By Robert L. Gisel
It is good to see new Tesla Plug-In Electric vehicles on the road. This is a major breakthrough and and history that hasn't been seen since the EV-1s were crushed by GM. Full-on plug-in electric cars. Now with a respectable range of about 250 miles between recharging and lots of spunk.
Even better news is that the company is now turning out a 5 passenger sedan that will be road worthy in a 5 figure price range and do up to 300 miles on a full charge. Tesla engineers are definitely thinking in the right direction.
More stretching needs to be done but it is obvious that technology and innovation is moving rapidly in the direction where one day soon you will be able to drive from San Francisco to Los Angeles with stopping for a recharge. Then we can really go someplace.
Electric Vehicles will fully hold their own against the gas guzzlers when the range has been stretched to the limit of a tank of gas and recharging can be fast where the length of time to recharge is no more than a stop at the gas pump. I believe that others share this vision and that it is beginning to happen.
For now we can take a big win that a commercially produced EV plug-in is again on the road, configured better than ever.
Showing posts with label Tesla. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Tesla. Show all posts
Monday, April 20, 2009
Thursday, December 11, 2008
Congress Attempts Criminal Anti-Trust Violation
by Robert L. Gisel
Propping up the failing Chrysler and GM companies with $15 billion bailout monies flies in the teeth of anti-trust laws and should be considered criminally intended. At best this constitutes nationalization and socialistic governing.
You can quote me on that. In fact please do. The word on this should get out as far and wide as possible across the social media sites, letters to your Congressmen, state legislatures, anywhere you are heard.
Laws to prevent unfair practices by industry giants in forming monopolies has a shoe on the other foot. When the giants no longer provide a product the consumers want and will buy the business must be allowed to go where the consumers will buy. Government subsidy of these companies is so absurd it is utterly amazing any US civil servants would even contemplate it.
It may be possible, should this bill pass, to take a class action suit against the government in light of the anti-trust laws. Even viewed as a socialistic nationalization it does not reconcile with our Constitution.
The consumers have made it clear they want alternatives to the gas guzzler and they want genuine long-term value. With 20 new start-up companies in plug-in electric vehicles alone the consumer interest is clearly no longer on cars with mpg ratings in the 20s or cars that have designed in parts lifetimes of just beyond the warranty life.
The big 3 auto manufacturers are ailing because consumers are going elsewhere. There are better values in autos and the consumer knows this. Overseas companies are getting the business as they have greater gas mileage, are built better and hold up longer.
GM has cut its own throat by deliberately providing vehicles that are not so good that the consumer will hang onto them. In the 70's consumers could be heard to say "Why should I buy a new car, this one is going strong and still works just fine". The cars today can be demonstrated to be "just good enough" but not so good that it will cut across the sale of new cars. The truth is if you don't provide a car that lasts a long time, has great performance and low maintenance the consumer will stop coming back to that car company.
Which is precisely where the Big 3 are today. Poor long term value is the first thing the consumer will shuck in a stressed economy. Provide a terrific, exceptional car that lasts and the public will buy these even in a recession.
Throwing billions of dollars into GM and Chrysler (Ford has said they do not need bailout monies) will not stave off bankruptcy or downsizing for those companies; this will only prolong the time we have to endure their shoddy productions.
If they have to close plants, that's great, it makes room for companies the people want to support. Tesla, Lightening, Fisker Automotive or any other new contenders can take over the facilities and hire the laid-off workers.
Speak out to your Congressmen and anyone who will listen and stop this charade happening on Capital Hill.
GM claimed it had to take the EV-1 off the road because no-one wanted it and it wasn't selling. That is a falsehood. First off GM never offered it for sale. The EV-1 was released only on a leasing program. When the leases finally ran out GM came and picked the cars up telling the owners the lease was not renewable and if they don't return the cars they are guilty of theft.
GM said that it was too costly, that it was costing the company over $80,000 per vehicle. What really happened is that the company produced only 1117 of these which of course makes the cost per vehicle sky high.
The PR line from GM is that the electric battery technology was not advanced enough at the time to allow a workable EV to be produced. Actually GM didn't even try to put in a decent battery when the car was first released. It was equipped with cheap, garden-variety Delco car batteries. Only after these were found to be inadequate and consumer outrage forced a change did GM switch to a better battery, available all the while, that resolved the problems and also gave a little better range.
The GM "solution" to failure to deliver a sincere product was to recall them all and shred them at the wrecking yard. Even GM has now come to admit this was a poor way to handle the EV-1. Now GM is trying to stave off bankruptcy, an event that comes on the heels and is related to the EV-1 fiasco. Don't think they are disrelated. For a limited production of 1117 cars the bad press from killing the production resulted in a huge campaign of negative press. This continues today with the DVD documentary "Who Killed the Electric Car?" that undertows a company which must have consumer confidence to survive.
