It is worth noting that electronic vehicles are not a new technology. In fact, as energy expert Robert Bradley noted in his presentation to the Rio Grande Foundation audience yesterday, Henry Ford hoped to collaborate with Thomas Edison to build an electric car nearly 100 years ago.
Curiously-enough, I ran across this review of the Nissan Leaf electric car from Consumers Reports. Driving one of these contraptions around New York City is obviously problematic from the author’s comments — constant worries over battery life, inability to use heat or A/C. Could you imagine driving one of these in New Mexico with our open spaces and weather extremes?
Of course, people can and should be able to buy whatever car they want, no matter how poorly it operates, but the Obama Administration’s $2 billion in spending on electric vehicles (and that’s just the start of the federal subsidies) means that we are all on the hook for this waste. I’m not against electric cars, but they (and any other technologies) need to compete in a free and open marketplace.
H/T Paul Chesser
I have a friend that lived up here in the mountains and worked with me in Alamogordo. He had to go uphill to Cloudcroft before he could go downhill to Alamogordo. He was driving a Prius and he told me that it would get almost warm enough to feel as he got to Cloudcroft, and then when he went downhill the engine kicked off and it was freezing again before he got half way down the hill. The solution was a little 12 volt heater in the front seat, but he sill had to dress warm. He never mentioned the A/C.
Must compete in a “Free and open market”? Let’s see, we had the tax-payer GM and Chrysler bailouts and then there’s the on-going subsidies and tax breaks for the oil companies. I’d say a government subsidy to EVs which reduce our dependency on foriegn oil and dramatic reduction of greenhouse gasses is a reasonable investment.
Of course the bailouts for the auto companies were a terrible idea! And so was “cash for clunkers.” But the subsidies for oil and gas are so minuscule as to be non-existent, particularly compared with those for so-called “renewables.”