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Government funding and actual research has developed many modern conveniences and markets, Including GPS, many medical devices, etc.
A lot of this is a result of military research.
But flat earthers won't hear of it.
Those things were all developed with money taken from the private sector.
Investors could just as easily bring such advances to market without the states influence or direction, and do so much more cost effectively.
I wonder how many advances don't get brought to market because the government propped up or funded the competing technology of a crony?
They've been driving electric cars in Europe for at least a decade.
We would have probably had electric cars here in America too, if so many politicians hadn't been in bed with the old industry. Why were owners of electric cars forced to destroy them in California? If the concept of electric cars had simply failed for purely practical economic reasons, there should have been no problem with owners keeping their electric cars. There were clearly political forces at work trying to make sure the car were destroyed. Why? Why not just let the owners drive them until they fell apart? Clearly the cars were perceived as a threat. If electric cars were destined to be an economic failure, why not just let them fail naturally, rather than force owners to turn them in, just so they could be destroyed? Even if the movie "Who Killed the Electric Car" gave a one-sided presentation, I don't think that purely practical economic forces can explain what happened in California.
And here was Austin TX that jumped on the bandwagon early and installed over 100 charging stations all over the city at a cost of $60K per station.
I guess they can change them over to bike tire air pump stations ?
Washington state is going to charge electric car owners $100 per year for highway usage.
Seems that gas tax money is starting to be missed so new fees are being implemented to make up for the lost money.
Texas is considering it as well.
Hey..everyone has to pay their fair share..right ?
Besides the unconstitutionality of it all, that 5 billion would be put to so much better use if left in the hands of private sector entrepreneurs/ innovators.
bureaucrats dont have a good track record at choosing winning technologies.
Agreed, they were not elected to pick which consumer products we should be allowed to buy, nor which technologies and companies should get an unfair advantage from government, and which should be punished.
Not only are hybrids being bought, their sales are brisk and the prices are within the range of conventional gasoline vehicles. A colleague recently bought a Prius C for about $20,000. He is getting 50 mpg. He estimates that the gas savings alone pays for the car.
We would have probably had electric cars here in America too, if so many politicians hadn't been in bed with the old industry. Why were owners of electric cars forced to destroy them in California? If the concept of electric cars had simply failed for purely practical economic reasons, there should have been no problem with owners keeping their electric cars. There were clearly political forces at work trying to make sure the car were destroyed. Why? Why not just let the owners drive them until they fell apart? Clearly the cars were perceived as a threat. If electric cars were destined to be an economic failure, why not just let them fail naturally, rather than force owners to turn them in, just so they could be destroyed? Even if the movie "Who Killed the Electric Car" gave a one-sided presentation, I don't think that purely practical economic forces can explain what happened in California.
Why, why, why, why???? Because the electric car was never a viable technology to replace gas-powered cars, ever. The same answer for why a lot of liberal Utopian ideas never become reality, because they fail, are not practical, and they never will be.
Electric cars are not viable outside of high density urban areas.
States are now missing their gas tax revenue.
Did they think the money would appear from somewhere else ?
This is all being government pushed and not private industry pushed.
When private industry does not buy in and does not spend their own money, it's not a viable risk.
But governments don't care because it's not their money and they have an endless supply thanks to us who don't demand sensible governing and accounting of how our tax dollars are spent.
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68,326 posts, read 54,350,985 times
Reputation: 40731
Quote:
Originally Posted by OICU812
Why, why, why, why???? Because the electric car was never a viable technology to replace gas-powered cars, ever. The same answer for why a lot of liberal Utopian ideas never become reality, because they fail, are not practical, and they never will be.
Many said the gas-powered car would never be a viable technology to replace oat powered horses or that steam would never be a viable tecnology to replace sail or that flight was a neat parlor trick but would never be a viable technology for mass transportation, eh?
Luddites unite!
You have nothing to lose but the new-fangled conveniences you enjoy everyday.
02-05-2013, 08:55 AM
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n/a posts
Quote:
Electric cars are not viable outside of high density urban areas.
That's becoming less true. It certainly wouldn't be the ideal choice for a cross country trip, but things are much better than they used to be. Take a drive a state like Oregon sometime. You could easily head all the way from WA to CA in your electric car, take a trip to the coast, etc. You can do that because government and private businesses have invested in the infrastructure to make it happen. It wouldn't have happened if government had stayed out of it completely. You don't have to live in Portland for an electric car to be viable anymore. You can live in any of the towns along I-5 (where virtually all the state's population is).
Quote:
States are now missing their gas tax revenue.
Did they think the money would appear from somewhere else ?
They though it would appear from mileage taxes and other fees. Oregon has been working on a mileage tax and testing it out since 2007.
Quote:
Luddites unite!
Indeed.
It's this bizarre mix of opposition to new technology combined with a kneejerk hatred and rejection of anything that could in any way be thought of as environmentally responsible. You know things are bad when people actively cheer for having a dirtier environment, more dependence on foreign oil, and less money in their pocket just because they get some weird satisfaction out of opposing things that "liberals" like. I'm sure we all remember Rush Limbaugh celebrating earth day by praising the plastic bag and committing to wasting as much energy and doing as much environmental damage as he could.
Why, why, why, why???? Because the electric car was never a viable technology to replace gas-powered cars, ever. ...
But you failed to address the central point of my post. Why did the cars have to be destroyed? Many of the people driving the cars didn't want to give them up. Why not just let people keep driving the cars? Political pressure killed those cars, not pure economics.
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