C.O.N.S.P.I.R.A.C.Y
Ya boy has been doing some reading that will possibly make some of our home grown auto workers upset as well as our government officials. Well here it is . . . our government has been telling us the same story over the past few years "America is addicted to oil", oh yeah, well our very own government certainly is not. Honda has produced a Civic that allows you to use electricity and compressed natural gas as a fueling method instead of oil. WHY HAVE OUR VERY OWN GM and FORD not done the same. Instead GM produces HYBRID vehicles, E85 vehicles (Ethanol vehicles), and electric vehicles that only allow you to run 40 miles on battery but still uses gasoline. They also have fuel efficient cars that hardly average very little miles per gallon more than their old non-fuel efficient vehicles. ( . . . please stop advertising the freaking highway mpg when you are selling the cars, start tell me the city mpg. Its not like most of my driving is done on the highway)
Lets cut to the chase . . . . GM is not the problem, our government is the problem. They almost appear to want us to depend on gasoline. In the state of Florida, the only compressed natural gas fuel stations that are available are both privately owned and only accessible by guess who . . . our wonderful government. Basically, they are using compressed natural gas for something and we are not allowed too. It is interesting to know that they have more fueling options than the citizens of the very country they are responsible for (the addicted ones). The same can be said for the foolish Ethanol project . . . within a 200 mile radius of one particular area in Florida, there are only two Ethanol fueling stations and they are privately own by the government as well. That is a good thing to know when you are purchasing that new GM car in which you can't find any economically friendly E85 prices in your area because your government has them all. So the key word for today is, (WHY). Why are we still talking to the middle east about fuel? Why are we not allowing our auto makers to produce non oil dependant vehicles? Why are we not using hydrogen when our planet is 75% water (remember that number from science class)? Why does it seem as though our government is trying to develop ways to stop our oil dependency, but there is never any indication that our auto makers are a part of that discussion?
Disclosure:
My opinion is not to make anyone anti-government; it is to make us think. It is to make us question the motives behind the decisions that our government officials make. It is to get us more involved in the decision making process. Ask yourself, what is really goin' on?
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Wow man, I’m going to struggle to be brief on this one. Without taking sides, I’m just going to throw out the arguments from all sides. As with anything, the truth lies somewhere in-between.
Government’s position: Honda and other Asian manufactures have been able to produce hybrids/smaller fuel efficient cars because they can afford to take the price hit. The Prius loses money for Toyota but they are willing to eat the cash because they are determined to be a “green” company. The reason Asian makes can take the hit is because their governments heavily subsidizes their industry and many have Socialized health care so their car price doesn’t have to provide health care for the worker and big pensions for the retirees. If American’s are willing to take universal health care and other “big government” programs (which most seem unwilling and we make it a Republican/Democrat issue), then pressure would be taken off the domestic makes and they could devote a ton of money to research and smaller cars which currently deliver very little profit margins in this country.
Analyst position: The government is subsidizing E85 (which is funny as American’s don’t like “big government” as I said above) but there is simply no way for them to keep focusing on corn for gas when it’s used in so much food (nearly everything the general public eats contains high fructose corn syrup) and people eat more than they drive…so a big increase in food prices is worse than one in fuel prices. Plus since cars aren’t tuned strictly for E85 right now, it is less efficient than gasoline so the mileage is worse…so it’s not worth the price premium for most right now (unless you just want to use less foreign oil.)
Overall with many of the solutions you have named, the problem comes down to supply. Right now the Prius is experiencing a decline in sales…yes, with gas at a record high. Why? Can’t get enough batteries. Everybody is changing over to lithium batteries for 2010 (better capacity/smaller), but in a perfect world there is not enough of them to go around and the technology is unproven…Toyota doesn't want to damage its quality reputation. Oh yea, GM is having a recall on many of its hybrid vehicles right now.
Hydrogen…not enough “supply” if you will. Compressed Natural Gas, challenge with storage, etc.. Lastly, there’s price. The average price of a car is now 30K, the price of alternative technology can generally add another 5-10K to the price tag. I had a Yukon Hybrid last week and got 20 mpg. However the price for the hybrid was >53K while the regular Yukon can be had for around 40K. Then GM wonders why they aren’t selling.
Amazingly enough, the manufacturers have done a good job improving fuel economy with all of the other things they have had to do. A V8 pumping out 300+hp can get 17 mpg in a 3700 lb car containing 8 airbags, traction control, stability control, AWD, navigation systems, the list goes on-and-on. Fifteen yrs. ago we had that same V8 getting the same mpg in a 3200 lb. car and one airbag and maybe ABS.
Devodev’s position: The government could do more, but why should they? Bush has no idea how much gas is (“$4/gal…really?”) and I’m sure no other politician has had to fill their big Suburban any time during their term in office. Also, the price of a barrel of oil was around $30 when we went to Iraq, now it’s over $130? Read into it whatever you want…somebody is getting paid. So the solution may just be in each consumer cutting back on their own because the government isn’t losing anything while those with the least amount of disposable income will begin to lose much more as the car and gas prices increase.
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