Comments on: Big immoral business and corporate conspiracy?

By: sentrynox

sentrynox — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 05:14:59 +0000

Yes, but morale values comes after strategic interests. In this case, Bush want the US to consume the world oil, so to create a pressure on less developped countries and slowing their development. This is supposed to give the US enough time to increase its geopolitical influences in orient and middle east, so to remain the dominant power in the world…

Anyways, this is just politics, and I agree that they are more ways to travel and polute less. But making solar panels required massive heating over 2000C (for the silicium), and this alone, cost a lot more energy than the panel will make in its 10 to 15 years lifetime period.
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By: = ^_^ =

= ^_^ = — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 04:48:59 +0000

That car was pulled from development because GM couldn't stop it from catching on fire. The company is currently developing an all-electric car, called the Volt, which they are having the same problems with. Stop complaining about the evils of corporate America unless you are willing to step up and actually boycott the industry you're railing against, ok?
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By: Anders

Anders — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 04:38:59 +0000

The EV1 could drive 75-to-150 miles ( on average roughly 110 miles.) per charge with Gen 2 Avionic nickel-metal hydride batteries. Fully loaded these batteries would contain 26.4 kWh of energy. If I use the average U.S. electricity price (9.82 cents/kWh.) I calculate that the EV1 would use: 9.82*26.4= 259 cents —>2.59$ for 110 miles. This is 2.36 cents/mile.
Based on the average fuel consumption of American cars, which is 27.5 miles per gallon, and the price per gallon, which is 2.23$/gallon, it costs 8.92$ to drive an ordinary car 110 miles making the cost of the electric car to 29% the fuel cost of ordinary cars.

The batteries lasted longer then the cars themselves.
Also, the cars were never massproduced which ould have driven down the manufacturing costs significantly.

The Tesla Roadster currently have a fuel cost of 2 cents/mile
and emits 1/10 of the of the pollution. The fuel cost is less then 2c/mile.
Average American cars cost 8.11c/mile to drive making the cost of the Tesla to less then 1/4th the fuel cost of ordinary cars. It reaches more then 130 Mph.
The disadvantage is that the batteries only keep peak performance for 100.000 miles.
References :
http://www.usa.xorte.com/0,4,Average-U-S-Electricity-Prices-Jump-4-7-Percent,1806.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Motors_EV1
http://www.fueleconomy.gov/feg/gasprices/FAQ.shtml
http://fuelconsumption.blogspot.com/
http://journeytoforever.org/biodiesel_404.html
http://www.teslamotors.com/index.php

By: FPSCO

FPSCO — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 03:55:59 +0000

Please, this question is a joke. 1. GM dropped the electric car because it cost them much more money to produce the car then they could sell it for. 2. Dispite rising gas prices most people still prefer larger cars and suv’s. 3. Plug in hybrids are still years away. The problem is the batteries. Even the Chevy Volt cannot be produced because battery technology is still years away. 3. Solar panels do not produce enough electricity to offset there inital costs. Electric cars use far more energy then a typical home would use. On a good day, solar panels in homes can barely offset the homes electrical usage, let alone a plugin hybrid. Solar panels do not even save enough money to pay for there first cost without government subsidies. Instead of blaming corporations, look at how you can really conserve energy.
References :
Edmunds.com
ASHRAE.org

By: Amy

Amy — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 03:10:59 +0000

Are you asking a question or preaching? Sounds like you need to step off the soapbox. Answers forum is for questions only. Electric cars have not been pursued, because they are not as popular as hybrids and bio diesel vehicles, people do not like the idea of having to plug in their cars and they are too expensive. We need to focus on better ways to deal with the big cars and trucks on the road and stop attacking them. Families cannot function well in a small expensive cars. At least GM and Ford have figured this out with the Saturn Vue and the Ford Escape. Ok so their mileage is not outstanding yet, but we are moving forward as a society. Stop trying to force things on people that are not functional for them.
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By: sarge927

sarge927 — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 02:55:59 +0000

Nice try. For starters, electric vehicles release pollutants into the atmosphere too (just not the same gases released by internal combustion engines), and a lot of them. Secondly, even the best electric vehicles can’t travel at speeds greater than 35 MPH, and the engineers have determined there’s no way they could make self-contained electric vehicles that could get up to and sustain highway speeds. Finally, recent studies have linked the development of certain brain tumors with excessive cell phone usage, and the electromagnetic field put out by a car with an electric engine is 10 BILLION times more powerful than that put out by a cell phone. Who wants a car that can cause cancer or cell mutations?

No, GM, Ford, and Chrysler are much better off continuing to develop fuel cell technology and vehicles that run on E85 ethanol or bio-diesel. Your so-called "near perfect energy system" is far from it. Leave solar panels for generating more electricity for residential and commercial use.
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By: Robert C

Robert C — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 02:17:59 +0000

Obviously you don’t think through the big picture very well. "Solar panels on the roofs", come on now, are you really aware of how much electricity can be produced by solar cells in near perfect conditions using an area the size of an average home’s roof? Obviously not, nor have you considered that the production methods to produce all of these solar panels use plastics which come from oil, nor have you thought about the ramifications of less than perfect climates – like Seattle, where sunshine is not overly abundant.
If you are truly concerned about the environment, DONT own a car, do business with local merchants and buy local products and just whirl around on your bicycle (with no rubber or plastic components preferably). What are you typing on now….plastic keyboard maybe, running on electricity produced by fossil fuels.
Come on, it’s not a conspiracy, it’s business – they wouldn’t produce them if we wouldn’t buy them. Since when does business need to determine our social consciousness? Until everyone grows up and makes a difference – quit whining.
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By: nookandgranny

nookandgranny — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 01:46:59 +0000

Let's not forget that GM was aided and abetted by our Republican (at the time) majority Congress, which was nice enough to help promote all the big gas-guzzlers by giving people HUGE tax incentives if they bought them!
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