Our great country was founded on opportunity. It was populated by immigrants that knew here they were free and could have a better living as entepreneurs through their own ingenuity. This free enterprise made our country great. Let it run its course now without this massive government subsidy.
Be A secret Santa, here.
Propping up the failing Chrysler and GM companies with $15 billion bailout monies flies in the teeth of anti-trust laws and should be considered criminally intended. At best this constitutes nationalization and socialistic governing.
You can quote me on that. In fact please do. The word on this should get out as far and wide as possible across the social media sites, letters to your Congressmen, state legislatures, anywhere you are heard.
Laws to prevent unfair practices by industry giants in forming monopolies has a shoe on the other foot. When the giants no longer provide a product the consumers want and will buy the business must be allowed to go where the consumers will buy. Government subsidy of these companies is so absurd it is utterly amazing any US civil servants would even contemplate it.
It may be possible, should this bill pass, to take a class action suit against the government in light of the anti-trust laws. Even viewed as a socialistic nationalization it does not reconcile with our Constitution.
The consumers have made it clear they want alternatives to the gas guzzler and they want genuine long-term value. With 20 new start-up companies in plug-in electric vehicles alone the consumer interest is clearly no longer on cars with mpg ratings in the 20s or cars that have designed in parts lifetimes of just beyond the warranty life.
The big 3 auto manufacturers are ailing because consumers are going elsewhere. There are better values in autos and the consumer knows this. Overseas companies are getting the business as they have greater gas mileage, are built better and hold up longer.
GM has cut its own throat by deliberately providing vehicles that are not so good that the consumer will hang onto them. In the 70's consumers could be heard to say "Why should I buy a new car, this one is going strong and still works just fine". The cars today can be demonstrated to be "just good enough" but not so good that it will cut across the sale of new cars. The truth is if you don't provide a car that lasts a long time, has great performance and low maintenance the consumer will stop coming back to that car company.
Which is precisely where the Big 3 are today. Poor long term value is the first thing the consumer will shuck in a stressed economy. Provide a terrific, exceptional car that lasts and the public will buy these even in a recession.
Throwing billions of dollars into GM and Chrysler (Ford has said they do not need bailout monies) will not stave off bankruptcy or downsizing for those companies; this will only prolong the time we have to endure their shoddy productions.
If they have to close plants, that's great, it makes room for companies the people want to support. Tesla, Lightening, Fisker Automotive or any other new contenders can take over the facilities and hire the laid-off workers.
Speak out to your Congressmen and anyone who will listen and stop this charade happening on Capital Hill.
GM claimed it had to take the EV-1 off the road because no-one wanted it and it wasn't selling. That is a falsehood. First off GM never offered it for sale. The EV-1 was released only on a leasing program. When the leases finally ran out GM came and picked the cars up telling the owners the lease was not renewable and if they don't return the cars they are guilty of theft.
GM said that it was too costly, that it was costing the company over $80,000 per vehicle. What really happened is that the company produced only 1117 of these which of course makes the cost per vehicle sky high.
The PR line from GM is that the electric battery technology was not advanced enough at the time to allow a workable EV to be produced. Actually GM didn't even try to put in a decent battery when the car was first released. It was equipped with cheap, garden-variety Delco car batteries. Only after these were found to be inadequate and consumer outrage forced a change did GM switch to a better battery, available all the while, that resolved the problems and also gave a little better range.
The GM "solution" to failure to deliver a sincere product was to recall them all and shred them at the wrecking yard. Even GM has now come to admit this was a poor way to handle the EV-1. Now GM is trying to stave off bankruptcy, an event that comes on the heels and is related to the EV-1 fiasco. Don't think they are disrelated. For a limited production of 1117 cars the bad press from killing the production resulted in a huge campaign of negative press. This continues today with the DVD documentary "Who Killed the Electric Car?" that undertows a company which must have consumer confidence to survive.
Our great country was founded on opportunity. It was populated by immigrants that knew here they were free and could have a better living as entepreneurs through their own ingenuity. This free enterprise made our country great. Let it run its course now without this massive government subsidy.
Be A secret Santa, here.
Monday, October 27, 2008
16 Plus Plug-In EVs Proves Popularity
by Robert L. Gisel
Whoever thinks the Electric Vehicle isn't popular or is not wanted by consumers has their head in the sand. An explosion of new electric car inventions hitting the market proves it's popular draw.
