New Pet Peeve

Now, this is one of the worst things about the automotive industry right now:



So, then it must make sense that we have alternative fuels, right? That must be my new pet peeve.

Well, no, as a matter of fact. My new pet peeve goes to the automotive industry and automobile manufacturers.

What are the new solutions we're given for higher gas prices? Hybrids. Yeah, they still need gas, but it's less. Whoop de doo! Isn't it still just a half-measure, after all? Isn't it? Let's really think about it. It's just because they are afraid to fully commit to something new that they come up with a semi-solution like this. And let me point out that I think electric cars will be the way of the future, and I'll explain why in a moment. So why just make a hybrid? And they resist the idea of a plug-in hybrid because they don't want to be associate with making electric vehicles. Somehow that is a "bad word" in the automotive industry.

So why do cars still run on gas anyway? The internal combustion engine is the only kind of engine that ever really took off for consumers, and there have been relatively few changes since then. Maybe there have been some innovations with fuel efficiency, but mostly only due to lawmakers demands. Otherwise, very little has changed over the many decades that cars have been built. And isn't it archaic to have to stop and refuel a car? Did any of us imagine that the future would have us stopping to refuel so often in order to get around? Shouldn't it make it's own fuel, draw it from the atmosphere, or otherwise make itself go? Now, that would be futuristic!

I think electric-drive vehicles will be the future, mostly because they have the potential to be just that--futuristic! Sure, right now we'd have to plug them in, but someday we could use solar power or some other stored energy. We can always improve the battery and the efficiency of the mileage per charge. Newer batteries hold a charge longer, are safer, cheaper, and can start in lower temperatures than ever. One of the arguments against electric cars is that hydrogen power is more efficient. I would argue that we would still have to stop and refuel (don't want to do that) and they don't start in freezing temperatures. What's the difference if you have to plug in a car vs. refueling? It can be done overnight or when you're already going to be stopped, instead of during your trip. Also, we can improve a battery. It's not like we can improve hydrogen. Maybe that's very oversimplified, but that's the way I see it.

We might even be driving electric vehicles more advanced than we could have imagined, if only automakers had committed to the idea early on. And now the American automakers are falling far behind. Someone is going to build these things, and if it isn't the Americans, someone else is going to do it.

Chevy is about to produce the Volt, a car that is still basically a plug-in hybrid. The versatility is appealing, and I think it's an improvement. It's a nice-looking car, too. But if anything happens to this model, consumers will have flashbacks to the EV-1 controversy all over again (see: Who Killed the Electric Car?) and I doubt the trust could return. The best hope might be for the Zap! crossover called the Zap-X. It's supposed to be affordable, and a true electric vehicle. Sexy-looking thing, too! Or maybe the practical Phoenix motorcar consumer vehicles to be produced soon, especially since they have an affordable price tag ($50,000 or less?) and they have been built for a few years now as fleet vehicles. The experience is there, the product, and the innovation. The batteries are being mass-produced now, too, which has potential to lower the cost to consumers. Looks good all-around for the electric vehicle.

So, is that it? My problem is that automakers aren't producing electric cars? No, not exactly. My problem is that when they do produce them, they are either expensive toys, like the Venturi Fetish or the Tesla Roadster (both of which top $100,000 easily), or they are ridiculous-looking contraptions that no one would want to be seen in, that only work in very specific driving situations like neighborhood driving. Please, automakers, give up the idea of the Neighborhood Electric Vehicle! Give it up! It looks stupid, it's basically a golf cart (which exists already, in case you haven't noticed) and no one needs them! The only thing they accomplish by building these things is to produce so-called evidence that consumers don't want electric vehicles! No, that's not true! We don't want stupid electric vehicles! That's what we don't want, you idiots! Make something practical that we might actually spend our money on, that we might actually need or use, but so far that doesn't seem to be the trend. Guess we need to find a way to prove that we would actually buy these things so they will put their resources into making them, then maybe we'll get some decent products out there.

Anyway, thanks for reading my rant. I have a good recipe for salsa coming, and I will post my taco recipe, too.

I'll try to blog ya later with lighter subjects, and not just my ranting! Thanks for reading!

R