War On Electric Cars: BigOil Smugly Says: "Let the Free Market Decide"

They will rot to powder long before that in this area.

 

She is simply a Chicken Little with an axe to grind, that's all.

 

Light-duty diesels are a non-starter in the US. Due mostly to the EPA's bungling, they are no longer feasible. Ford (Caterpillar), Dodge (Cummins, Mercedes), and GM (Isuzu/Duramax) considered it top the point of building running prototypes for testing on public roads, but they were dropped due to the obscene cost of certifying a light-duty diesel engine, coupled with the fact that the emission controls have mostly eliminated the MPG advantage. The new solution for light trucks seems to be direct-injection, turbocharged GAS engines, like Ford's EcoBoost.

You do if you want to sell it in the US. Only ultra-low sulfur diesel can be sold since 2008.

Upgrading to a diesel on a pickup will cost between eight and nine THOUSAND dollars. That brings with it a whole new crop of problems...the emission controls are complex, expensive, and can be cranky.

 

yeah no (*)(*)(*)(*), but thats not because the car cant perform but because of the elements. i absolutely cant stand working on cars from the north east, its a (*)(*)(*)(*)(*) to change out wheel bearings because all the bolts and such are literally sealed because of all the salt.

last time i went to the northeast i noticed alot of subarus more than anything, but that goes without saying because they are a great car as well and with the awd they are perfect for the weather up there.

 

Hey Jar, I'm searching my words to find where I promoted light-duty diesel cars and I just can't find that. Can you?

Read it again and this time don't purposefully misinterpret what I said. 90% of cars are used for light duty commuting. The topic is electric and hybrid. How in the world did you conclude I was talking about diesel for light cars?

 

Nothing is as cheap per joule of energy than gasoline, nothing. Until that fact changes, oil is gonna be the life blood of the world economy for a long time.

The electric cars aren't in demand because the technology isn't there to make them as cheap/efficient/practical as the "antique" gas cars. Until the technology is good enough to match the performance/price/practicality of gas cars, they will be a novelty.

As for the whole electric cars are green theory, that's a bunch of bunk as well. The whole premise is that man made global warming is ruining the earth and the only way to solve it is to stop using gas. mm gw is far, very far, from being shown as a viable theory. The battery alone on these cars are more harmful to produce and dispose of to the environment than your usual gas car is. The air quality has been getting better for the last 50 years here in the states and the number of cars on the road has increased exponentially. And where do you think all that electricity to charge the cars comes from? Mostly coal burning power plants.

No matter how hard you stomp your feet or claim there's a conspiracy by "BigOil' out there, it ain't gonna change these simple facts.

 

Depending on what the market has to offer around 2016, I will probably get a used Mazda 3 (if they still make them by then). I loved my Mazda Protege back in the day.

 

I have no argument against the fact that oil companies corrupted our regulatory bodies, but that's more an argument in favor of holding government accountable than it is an argument that the EPA is a subsidy to big oil.

I just take exception to this idea that regulation = subsidies. Subsidies are specifically when government directly gives money to industry (or to individuals). The word doesn't apply to regulation, and if regulation is done properly, it could be argued that it actually takes money from industry rather than giving it to the companies involved.

For example, higher environmental standards mean that a company has to spend more to keep operations cleaner. While a lot of people seem to paint this as a bad thing, the end result pays off in cleaner air and water -- which is kind of hard to put a price on.

 

All that blue and light green tells me that we've done a wonderful job and maybe it's France, Belgium and Germany who need to look at thier air quality controls rather than (*)(*)(*)(*)(*)ing at the USA in an obviously hypocritical manner. Especially nasty Belgium. They seem to be doing more pollution than anyone in Western Civilization.

If the worst thing we're doing is putting out some CO2 into the air, I'm willing to live with that.

 

You do realize that Europe has a much more concentrated population than us and that they've existed longer as industrial powers.

We also pollute more per capita than almost every other country in the industrialized world.

 

This is a funny statement. If you don't look closely at it and instead just skim it like most people do, you miss the spin.

Saying oil companies corrupted our regulatory bodies [government], and then saying it's more an argument in favor of holding government [regulatory bodies corrupted/controlled by BigOil] accountable, is the same thing as saying we should hold BigOil accountable.

And to this, I agree.

 

Now that we agree that BigOil has corrupted and virtually IS government, we should implore government to change..lol..

