Who Killed the Electric Car ?

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"I think it will go down as one of the biggest blunders in the automotive industry"

This is exactly what I preach about! I'm glad a voice is out there for this topic.
 
Wait, I remember something about this one. Wasn't that always ever going to be a test or something. You leased the cars, never owned them. Cost Gm like 1,000,000 each, so it never intended for them to be sold; but just a short term test?
Ah, I think I remember it all wrong...
So this movie blames the gov for poor ratio of electric cars now on the roads?

Oh, okay, so there's a trailer. Yep, looks like a Sundance winner.
Having now watched the trailer, I am not too sure if this isn't just another Michael Moore or "SuperSize Me" type hype movie, that gets onto every early a.m. TV show, and on Oprah. Got to give the producers credit for finding a money-maker though. Not that they haven't a good point of course, but as far as the docu is concerned, it might not be my cup of tea.

However, would love to be wrong on this one...
 
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It's much bigger than the government. It's big business on a global level stifling progress.

David Jimerson said:
If people wanted 'em, they'd build 'em.
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That's not necessarily true. If people wanted'em but couldn't get to'em, you ain't gettin'em. It's like making a really good movie but not being able to get distribution, because you might knock a summer blockbuster on its ass. Luckily the film industry isn't quite so short sighted.
 
I gotta respectfully disagree David.

Oil companies and politicians do not want anything but Hummer's on the road.

If the government wanted, they could make it happen in the next 10 years. They could outright say '90%' of new cars must be electric. And it would happen.

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There is a reason we're in Iraq (Oil) [No Poli sorry], there is a reason there are no electric cars. Oil companies like Exxon made 40 Billion in pofit last year. Profit !

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There aint no profit in electric cars and ther aint no lobbying by the government.
 
As if people don't feel the government is already too much in our business.

We will have electric cars when market forces dictate it.

There aint no profit in electric cars and ther aint no lobbying by the government.
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They still need to fuel the cars...with electricity. Many of our power plants run on coal. Until we're ready to go nuclear, we still have pollution from the coal fired power plants.
 
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John_Hudson said:
Oil companies and politicians do not want anything but Hummer's on the road vidled.

If the government wanted, they could make it happen in the next 5 years. They could outright say '90%' of new cars must be electric. And it would happen.
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BINGO!
 
Oh, man; this is going to go political REAL quick.

It's not up to the government to define the market.

From all reports, the EV1 was a fairly slow (decent acceleration, but low top end), single-speed car with two seats and a range of only 150 miles per charge -- and it was SLOW to charge -- which means you're stuck driving it around town only. No road trips. No cargo. No kids.

And, it was ugly.

Build an electric car that's every bit as useful and powerful as a standard car, and make it attractive, and you just might have something.
 
Yes, let's keep this clean.

I'm with you on that part D (...the government to define the market) but let's talk about global warming, pullution, health costs, the economy, interest in the middle east ......

The government could take some responsibility and iniative and make some good judgements for the future.
 
And the PROFOUND amounts of electricity necessary to charge all these cars is going to come from where?

Anyway, if there's a market for electric cars, then someone, somewhere, is going to build them and get rich selling them. That's the way it works; that's the way it always has.
 
Pollution: exactly, David.
It's the same with Hydrogen powered cars: how does the Hydrogen get made if there's MANY hydrogen cars. Currently it's made from natural gas, but can also be made from Ethanol, wind, coal, and of course Atomic Power.

It's why I suspect this docu mentioned in the original post will take a simplistic look at the subject and give us an entertaining little film, where we can CLEARLY see a goody (Ed beagley Jr. or whatever his name is), and a bady (the gov.). It just ain't that simple.
 
California had a problem supplying normal amounts of electricity a few years ago -- what happens when every car is electric?

There aren't enough rivers in the country to supply that much hydro-electric power. Solar? If it were that easy to pull electricity out of the air, everyone would do it. Wind? No one wants them around -- it's apparently unsightly, noisy, and kills birds.

So, you're going to need more coal-fired, wood-fired, and nuclear power plants. A LOT more.
 
I find it remarkable that Brazil is oil independent and the US isn't. I'm tending toward's Hudson's side on this one....
 
David Jimerson said:
California had a problem supplying normal amounts of electricity a few years ago -- what happens when every car is electric?
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Yeah, but we all know that was not due to normal market forces, now was it?

Likewise, you put a little too much faith in the powers that be when you say things like: "if someone made an electric car as useful, etc." The point is there are people and companies active preventing anyone from making such a car, or even working in the direction of making such a car.
 
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