A plan to be 40 percent electric by 2020?
Are Americans ready and willing?Calling foreign oil dependency “one of the most devastating policy failures of our time”, ex New York Governor, George Pataki, called for new programs to ensure that America is 40 percent electric drive vehicles by 2020.
Today, most experts predict that electric drive penetration will be about 3 - 7 percent by 2020. Therefore, to increase the rate of adoption, Pataki suggests a number of new policies, such as rebates for EVs instead of tax credits, tax exemptions for automakers and incentives for battery development.
Mary Ann Wright, VP and Managing Director, Johnson Controls Business Accelerator for Advanced Energy Storage Solutions, was far less optimistic and claimed demand for such vehicles simply doesn't exist to achieve 40 percent electric vehicle penetration by 2020. Ultimately, "gasoline is too cheap."
Labels: electric cars, Foreign Oil Dependency, lithium battery
posted by Dahcredyns at
8:58 AM
7 Comments:
And such a plan only exacerbates this policy failure. The far preponderance of evidence indicates such an EV plan is utter nonsense, yet the EV movement will accept no other plan, no supplementary technologies.
America can cost-effectively change our energy paradigm by embracing natural gas. Sure, it's not a perfect solution, but is it really so much worse than foreign petroleum and dirty coal?
Isn't there room for both?
Do EV fans have the political power to prevent natural gas adoption?
I think the problem with natural gas is that in just the last few years, new technologies have dramatically changed the potential of natural gas. Understanding this new potential takes time.
I have to admit that I was originally opposed to natural gas. i thought it was a distraction, a delay tactic.
I have opened to the idea, as long as water issues can be mitigated, which most experts and even the Sierra Club seem to believe can be assured.
Ultimately, I think there will be room for both.
Massive US Natural Gas discoveries in 2009 have dramatically changed the landscape for natural gas.
The discovery is so large that natural gas prices are now lower than gasoline & diesel.
Considering the US now has more natural gas than it does oil, and the fact that natural gas ia now cheaper than gasoline/diesel, we have to consider using this natural gas for both electricity as well as transportation.
whether fully embraced or not, america will soon be exporting natural gas and importing foreign oil according to the energy traders.
how can that be justified?
Indigo Incarnates
I think a more realistic way to get off of foreign oil (orcat least significantly decrease dependency) is simply to raise the overall fuel economy of the average American car. Unless you're a contractor who regularly hauls over a thousand pounds of construction materials, you have no reason to buy a 550 HP v8 truck. Likewise, the highest speed limit I've seen is 70 MPH, so why do we need cars that are so powerful that they can easily go twice that figure?
The Ford Fiesta and Chevy Cruz get 40mpg without being hybridized. Even a fairly moderate hybrid powertrain could boost that score to 50 mpg.
What has to happen, too, is a cultural change. Driving a gas-guzzling hulk needs to be seen as an obscenity and the people who drive them need to feel negative social stigma.
that's 40 mpg on the highway. in the city fuel economy will probably be 20-something.
of course that's where your mild or full hybrid powertrain fits in at a much cheaper cost than plug-ins.
you're larger point about cultural change, however, is without doubt the key, particularly in the short term.
as consumers, americans often act in a manner that really makes you wonder just how intelligent we are as a species.
Nice article.
Post a Comment
<< Home