The more looming issue is that of world demand of hybrid and electric cars to ease financial suffering. As gas prices rise, so will that demand in direct proportion to them. And so we see the quicksand BigOil has sunk itself into. Thing is that they want the rest of America to follow them in. A good capitalist however would be all about noticing that trap and avoiding it..

 

how about we start with whats truly feesable and work our way up to more dependent energy sources? all the tools we need for GM to make true quality cars are there, lets go with that first.

 

Is that code for "let's put the brakes on developing electric and hybrid like we've been doing for the last 40 years anyway so we can stretch out the obscene profiteering of BigOil to the maximum threshold, even at the expense of the American and European economies"?

Just as long as those involved at the top eschelons of BigOil can increase their already obnoxiously-vast holdings another increment or two before the inevitable steep decline?

No. We've played that game for too long now.

 

no its not some stupid ass code, its a testament that we should use the resources we have at the moment to make quality friggin vehicles. we have the tech right now to make some great gas savers from small cars all the way up to SUV's, but big oil dont want that because we wouldnt be hitting the pumps as often. and seeing as it being we have a good ways to go with true electric because lets fac it, todays electric cars are straight up (*)(*)(*)(*) boxes, we should capitalize on what we can do with what already works.

the only company making any true splash with the electric car is Tesla, the major car companies lack because they want too.

 

Well as long as you're on board...don't want the Japanese to get ahead of us in the car industry...again...that Prius is pretty darned popular..

What do you think about using solar thermal power plants in Southern California to juice up their electric/hybrid commuting vehicles? To refine ethanol in the Midwest?

 

PLease explain how the Obama-bailed-out, union-destroyed, Government Motors = "Big Oil".

 

let me tell you how im on board. put it this way, my last project was a Subaru STI, and if you dont know what that is look it up. yes its a gas guzzler as it comes with a turbocharged 300hp/300tq boxer 4 engine straight from the factory and gets about 20mpg on average. i took that car, got rid of the catalytic converters, added a free flowing 3 inch exhaust,upgraded the intake,upgraded the fuel system,ported and polished the turbo as well as did a butterfly delete in the intake.

wanna guess what i ended up with after tuning the motor properly? around 400hp/400tq,blew a hell of alot cleaner than most unmolested cars with catalytic converters and even gained about 3 or 4mpg.

now if i,a simple mechanic, can make someone elses car better all the way from performance to gas mileage to how clean that motor burns fuel with that little work what do you think the big companies should be able to do?

i demand better built vehicles with the tech we have and its very much possible.our technology is there, its easy to make cars more efficient.

as far as the solar panels, just depends on how much it would cost compared to what we have. solar panels powering a whole refinery would not be cheap at all. i dunno, give me your insight on that.

 

Gotta LOVE the opposed-cylinder engine design; VW,Porsche and Subaru.

Things will go FOREVER....

 

oh they are built beautifully, and very easy to work on imho. and yes my suby did take a straight beating but she was still strong as when i first bought her all the way till i traded her in. and the boxer rumble is also a lovely sound in the morning

 

My cousin has a VW Westphalia that he put a polished-up,blue printed, six-banger opposed jug he said was from a 70's era Carmen Ghia in.

Installed a larger radiator,modern fuel and ignition sytem, MAP,MASS,Coolant and O2 sensors,ECM, and the thing runs like a dream. 5 speed stick, on demand 4 wd,and will go ANYWHERE.
He routinely explores the Baja peninsula,and has found some STUNNING beachfronts...with NO ONE there.

 

OK

And at the end of that time the Auto/Oil alliance rounded up all the EV-1s from shocked and satisfied customers, took them to the desert and crushed them flat.



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Waitwaitwait...you actually consider 400HP to be IMPRESSIVE?!?! Are you joking?!?! DOUBLE that and I will be impressed! Heck, Hot Rod managed 1200HP from a 100,000+ mile junkyard Chevy van motor...and it was still going strong after 20+ dyno pulls at over 1000HP. They did find one problem, though: the stock ignition system is only good to 1000HP. That would be over 4hp/ci, that is close to 250HP per litre.

 

there is no free market, people would choose not to pay for gas and get electric cars if all the companies didn't work together to milk them

 

karman ghia is a air cooled engine doesnt have a radiator..same as the porshe from those days...the vw bus is also air cooled so no radiator...those are the only two types of engine that will fit the vw bus..