Why Electric Cars Have Stalled

I really wonder if the main purpose of 'news' is to manipulate public opinion.

Many people I know would buy an electric car, even as a first vehicle. I sense a huge latent demand. When it's more feasible and parts are more available, I see electric conversions being very popular. People will haul rusting hulks out of the junkyard, toss out the mechanicals, and build electric cars. It'll be the new fashion.

 

reason 1) range deficiency
reason 2) no plug

I commute 45 miles one way to work daily so I need something with at least 100 miles in range which is doable. However, then theres always long day trips to ski places or to relatives which are 150-300 miles.

I have no plug in my apartment building readily available but i might be able to snake an extension cord if management lets me.

So really its just a range problem in my case

 

Not remotely picking on you, as there are millions (tens of millions? hundreds of?) of Americans in a similar (or worse) boat, but our addiction to the ICE, propped up by cheap gas, has resulted in some pretty unsustainable living arrangements.

We're going to need a major paradigm shift for people to come to grips with this. I'm very lucky that work, church, kid's schools, shopping, etc. are all within 2.5 miles of our house, and we rarely venture more than 10 miles from home for anything. There are several days a week when we never even fire up our Prius at all, and next Fall when my daughter starts at the same school as my son, we hope to be able to be completely car-free during most weeks. And, I'm aware that there are lots of people, particularly in cities larger than mine, that don't bother with cars at all.

Instead of looking at the inability of EVs to fit into our current lifestyle, we as a society need to be looking at how to change our lifestyles to incorporate EVs (and other means of transportation) responsibly and sustainably.

 

So is it luck that put you in your position, or did you do it by design?

 

A bit of both. We centrally-located ourselves back in 1998 to make trips generally shorter, but at the time we bought the house, I worked 15 miles away, my wife 5 (in the opposite direction), and we had no kids. We certainly took very favorably into account the proximity of the local elementary school, the library, grocery stores, restaurants, etc., but I can't say we did it consciously with sustainability in mind, rather than just really liking the neighborhood and what it offered.

In addition, I'll fully cop to being less thoughtful about such things 10 years ago than I am now. Heck, we only became a one car family last year, so we're definitely a work in progress ourselves.

 

It says the Aptera (and Tesla) are still plugging along. Good news. We hold slot # 1,500 ish for the Aptera & I know someone that has slot # 500. That was quite a bit of time ago, & the list is much longer now. The wait lists grow but the delivery isn't there yet. Be patient.

 

Why isn't Congress looking to invest in these companies to accelerate their hiring displaced auto workers?

Give Aptera a half billion loan, call it rounding, and see what they can do.

 

You just don't know what to trust in the media these days. So much opinion, agendas and special interests. You have to sort it out carefully.

Right now, nobody wants to buy cars--including hybrids. Plus financing is harder to get. When people start buying cars again, they will probably want mainly hybrids, because they don't trust gas prices.

I don't think the media has told the truth about the manipulation of oil futures prices. Most of the public has no clue as to why gas prices have been so volatile since Bush took office. Obama has to do something about regulating oil futures prices again. The economy cannot take oil price volatility.

 

I am not trying to be crass but a start up auto company will not be around long enough to benefit form the money unless they would hold some new technology( ie microsoft) that was head and shoulders above anything else. There is a reason that all newcomers in the auto industry in the last 60 years have been foreign and heavily capitalized through assistance from foreign governments. It takes far to much capital to enter.

 

As to an EV being a person/family's only car, somehow being able to very
easily stretch the range beyond that advertised could be the go-no go
issue.

Is it unreasonable to think that with OEM software support, a small gas
generator on a trailer or hitch mounted platform couldn't provide the
once-in-a-while extended range flexibility that could prove to make the
sales deal?

I know this arrangement wouldn't necessarily be really, really efficient.

Also, what if dealers had these packages for rent, then any one would
have access if/when it was needed.

(Yes, I know Toyota does not rate the Prius for towing in the US.
Yes, I know people do it anyway without apparent permanent damage.
Yes, I know we're speculating about a wholly different, not yet existant
vehicle here.)

 

Your tow behind generator would work, people on the EV list do just what you are describing. EVAlbum: Search Results


However, it would be much simpler just to rent a car for those trips outside of the EV's range. (Lots of people on the EV list do that too.) You would need to travel outside of the EV's range quite a bit in order for buying and storing a trailer-mounted genset to be cost effective compared to renting a vehicle. If you traveled enough for it to be cost effect a hybrid would make more sense then an EV.

