More positive VOLT news

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(darelldd @ Apr 21 2007, 01:01 AM) [snapback]427205[/snapback]</div>

Yuck the Ebox is the ugliest car I have ever seen. Does it come in cardboard color

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(tracysbeans @ Apr 21 2007, 04:49 PM) [snapback]427480[/snapback]</div>

I stopped by a local Toyota dealer to look at one. The Scion xB is only 75% as ugly in person as it is in the pictures.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(daniel @ Apr 21 2007, 10:15 PM) [snapback]427553[/snapback]</div>

I bet if they did a Camry EV you would be ALL over that! B)

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(darelldd @ Apr 20 2007, 01:12 PM) [snapback]426911[/snapback]</div>

Subsidies or good ole fashioned necessity, which ever comes first.

Chogan, I think you misunderstood my post. I'm saying that PHEVs still suffer from an ICE and all of the maintenane/repairs that said contraptions require/entail. They're good for the dealerships, not the consumer.

Tesla has yet to produce anything. We don't even know what the production specs are going to look like because they're being changed as Tesla learns that it ain't easy to make a production car. We're already seeing this happen. I wish them the best. This is one industry where barriers to entry are enormous. I havn't been impressed with what I've seen of ZAP. I agree that it might take an unfettered new comer to change the game, but I think it's really unlikely for two reasons...

1.) the auto industry is incredibly capital intensive and developing production capacity takes time and scads of cash, small companies will struggle with this. The risk of funding these ventures has got to be enormous and so I think the VCs (not Charlie, venture capitalists) will be shy.

2.) Until there's either real demand (the expensive petrol) or large subsidies there's not going be a large market for EVs because of the cost (which is that damn chicken/egg bit). Once the demand is there the risk will drop and the larger mfgs will jump in with their production capability and, through economies of scale, lop large chunks off of the price premium.

It's not like the majors don't have any experience with EV technology. They're well aware of what the issues are. The question is how will they adapt to the changing market and what constraints will operate against them (their dealership infrastructure, their conservative nature, etc...)?

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(tracysbeans @ Apr 21 2007, 07:19 PM) [snapback]427557[/snapback]</div>

I already said I would, in a different post. I would buy it today!

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Jonathan Rohr @ Apr 21 2007, 09:41 PM) [snapback]427647[/snapback]</div>

They tried like heck, but at this point they basically just give away the parts they rip out. Best solution is the ability to just buy the "glider" before the labor and materials of the ICE are added in. But no car makers wants to offer up their cars as OEM gliders for many reasons.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(darelldd @ Apr 22 2007, 02:26 PM) [snapback]427877[/snapback]</div>

Gliders -- I like that.

So I was figuring that price was the main reason that Phoenix went with Korean car bodies, but maybe it was just that no other manufacturer would be willing to sell the "gliders". Love that term. Now I'm trying to determine whether or not the lack of "glider" sales validates the grand conspiracy theory of why we have no major-manufacturer EVs*, or whether that's truly just a consequence of the manufacturing process, as proposed earlier in the thread

Beats me. The market's unique - there's no good comparison group.

* That the oligopolistic (few producers) nature of car manufacture means that each manufacturer, in the absence of conspiracy among them, will decide not to manufacture an EV based on maximizing profits. So that the lack of EVs is a consequence of the fact that the market is segmented among relatively few, large manufacturers.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Jonathan Rohr @ Apr 23 2007, 11:00 AM) [snapback]428467[/snapback]</div>

I think the motivation for ANY car company to make EVs now is public visibility, so that when gas becomes too expensive for most people to drive conventional cars, and NEED to buy electric cars, the manufacturer that was first to market would be the one people look to, as having experience and a track record.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Jonathan Rohr @ Apr 23 2007, 05:24 PM) [snapback]428713[/snapback]</div>

It would lower the price of the finished vehicle, bringing it into the price range of more buyers, resulting in more sales.

However, you are right, in that the volume is so small in this case that Toyota probably doesn't give a hoot.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Jonathan Rohr @ Apr 17 2007, 04:32 PM) [snapback]424853[/snapback]</div>

It's still just talk. I'd like to see the Volt actually on dealer lots and GM not being able to keep up with demand. I'd love to see them take automobiles to the the next level and really produce fuel cell/electric cars but it's still just talk. Get back to us when it's actually for sale, 'k?