Forget plug-ins without a gas tax?
Insight: More realistic than plug-ins?When it comes to buying a car, sticker price is the most important issue for most consumers. Unfortunately, hybrid cars and plug-in vehicles cost more, which makes it harder for manufacturers to turn a profit on such vehicles.
Thus, while GM has hung its green PR hat on the Chevy Volt plug-in vehicle, the Volt isn't going to help GM's bottom line for many years.
"In 10 years are they [at GM] going to solve the technological problems with respect to the Volt? Sure," says Maryann Keller, an automotive analyst and author of a book on GM. "But are they going to be able to stake their survival, which is really more of a now to five-year proposition, on it? I'd say they can't. They have to stake their future on Malibus, the Chevy Cruze, and much more conventional technologies."
Add $2.00 gas and how many consumers are really willing to pay a few thousand extra for a hybrid, or several thousand extra for a plug-in hybrid?
Is a mass conversion to plug-in vehicles possible in the next few decades without significantly higher gas prices? Isn't it time to get serious about a new gas tax?
Labels: Chevy Volt electric vehicle concept, gas tax, Hybrid Vehicles, plug-in hybrid vehicles
posted by Dahcredyns at
9:38 AM
4 Comments:
I don't know...they are forcing people to go digital with their TVs....so why not with hybrids?
Oh I forgot...everyone thinks that's socialism.
Be afraid...be very afraid!
But you can't just make automakers responsible, consumers also need to play a part - even those that would choose to hold onto a gas-guzzler rather than to buy a new hybrid.
I'm not making merely automakers responsible...oh by no means. There's plenty of "stupid" to go around.
Yes...I also think irresponsible consumers should pay a hefty price and suffer IMO....
I wish I could dump a year's worth of waste and resources consumed into someone's living room for them to see how pathetically overindulgent they are.
I can't remember which station did it - either Discovery or Nat. Geo - on what the average person's consumption in the US is and portrayed in actual products, resources, etc.
it really is crazy. Unbridled consumption cannot continue.
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