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Anyone follow the news lately? Today, the Trump admin stated that conserving oil is no longer a priority due to the abundance of natural gas and oil fracking in the US. Everyone in the current EPA is being against electric cars. Interesting article. Also, current proposals freeze MPG requirements after the year 2020, which is less than 2 years away.
Personally, I am not an early adopter of electric vehicles - I drive over 40 miles each way to work, and that doesn't count numerous errands I have to do before and after work. However, I did look into the Chevy Volt and Honda Clarity with plug-in hybrids that have a gas engine back-up.
But who cares now if automakers are going to focus back on gas engine cars? Are they going back to good ol' 6 cylinder engines?
Location: East of Seattle since 1992, 615' Elevation, Zone 8b - originally from SF Bay Area
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Regardless of the EPA and changing regulations, people will buy what they want. My F150 is the 5.0 V8 with 385 horsepower, but most of them sold now have the 2.7 turbo V6. That little engine only gets 19/24, not much better than mine at 15/21. Even before the EPA changes I saw relatives move up to bigger cars, for example one traded in a Prius for a Outback, another went from a Camry to an Explorer. I went from a Ranger to an F150, soon after my neighbor trader their Forester for an F150. Another neighbor went from a Corolla to a Frontier.
Regardless of the EPA and changing regulations, people will buy what they want. My F150 is the 5.0 V8 with 385 horsepower.....
I understand that, but now automakers have less of an incentive to build any electric cars or even plug-in hybrids. R&D into those kinds of vehicles are what makes them better. Without any regulations or demand, why would Chevy even continue to improve the Volt? Or the Nissan Leaf? Honda Clarity? You can throw Tesla in there but they are mainly a luxury maker and most people can't afford that car, even the Model 3.
The only incentive auto makers have is getting more $ for what customers decide they cannot live without. Doing anything about the state of the planet was a very distant second. At most it was lip service. Did anyone really believe a resource-extractive petroleum-dependent industry wanted to reduce their piece of the pie? There might be a little carefully-broadcast mourning about the disinterest in electric technology but secretly they are paying the Trump administration for a job well done. When oil stops flowing out of the ground things will change, not before. Then they'll swiftly blame someone else for their (our) troubles. Truly idiotic.
Last edited by Parnassia; 08-19-2018 at 03:37 PM..
The only incentive auto makers have is getting more $ for what customers decide they cannot live without. Doing anything about the state of the planet was a very distant second. At most it was lip service. Did anyone really believe a resource-extractive petroleum-dependent industry wanted to reduce their piece of the pie? There might be a little carefully-broadcast mourning about the disinterest in electric technology but secretly they are paying the Trump administration for a job well done. When oil stops flowing out of the ground things will change, not before. Then they'll swiftly blame someone else for their (our) troubles. Truly idiotic.
Well oil won’t stop flowing for a very long time so I’m not worried about it, and automakers won’t have to pass the cost to us the consumer of what cafe standards would of cost them. Electric only vehicles are impractical until they can recharge in the same amount of time as filling up with gasoline. The automotive industry is on business to make money and they make what sells not what is forced on them to build.
Anyone follow the news lately? Today, the Trump admin stated that conserving oil is no longer a priority due to the abundance of natural gas and oil fracking in the US. Everyone in the current EPA is being against electric cars. Interesting article. Also, current proposals freeze MPG requirements after the year 2020, which is less than 2 years away.
Personally, I am not an early adopter of electric vehicles - I drive over 40 miles each way to work, and that doesn't count numerous errands I have to do before and after work. However, I did look into the Chevy Volt and Honda Clarity with plug-in hybrids that have a gas engine back-up.
But who cares now if automakers are going to focus back on gas engine cars? Are they going back to good ol' 6 cylinder engines?
IIRC the biggest issue with those standards is they were just too hard to meet, they were very high and called for something like 50 mpg across an automaker's fleet.
Technology just isn't there yet despite the billions being poured into electric drive trains.
It will get there though, electric is definitely the future. So much better in so many ways.
Americans being Americans will still buy the biggest car they can until gas hits $3.50-$4.00/gal then cry bloody murder. Meanwhile China is investing heavily in reducing consumption to become more self reliant and reduce emissions.
The Chinese marketplace is becoming the force behind electric cars.
Cars sell at a rate of about 30M per year in China vs about 17M a year in the USA. To compete in China, car companies will need to develop electric cars. For example, VW has a huge number of electric cars in development:
IIRC the biggest issue with those standards is they were just too hard to meet, they were very high and called for something like 50 mpg across an automaker's fleet.
Technology just isn't there yet despite the billions being poured into electric drive trains.
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Exactly.
The standards were numbers pulled by the EPA out of their collective bureaucratic recta with no regard to the science. The main way in which mpg is improved is to lighten the vehicle's weight, not by improving engine efficiency. A recent study showed that builders reached their requirement by building more very small, light cars to offset the sales of gas guzzlers. Those cars led to 8000 excess traffic deaths, the pipsqueaks being no match for bigger vehicles in head to head combat.
The electric vehicle is a niche solution to certain logistic problems: great for local delivery trucks and relatively short commutes. Traditional ICE vehicles can't be matched for versatility- short hops, hauling loads, long road trips all in one car.
Elon Musk is a master at screwing the American taxpayer out of tax money. What's up with a "performance, luxury EV?" I thought "recycle, re-use and REDUCE" were the main goals of the Green Lifestyle? How does a 160mph EV help the environment? Better sell your stock before the subsidies go away.
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