I just had to laugh when I read this article Reality Check on Plug-in Cars. I don't laugh at the good intentions but at the egg on the face of the overly proud claimants. It seems the righteous city officials and their holier-than-tho green friends over hyped the efficiency of a fleet of Toyota Prius hybrid plug-in cars. Instead of 150+ miles per gallon it turned out to be more like 51. Fifty-one is a number micro cars have been able to achieve for several decades now at a fraction of the cost - both monetarily and environmentally - of one of these Priuses.
My problem with the whole green car movement is not with the goal, in fact I cheer for success and soon. What always bothers me is the guilt trip brought on the rest of us gas guzzlers for not buying into the whole "save the planet" mentality. As of today the first round of hybrids and electric cars are not viable for the vast majority of us. In the case of the Prius itself, winner of many awards and accolades the truth is that the life cycle of this car is ultimately more damaging to the environment than a Hummer.
Now I shouldn't laugh at the good folks trying to make a difference. It is actually quite like a drug researcher feeling all proud and superior for developing beta-drugs that make the patient sicker while being no more effective than the incomplete but traditionally effective prescription.
This patient will wait patiently for his planet saving electric car I know is out there somewhere, some year...
CW
1 comment:
This is a big problem in Obama's entire energy "program." Pretending that electrical storage technology is ready to support alternative automobiles and utility power when it isn't even close.
Once batteries store ten times the energy within one tenth the weight, plug-in hybrids will make sense. By then, we'll have abundant alternate liquid fuels that will power internal combustion engines. We'll have fuel cells that will run off almost any carbon based fuel. And a lot more.
Obama's fantasy world threatens to destroy the real world. You and I knew that a year ago. What the hell is wrong with voters?
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