"C-NET's Michael Kanellos did a little thinking out loud this week when he tried to list all of the electric car start-up companies (not major automakers working on EVs). He counted 16 small companies. The names on this list will be familiar to just about anyone who reads AutoblogGreen, but I thought it was interesting to see them all gathered in one place:
\"Tesla Motors (sports cars), Wrightspeed (sports cars and plug-in drivetrains for trucks), Fisker Automotive (electric sedans), Zap (low-speed and sports cars), Miles Automotive (low speed), Zenn Motors (low speed), AC Propulsion (retrofitting Scions for electric), Phoenix Motorcars (SUVs), Aptera (three-wheelers), Porteon (low speed electrics), Lightning (sports cars in England), Reva (economy cars), Ultramotor (electric trishaws), Myers Motors (freakish three-wheelers featured in Goldmember), Think (electric economy cars) and Venture Vehicles (three-wheeled electric cars.).
I'd say the only "major" player that Kanellos missed is GEM, which has been making glorified golf carts for ages. Other contenders not on his list include Universal Electric Vehicle, American Electric Vehicle, G-Wiz and Hybrid Technologies. I'm sure there's at least a couple more we're missing, but we're already got over 20 small EV companies. Pretty soon, he figures, this list will be much easier to calculate: 'History shows that most of these companies will be wiped out.' So it goes, as my favorite author would write. [Source: C-NET]"
That last premise saying "History shows that most of these companies will be wiped out" presumes that history repeats itself, that the existing monopolistic cutthroat major car companies are not prevented from covert dirty dealings to wipe out the companies. Looking over the failure of some very excellent car lines in the past that were ousted from the scene with even a casual observation reveals black PR campaigns and abscams and all manner of dirty tricks to plaque any good competitors into failure.
My own survey of this, in asking persons would they like a plug-in electric recreation vehicle that could go 300 or more miles before recharging while having the power and performance standards of existing gasoline vehicles, the answer is invariably "Yes, if you could provide that there would be a lot of takers". The next comment is generally this, that I will need some very good security to stay alive as my life would be in grave danger from the unscrupulous big car companies. That is not something that concerns me just that that is the consensus.
The bottom line is this: the public have shown they want the option to drive around without stopping to pumping gas, inventions abound to fulfill this, the state of the art in electric vehicles makes these realistically doable and now is the best time to pursue this option.
My EV retrofit program is going to require funding and your interested contributions are appreciated.
Whoever thinks the Electric Vehicle isn't popular or is not wanted by consumers has their head in the sand. An explosion of new electric car inventions hitting the market proves it's popular draw.
"C-NET's Michael Kanellos did a little thinking out loud this week when he tried to list all of the electric car start-up companies (not major automakers working on EVs). He counted 16 small companies. The names on this list will be familiar to just about anyone who reads AutoblogGreen, but I thought it was interesting to see them all gathered in one place:
\"Tesla Motors (sports cars), Wrightspeed (sports cars and plug-in drivetrains for trucks), Fisker Automotive (electric sedans), Zap (low-speed and sports cars), Miles Automotive (low speed), Zenn Motors (low speed), AC Propulsion (retrofitting Scions for electric), Phoenix Motorcars (SUVs), Aptera (three-wheelers), Porteon (low speed electrics), Lightning (sports cars in England), Reva (economy cars), Ultramotor (electric trishaws), Myers Motors (freakish three-wheelers featured in Goldmember), Think (electric economy cars) and Venture Vehicles (three-wheeled electric cars.).
I'd say the only "major" player that Kanellos missed is GEM, which has been making glorified golf carts for ages. Other contenders not on his list include Universal Electric Vehicle, American Electric Vehicle, G-Wiz and Hybrid Technologies. I'm sure there's at least a couple more we're missing, but we're already got over 20 small EV companies. Pretty soon, he figures, this list will be much easier to calculate: 'History shows that most of these companies will be wiped out.' So it goes, as my favorite author would write. [Source: C-NET]"
That last premise saying "History shows that most of these companies will be wiped out" presumes that history repeats itself, that the existing monopolistic cutthroat major car companies are not prevented from covert dirty dealings to wipe out the companies. Looking over the failure of some very excellent car lines in the past that were ousted from the scene with even a casual observation reveals black PR campaigns and abscams and all manner of dirty tricks to plaque any good competitors into failure.
My own survey of this, in asking persons would they like a plug-in electric recreation vehicle that could go 300 or more miles before recharging while having the power and performance standards of existing gasoline vehicles, the answer is invariably "Yes, if you could provide that there would be a lot of takers". The next comment is generally this, that I will need some very good security to stay alive as my life would be in grave danger from the unscrupulous big car companies. That is not something that concerns me just that that is the consensus.
The bottom line is this: the public have shown they want the option to drive around without stopping to pumping gas, inventions abound to fulfill this, the state of the art in electric vehicles makes these realistically doable and now is the best time to pursue this option.
My EV retrofit program is going to require funding and your interested contributions are appreciated.
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