Electric cars are running on empty promises

Is the author of that 'drivel' claiming no one should make cars that don't seat 8?

 

The writer of the article must be from another planet....

 

Eh.
Whataya expect?
It's Detroit.

Not only are they somewhat biased against EVs, but they're probably somewhat peeved that the Gov'mint is spending money on renewables instead of municipal bailouts.
They're wishing that the 7.5 bil had been spent propping up a failed city instead.

 

I think the author's original title was,
"Scorched Earth - If we go down, we wana take you all with us"
We gave some of the nation's junkiest land out as reservations for native Americans. I'm surprised no one hasn't suggested we give Detroit back to native Americans.
.

 

There is some merit but of course PiP blows that argument right out the window, great family PHEV.
The other thing is, seems to me when the kids are learning to drive and you get a 3rd car, EV such as Leaf seems great family car option. No car meets all needs, so the goal is not to be all things to all people.

As far as the federal PHEV incentives, that is becoming a sore point obviously it is a lot of money, for the most not going to middle/lower class families. Some kind of income test someday needed and maybe it is too much money for some cars.

 

Detroit's arguing against subsidies?! Wow, talk about biting the hand that feeds them.

Ohhh...they mean just subsidies for electric cars. Of course. All those billions for auto industry bailouts, billions in tax breaks to the oil industry, all those oil spills that just sort of go away so we don't have to clean them up...well, gosh, those don't really count, do they?

 

Like it or not, Detroit will have to build and sell more electric vehicles.

It is to meet every increasing and tougher Federal CAFE standards.

Here's a good report on the BMV i3.

2014 BMW i3 Test Drive

 

Such a silly article.

 

From the article

Electric cars are running on empty promises | The Detroit News

And here lies where the lies come from.

1) the CBO is clueless on costs. Just look at estimates on things in the 1980s and how much they actually cost in the 1990s. Relying on them is as smart as shutting down the government to make a point. Its pointless

2) Then it says that people won't choose a more expensive car. Brillant. I guess no one ever bought a hummer they didn't need which probably cost $100,000 more than a camry between depreciation, gas, repairs, and insurance.

Grrr. Just ignore the troll. He sounds like Mike Kelly that thought the government shut down was worth it.

 

Not a peep out them about this 10 years ago!

 

We can keep ignoring the guy but many others are reading the "creations" of this H*ss H*le and fallowing his nightmare misdirection and become the louder naysayers .

 

Here's my favorite part of the authors "concern"

what do you want a bet if Detroit spent even 1/10 that much money for its city's students, the city wouldn't now look like bombed-out Faluja. This is the legacy that Bob Lutz and his ilk leave behind - and it's what this newspaper suggests they revive.
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Bold font added for clarity.

• David A. Ridenour
• McClatchy-Tribune News Service
• 114 Comments

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Washington — If government actually could mandate innovation, we could all fill up our cars with garden hoses.​

​

This is from a news service provider and not Detroit generated.

McClatchy-Tribune | Welcome to MCT Direct

The writer is from a "conservative think tank":

National Center for Public Policy Research - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This was the same method of spreading FUD against the Volt during the election campaign.

 

Everyone who has a preconceived idea can look at any segment of the personal vehicle market and make the same kind of comments.

- pickups...not a family car
- sedans...how can 5 kids get driven to band practice
- sports cars...how does this work for a family vacation
- motorcycles...unsafe for kids
- minivans...can't get a date driving this
- SUVs...so difficult to park and they roll over easier; and most can't even drive off road
- small city cars...are you kidding, you'll get crushed on the freeway
- luxury cars...only good for the rich

Mike

 

LOL, I'm about to have a kid and I think my lil prius C will do the job as a family car just fine...

It'll still do the job just fine if I have 2 more to the 1...and I doubt I can financially or mentally take more kids then that.

What a weirdly biased argument the author is trying to make, lol

 

Its just a opinion piece picked up by the detroit news. GM and Ford don't agree with this asshat.

Here it is in a california paper
Electric cars still running on empty promises | electric, cars, one - Opinion - The Orange County Register

Who is this guy?
David A. Ridenour
He is part of a right wing political think tank. You can tell by the articles they are not a libertarian think tank that wants less subsidies and smaller government, they don't want to touch this story. The pork is really small for those guys. This is probably crafted to support Mike Kelly (R, Pennsylvania) that has drafted a bill to end the subsidy. You may remember Mr. Kelly from interviews during the shut down, on why the tea party was right to shut down the government. He went on all the news channels. You may also remember that Mr. Kelly personally profited by the bailout of GM, and voted to keep oil subsidies. He is no libertarian or even a decent american. He is one of those guys that hates america and is in congress, and this "think tank" is there to give him cover for the idiotic bad things he does.

Again Mr. Kelly personally benefited from the bailout of gm. He may hold detroit bonds and he wants to be bailed out again.

 

The only Leaf owner I know personally has two kids, ages 13 and 14. I'll have to make sure he sees this article. Especially since he not only got the EV tax credit, but also got credits for his solar system which charges the car along with providing virtually all the electricity for his household.

 

Does anyone know the source for: "The $7.5 billion we’ll spend over 10 years promoting electric cars..."

It would have been nice if the author gave a reference for that number. $7.5 billion is a large number. The article also doesn't address the health tradeoff. If you can reduce pollution in urban areas, what's the cost benefit of reducing respiratory diseases? I have a family. There is a benefit to me to not have family members on medical treatment.

 

I can tell you because, I've heard it before. $7500/car maximum over a maximum of 1,000,000 million cars is the plug-in tax credit, which if completely taken would equal $7.5 Billion. We know some cars such as the prius phv, and ford energis do not qualify for the full $7500. We also know that some manufacturers will not sell many cars, and the cap is 200,000 per manufacturer. But really 1 year of ethanol subsidy was $5B. We cut that off, but kept the mandate which means there really is still that subsidy (it is just paid at the gas station, not on your irs tax form). Oil is subsidized at around $4B/year. In perspective the cap at 1 million cars might seem high, 300,000 might have done the trick, $2.25B total over all those years. In perspective it is not a large subsidy.

This is not a news article. It is an opinion piece by a washington, DC based political think tank trying to get support, for congressman Mike Kelly's program of continued oil subsidies, government shut downs (he is one of the shut down spokesmen), and please no subsidies to reduce oil use. People like mike kelly have millions of dollars of oil stock. Don't cross him.