Time
to get real about hybrids and plug-in vehicles
Friday, September 11,
2009
Several months ago, a JD
Power survey found that, despite declining gas prices,
more than 70 percent of Americans were interested in
buying hybrid
cars. More than 40 percent of that 70 percent
indicated they would pay as much as $5000.00 more for a
hybrid.
At the time, however, hybrid sales were declining, as
hybrid market share fell below 3 percent. Apparently, it's
not easy to put your money where your mouth is.
Inevitably, after selling more than 2 million hybrid cars,
Toyota's NiMH-powered hybrid vehicles are still not priced
in a way that can make the Camry
hybrid more compelling than a conventional Camry for
most consumers, or at least not for Toyota. Either way
it's all about money.
One way or another, Toyota, the by-far-king of hybrid
cars, will never take hybrids to the next level without
lithium.
So let's set this mother off! America has a shot!
So, why not a tax credit for every lithium hybrid sold in
America? Why not an extra tax credit for lithium hybrids
produced in America?
With the money America sends overseas EVERY month for
foreign oil dependency, we could easily fund a $3000 tax
credit for every lithium hybrid that achieves at least a
20 percent improvement in fuel economy. Make it $4000 for
every lithium hybrid built in America, and $5,000 for
every lithium hybrid built in America with an
American-produced lithium battery.
How will that not lead to massive investment and
competition? Oh yeah, and jobs and a massive decrease in
foreign oil dependency. Plus, it will make full plug-ins
cost-effective sooner. And, finally, it puts more power in
the hands of consumers, rather than the corporations that
so regularly fail every day Americans despite massive
government-funded corporate welfare.
Otherwise, we can wait 3 decades - probably more like 4 or
5 - to even have a chance at ending foreign oil dependency
with plug-in vehicles according to essentially every piece
of data available on this subject.
Waiting for plug-in vehicles to save America just isn't
pragmatic at this time. It's all about lithium and NOT
just lithium in plug-in vehicles. Forgoing the cheapest
possible lithium vehicles in favor of only lithium plug-in
vehicles is the same kind of self-defeating ideology that
left the small car market to Japan just a few decades ago.
Let's not make the same mistake again. Today, the plug is
not the key technology, it's the battery, and we should be
attacking the battery as aggressively and quickly as
possible.
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