Who will be first to mass-market with a plug-in hybrid?

While it will be harder to bring these cars to the U.S., my Xebra dealer believes cars like this will force GM to actually build the Volt. They will demonstrate that the battery technology really is available, undermining GM's lie that they have no suitable battery, and if not in the U.S. at first, globally they will compete with GM, pressuring them to come out with a similar car for the green market world-wide.

I still don't believe GM will build the Volt, but this sort of news gives me a tiny bit of hope that I may be wrong. And I would love to be wrong on this.

 

If any country has the wherewithall to implement a massive solution to the energy crisis, it's China. China is the manufacturing plant of the world, is able to tool up and mass produce designs in very little time at the most competitive price worldwide. And.. they don't have the political beaurocratic nonsense and incestuous relationships between big oil, big auto, and crooked politicians and policy makers to deal with. At the wave of their leaderships' hand, they can make a decision and have it implemented virtually immediately. Hats off to China for seizing the problem by the horns. What an incredible irony it would be if China, with their blazing growing economy and hunger/need for energy trumped the United States in the Race for Alternate Energy in a blink of an eye, and reduced their energy footprint to less than that of the U.S.'s... Not so long ago, China was a third world country. We're so intelligent and advanced here in Amerika, yet we have the solutions at hand and do nothing with it for decades. After all, this energy crisis has been on the horizon for many moons... How far have we (here in the US) actually gotten when the majority of the cars on the road are still gas guzzlers? Hats off to China for doing something about it.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(PriuStorm @ Nov 13 2007, 03:48 AM) [snapback]538791[/snapback]</div>

Yes but thay are still commies. Americans need to get off their butts,and vote. We could clean up DC.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Tideland Prius @ Nov 12 2007, 03:34 PM) [snapback]538608[/snapback]</div>

Me, too. But I doubt we'll have the choice. The Chinese have a real incentive to bring this car to market, whereas GM has a real incentive to keep EVs and PHEVs off the market. China would love to enter the US market with a niche car, while GM doesn't need a niche car. China has LiFePO battery technology NOW, while GM claims it does not have a battery for the Volt. And China has massive coal reserves, so an electric car makes economic sense there, even though all those new coal-burning power plants are going to wreak havoc with the climate.

However, 10-minute charging would require wiring we do not have in American homes, so we'll still have to settle for over-night charging. But that works for me.

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(clett @ Nov 27 2007, 06:47 AM) [snapback]544668[/snapback]</div>

Lithium-ion = fire hazzard.
LiFePO = safe.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(corkerjoe @ Nov 27 2007, 08:04 AM) [snapback]544644[/snapback]</div>

You may be right. But if past behavior is the best predictor of future behavior,then it aint gonna happen. Only a handful of Americans are actually educated on the subject, and even fewer vote. We could clean up DC, but time and time and time again, we don't.

Our DC cronies have the American public figured out... they know dumb Americans spend more time every week worried about what Britney Spears is doing, where Anna Nicole Smith's money/child is going, what Michael Jackson is up to these days, whether O.J. is going to get away with another one, and what ________(enter your favorite celeb's name here) is wearing these days. They know the vast majority of voting Americans could give a hoot about the environment or anything else for that matter as long as their ability to perform as good little consumers is not impacted in any way. And if it is, then they just cry about it. They don't actually do anything about it.

The U.S. has mortgaged the entire country to the Chinese to pay for an illegal war in Iraq, and people like you sit here and call our financiers 'commies'. Nice.

 

Have you ever seen the crash tests on cars from China? I think I'd rather give my kids some lead toys. The BYD did better but still only got 3 of 5 stars.

No way.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F06LjugtIUo

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(pdqgp @ Nov 27 2007, 08:31 PM) [snapback]545057[/snapback]</div>

And yet people drive motorcycles and jump out of airplanes and climb vertical rock walls and live in places like Chicago, D.C., and L.A.

But the Chinese do have a long ways to go before they can gain wide acceptance in the U.S. market.

Now, when gas is $25 a gallon and electricity is 10 cents a kwh, and your choice is to buy a Chinese car or move to a house 1/4 as big as your present one so that you can walk to work, which will you choose then?

I wish Honda would be first to market with a PHEV. But they don't seem to be working on it. The Chinese seem to understand the potential of grid power for transportation.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(daniel @ Nov 29 2007, 11:23 AM) [snapback]545682[/snapback]</div>

We would too if we had a billion more people than our current population.

 

i dont care where it comes from. will chinese cars have issues?? probably... i wouldnt expect anything different from a auto manufacturer breaking into the US market for the first time and why should i?

did Toyota come waltzing in here?? Honda??

or more recently Hyundai?

i expect them to have growing pains with american safety regulations, but i am still willing to bet they will benefit me because they will force gm AND Toyota to get up off their asses and get busy

 

most Americans are unwilling to give up their luxury SUVs, and could care less about the environment. The politicians know this, which is why they constantly buckle to pressure from the large US Automakers to "push back" MPG goals, etc. Big oil is no better, they want their profits FAST, they see no point in making oil last longer, they'll all be dead by then.

We need to face a new reality; the U.S. is no longer the worlds economic powerhouse. This position has now shifted for the forseeable future to China. We can't blame anyone other than ourselves for this turn of events, we want to buy cheap crap, Walmart wants to sell it to us, and China is more than happy to export it to us, complete with Lead in the Plastic & toys, and god kows what in the food they export to us.

We have let the US's politcal leaders mortage our future, our childrens future, and their childrens, childrens future on the US being the "worlds cop"

This happened near the end of other great empires as well, Rome comes to mind. We need to get our own house in order, and stop worryng about the rest of the world. Iraq was the largest mistake in the modern history of the world, dwarfing past mistakes, such as Vietnam.

Also, if China does not produce more efficient vehicles, can you imaging what the cost of Oil/Gas will be in 10 or 20 years, with their expanding middle class?

 

Crash ratings are actually very good for such tiny "cute" cars.

You might do a little more research and see how our so-called American companies are lobbying against basic human rights and how your American investment is being spent. Do let yourself be blinded by the wool that is American Nationalism. These companies are in it for profit and profit alone. Don't believe me? Go read up in GM lobbyists and what laws they are pushing for or against, you won't have to look long before you find ones that are harmful to the people of this country.