For almost a week now the IBD article Volt fraud at Government Motors has been bouncing around my head.
For years I've advocated for the purchase of hybrid cars while longing for a big move to plug-in hybrids, even though most hybrid purchases are not cost-effective for most hybrid buyers. Nonetheless, eating a local, organic diet might not be cost-effective compared to a McDonald's value meal, but it's still far healthier, and a commitment to ending foreign oil dependence is just as healthy. Acer laptop batteries.
Yet, after a decade on the market, hybrids can't even achieve 3 percent market share, despite the government pumping billions of tax payer dollars into these vehicles. That reality, as unfortunate as it might be, is reality.
Now come electric cars and billions more already committed, with the possibility of tens of billions more – exactly what I advocated for years ago - to turn even less cost-effective and unwanted plug-in cars into real world vehicles for the 5 percent of the population that is absolutely committed to going green and/or fighting foreign oil dependence.
Consequently, in some ways hybrids, plug-ins and the Volt do feel like a fraud.
But they are not.
Without any question, the Volt is far too much about marketing rather than GM profits. Still, the Nissan Leaf and the Toyota Prius are more about marketing than sales. All, however, have been worth the investment. Whether they are worth tax credits or not is another question, but that's not the focus of this post. sony laptop battery.
Certainly, those following this blog know I've been terribly critical of the Chevy Volt. Nevertheless, I've never thought of the Volt as a fraud, never. Sure, I've been very disappointed that GM has, much like Nissan, used the Volt and plug-ins as an excuse not to take greater action on hybrid cars – the battery powered cars with the greatest interim potential according to the latest science – but the more critical issue is R&D into electrification and the innovations such a focus create.
While the potential of hybrid and electric cars is still very much in question, and there is a chance that lithium-powered vehicles will be viewed as the biggest hoax ever in the auto industry, lithium-powered vehicles could, nonetheless, still revolutionize the auto industry.
And that's the rub. Anything is still possible.
The oil-driven economy, however, is nearing its end. Yes, that end could be fifty years away, even a hundred years. Or, it could be just a decade away from its peak. Regardless, history has demonstrated that revolutionary technological breakthroughs are inevitable when it comes to energy, and such revolutions are occurring ever faster. Considering the fact that world could need 40 percent more energy by 2030 – around the same time the population of the world DOUBLES – energy revolution is inevitable. dell battery replacement.
It might not be the battery, or at least not the lithium-battery, that revolutionizes the auto industry. Instead, something like the Volt might just be the spark that ignites the real revolutionary breakthrough. Regardless, change is coming and that change will be led by innovation – the kind of innovation that hybrids and plug-ins like the Volt are breeding.
Consequently, if the Volt is a fraud, it is far less fraudulent than assuming that America can secure its future upon foreign oil dependence for several more decades without revolutionary technological breakthroughs. And the only way such breakthroughs will be achieved is by developing vehicles like the Volt.
For years I've advocated for the purchase of hybrid cars while longing for a big move to plug-in hybrids, even though most hybrid purchases are not cost-effective for most hybrid buyers. Nonetheless, eating a local, organic diet might not be cost-effective compared to a McDonald's value meal, but it's still far healthier, and a commitment to ending foreign oil dependence is just as healthy. Acer laptop batteries.
Yet, after a decade on the market, hybrids can't even achieve 3 percent market share, despite the government pumping billions of tax payer dollars into these vehicles. That reality, as unfortunate as it might be, is reality.
Now come electric cars and billions more already committed, with the possibility of tens of billions more – exactly what I advocated for years ago - to turn even less cost-effective and unwanted plug-in cars into real world vehicles for the 5 percent of the population that is absolutely committed to going green and/or fighting foreign oil dependence.
Consequently, in some ways hybrids, plug-ins and the Volt do feel like a fraud.
But they are not.
Without any question, the Volt is far too much about marketing rather than GM profits. Still, the Nissan Leaf and the Toyota Prius are more about marketing than sales. All, however, have been worth the investment. Whether they are worth tax credits or not is another question, but that's not the focus of this post. sony laptop battery.
Certainly, those following this blog know I've been terribly critical of the Chevy Volt. Nevertheless, I've never thought of the Volt as a fraud, never. Sure, I've been very disappointed that GM has, much like Nissan, used the Volt and plug-ins as an excuse not to take greater action on hybrid cars – the battery powered cars with the greatest interim potential according to the latest science – but the more critical issue is R&D into electrification and the innovations such a focus create.
While the potential of hybrid and electric cars is still very much in question, and there is a chance that lithium-powered vehicles will be viewed as the biggest hoax ever in the auto industry, lithium-powered vehicles could, nonetheless, still revolutionize the auto industry.
And that's the rub. Anything is still possible.
The oil-driven economy, however, is nearing its end. Yes, that end could be fifty years away, even a hundred years. Or, it could be just a decade away from its peak. Regardless, history has demonstrated that revolutionary technological breakthroughs are inevitable when it comes to energy, and such revolutions are occurring ever faster. Considering the fact that world could need 40 percent more energy by 2030 – around the same time the population of the world DOUBLES – energy revolution is inevitable. dell battery replacement.
It might not be the battery, or at least not the lithium-battery, that revolutionizes the auto industry. Instead, something like the Volt might just be the spark that ignites the real revolutionary breakthrough. Regardless, change is coming and that change will be led by innovation – the kind of innovation that hybrids and plug-ins like the Volt are breeding.
Consequently, if the Volt is a fraud, it is far less fraudulent than assuming that America can secure its future upon foreign oil dependence for several more decades without revolutionary technological breakthroughs. And the only way such breakthroughs will be achieved is by developing vehicles like the Volt.
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