Autoline This Week: Source: The EV Era (Show #2012) on Autoline This Week If you have an hour, a good listen: Electrics were all the rage a few years ago. Nissan, Mitsubishi and Chevrolet – among others – gave consumers their first taste of gas-free driving. But as manufacturers improved the performance of their internal combustion engines, electrics almost went into hibernation. But now, suddenly, they are de rigueur once again. Join John McElroy from the floor of the New York Auto Show as he discusses this electric resurrection with Salim Morsy from Bloomberg New Energy Finance, John Voelcker of High Gear Media and EV enthusiast Chelsea Sexton. Bob Wilson
i don't have an hour. what timeline are they talking about? i don't recall ev's being popular, then unpopular, and now popular again. from my perspective, it's been a fairly steady increase since the introduction of the leaf.
i don't mind commenting, ignorance has never stopped me before. maybe they were talking early 1900's, then a century of gas, and now popular again.
I see it completely and totally different. The first surge of EVs over a decade ago was entirely due to the CARB zero pollution vehicle mandate. This resulted in the EV1, Electric RAV-4, and others. Once this CARB mandate ended, then all those EVs production lines stopped instantly. EVs were dead as far as every major car maker was concerned. The real break in the EV dark ages was Tesla. From just few enlightened individuals realized a really hot performing vehicle could perform better than an ICE vehicle. Meanwhile, a lot of other individuals were making Priuses into PHEVs. Both were fighting the Detroit culture at every step. Both succeeded. Then success brings money. Money changes minds faster than any other method.
if you read the first sentence of bob's quote, i think you'll agree that that's impossible. but then, so is my 1900's scenario.
Let me just say this much...in the beginning, there was the successful Toyota Prius. That success enabled Tesla. Both Toyota and Tesla are leaders on where we are now. US Congress though also, they asked for Plug-ins over hybrids as far back as 2006 or so.
okay, i'll quote it. 'electrics were all the rage a few years ago. nissan, mitsubishi and chevrolet, among others, gave consumers their first taste of gas free driving. so i asked myself, when did nissan, mitsubishi, chevrolet and others start selling electric cars? you're probably correct, but their statement makes no sense to me.
My history book goes back a little farther ... a decade or so ; GM announces its electric car - Jan 04, 1996 - HISTORY.com Who knows ... if GM (and Toyota's Gen1 rav4) hadn't made such a great plugin - then ripped 'em out of the hands of satisfies users ... who made such a stink / brought about the movie "who killed the electric car" ... we might not be sitting so pretty today .
Calm my friends. The quote was from Autoline TV who are notorious anti-EV and especially anti-Prius. They attend every auto show and report anyone who says something negative about what they call 'green cars.' Call them the face of the 'h*ll NO', engine-only troglodytes. Bob Lutz is their spirital father. So why to I hang with them? "Hold your friends close but hold your enemies closer." - Godfather movie quote Like shooting fish in a barrel, they come up with such frequent nonsense universally backed up by misleading 'percentages', I love to share the facts and data, the actual numbers. No, it does not change their attitudes BUT it keeps them from asserting the worst nonsense and lies without a reality reply. Still, I was amused by their 2016 Prius reviewer who complained about 'the small sun visors.' These petty pontificators are in one respect just echoing the attitudes of their funders (they are in Detroit.) Bob Wilson
