough to keep up with production. Reality seems to differ with Mr. Gloom & doom USA Today article writer. But it IS funny how the detractors here keep saying how horribly impractical EV's are ... yet the EV's still keep getting snapped up. And where DID USA Today run this poll I wonder ... right outside the GM parking lot maybe? It sure doesn't seem to jibe with what buyers are doing. BAAAHH ... what do those wacky EV buyers know.


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