Put this one down with, “I will close Gitmo”. Or, with ObamaCare “if you like your doctor, you can keep your doctor”. Or, any of the hundreds of big promises or big lies this president has made in just over 4 years.
He still believes he can will the actions of the American public. Wrong, Mr. President, and when it comes to cars, no one can will what the American public will do. Working people need pick up trucks to do their work. Big families need vans or SUV’s to get the family around. Guys like Ralph Nader, who never had a driver’s license, or Barack Obama, who never had a job that required a commute will never understand how the public makes car buying decisions.
Sorry, Obama, your big statement about one million electric cars by 2015 is just another example of how disconnected you are with the public. Even your mileage mandates, which won’t be met, won’t make this happen.
Here is an article from David Kiley from AOL Auto’s.
One year ago, President Obama used his State of the Union address to set a bold
goal of U.S. consumers buying 1 million electric
cars by 2015. But consumers aren’t biting, and the Department of Energy and
the White House are backing away.
The only mention in this year’s State
of The Union of EVs was
a vague proposal for an “Energy Security Trust” with funding from oil and gas
drilling royalties and use the money for research on electric
vehicles, natural-gas vehicles and biofuels.
The truth is that
enthusiasm for an EV car revolution is waning as too few U.S. car-buyers see
themselves adjusting their driving lifestyles to make an EV part of their family
fleet.
The DOE said on January 31 that it would no longer tout Obama’s
million-car goal and will instead promote advanced-technology vehicles of every
stripe. Cue the start of an “Energy Security Trust” that will support research
for EVs, hybrids, natural-gas cars and fuel-cell
powered vehicles.
Electric and plug-in electric hybrids got off to a
tough start in January after a sluggish 2012.General Motors, Toyota Motor
Corp. and Nissan Motor Co. all reported much lower
sales of EVs and plug-in hybrids in January over December, citing lower
inventory and the decision of many customers to buy before the end of the tax year. Chevy sold 1,140 Volts in January.
Toyota sold 874 plug-in Priuses. Nissan
sold 10,000 Leaf EVs in all of 2012. Ford is offering a $10,000 discount on the
slow-selling Focus EV.
Those are paltry numbers. The lack of acceptance
by consumers is creating a glut of batteries. LG Chem Michigan, a unit of the
Korean conglomerate LG, for example, was awarded more than $150 million in
funding by the U.S. Department of Energy under the 2009 Recovery Act to help
construct a $304 million lithium-ion battery cell manufacturing plant in
Michigan. It was supposed to create 440 jobs. But the company is still supplying
batteries for the Chevy Volt from its Korean plant, and fewer than half the jobs
in Michigan have been realized. Why? Lack of demand. LG Chem and the DOE have
just been reprimanded by the DOE Inspector General for misusing tax-payer funds
and not delivering on stated goals.
What’s dampened the push for EVs?
Part of the problem is the continued high cost of lithium-ion batteries critical
to EVs, and negative publicity around fires related to such batteries in a few
cars, as well as the new Boeing Dreamliner airplane (though the batteries are
sufficiently different that the aircraft company’s problems are not thought to
be related to the car batteries.)
The dollars and
cents
Here are some of the financials on the EVs and extended
range electric vehicles consumers can buy today. The 2013 Nissan Leaf
S, with about a 73-mile range in between re-charges, starts at $28,800. But
after federal and state tax credits in California, dips the price to $18,800 in
that state. It’s $21,300 with just the federal credit.
The Chevy Volt,
which is an extended-range EV, meaning it gets 35 miles on a charge but has a
gas-powered motor that continues to power the battery until the next charge-up,
starts at $39,145, and $31,645 after the federal credit. But you can lease a Volt
now for $328 per month with no money down for 39 months. That’s not as good as
the low-price leases of last September–just above $200 a month with $1,000
down, but it is still a nice deal for a car packed with so much technology and
that can take a driver 70 miles a day with no gasoline used and no worry of
running out of battery charge because of the back–up gas motor.
A
consumer who wants to drive electric and reduce their dependence on gasoline
prices can, in fact, make a business case for buying an EV. I can put a charger
in my garage for very little money after credits from the government and my
utility company. I already have a charger at work. I could conceivably drive a
Volt back and forth to my office, a round-trip of 100 miles a day, for two weeks
on one tank of gas as I would, in fact, kick over to gasoline at the 35 mile
mark. That’s roughly 1,000 miles on one tank of gas. But people who commute
fewer than 70 miles a day – the vast majority of Americans – could drive months
without going to a gas
station.
Electricity does cost, but recharging at night at home is
extremely cheap when electric rates at their lowest. And many work-places with
chargers will let you charge up for free or for peanuts.
But here is the
real problem for all but those who embrace new technology, especially green
technology. If it’s new, and creates a big change in the way we think, or live
our daily lives, a lot of us just think … “Nah. I’m comfortable with what I do
now.”
Change is hard
The Obama administration has given billions to this electric car effort. Billions wasted. They pushed the car companies into investing billions with the promise that the US government would make the one million in 2015 happen. More billions wasted. No administration is US history is better at wasting taxpayer money than the Obama administration. No one in the administration has a lick of common sense. They all came from academia. Or, are lawyers. Almost none have run anything. The Obama administration has the highest percentage of non-private sector employees in history.
This is what you get when you have these fools handing out money and setting goals.
