More On The Auto Industry

My previous post about the auto industry received quite a few comments, including a couple which I thought I'd draw attention to.

Anonymous said:

"Opening up a can of worms here. I've seen that documentary but it doesn't tell the whole story. Look at the American market. Unlike Canada and Europe they do not like small cars (majority). The big 3 had to build what would sell. Yes the EV1 would sell good in California, but try to push it in texas, or some rural areas. Big issue with full electric then and now is still the batteries. They are not efficient. Not to mention the disposal factor. In your calculations you said you would need to have the car for 16 years to break even. Let me ask you this, have you ever seen a batter system last that long? How long has your advanced lithium ion battery (what will be used in new electric cars) that is in your laptop last more than a couple years of charging cycles before it started to fail. You would undoubtedly need to replace the battery system before that 16 years is up......and at what cost (financially and environmentally) ? The next issue is range....if you live in town and do small commutes then it works, what if you live on a ranch in Montana and have to drive a few hours just to get to where your going ? Right now battery technology just isn't quite there. Hybrids work but really you can do just as well getting a very efficient and small 4 cylinder gas engine. Something like the Smart or Yaris or Honda Fit. They get very similar mileage and have very advanced engine technology and are much cleaner than most people realize. Or what about the new blu diesel engines.....they too are far better than most people realize and have incredible mileage. Electric is not the only way to go nor is it the "one" answer to the issues we see today."

Anonymous makes some good points on the topic. I didn't mean to imply that I thought that the automakers should just go out and replace all of their internal-combustion cars with electric models, whether there's a market or not... just that I think that there ought to be options for the consumer. Arguing that simply because not everyone wants electric cars justifies yanking them off the market makes no more sense than would advocating the elimination of all the SUVs just because some of us would never buy one. In actual fact, I think the best model is the plug-in hybrid because it allows you to break the oil-dependency for your daily commute but still be able to fall back on gas for the less frequent, longer trips. So let's get lots of options out there so that people can find the type of car that works for them (and there was clearly a growing and passionate market in California for electric cars when GM pulled the plug).

Obviously I failed to make that point clearly, though, as Autostry more concisely commented:

"Electric cars are not the only solution to the sorry state of the auto industry."

True enough. We should have more choices, which include electric, hybrid, plug-in hybrid and conventional. Let's level the playing field and see who wins in the long run.