Leaf Sales Record

The US imports 33% of the net petroleum it uses. I guess that may be practically self sufficient to some, but for most people the US imports a great deal of oil. We export a lot of petroleum products if we are talking raw oil we import about 50%.

 

U.S. Oil Production Tops Imports; America On Track for Energy Self-Sufficiency | Energy & Commerce Committee

 

As long as the US is not 100% self-sufficient on oil or oil products, and the oil companies are private, the US economywill be subject to OPEC machinations and other incidences that disrupt oil production and raise the price.

In other words, we only had to to import 49.4% of our oil needs last month, and FCVs might take off before we are energy self-sufficient.

 

Trollbait is right.
Oil is a finite commodity utterly necessary for nations to be prosperous nations, and it's going to be that way for at least a few more decades.

Wars are almost always started by some variation of the theme:
"They have it. We want it. Let's take it!"
One of the things that got us involved in World War Twice was.........oil, and we were energy independent THEN.

 

From your source, which says about what I said

We import about half the oil we use. That is far from self sufficiency. We export a lot of petroleum products though, so the balland of petroleum and petroleum products often made with added natural gas became 2/3 domestic 1/3 imported. That is much better than the oil figures, but far from self sufficiency.

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That is pretty pie in the sky assuming coal and natural gas exports will match oil imports, and oil use will drop domestically.

What may happen if we cut back enough is that north america will be self sufficient, with the US only importing from friendly canada and mexico. That will take reduction in oil use though. We can't drill to those levels, and the US will still be subject to the opec price, as canada won't sell the US oil that much cheaper than they will sell to china, etc.

Abundant U.S. supply, low demand could cut dependence on liquid fuel imports - Today in Energy - U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA)

 

Every commodity is always in "finite" supply, or so the perception is cultivated, to keep the prices up. In actual reality, many commodities are very abundant, but there's not much money to be made when it's "cheap like borscht" so to speak. I'm not saying this about oil per-say, but I think we need to be a bit skeptical about supposed "shortages."

 

There doesn't need to be an oil shortage for it to effect us. If OPEC drops production to raise the price, or China and India are simply willing to pay more per barrel, the Canadian oil companies aren't going to give us a discount.

To refer it back to topic, the 2035 prediction for self-sufficiency requires higher CAFE levels and higher adoption of plug ins.

 

That's very true however (comma!) some commodities like......say.......washing machines will not cause whole economies to grind to a shuddering halt if you withhold their trade.

 

No need to imagine prices are manimpulated we know ehty are by a cartel called opec. The US simply does not have enough oil to stop OPEC from controlling the price, but has engaged in lots of war to make "oil safe". The only way to win the game is not to play, which is to substitute away enough energy from oil, where it doesn't hurt national security or economic security.

lolz. There is not a equivelent washing machine cartel to opec, and even if washingmacines were cut off from korea and mexico, the current ones could be repaired while a domestic WM industry expanded. Oil isn't like that.

 

The only thing that matters is how much money the US is sending to it's enemies by virtue of it's oil addiction. And NO, the answer is NOT "zero, because the US buys from Canada."

Is it too much to ask for Right-wingers to understand the nature of a fungible market ? Heck, even AG seems to grasp this, and he was a climate change idiot up until recently.

 

...in 2006/2008 when Congress adopted the alt fuels and PHEV subsidies, part of the rationale was help the economy, also take leadership in new technology, and part of rationale was the fact most everyone agreed - at the time - we were running out of oil and gas. Obviously some of those rationale are a little weaker right now.

In any case, here we are and Leaf stands as an cost/effective nice EV with incredible low discount cost in some states and if you have a back-up vehcile or two (who doesn't?) the car can fit into your fleet. Not us now, but I can see when we had a housefull of young drivers, why not? Also for us this is a new idea, but if you have close family living close by, then you larger effective back-up fleet.

 

another 50 miles and i'd be in, if i could ever give up my pri...

 

price of oil was in the $50s/bbl When the house voted on the bill in early 2007. The drop in price is stil much higher now than when the bill was first passed. Between then and now we had an opec oil price shock.
+1

 

They have also stated their rev-II WILL in fact have more range. Couldn't come at a better time - as the Kia Soul EV is definitely going to give the Leaf a run for its money IMO.
.

 

Really - you can't guess that as a barrel of oil goes well above $100 - that if there was a ton of it ... the oilies wouldn't up production by some 200% or more? ... when in reality, we now have to outbid China for the stuff?
.

 

You could eliminate the environmental, national fiscal & security and safety advantages and I would still never go back to gas (or hydrogen) and even the price of fuel advantage.
The convenience of having a 'full tank' every morning is just too damn nice.

Every single EV owner I know has stated they will never go back to the inconvenience of gas.

 

well, if i had a tesla, i'd be saying the same thing.

 

Doesn't matter if it is a Tesla. Every Leaf, Miev, Volt, Rav4EV, BMW i3 owner I've spoken with say the same thing, although the Volt owners phrase it as never going back to an all gas car.

As long as the range meets your needs, all offer the same convenience, and the Volt offers almost the same convenience depending upon your driving patterns.

Those that have a single car only and greater range requirements, unfortunately can't get that level of convenience yet. The second gen of electrics is coming soon though and more people should be able to enjoy it.

 

that may be true ...
but Tesla drivers say it with more gusto then the rest of us ugly electric catfish drivers;




just sayin' . . . . .
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