Hybrid cars are a complicated waste.

My bother-law and his brother and their partner all own a Model-S and they don't dare push it anywhere near the 200 mile mark, which is the lower end battery. You can't experiment with the thing you see. You pay extra for the higher mileage options. Most spring for the low-end 90k version. You do not want a tow truck driver touching the thing, considering you can't just call your spouse or friend or AAA to bring you a gallon of gas. AAA has very minimal support for Tesla at the moment. Its strictly a second car, unless you barely go anywhere. Its still a big rolling computer that instantly turns into a giant brick once the battery runs out.

AWESOME car, but its a really expensive toy. Get one down to less than $30k with a 300-400 mile range and you've got something realistically useful. Don't get me started on the tax incentive for buying one. SERIOUSLY, a tax incentive on a $90k car!!! Who the heck spends that much on a car and needs an INCENTIVE to buy it? Certainly not the 3 people I know. They bought it because of the cool factor and none of them were effected by the incentive, besides a nice thank you from Obama and Co. A total and complete joke.

 

apparently you care very much what I think otherwise you wouldn't have posted

and I'm quite clearly smarter than you who would worry about what others thought and stick to a fuel guzzling suv because YOU WORRY people will think you're showing off, now that's stupid...

 

Syntax? Sentence structure? Tell me again how much smarter you are than me. I drive a pickup truck for utility and my wife drives a minivan because we have 4 children. The only one who's showing off here is YOU.

 

well if I was wealthy ya I would buy one not to show of my wealth because they are far more exotic cars but because I want to cut my carbon footprint...tesla is said to trying to make an affordable car starting at 35K, prices will come down to point where nearly everyone can afford one...

Norway has an interesting approach to encouraging electric sales and it's working very well sales are growing, no taxes on electrics, free parking, free charging stations, express lanes...

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go away now I'm no longer reading your posts you're too immature....

 

ah, but improvements are coming very quickly, car manufacturers are great innovators when the cash incentive is there, and china wants electric cars...

 

I agree with incentives once the low priced option is introduced. Its only going to work large scale, when the infrastructure is in place. But offering incentives to people who don't need incentives is a big slap in the face to everyone else. This isn't like tax breaks for having children=) You're giving someone back $5000 for a toy they don't even need.

 

Then in the future, don't start something you can't finish. There's few things more immature than buying a hybrid vehicle to gain approval. Mature people don't depend on public opinion for their self esteem.

 

that's not the case in Norway, all cars are expensive in europe due to consumption taxes and fuel taxes, all sorts of taxes, so everyone is in the same boat...

 

Good point.

 

Well, over here cars are actually affordable=)

 

It will never come here. It would never meet safety/emissions standards.

 

If you really want to be on the cutting edge of in the know about what's going on with the evolution of batteries, the cars, motors, gov. goings on, etc... bookmark this site:
http://www.greencarcongress.com
One thing I learned there, years ago, is that the biggest drawback to current hybrid tech. is the NiCad battery. Most of the Nickel that is used comes from a meteor that struck in Canada. This stuff is terribly toxic, as is the method for refining it. People who work in that process don't live for very long. I don't need batteries at the expense of dead workers.

 

Fashion designers have made a FORTUNE selling goods at 20-50 times cost or more, just because this is NOT true. Fragrances, houses, SUV's, sports cars, motorcycles etc.

People have been trying to flaunt affluence or show some type of aspect off to others with material things since ancient days.

Whether this is mature or not, well I wouldn't say it is.. It's rather petty and pointless. And growing up in a posh suburb I saw this firsthand. So you are right about that, but I would say that there is a staggering amount of adults who act exactly like this and most people really do care about what others think of them.

While no doubt I am sure there are some hybrid drivers that are pretentious snobs about it, I highly doubt that's why most of them buy a hybrid. I don't see hybrid drivers as any worse in this attitude than most other people and whatever they do to gain approval.

 

I've run across enough of them to think differently, even right here in this thread. Many people don't care about being called "gas guzzlers" because they buy cars with an eye toward safety. When my wife and I bought our minivan, safety was a top concern for me, knowing that she and the kids are safe. Mileage didn't make the top 20 of my list of concerns and impressing others didn't make any list at all. My pickup truck is scratched and dented, but it's only purpose is utility, to be able to carry loads. Again mileage wasn't my top concern and impressing others isn't even a distant concern. So no, I can't relate to people who buy a car to impress others and "laugh" at others as wyly says she does. I consider such a person immature.

 

So you had safety as your concern when you bought an SUV. That's fine.. But then there are some people who have fuel economy or the environment in mind when they buy a hybrid.. EVERY car is bought for ALL kinds of reasons. You can't generalize it with anecdotes.. Have you REALLY not seen people having a mid-life crisis buying sports cars or motorcycles just to show them off? Drive into your driveway and rev the engine and be like, "look what I got!!" If you've really never seen this then I can see where you've drawn your opinion from. If you weren't like that then fine, but I'm telling you, and I promise I'm not lying, I've seen many people continue upgrading an SUV to bigger and badder trying to one-up the Jone's down the block. But it's not right to pretend like anybody's generalization is wholly true.. Just remember it's your opinion and your perception.

And I'm not disputing you. You are right that it is immature.

 

I thought my point was I've seen enough instances of showing off to seize upon the trend, especially among hybrid owners. Hell, you can look right here on this thread and find it. So far from never seeing people show off their cars, I've seen it too much. And wyly does little to disprove this trend, "laughing" at people who don't have hybrids like she does.

 

they have a better economy, they can afford them...

 

We have around 10 states with bigger economies than Norway=)

 

audi's don't meet safety emission standards? this is sarcasm right? Audi already has an A6 diesel/electric hybrid that gets a 37 mpg...not the 256 volkswagon experimental is getting but new technology takes time to trickle down to the real world...they also have a Q5 SUV with the same set up, N Americans have to make due with a diesel version...

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and everyone of them sucks compared to norways standard of living, size of the economy is irrelevant if only the wealthy have the money...

 

I think the day is going to come fairly soon when you can just swap out batteries at what used to be the corner gas station. You'll need to swap only on long trips but the process won't take any longer than filling up the tank.

 

that seems awkward and a logistic nightmare to me, I can't imagine how many batteries a station would need to keep on hand...but ya I've heard that idea so you could be right...
Tesla is busy setting up supercharging stations across N America, they have no intention of waiting for other manufacturers to get on board...that's what I would prefer as well as a home charging station...the Tesla superchargers are reported to only take a half hour, not bad on a long trip, I usually stop for 15 mins for a pee and snack break as well a refill on long trips, another 15 is acceptable...

 

Gotta love the Toyota Pious owners. They are truly legends in their own lunch time.

 

LOL@ Toyota Pious. I'm going to use that a lot if you don't mind.

 

We're conservative and drive a Prius. Not to save the planet, not to impress people or be greener than thou, but because we love efficiency. Really cool how it doesn't idle when it doesn't need to. And puts juice back into the battery by slowing down.... Also it's a very nice car, with tons of thoughtful features. Saving money big-time with it.

About the only drawback is that it is a little slow out of the gate.

 

Standard of living is irrelevant when the country is less productive than one of our states, can't defend itself, and has no measurable influence or contribution in the world. Like comparing a watermelon to a sesame seed..