like a volt of...


So gov't run GM has come up with an electric car. Sounds pretty cool and futuristic doesn't it! I get that the push for 'green'ing up things has been positive in some areas- plastic bottles are thinner (did we really need them to be thicker?), our landfills aren't quit as full (why be wasteful in general?) and focusing on walking places when you can keeps us not quite as fat. But I have some issues with the volt...

Now, I’ll admit I haven’t read all the test results and research data on these cars and I have a feeling it may be to technical for me but I have heard that they ‘back up’ power source has not be tested as thoroughly as it might usually be. They rushed to deliver it to market and in doing so I have to worry about the quality of the product. Rushing things doesn’t seem to be a good idea, especially when everyone knows that even cars that are well tested have problems (does the location of a gas tank matter anyone?) So, if the ‘back up’ source doesn’t work, then we have to hope that the electric charge provides you with what it says…but…

I think we’re all aware how ‘reliable’ the MPG on car’s stickers are… I mean, does anyone ALWAYS get 18 in the city or 24 on the highway. Certainly not. So what’s my motivation for thinking that this car will ALWAYS get 40 miles out of a charge? Just think how screwed you’d be if you thought you had 40, and you really got 37 so now you’re stuck somewhere b/c you don’t have any power from the backup generator? And of course, let me be dramatic but the first time some poor mother gets stranded with her baby in the dark of night and spirited away…well…

We’ve become a country of travelers, how practical is it to provide a car that’s base range is a 20 mile each way trip? Sure for quick trips to the grocery store or movies…but that leads me to my other point…

Who’s going to pay 41k for something that is not practical as an only car? And for that matter, it’s likely a third of fourth car so that both adult members of the family have other options for longer distances. Well that would have to be someone who can afford at least two cars, and that puts it in likely the higher income ranges. And what do we know about those income ranges? Just that starting next Jan they’re going to have a huge tax hike leveled against them…
Sure they'll likely give huge tax incentives to get people to purchase them, but the fact they may have to do that implies that the market doesn't want them- if you have to encourage ppl to purchase them by 'rewarding' that behavior, well then the reality is that something is wrong. The price is to high, the quality to low or some combination of the two.

So as a review: We’re taking a possibly untested car, limiting it’s usability and requiring it to be a novelty car, pricing it out of the competitive market and then taxing the very people who might buy it to death. Hum. Sounds like a great recipe for success.

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