 

Um .... yes

The correct question to ask is this: for what purpose?

 

I've done research for ARPA, MURI, and In-Q-Tel. There is a lot of technology out there that is so weird, so beyond comprehension by the average person, that only public-sector funding can be found, at least for initial venture capital

An example I'm familiar with is the entire concept of non obvious relationship awareness, or NORA, now commonly referred to as entity analytics. This technology languished for almost 20 years, not due to hardware constraints, but due to the fact it was so freakin "out there" in left field, nobody had a clue what it was, or what it could really do

 

Hi All,

I think the best way the government can invest in Apterra is to buy 10 of the cars, and send them to Argonne for evaluation...

 

With all due respect, I think the best way the government can help Aptera and all the other environmentally-responsible car companies is to tell the big-3 flat out: You succeed or you go broke just like small businesses, on the basis of your ability to compete in the market.

"Too big to fail" means "too big to be held responsible for your actions." It means "too big to benefit anybody but the overpaid CEOs."

If GM fails, the demand for cars will remain unchanged, and people will buy from companies that can compete. Those companies will pick up GM's market share, and will employ GM's former employees. And the CEOs who have dedicated their careers to screwing the public in the name of obscene salaries and benefits will no longer be able to continue screwing the country. It's just too bad they cannot be thrown in prison and have all their assets siezed. But giving them 15 billion dollars to divert into their own pockets is just plain stupid.

And if they are going to cancel the Volt (as I've been predicting from the start) then everything I said above goes double.

 

i did it by design. since getting my first Pri in June 2004, i have moved twice. both times specifically looking in the area that i work in. i have turned down 2 jobs due to commuting reasons (also, it would have required moving to a more expensive area so the pay increase after living expenses was minimal...and yes with a Pri, i could have commuted and make a good deal more money)

i now commute with my Zenn which is very limited in speed and range. but when i moved i was already convinced that i would be part of the bleeding edge of EV technology.

is it a sacrifice?? yes, i have had to make concessions. but my RT commute is 15 miles (my employer allows me to plug in, so i could be farther out, but i am restricted to streets with speed limit of 45 mph or less) hers is 11.1 miles. she drives the Pri.

i have pretty much decided that my commuting range will be within EV technology limits for the rest of my life. i see no reason why i would not be able to keep that, so yes it limits my job options, etc... but i have determined as a personal choice that we as a society needs to make changes, so i have started with changes in my personal life.

current EV technology will not work for most people. but can still work for way more people than EV companies can provide vehicles for now. with government help, they could provide more.

right now the government is in a spend spend spend mode and i quite frankly, believe that they have wasted most of their money on something that will not benefit us in the near or long term.

so EV's are failing NOT because of battery technology, or any other limitation. they are failing because WE ARE ALLOWING THEM TO FAIL

 

I just don't get the horror stories from the Big Three about bankruptcy, a Depression, etc. There are plenty of medium to large corps that have gone into Chapter 11.

I'm willing to bet you have flown an airline that was in Chapter 11, as almost all of them have been at one time or another.

It was announced late last night that the Canadian subsidiaries of the Big Three expect $6.8 billion from the Canadian taxpayer. Now, unlike the US, Canada isn't flat broke. But here is where I feel the vein in my forehead start throbbing

One of the big reasons I hear for the US clunkermakers needing the loan/bailout/bribe whatever-the-hell-it-is, is due to all those high benefit costs. Ok, fine, maybe I'll even buy that, you need health coverage in the US

But, in Ontario where the car makers have their plants, OHIP (Ontario Hospitalization Insurance Plan) covers all of that.

So, why do the Canadian subsidiaries of the Big Three need - proportionately - twice as much as the American car makers do? Canada has one tenth the population, therefore you would expect one tenth the amount currently discussed.

Unless my math is way off, that works out to $35 bil divided by 10 = $3.5 bil. Let's not even consider the exchange rate. So, where do they come up with $6.8 bil???

Now that the Canadian dolllar has sunk, you would think the Canadian subsidiaries of the Big Three would be far *more* competitive than their American brethern. Apparently, this is not the case.

This is nothing more than a bunch of greedy pigs lining up to suck on the taxpayer teat. As a self-employed consultant/contractor, when do I get to suckle on the taxpayer teat? Seriously, I'm ready for it, just go right ahead and plop that taxpayer teat into my mouth